Chef's Diary

Another event over, approximately 300 “mini-meals” served and a resounding success – at least in terms of customer satisfaction and my overall organisation. The only negative point being that I didn’t charge enough for what I was sending out. More on that later.

First of all, a brief explanation of what the event was this w/end…..my good mate Thierry and his wife organised a sale in their home just next to Bastille for 6 artists / designers / photographers / illustrators. They asked me to provide the food with the only “restriction” being that each bite or plate being “cheap”. We didn’t know how many people would come over the w/end, but 300 came along the last time. So, prepare a menu for potentially 300 people who could arrive at different times during the day (we didn’t know when the “prime time” would be either)……..this was the first challenge.

I decided to base my menu on 4 things

thai influence (with a few british references)
mini-dishes or “amuse bouches” instead of the classic buffet “finger” food
cheap for the customer (1€ at first which then became 2€ on the second day)
100% mark-up on the cost price

So what went out during these 2 hectic days of service ? Let’s start with the savoury mini-dishes…..

Baby Squid, Red & Green Radish & Mustard leaves salad with Beetroot chips and Beetroot and Ponzu dressing

Thaï Chicken soup

Organic Salmon in 2 marinades (Citrus fruit & Coriander – Dill and Fennel seed), Orange and Curcuma emulsion, cube of Smoked Herring jelly, seaweed butter

Oxtail Parmentier with Potato and Celeriac purée

Thaï Red Curry Aumônière, salad of Joël Thibault’s carrots, Mizuna salad leaves

Jerusalem Artichoke and Ginger Velouté, Kaffir Lime Oil

And now for the sweet mini-dishes…….

Orange Madeleine, sweet Aubergine and Hazelnut condiment, sesame seed and ginger garnish

Organic chocolate Ganache, Orange brunoise, Tarragon condiment, Clementine powder

home made Organic natural Yoghurt with Clementines in 4 Spices

Cardamom and Lemon ice cream, Chocolate Cookie Crumble, Red Chilli

Bread & Butter Pudding, Coriander Custard, Iced Muscat grapes

Lemon Shortbread, Pear poached in Galangal and Lemon Grass, Beetroot Chantilly

Scones, Jelly and Kaffir Lime Cream

So there you have it…..a whole lot of work (I started cooking on Tuesday, finished at 3 in the morning 3 times, bought new crockery instead of using plastic, did all of the shopping) for 1 or 2 Euros. From the image below you can see that I calculated my cost for each dish and based my calculation of the end price on the basis of 50 items of each dish being sold.

My price calculation was fine, as far as I’m concerned. Where I got it all wrong was the number of items being sold……we actually sold around 300 items. I physically could have produced and sent out more items but I would never have been able to work quick enough to deal with sending 700 dishes !! Saturday was the busier day and we were open for longer (up until 9pm), but I was only charging 1€ and my organisation in the kitchen wasn’t optimum (getting used to someone else’s kitchen ain’t straight forward). Sunday I bumped up the price to 2€, was much more organised in the kitchen (thus able to send stuff out quicker)….but we had 2 hours less of service and there were fewer people.

So there you have it. I thoroughly enjoyed this w/end and was generally speaking very happy with the quality of what I sent out. I had nothing but positive feedback when people were kind enough to pop into the kitchen to say thanks. Lots of my business cards disappeared (though I did see Thierry’s daughter running ’round with a big pile in her hand at one time, though I’m not sure how much business I’ll get in the future !!)….it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks / months. I still most certainly do not want to go into buffets as a career…..it’s working in a restaurant that I want. That said, I will happily do one or 2 events, but this time at a price which covers all costs including my daily rate for the prep time and a decent profit margin. As long as my future clients are looking for more than sandwiches, soup and salad then I will be happy to get stuck in occasionally.

Before I sign off on yet another event, I must thank Thierry and my wife, without whom this w/end would not have been possible. These events are never a “one man show” (usually it’s Marc who is involved, but I figured that he deserved a “night off”). Thierry helped me in the kitchen on Thursday and Friday, listening to my ramblings whilst cutting the Bread and Butter pudding discs of bread and sorting the salad leaves. He then took on the role of taking orders and the cash during the w/end, whilst serving drinks. A great help and a good friend. As for my wife, she is now becoming a bit of a “dab hand” at dealing with the service. She helped organise things on the Saturday and was constantly washing, tidying and generally doing the necessary to ensure that things ran smoothly.

