In the deep end!

"Dessert order in.."
"Dessert order in.."
"Dessert order..."


"....SHIT!"
"Right what can I do??"
"Creme brulee! Easy!!"
"Congratulations!! That only leaves four other dishes you DON"T KNOW how to do!!"
"Why do I do this again??"
"Crap.....gotta stop talking to myself!!"

It's Sunday night and every table in the restaurant has decided to have dessert and I'm on that section.....and I've never worked it before! Nothing like being in the deep end!!

A professional kitchen is organized into a series of sections. Depending on the size of the kitchen it can vary from two sections ie: hot and cold through to 3 star Michelin restaurants which have section for everything from canapes through to their own bakery.

Most kitchens generally have 3-4 sections- Grill/Sauce/Larder/Pastry. Larder handles the cold starters ie: salads/platters/etc,Grill is,as you could probably guess, the meat section,Sauce is fish/pasta/soups and Pastry well that's self explanatory but for those with out caffeine in their veins or the half asleep Pastry is the dessert and sometimes bread section.

Where I work the pastry section is responsible for seven different desserts and of course the cheese course and a dessert platter so to speak. Which really doesn't sound all that hard really but when you've never worked the section before and everyone wants something it becomes a bit of nightmare!!

Now a key to being a good chef is the ability to work any section at anytime and I like to think that I'm a pretty good chef so when I was asked to do Pastry it didn't phase me at all and I said "Yup no worries!"

Walking onto any section the first thing you do is familiarize yourself with where everything is and make sure your set for service. And this is were it all become well...f#cked for lack of a better description! "The problem??" I hear you ask my kind readers....

The problem that I came upon was a simple one...The section was a mess,a absolute,total sh*t of a mess!! The reason for this the younger chef who was on the section was young and hadn't fully become familiar with the simply but effective motto of Clean is Organized!!

So not only was I on a section that I didn't know but the section was also a mess...yeeeefuckinghaa....sigh. As I slowly tried to organize the already mentioned mess that I was confronted with it became ever clearer that I was fighting a losing battle as I didn't know what sauce went with what dessert and nor did I know what garnish went with which dessert and so on and so on. So I did the only thing I knew, I straightened everything/checked to make sure everything was fresh and got rid of the crap and unnecessary items that didn't need to be there.....then I prayed I wouldn't get hit for desserts...."sigh"...idiot!!!

In the kitchen one of the first things you learn to understand is Murphys law. If you think you've prepped enough/were not gunna get hit for whatever you were short on/were expecting a quiet night Murphy would bite you on the ass good and hard and make a idiot of you. Trust me I know this,I learnt the hard way...a closed airport/200 hungry American tourists and not enough Caesar salad prep. Man did I get slammed that night...nothing like making a litre of Caesar dressing and poaching eggs to order for 80 Caesar salads to remind how much Murphys law sucks!!

So there I was five dessert orders up,no idea what the hell to do and that lovely accompanying panic mind blank. Staring blankly at the orders my instincts took over and I started to pull containers out of the fridge grabbing anything I thought I might need,whipped cream/butterscotch sauce/puddings/creme brulees/icecreams/sorbets. Soon the pastry bench was covered in containers so the next step was to figure out what went with what. How did I do that?? I asked the french Chef on the section next to me...

"Creme brulee...what goes with that??

"Tuille/raspberry sorbet/carmel garnish!!"

"What the hell is a Far??"

"The thing that looks like a yorkshire pudding!! Needs 10mins in the oven/butterscotch sauce and quince jam!!"

"Fondant?? How long in the oven?? Coffee parfait correct??"

"Yup 15mins in the oven,rest for two minutes!!"

"Millefeuille??"

"Pastry,apples and pastry cream and that pink sauce!! Heat the pastry and apples!!"

"Gluten free tart??"

"Choc sauce and cream cheese icecream!"

By this time I was starting to gain momentum and the adrenalin had started to flow. I was hussling and damn it felt good. Then I started delegating..

"Chef" I said to the head Chef "...can you do the crepes please,I'll prep the plates"

"Yup!"

Then the french Chef..

"Dude can you grab me 5 plates,heat the butterscotch sauce and check the Fondant!"

"Got it!"

Its a funny thing when you find your groove so to speak,things flow and fall into place and even if you do hit a problem you fix it on the fly and hussle hussle hussle until those orders are gone and the customer satisfied!!

As soon as I knew what went with what we started to get the orders out,the only snagg..a broken fondant...which take 15mins to cook!

"Crapcrapcrapcrap"
"Think fast??Fire another"
"Shuffle the brulee"
"New Fondant in...damn this feels good"
"Crap,talkin to myself again hehehe"

With a new fondant in the oven I shuffled some orders to help clear the board and prepped the last order...

"Far-check/Brulee done/Crepes ready/tart yup and 5mins left on the fondant"

"Chef can you ball the icecream for the Far and brulee,I'll sauce the Far plate and cut the parfait"

"Yup no worries!"

As we started to plated the last order,rested the fondant and dinged for service I felt good,we got through it. Team work and quick thinking had got us through.

"Damn that felt good"
"Nothin like being thrown in the deep end hehehehe"
"That's why I do this!!!"

"Dessert order in!!"
"Order up...One Gourmandise

"Gourmandise?? What the fu..."
"CRAP!!"
"I'm talking to myself again...."