Chef's Diary

I finished last week (Thursday evening) on a bit of a downer with a poor service. 2 days break, a sunny trip to Lille (to look after my wife’s mum who has broken her ankle) and a calm Sunday service have all lead to me feeling much more positive about myself in the kitchen and in this job in general. We only did around 30 covers this lunch time, of which approx. half were for me (Scallops, Sole Meunières, Cod, Sea Bream, Salmon, Cêpes). So not much work, and certainly no “coup de feu”. But I took pleasure in getting my fish “right”…nicely cooked, well presented….I just need to work on my beurre meunière. I also got through most of the things on my “prep” list this morning.

My main aim every day is to go quicker…..that’s all. I obviously want to get my “cuisson” correct, but I’m pretty confident on this point.

Anyway, my wife is chilling out on the sofa next to me and I’m going to sign off to spend some time with her…..she looks so terribly inviting !!!

In the last month banks and stock markets around the world have been collapsing….along with our own savings at the bank ;-( ! Turn on the telly or go to any newspaper web site and it’s pretty much the headline every day. However, these last few months I have managed to find the perfect way of avoiding all of this negative news which is leading more and more economies into an official recession…..well, it’s simple….just work split shifts in a kitchen !

First of all, to the uinitiated, a “split shift” is working from 8-ish until 15hrs and then 17h30 until 23h…for the few hours of “rest” one doesn’t do much more than chill out, drink tea, eat a sandwich, read a book or pass some brief time with the family.

For my last 12 days in the UK I worked 10 split shifts (thus missing the collapse of several British finance institutions), and now that I am working here in Paris, I’m on “splits” again. I’m currently the human version of the mole……burying my head in my work and missing out on what’s going on around me.

Curiously, I also seem to be working in one of the few restaurants in Paris which is doing well (according to the weekly trade paper “Hôtelerie Restauration”, the number of restaurants closing so far this year has increased by more than 30% on last year) despite the huge downturn in the economic climate. Saturday and Sunday were very busy (full each service), with approx. 30 for lunch and 50 for dinner for the rest of the week up to and including last night, Thursday.

So all in all, the various moves to renationalise banks in different European countries has been taking place in a parallel universe as far as I have been concerned…..which maybe ain’t such a bad thing.

So, how’s my first week in my new job been ?

Busy, stressful (at first), but exciting and pretty passionate. I am currently the demi-chef de partie working on the fish section where we deal with Lobster, Scallops, Langoustine, Bass, Turbot, Sea Bream and Cod. My job is to set up the section (garnish, sauces and fish) and then cook and dress the plates for all fish orders during the service….so there’s a lot to get done !!! At the moment I still need help completing the prep work, but I am able to do the service on my own now, which I am delighted about.

Overall, I am very happy with this first full job in a professional kitchen. This is exactly the kind of experience that I need to prepare me for running my own restaurant in a few years time. The only aspect that I am missing out on is the “Fine Dining” touch. The products that we work with are of a good quality and are fresh, but because of the time constraints, the lack of staff and the amount of work to be done, we put more emphasis product and flavour than on presentation and precision. I’m not sure if in time that is going to frustrate me or not. In any case, I have to learn to work quickly (particularly in the preparation phases of the day), and I will certainly learn that where I am at the moment. I also need to learn to manage my orders, cook the food, dress the plates, all the while cleaning up my section as I go along (something I need to improve on)….all of this I will certainly get whilst working the fish section.

So, as far as the choice of kitchen to work in, so far so good.

One recent development back at home is that the kids (and particularly my daughter) are clearly missing me. Now that my planning at work is settled (3 splits, 1 early, 1 late and 2 days off) we should all be able to start settling into a new routine. But the kids were clearly expecting Papa to go back to his previous routine (being back home every evening from 18h30 onwards) that he had when studying for his CAP and doing his placement at “La Fontaine Gaillon”. I’ll be making sure that the days that I have off will be managed in such a way as to spend as much time as possible with them…..and then all that will be left will be working out how to spend more time with my wife !!

It’s almost 1 year to the day since this incredible, crazy, passionate and sometimes stressfull conversion process began.

The first step was my “Initiation” – 1 CAP Cuisine (infact my actual diploma only arrived this morning !), 6 restaurants / caterers, umpteen cookery / chef books (of which my latest is a true gem – “The French Laundry – Thomas Keller”) and a 2 month stint back home in Newcastle.