Thanks to both of you.

Je voulais simplement partager avec vous le résultat de mon essai ce matin pour ce “mini-plat” que je propose sur ma carte ce w/end.

Résultat ? : comme d’hab, le pudding était très bon mais je n’ai pas utilisé assez de citronelle dans mon appareil…j’en mettrai plus pour la carte du 5/6 décembre !! J’ai fait un essai plutôt pour travailler la présentation du pudding – j’en suis assez satisfait. Pour info, j’ai ajouté une brunoise d’orange “congelée” sur une huile de coriandre.

Si vous voulez en savoir plus, rendez-vous le 5/6 !!

Je dois remercier Teddy dans l’équipe du Chateaubriand dans le 11ème à Paris pour cette idée…..j’ai tout simplement ajouté l’estragon, un peu de Yuzu et j’ai transformé les clémentines en brunoise dans une petite salade.

D’abord la photo…..

La recette –

sucre 100g
eau 70ml (pour dissoudre le sucre)
crème 0,175ml
chocolat (70% cocoa) 350g
beurre 350g
jus de yuzu 20ml
clémentine 3kg (25 pièces)
estragon 1 botte

Un petit mot pour vous prévenir d’un nouvel évènement “For One Night Only”….mais avec quelsques différences, quand même !!

D’abord, l’invitation…..

et maintenant, les différences avec les soirées que je crée d’habitude……

samedi 14h-17h30 : des choses qui correspondent à un goûter – donc 100% sucré
samedi 17h30-19h : on passe sur les mini-plats salé, mais simple
samedi 19h-21h : on passe sur les mini-plats salé, mais un peu plus sophistiqué avec un “dessert”
dimanche 14h-17h : que des mini-plats sucré
dimanche 17h-19h : des mini-plats salé, avec ce qui reste en sucré disponible à la demande

les mini-plats salé

poisson (saumon ou mulet) mariné sucre/sel/zestes des agrumes/coriandre, gelée de hareng fumé en cube, pain avec beurre aux algues

coques sur une vinaigrette de betterave avec ponzu (sauce soja et jus de yuzu), tranche fine de daikon (radis japonais)

bouillon thai au poulet / lait de coco / oignon rouge / coriandre

mini brandade de morue, mousse de jus de cuisson

aumonière de curry vert au poulet, fine tranche de céleri rave saupoudré de poudre de trompette de mort, salade fines herbes

velouté de topinombour, gingembre, citronelle avec poudre de clémentine

hachis parmentier de queue de boeuf

les mini-plats sucré

ganache chocolat, poudre de clémentine, petite salade fraîche de clémentine et estragon

“bread and butter pudding“, raisins Muscat “glacés”

yaourt maison avec fruit aux 4 épices

madeleines à l’orange plus qqchose

glace à la cardamome, cookie, café

“scones“, confiture et crème

“shortbread” (comme petit sablé), crème montée à la cérise

Et c’est où, d’ailleurs ???

Afficher Ptit Bar de Dom, 5-6 décembre sur une carte plus grande

Donc, si vous êtes à Paris le w/end du 5/6 décembre, pourquoi pas passer nous voir pour un moment agréable à côté de Bastille ?!! Je serai ravi de vous voir.

It’s been a while since I have written in English, and since I’m going back to Newcastle at the end of this week, it’s time that I got a bit of practise !

So another “For One Night Only” evening over with (that’s 3 now), and this time a much more satisfying experience than the previous one at Zoé Bouillon. A smaller menu (well, slightly), only 28 people, an open kitchen, in a friend’s house and with a couple of jazz sessions between the main and the cheese. All in all a great experience which allowed me to regain my confidence is my own ability to create and to execute to a good standard, whilst still keeping a “contact” with the guests, and thus being able to enjoy the evening. I’d promised my wife (and myself) that it would be “cool”, and we pretty much delivered on that (even though Sunday morning at 11am things were looking distinctly less “chilled out” !!).

The one negative point being that I’ve probably lost money on the event since the menu basically wasn’t expensive enough (I didn’t get any of my products on a “cheap” trade price – unlike for the Zoé Bouillon evening – which was part of the “cool” attitude, but at the same time it’s a crucial part of preparing for any evening….I remember the chef at La Fontaine telling me that negotiating good prices with the suppliers is the key to success). No worries though – the aim of these evenings is to learn….if I happen to make a bit of money for buying a new knife, then all the better. I suspect that this will be my last “cheap” event, however.

