yesterday was my turn to stop being an observer and get into the thick of it all. I was stationed on the grill and the deep-fat-fryer, and since the day was Saturday, we were expecting a lot of late lunches, therefore, a constant flow of orders coming in all day.
Needless to say, that did'nt happen. The thing about line cooking is how you could be standing around, arms akimbo, while your mate at the saute or the salad station looks like he could use as many arms as a member of the Hindu pantheon. There's not much you can do to help him, especially if you know bollocks about his station. You'll just get in his way. The worst thing is, the situation could turn out the worst for you any second as well.
I had a steady stream of orders coming in, (think Queen and David Bowie) when all of a sudden, my computer let out a longish wail, and announced a screen filled with crazy orders. (think Cannibal Corpse) I had to cook off things that took 15 minutes on the grill and 3 minutes in the fryer and 7 minutes in the oven and so on in one go.
surprisingly, my heart did not sink, even when the sous-chef looked at my screen and offered a sympathetic look. I took it all on, and I got it all done. Not as perfectly as the older guys, not as fast, but still good.
It is a good sign, when you don't feel like a total blithering idiot at the end of the day, and you are satisfied with the way you performed.
Needless to say, that did'nt happen. The thing about line cooking is how you could be standing around, arms akimbo, while your mate at the saute or the salad station looks like he could use as many arms as a member of the Hindu pantheon. There's not much you can do to help him, especially if you know bollocks about his station. You'll just get in his way. The worst thing is, the situation could turn out the worst for you any second as well.
I had a steady stream of orders coming in, (think Queen and David Bowie) when all of a sudden, my computer let out a longish wail, and announced a screen filled with crazy orders. (think Cannibal Corpse) I had to cook off things that took 15 minutes on the grill and 3 minutes in the fryer and 7 minutes in the oven and so on in one go.
surprisingly, my heart did not sink, even when the sous-chef looked at my screen and offered a sympathetic look. I took it all on, and I got it all done. Not as perfectly as the older guys, not as fast, but still good.
It is a good sign, when you don't feel like a total blithering idiot at the end of the day, and you are satisfied with the way you performed.
P.S - the restaurant offers employees the option of eating in the establishment for half the price, and day before yesterday, I decided to luncheon there after my work was done. All I can say about the food is, that I felt like I had swallowed a portion of vomit-inducing rubber. OG is definitely THE place to go if your idea of Italian food is something so overly seasoned, and so saturated with cheese, fat and salt, you can feel it coming out of your pores.
Music-Gustav Holst-The Planets suite - Mercury, the winged messenger
1 comment:
Good stuff!!!
One warning -- don't bite the hand that feeds you. Disguise the company name, because they can fire you over posting stuff like this on the Internet; you might think only a few people read your blog, but it's syndicated on Google, etc., and fair game for anyone randomly searching.
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