I am now finally on the point of embarking upon phase 2 of this magnificent journey, as I have finished almost 2 weeks of interviews by agreeing to join the restaurant “Au Petit Marguery” in the 13th arrondissement in Paris. I will be the “demi-Chef de Partie” in a team of 6 (1 Chef, 1 Second, 2 Chefs de Partie – fish and cold starters, me, 1 Commis) where I will be working mainly on the Fish Section (having sole responsability for the section on Sunday & Monday, whilst supporting the Fish Chef de Partie for the other 3 days of the week).

Overall, the restaurant is 150% “cuisine traditionnelle” and “terroir”, with a particular focus on game (when in season….and now where right in there !). So, I’ve really got what I was looking for – small team, chef who is very present and who loves to share ideas and pass on knowledge, good quality produce (everything is fresh and seasonal). The only minor negative point is that I am definately stepping out of the “fine dining” arena….but then again, that could be the subject of another debate, namely “What is Fine Dining ?”. In my opinion, the only aspect lacking “Au Petit Marguery” is the presentation in the plate. All of the other aspects of fine dining are there.

Anyway, as a start to my professional career, I’m delighted to start in a kitchen where the emphasis is placed wholly on quality and flavour (the 2 main principles of the cooking of the much admired chef from my home region, Terry Laybourne), which many a supposed “Fine Dining” restaurant do not seem to share.

Just a few practical points on the process of searching for work and negotiating ones salary. Yes, the overall restaurant sector is having a hard time and thus people will always say that it’s difficult to offer “decent” salaries (especially for those starting out). However, the same restaurants are having a great deal of difficulty in finding “good” staff. So, we newcomers are in a relative position of “power”…..or atleast, we are not without a certain bargaining power. Listed below are the aspects that were important for me when securing this position,

So, there you have it. The next step starts tomorrow (assuming that the contract is sorted today), my family are happy with my planning and I am delighted with the quality of the team and the menu.

Watch this space.

Yesterday I had a much needed discussion with my wife (whilst the kids were jumping around in a softplay castle with hundreds of other little Geordies) about the next step after the end of my time here in Newcastle. There’s a bit more than 1 and a half months to go here in Newcastle before I return to Paris and continue my “apprentissage” as a chef, and overall 8 and a half months before the end of my 11 month sabbatical period from Capgemini.

Our main priorities over the next 9 months / year are to move away from Paris (west of France being the current favourite destination….Atlantic coast or Brittany) and to start the process of buying a house. My wife (and my family) needs the security of knowing that we have atleast bought a house before I throw myself fully into this new chef / restaurant career…..understandable.

So, I have set out the following plans for the coming 8 months…..

That’s where I’m at at the moment.

Toute la France (ok, pas tout le monde, mais c’est quand même pas loin….les restaurateurs exceptés, bien sûr) s’arrête entre jeudi 8 et lundi 12 mai, et donc, nous aussi.

Alors, qu’est-ce que l’on a fait ?

Jeudi 8 mai

visite au marché “Pari Fermier” à Rambouillet pour voir si ce rassemblement de plusieurs producteurs Français donne qqchose d’intéressante. Vu que je cherche à mieux connaître les produits de la France, quelle chance de pouvoir rencontrer plusieurs producteurs dans un seul endroit en même temps….non ? Il faut dire que j’ai souvent l’impression que ces marchés rassemblent les producteurs des produits qui sont chers et “sympas” (bons pour des “cadeaux”, mais pas vraiment des produits de notre quotidien)….et donc, c’était comment ??!? Effectivement, il n’y avait que des producteurs passionnés par leur métier (au lieu d’avoir des vendeurs des produits gourmands qui travaillent uniquement pendant le salon) et donc des questions sur le fois gras, les escargots, la rhubarbe, l’huile de tournesol et les tomates ont été traitées sans problème. Ceci dit, il y avait principalement des produits “gastronomique” (fois gras, charcuteries, escargots, miel, huiles et condiments), accompagnés, quand même, par d’autres plus “banal” (vin, jus de fruits, fromage). Une journée sympa pour la famille, mais pour moi (en tant que cuisinier débutant) dommage qu’il n’y avait très, très peu d’éleveur de porc / boeuf / agneau / volaille, aucun pêcheur, 1 seul maraiché (tomates) et aucun boulanger.

So there we have it for another year, the end of the 22 days of birthdays in our house (me the 20th April, Noé 28th April and today my wife)…..and quite frankly, we kept the best for last !!

Yesterday at 18hrs I was a worried man – just coming to the end of Noé’s birthday party (delayed by 2 weeks) and I still had nothing planned for my wife’s birthday the following day. However, it has to be said that on the present-front I am a lucky man (not just on the present-front either I hasten to add !!!) because my wife genuinely loves flowers…..and so it was that 1 hour (and a visit to the florist) later, I had a magnificent present waiting to be sneaked up from the basement and into the flat at 5 in the morning when the said birthday girl is fast asleep !