Now, let’s get onto the photos….starting with the different courses….

First of all there was the Olive Oil (2 Tuscan & 1 Sicilian grand cru) and Balsamic Vinegar (1 traditional aged 3 years without additives, another standard quality with caramel) tasting which I did with a mixture of pure product to be tasted with a spoon, and 3 mini-tasting dishes (salad of coco beans from Paimpol, herb salad with local mini carrots and heirloom tomatoes / tomates anciennes, and a carpaccio of venison) which were seasoned with one of each of the oils. Unfortunately no photos, but I was happy with what I sent out – I also got to learn a thing or 2 about Italian oils.

This was followed by my take on “Scallops / Artichoke / Basil” – a filo pastry tart with artichoke cream topped with a scallop tartare marinated in basil oil and a fried basil leaf, a mixed herb / mustard leaf / japanese Mizuna salad, a sautéed scallop, finished off by pesto and reduced balsamic vinegar. I was happy with everything except for the artichoke cream which had too much shallot in it (though this was tempered somewhat by the scallop and basil oil tartare).

The main course was an autumnal mixture of “Venison / wild mushrooms / polenta“. The star was a fabulously tender and very flavoursome (but very expensive – 140€ for 2,3kg of vension “back”….not sure what the “dos de chevreuil” is called in english) piece of venison which I got from my trusty butcher “Boucherie André” on the Saturday morning. A great result in the plate which was very much a case of “good shopping”, with a wee bit of good cooking. This simple but classy dish was finished off with a few gratings of white truffle (seemingly 2500€/kilo). I was happy overall with the end result – unfortunately, the only photo that I have is of the only “vegetarian” plate that I sent out !!

The cheese course was essentially what I’d planned to do for the menu that I prepared for Zoé Bouillon….before things started to go “tits up”. 3 Italian cheeses (Taleggio – cows milk, Brescia; Piave – cows milk, Venice; Moro del Logadoro – Goats milk, Sardinia) with chutney, herb salad, frozen Muscat grapes, beetroot chips and toasted Panetone….my only problem with this “dish” was that there was too much in the plate.

The evening was wrapped up with a “Pear / Rosemary Ice Cream / Tarragon Galani” combination which, though pretty classic on the pear-front, finished things off nicely. The pear poached in a couple of decent bottles of red wine, along with a Rosemary and Mascarpone ice cream topping a traditional venetian biscuit (my wife, Antonella, used to eat them when she was with the family in Mirano) called “Galani” (flour, sugar, butter, tarragon, eggs, Grappa…..ohh, and a lot of frying in oil !!!!) was pretty good. Nearly had a disaster with the ice cream because my “bowl” (”cuve” en français) was not cold enough, but stuck the half-iced cream back in the freezer and ended up with a very creamy “iced” cream.

So there you have the menu. Before I go, I’ll leave you with a few photos of the evening, the jazz, the people, the mood and the chefs (yep, I was more than ably assisted by Roland, whose house we were in)…enjoy and see you soon for the next installement……

Laure added a touch of class to the evening with her 2 jazz sets

Our guests seemed pretty chilled and in the mood !

I was focussed, whilst being very well accompanied by Roland, my commis !

I’d said that the key words were to be “cool”, “generous”, “pleasure”…..well, for me anyway, I felt all of those things. With me closing finally the “senior IT consultant” chapter at the end of this week, I really wanted to make this evening work…..going full-time, 150% into the cheffing world needed a positive experience to give me the boost and confidence to help me during the first uncertain weeks back in the professional kitchen….our evening at Servane and Roland’s in Ménilmontant certainly provided that….goodnight !

Une journée très longue arrive à sa fin….la liste des tâches avec tout terminé, un dos qui a besoin de se reposer mais une conscience qui est à l’aise avec ce que nous avons réalisé aujourd’hui. Un grand merci à Marc (sa 3ème “For One Night Only”) bien sûr, mais particulièrement à Antonella qui a assuré comme un chef toute la journée.

Qqs photos pour vous donner une idée…

..et voilà le “dream team”…..antonella au pain, marc au lavage des champignons (mousserons pour être précis !)

