Month: May 2018

Claire Raposo
May 17 2018
I have a nickname now. Clairebear. Very creative, right? Actually I’m quite happy about it and I feel like a real part of the kitchen. Everyone else has stopped babying me as much and I’m allowed to just be given instructions and left alone. I was also offered coffee milk the other day, which was extremely gratifying. Coffee is the main signifier of friendship in the kitchen, as far as I can tell. Of course, everyone is friendly and nice, but who’s bringing each other coffee is how you can tell. Alex gave me an extra cold brew the other day and another chef offered me red bull which I politely refused because gross but it was a nice gesture. I definitely think most people in the kitchen have figured out how to use me by now, because I’ve had a million tasks and much less standing around, which was just a waste of an intern as far as I can tell. I’m learning the menu pretty well though, and I can make most of the salads and anything fried. I’ve also been roasting a ton of veggies, which is better than waiting for bread to rise. At this point I’m quite eager to do more things, and I think I might start serving during lunch service when there’s nothing for me to do, because the servers think they’re short staffed. I think I made the right choice with pastry though, because line cooks have a hard time, are constantly burning themselves, are at the mercy of the chef, and are generally stressed all the time trying not to burn themselves. I don’t think I’ll be able to end up like Collin, who has seven or eight pans going at all times but doesn’t even break a sweat, anytime soon. But even as I say that, I think I like the kitchen environment of camaraderie and I’m tempted to stick with thqt.

Claire Raposo
May 14 2018
Claire Raposo
May 14 2018
I am currently allowed to make stuff on my own. During lunch service I have been working the garnish station and fry station, all while making bread, which is proving very fun. Unfortunately, the new modernist bread focaccia we are trying to make is a little finicky and we’re on the 4th attempt today after letting it prove overnight. It’s ok though because I’ve been doing everything else. I smashed hundreds of potatoes yesterday, made sauces for the lunch menu, learned how to make hollandaise, and I’ve also been making more donuts. The salads are easy, and I’ve been doing a beet salad with red quinoa, a smear yogurt sauce, sherry vinegar, and frisee– and probably some other stuff I forgot. That salad is set up on the plate extremely specifically, with the yogurt on the opposite side of the plate from the eater and the salad set up in a flowing pattern. I also made fennel top puree, which is extremely delicious. Working in a restaurant is giving me a huge new palate for vegetables especially. In the last few days I’ve started eating and started enjoying squash, turnips, wild carrots, sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, and fennel, carrot, and turnip tops in various forms. I think there’s a lot of delicious veggies out there that I should probably learn more about.
I also have been reading about bread, not just making it. The Modernist Bread series is very detailed and I have yet to actually do one of their recipes perfectly, but I’ve learned a lot about the chemistry behind bread making and rich cultural history woven into any bread recipe. I’ve been using a water roux (cooking a portion of the flour and water together before mixing), which is an asian technique for keeping water content in bread longer so it stays fresh. Instead of using this on traditional Asian breads though, we’ve been using it with focaccia. It makes the bread fluffier and retains the moisture better. I’ve also been learning how to use bakers’ percentages, which are basically the only way to make bread in bulk without screwing up the measurements. Volume measurements have become the plague of my existence, and I’ve been entirely converted to using a scale for everything. Bakers’ percentages are how you write a bulk recipe so that you end up with the same result as a small batch, by calculating all the ingredients mass in proportion to the flour instead of their own volume. I guess this has been a crash course, and I think I’m getting good at making bread because for the last week I’ve been making all of the restaurant’s bread on days when I’m there.