(apologies for the quality of the next 2 photos, even if I actually rather like the effect on the 1st one )

All that was required was a home-made birthday card to prepare and a couple of post-it notes (for each of the 2 small flowers that I had bought as separate “presents” to be discovered) to write.

The end result today was a delighted wife, me relieved and Paris bathed in glorious sun….and so a good excuse for a birthday picnic at the parc des Buttes Chaumont in the 19th in Paris, with friends Géraldine, Christophe (and their 2 kids, Emile and Anouk) and Estelle.

28th April 2008…my son’s 5th birthday, and of course, an opportunity to do some more cooking, though this time more like good ole’ home baking. So, the birthday cake this year was a chocolate version of the classic “fraisier”.

All the usual stuff – sponge cake (square), crème patissière with butter added, butter softened (en pommade), strawberries, syrup (for soaking into the sponge cake – I did orange flower syrup, but whatever you like I guess…couldn’t really taste it anyway !!!).

The different stuff – raspberries (for in between the 2 sponge layers), dark chocolate (70% – grated into chips and sprinkled liberally on top of the raspberries), cocoa powder (for putting in the crème patissière and for mixing with icing sugar and then dusting on top of the finished fraisier).

So…..the end product ??!?

…..any problems ?? Well, since I dusted the cake with so much cocoa powder and icing sugar, the writing (it’s meant to say “Noé, Happy Birthday 5″) simply didn’t stay put, and thus had a tendancy to “slip”……but what the hell, I think that the end result is almost “arty”….anyway, my client was happy, which the important thing (and there’s none left as I write – 1 day later !!).

Yep, I’m nearly there….the end of my CAP Cuisine will be upon me in 3 weeks exactly !! That’ll be the end of the first step towards my own restaurant.

Well the first bit of news is that I’m not stopping there. The overriding aim of me spending 8 months doing this CAP was to give myself a “test run” to see if professional cook was my “thing”. I have to say that the CAP has totally lived up to my expectations – the school has allowed me to build up the basic skills and to meet other people embarking upon a new cuisine career (my fellow students), whilst the stage (Fontaine) has given me a good feeling for what life as a cuisinier in Parisian kitchens is about…..and I like what I see.

In order to take the next step, I have to postpone my return to Capgemini…which I have managed to do this week since I have been given the go-ahead by my boss at Capgemini to take 11 months off on sabbatical (thus my contract remains intact should I ever want to go back to work, which is a great form of security).

So where am I at with my plans for life after my training and how is my current work in Parisian kitchens ?

Well, first off, the Parisian restaurants that I work in….I am still at La Fontaine Gaillon where I finish my “stage” in just over 1 week. My overall feeling is that this is a great place to spend the 1st 4 months of my cuisinier career, but the underlying frustration of not actually “cooking” during the service never goes away. I’ve loved working with the fish and some of the fantastic other products, such as some beautiful green asparagus, the very fresh “italian purple” artichokes and the magical flavour of the sea urchins (oursins). I feel more confident amongst the other cuisiniers, and I’m taking part a lot more in the general “banter” within the kitchen…..but I’ve never been able to become indispensible for doing one particular thing in the team (that said, the whole ethos of the team is that if one person isn’t there, others absorb his work). When I leave I will miss the team, their unassuming expertise and the “buzz” during the service. I would have liked to stay to get to the point where I feel in “control” during the service….that I know follow all of the orders coming in and anticipate all of the moves necessary to complete those orders. When I left today there were 150+ reservations for tonight’s service….I would have liked to be there.

The new thing is me working in a restaurant in the 13th arrondissement of Paris – La Zygothèque, and the chef / owner M. Noel. For an idea of what dishes are concocted in M. Noel’s cuisine, his menu is available on-line. We’ll see what happens here…..the idea is to work in a small restaurant (30+ covers) have more opportunities to work on the hot plate / stove. I’ll be there tomorrow night (my 3rd time), so fingers crossed that I continue to work my way towards cooking the main dishes. What I can say is that M. Noel has a good attitude to food, products and the customers, and he likes to share….so, if I stay it should be a good learning experience.

As for my life after the training course, there are 2 things which have happened this week,

So, all in all, I feel as though I’m making progress and that this desire to create my own restaurant in 3 years time is getting stronger and stronger in my mind and in my heart…..and what’s more, my family are becoming more and more involved in this whole cooking conversion !! The implications for me and my family of what I am doing and what I am trying to set in place are enormous…..

