Job Hunt - Trail #1

It’s called trailing. How chefs and restaurants court.

Wednesday I spent 13.5 hours in the kitchen of Blue Hill in Stone Barns – a one star Michelin kitchen. Under the direction of Dan Barber.

Arriving at 11:30 a.m. I changed into my uniform. Was given the ten cent tour. And put right to work.

I was first assigned to Alex, chef de partie – grill station. Service didn’t begin until 5 p.m., so it was nothing but prep work. Alex had trimmed pork chops, chicken breasts and oysters – the little piece of meat just north of the thigh – and bellies of pork and lamb. My job was to put them in plastic bags, season with either olive oil or cream and fresh herbs. And hermitically seal. This was easy enough and slightly monotonous.

Finally getting my hands dirty. I prepared boneless chicken wings. Using garden-shear-type cutters I cut the mid-section from the wing. And pulled the bones out. Alex seasoned with salt and pepper. I added a bit of olive oil. Into a plastic bag. And sealed.

My final main task at the grill station – for the moment – was preparing calf bone marrow. Presented with a tray of over twelve feet that had been sawed in half – exposing the marrow. I was to take the bone out – with marrow in tow – and clean. Free of any attached ligaments, skin, or meat.

This was the hardest, and most physical, task that I have ever done. Alex needed twelve perfect bones. I felt like it took me six hours – it just might have. I cut. And scraped. And wiped. And pulled those pesky bones for hours. Barely surviving by the twelfth bone.

As I was flaring my boning knife around. I thought, just don’t cut yourself. How embarrassing would that be? As I fatigued near the end I barely nicked my left middle finger. I held my breath and repeated in my head, please don’t bleed, please don’t bleed.

It bled.

Secretly wiping the blood from time to time I was able to get pass without any medical attention. Or even a band-aid. It was more a paper cut than anything.

Serving a general dining room as well as a private event space, the kitchen was buzzing by service time. Leaving Alex to grill and roast meats. I stepped over to the private event station.

First I plated small canapés for cocktail hour. Then assisted the other three chefs plate each course. Starting with roasted asparagus, candied apricots, and pistachios. Followed by crab salad with rhubarb and pink tapioca salad. And the main course was pan seared pork tenderloin, passed with sautéed bok choy. By the time they were plating dessert I was back helping Alex.

More plastic bag sealing. This time; clove, black peppercorn, salt, variety of dried herb marinated pork bellies. And lamb bellies that were simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. I was just happy I didn’t have to go back to bone marrow.

As the night progressed I accomplished a variety of other tasks. Draining the day’s chicken and veal stock. Labeling bags. Dicing herbs. And cleaning. A good spectrum of what it would be like to work in fine dining.

By the time the 29 private party and 100 – or so – general guests left. The kitchen began to calm down. It must have been around 12:30 a.m. And Chef Dan Barber called the nightly meeting.

Chef with all his chef de parties discussed the evening’s happenings. Both good and bad. Smiling at the good. But focusing on the bad. Brainstorming how they could get better. More efficient. And cleaner. Chef was forceful and straightforward. He called chefs out for not living up to standard. But can you blame him? He has a serious kitchen to run – Michelin stars don’t come by easily. I respected him more and more as he led his troops.

A bit more cleaning of the stoves, counters, and floors. And by 1 a.m. I was walking out the door to head home.

It was an exhilarating day. I learned about cooking, but also about myself. I will admit that working in a fine dining kitchen is a lot harder than I expected. But I loved it. I loved having a knife in my hand. Wearing a chef coat. In the heat of it all.

Still unclear of my exact path after graduation, I want as many experiences as I can get. To help clarify my future.

Where to now?