Notre boulangère au boulot…..la ciabatta, en l’occurrence.

…..l’atelier de Chefsdiary (peut-être celui de Joel Robuchon est un peu mieux adapter à la gastronomie…), mais heureusement il a fait froid aujourd’hui…une bonne chambre froide !

…à la fin de la journée j’ai commencé à perdre mes moyens…..

….le magnifique morceau que je garde pour le “personnel” à la fin de demain soir…..la cuisson traditionnelle maintenant de 20 heures à 80°C….regardez la belle couche de gras !!!!

…..et la liste avec tout ce que nous avons fait aujourd’hui…..

Aujourd’hui je vais publier plusieurs billets pour vous donner une idée de ce que l’on fait pour préparer une soirée.

D’abord, pour moi, ça commence avec la liste des tâches – triées par jour.

Liste des tâches format Excel

J’enverrai cette liste à Marc, un copain qui me donne un coup de main pour chaque soirée “For One Night Only” – faut qu’il sache ce qu’il a à faire !!!

Donc, je vous quitte pour aller au marché de Place des Fêtes…..à plus !!

Pour annoncer l’ouverture des réservations pour notre belle soirée de jazz à Ménilmontant, un peu de publicité dans le 19ème…..

Rendez-vous la page de réservation – Page de Réservation

OK….ça y est….la date a été fixée…….encore une soirée “Dom For One Night Only” à venir….dans 3 semaines, dis-donc !! Il reste des choses à préciser, mais je peux au moins vous donner les éléments clés pour mettre l’eau à la bouche….

Préambule :

mots clés étant “chill”, “cool”, “relax”, “plaisir”, “simple et bon”……après les 2 soirées “One Night Only” précédentes “bien chargées” et assez stressantes (surtout pour ceux qui m’ont aidé), je me suis dit (ma femme aussi, il faut avouer) que le but de cette soirée serait avant tout de se faire plaisir (moi et ma femme) en proposant une carte plus simple (3 ingrédients, 1 cuisson au maximum par plat) que je pourrais réaliser tout seul pour moins de convives. Les meilleurs produits, comme d’habitude, mais avec une présentation plus simple.

Le Concept :

Dîner pour 25 convives dans une grande maison (des copains de longue date) à Ménilmontant sur le thème “Italia Delizie” avec un set de jazz. Carte fixe à 5 plats - Amuse, Entrée, Plat, Fromage, Dessert….chacun avec des notes de l’Italie (j’adore la cuisine Italienne depuis longtemps, et la famille paternelle de ma femme se trouve à Mirano en face de Venise). De plus, vu que l’expo sur Miles Davis à la Cité de la Musique commencera le même w/end, j’ai demandé à Laure (une jeune chanteuse de jazz) de venir faire un set d’une 40′aine de minutes avec son copain le guitariste.

La Carte :

pas encore certain mais pour l’instant j’ai envie de vous proposer……

dégustation des huiles d’olive d’Italie premier cru, des vinaigres balsamique avec du ciabatta et du facaccia maison

St Jacques et Artichaut : St Jacques cru dans sa gelée aux algues sur une crème d’Artichaut fini par une noix de St Jacques poêlée et une pointe de réduction de balsamique

Chevreuil, champignons sauvage, polenta : carpaccio de chevreuil mariné, poêlé de champignons sauvage, polenta à l’huile de truffe, vinaigrette fruitée

fromage, fruit : trio de fromage italien, chips pomme / poire, raisins “glacés”

dessert…..je n’ai pas encore décidé, mais ça pourrait être crumble de panettone et glace mascarpone et basilic, poire pochée au Barolo et panne cotta au grappa / estragon, ou peut-être une raviole sucré sur une purée de fruit d’automne…..

Le vin : 100% Italien

D’ici la fin de la semaine je mettrai la carte définitive sur mon blog, à partir de quel point vous pourrez réserver….mais il va falloir aller vite puisqu’il y aura au maximum 25 places

Alors……ça vous dit ???

Pour promouvoir les 2 prochains évènements pour chefsdiary (mi-octobre et puis le 1er w/end de décembre) j’ai décidé d’investir dans une campagne de publicité assez ambitieuse……ci-dessous le résultat de la 1ère série des affiches (cette affiche se trouve dans le 10ème à Paris)…..

Qu’est-ce que vous en pensez ?…….