Week three: the hot line

Yes, I spent a week with the chef at the hot line, and I am still alive! As a matter of fact I had an amazing week, what with my mom visiting and my daughter on school break... the weather was fine in spite of a few showers, the food was amazing, and I still have all my fingers attached. The icing on the cake was when Sara and my mom came over for lunch last Friday, I didn't want to make a big deal of it but felt I had to tell the chef, so the excitement was felt throughout the kitchen, and the chef graciously offered them the meal complete with champagne! I also got a voicemail from my counselor telling me she spoke to the chef and the pastry chef who were both pleased with my performance... I couldn't believe it, I've been feeling like such a klutz, getting aioli all over the chopping boards, confusing the hare juice with the venison juice (they look exactly alike if you ask me), using the wrong pans, the wrong instruments... what an incredible surprise and relief.
The sous-chef was also extremely supportive, patient and giving me a chance to try new things... although I got told twice that it was no place for a woman!

Garde manger

After a week in the pastry station (all in all six ten-hour days), I was sent to the garde-manger, where amuse-bouches, first courses, vegetables and cold dishes are prepared. I had no idea what a treat the pastry station had been, with its relative autonomy, it's micro-experimentation and innovative approach. So if that was heaven, then garde-manger is purgatory, a taste of what is to come next week (ie day after next) at the heat ("chaud" as they call it in French), where the chef reigns as sole master, flanked by the sous-chef (or "second" as he is referred to here).
As opposed to the pastry station, where there is time to anticipate orders as clients pour in, garde-manger is first in line since it produces the first plates to be served. One could say it sets the rythm for the rest of the meal, and at these prices, guests expect extremely prompt, if not immediate, service. So the week was busy, with little room for error and even less for creativity. Meanwhile the pastry chef kept surpassing himself with day after day of amazing creations, which have reconciled me with sugar, for what seems like an undetermined length of time. I also ended up burned and cut, nails tapenade-blackened, quite the kitchen mess...I wonder what next week has in store!