As I said in the title, one step for me and a giant step for the Family Quirke !!!!

OK, la fin de ma 3ème semaine de cette 3ème période à la Fontaine s’approche vite, et notamment, la fin d’une semaine de 2 coupures (qui n’est tjrs rien par rapport aux autres dans l’équipe qui font au moins 4 coupures sur 5 jours de travail !).

Je ne voulais pas écrire une tome sur le déroulement de cette semaine – suffit de noter que votre “apprenti chef anglais”…

Pour vous donner une petite idée de l’environnement dans lequel je travaille, ci-dessous 2 photos du “chaud”….

Enfin bon…je me lève dans 5h et demi pour ma dernière journée (cette fois-ci, “en continue”) de la semaine.

Bonne nuit et à bientôt.

D’abord……vous me manquez….enfait, je dis “vous”, mais je ne sais pas qui vous êtes. En tout cas, “mes pages” ont du mal à évoluer / avancer, mais j’y pense souvent……tout simplement, je n’arrive pas a trouver le temps en ce moment.

Alors, cette semaine était à l’image de moi – c’est à dire, ça commençait avec les doutes à la suite de qqs semaines un peu trop “tranquilles” au Zephyr le samedi…..après il y avait la réussite de mon travail sur le menu pour notre repas de Noël au Zephyr (on sera 15 – menu choisi pour 20€…soupe de petit pois, jambon sec et menthe suivi par Épaule d’Agneau au Potimarron et aux Oignons doux et terminé par la surprise du chef)……après il y avait les doutes encore après qqs difficultés pendant la formation…..et puis, je termine ma semaine culinaire avec une belle soirée au Zephyr (85 clients et enfin j’ai retrouvé le rythme d’une soirée un peu chargée !) et l’anniversaire de ma fille, qui aura 6 ans demain.

Donc, des hauts et des bas….mais je suis un peu comme cela…au moins maintenant je le sais, et donc quand ça ne va pas, j’attends la remontée de ma confiance qui arrive au pire qqs jours plus tard.

Les points clés de cette semaine ?

1) reconnaissance du volume de travail à compléter pour le CAP Cuisine (surtout pour un Anglais qui doit passer les épreuves générales parce qu’il n’a pas le BAC….même si j’ai largement le niveau….simplement pas l’équivalence)….environ 40 recettes à mémoriser (pas dans les moindres détails, mais quand même pas loin) jusqu’à présent, et peut-être 2 fois ça pour le nombre de techniques. A côté il y a aussi le détail de nos cours de Téchno Culinaire – depuis qqs semaines nous sommes dans le vif du sujet….les cuissons, les fonds de base, les liaisons, les sauces et leurs sauces dérivées…..énorme ! Je n’ai toujours pas complètement fiscelé ma stratégie pour travailller et enmagasiner toute cette info, mais je vais y arriver.

2) J’ai besoin de qqn du métier qui croit en moi – j’ai besoin d’un “mentor”, si vous voulez…..qqn qui va me montrer la voie et qui va reconnaitre que j’ai un bon avenir dans ce métier.

3) J’aime bien me trouver au coeur de la tempête (comme on dit en anglais), “in the zone” quand les bons de command arrive l’un après l’autre sans répit. C’était le cas ce soir pendant 1 heure, peut-être, mais cela m’a fait du bien – j’ai assumé. En même temps, je vois l’écart entre moi et le chef (il avait 8 commandes “à suivre” – donc en attente – et 4 en direct à un moment ce soir, plusieurs poêles sur ou à côté des feus, des choses sous le salamandre ou au four……et toujours le temps de me dire “n’oubliez pas le toast pour le fois gras” !).

4) salle de gym et café au Napoléon – mardi et vendredi cette semaine j’ai réussi à continuer ma “routine” de faire du sport et puis travailler au café sur les progressions (le plan d’avancement pour la réalisation de ma production culinaire lors de mes travaux pratiques).

5) l’anniversaire de ma belle fille, Jade…la plus belle petite fille dans le monde entier…..et c’est vrai en plus ! Il y a 6 ans je venais d’arriver en France et je galerais. J’ai beaucoup travailler pour surmonter les problèmes (au travail et dans ma vie personnelle), et je continue à travailler. Mais demain je vais prendre une petite pause lors de la fête (15hrs – 18hrs, si cela vous intéresse !) pour apprécier où j’en suis et où je vais.

Il faut que j’aille au lit – 03h22……

à bientôt,

Dom.

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