Week 3 of being a chef

Monday was a float about day, I worked in the cold kitchen but I also cut up veggies for chef William's oven roast.  I made chicken mayo for my station since the hot kitchen used up my mise on place.  I also made sandwiches for the creche which is part of a community outreach project that Sondela has underway.  The staff village has a small classroom for the working parent's children, the kitchen the provides them with porridge for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.  This will happen Monday to Friday.

Today I was assigned to the hot kitchen, I made bacon and fried sausages but I had to leave my station to help Tarine who was at the old kitchen but her partner was absent and she was having a difficult time.  During the lunch our whole system crashed in the cold kitchen since the mise on place wasn't done correctly, leaving us to run out of ingredients for side salads and the fillings of sandwiches.

Once again I was on duty in the cold kitchen along with Pieter.  We were also in charge of the scullery but we made turns to attend to the dirty dishes.  I went to hot kitchen to help deep fry the vetkoeks.
This was the day I talked to chef Edward about the course and I told him that I wasn't very comfortable in the kitchen since I was scared of boiling water and hot oil that spatters since I had burnt myself once, throwing a pot of steaming water over my body.  So understandable that I would find it difficult in the kitchen.

This was the day that chef Edward forced me to work in the hot kitchen so I would come over my fear of the kitchen.  He made me light a gas stove and he made me stand next to a boiling pot of water and it wasn't that bad, I lived and I think being forced to stand face to face(pot in my case) with your fear and nothing happens, makes you less scared.

I can honestly say that I did enjoy the cheffing course, I didn't learn how to make souffle or some other weird food with a fancy name but I learnt a little more about myself as a person.  I am capable of more than I give myself credit for and it's time that I start believing in myself, because no one else is going to.

Week 2 of being a chef

Back from the off weekend, once again, I retreated to the scullery where I feel at my safest and most comfortable, for the whole day.


Wednesday, the three skill chefs which included myself, was in charge of the cold kitchen, this station makes the toasted sandwiches, the health breakfasts' and the salads.  We got the mise on place ready and we made our products for the whole day but it was a quiet day so we observed in the preparation kitchen how to make a pizza.  The important lesson of today, if you don't have anything to do, CLEAN, as we did.

Floated around the kitchen, getting supplies ready for a secret task which was finally revealed as a baking competition.  The only catch was that we weren't allowed to use an oven, yes you heard me!  We were allowed to use the flat top, 'spitbraai' and the old fashion pizza oven.  I worked along with Lorinda, we chose 2 breads, a Kolash and a breakfast bun with rosemary.  The verbal feedback wasn't too good but the physical feedback, well lets just say the breakfast bun was gone before the judges could actually judge it.

Our Kolash

Our breakfast bun

Friday, I made pancakes the whole day, literally from 11AM until 9PM.


Saturday I was assigned to the cold kitchen where I made sandwiches and salads for the whole day, I also fried bacon for the first time in the kitchen.  Kind of scary...

Sunday I was in the cold kitchen again and I can run it alone without anyone's help.

Week 1 of being a chef

Let me start off by saying that this is the course that I was least excited about.  Why you may ask? Well, because I can't cook to save my life.  Seriously, I've screwed up scrambled eggs...  And I solemnly believe that a souffle will fall down at my shear attendance.

So in some weird way, I was relieved that on our first day we didn't go anywhere near food but we got a feel at the other side of cheffing (the part that nobody talks about), the cleaning side!

We were sent to the training kitchen in the academy where the students occasionally get a chance to experiment and use their imaginations.  We were sent to clean this kitchen.  So the four of us did, Pieter, Arno, Tarine and myself, we scrubbed the kitchen, in a hurry since we could go home once we were finished, this was a mistake.  The chef was not happy that we didn't do a proper job so he sent us back to start from scratch.  He explained how to clean, FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, we were supervised and the kitchen was inspected, again.  Finally we could go home, just to return the next day, to face my worst nightmare, the main kitchen!  Luckily for me, again, I was in charge of the scullery for the day and I must admit, I got pretty good with cleaning dishes and cutlery.  I was happy but then I was called to help section boerewors into smaller pieces for hot dogs and I was officially scared.  This may seem silly to you as it could be really difficult to fail this simple task but I'm bad at handling failure.  BUT I didn't fail!  I was doing it perfectly!  I also got a chance to cut up some vegetables for mise on place, where chef William showed me exactly how to hold a knife and cut in fast paces without cutting off your own fingers.  We found that it would be more difficult for me since my ring finger is longer than my middle finger, making it difficult to fold all my fingers the same but I made it work for me.  Once again, we cleaned and each day, people are assigned to different sections that you have to check at the end of the day, clean up and make it look neat.

My third day was a seriously fun day, I joined Lorinda, Ruan, Chanel and Francois in the training kitchen where we told to make two different chocolate cakes.  We were allowed to choose our recipes and we chose a chocolate walnut cake and a chocolate fudge cake.  I observed mostly and I'm not talking about the cakes, I watched the different personalities collide, clash and mesh.  I watched the cakes a little too but mostly I learned what type of personalities I will clash with and wouldn't want to work with.

The next day I was a floater in the kitchen, watching all the different stations.  I worked a little in the bakery section, helping Maria to bake scones and mosbolletjies.  I also helped to bake pancakes for our welcoming the afternoon and I was quick to learn how to handle multiple pans and at one stage I could control all four pans but that didn't last long..  We cleaned up after ourselves and it was time for my off weekend.

Before melting

After melting

Chocolate Walnut cake

Chocolate Fudge cake