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Recipes, cooking lessons, tips, tricks, food blog, and more.
Recipes, cooking lessons, tips, tricks, food blog, and more.
Working in a professional kitchen is often challenging. That is part of the fun. Sometimes, the challenge is great. And meeting the challenge head on, and winning, is very satisfying.
1 May 2010
(3 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
Loading ...This is one of those memories that sticks with you for your entire life. That night presented a challenge that, had I had time to think, I would have turned down. Imagine this: Doing Baked Alaska for 250 guests, at the last minute!
For those of you who don't know what a Baked Alaska is, it is a dessert consisting of ice cream, covered by a layer of cake, itself covered by a meringue, which is then baked until the meringue starts to brown. The ice cream inside is still cold when you serve it.
On that glorious Saturday summer night at the Water's Edge Bistro in Huntsville, ON (now long gone), we were serving about 150 covers sitting both indoors and on the patio, as well as a wedding party of about 250 guests in the upstairs area. While I was technically the sous-chef, the chef had buggered off to Ireland for his sister's wedding and had neglected to come back... I had 3 other people in the kitchen with me: a line cook, a pantry cook, and the dishwasher. This was probably my 20th day in a row without a day off, working averages of 75 hours each week.
Everyting had been going smoothly. Busy, but no major hiccups, even serving the wedding party. As the evening was slowing down a bit, the manager comes in to the kitchen and looks at me, not saying anything. The conversation went something like this:
Me: What now?
Him: If I said "baked alaska", what would you say?
Me: No? Noooo!?! You're kidding, right?
Somehow, I knew he was about to tell me that we needed Baked Alaska for the wedding party. I don't know how I knew, but I did. He explained that the bride had mentionned baked alaska at the first planning meeting, MONTHS ago, and never mentionned it again. Obviously she'd thought it was agreed. Just as obviously, she hadn't read the contract fully when they signed. Still, what a bride wants, one must strive to provide.
The thinking gears got going in my mind. Usualy, making baked alaska is a matter of a few days. Including chilling the thing for 12-24 hours before you bake it. I had, at most, 30 minutes before having to deliver. I had a large glass container of egg whites in the fridge. I took the biggest metal bowl we had, put the egg whites and sugar in it, and started whisking the whole thing by hand on the stove while instructing other staff.
During that time, I was whisking a bit madly. I was standing on an upside down plastic milk crate, holding the metal bowl, and whisking. Splatters of egg whites going all over. I was told later I had a manic look in the eyes! I have no trouble believing that.
The waiter came back with the bowls of ice cream, at about the same time that the pantry cook came back with the frozen cakes. We turned the bowls upside down onto baking trays, and started patchworking the cake onto the ice cream. It did not look pretty at all. But it was quick!
After working the eggwhites for about 20 minutes on the stove, I had meringue. Scooped that into piping bag, and started decorating the cakes.
The dishwasher came back with his torch just as I was finishing to apply the meringue over the cake. Perfect timing.
I never baked these Baked Alaska. The meringue got its colour only through being torched. While I was on the second Baked Alaska, one of the wedding guests walked into the kitchen, thinking somehow it was the way to the bathroom!!! I think what she saw would have been a bit scary: There was I, bent over the Baked Alaska with a blow torch, muttering wildly, bits of meringue all over my face, out of breath, surrounded by my staff in no real better shape than I was.
We managed it. We delivered Baked Alaska to the wedding party, for 250 people, under half an hour. I washed my face, changed my hat, shirt and apron. Carried the nicest of the Baked Alaska to the head table and served to the bride and groom. She was SO happy. She never had a clue that she'd caused such drama in the kitchen. I kind of wish that reality tv wedding shows were such a fad then as it is now, and that the whole thing had been filmed!
I was still buzzing on adrenaline a couple hours later. The manager thanked me for saving his bacon. It is only the following day that it hit me what we had managed to do. Nearly 20 years later, I still smile at the memory.
If you are or have been a food service professional, do you have similar memories? What is the one "Mission Impossible" event in your carreer?
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If we're not willing to settle for junk living, we certainly shouldn't settle for junk food. Sally Edwards
Wow! What a terrific story! And an amazing accomplishment. Now *I* want baked Alaska...
Comment by: Heather in SF - May 1st, 2010 @ 18:54