Finally.. get the chance to go online after a month ! imagine that ! a month ! well basically the stuff i wrote below were the things i did in the past 6 weeks, tell you guys out there in detail after i get back.. Peace !
Week 1 – Pastry
The 1st day in pastry I get to meet all the staffs and the pastry chef, Chef Taib in person. Not wasting any time, I got assigned to work immediately. The 1st day, I learned how to make chocolate cookies and sweet dough. The 1st night was pretty interesting, I get to manage the apam balik stall, its my 1st time in 19 years of my life that I get to try making one of my favourite night snacks back in my hometown. Throughout the entire week, I made ice cream, cheese cakes, sponge cakes and I even got the chance to decorate a birthday cake for a guest. In between the rest times I got to know the baker, Zamri, a very friendly guy and eager to share his knowledge in baking. I got the chance of making soft rolls, French loafs, croissants, and others too as a side for the soup of the day. The best of all is I have the chance to make my own bread, I get to put any ingredients I want in the bread, and it turned out beautifully !
Week 2 – Cold Kitchen
1st day, met Sam and Kak Nor, both are from my hometown, what joy ! communication aint a problem at all for me as im quite fluent in speaking my local dialect. The 1st thing that Sam thought me was how to handle and plate the fruits at the buffet. He too thought me to set the buffet, its like which type of food goes to which side of the buffet line. Throughout the week, I’ve learned to prepare fruit baskets, fruit platters for private functions and events as well. preparing salad dressings and plating salads is a must learn when entering the garde manger, I’ve made a variety of dressings for the buffet and ala carte menu. Fruit carving totally captivated me, another staff, Kak Za with her 14 years working the cold kitchen demonstrated her talent and skill by carving watermelons and papayas for display purposes at the buffet, I too get to try my hand at carving, but I still need lots of patience and practice to master it.
Week 3 – Commissary
3rd week, commissary. There’s nothing much to learn here as peeling and cutting vegetables are our routine work everyday, Kak Bella is nice to show me the types and varieties of new vegetables and faster peeling techniques.
Week 4 – Western
Week 4, western kitchen. Finally ! im out of the cool and sheltered areas of the kitchen and straight into hell (its very hot here !). Like any part of the kitchen, I totally feel at home here. Learning to grill, roast, poach, fry, blanch, the first hand experience is totally different from what you learn from college and the text books. The best part is yet to come, I get to carve roast chickens for the guests during a Saturday BBQ dinner and I received a compliment from a guest too ! Along with Abang Maidi, we made 2 weeks amount of brown stock as the cargo we ordered never arrived. The entire process was painstaking ! The bones, total of 5 inserts full, along with other vegetables and herbs were roasted bone dry to release all their flavors and to give color to the stock. After roasting, all the bones are placed in the biggest stock pot we can find, along with a can of sauteed tomato paste. Everything is covered with water and boiled of the whole night. The end result is totally worth it ! it’s the best stock I’ve ever tasted in 19 years of my life ! Hahaha, the stock is used in every possible sauce in the western section, and till now, we still have enough stock to last for days !
Week 5 – Asian
Week 5, curries curries and more curries. Hahaha, the variety of herbs and spices are astonishing, and in almost every dish, blended red chillies are being used. During the whole week here, I get to learn lots of new recipes and ‘secret’ techniques in asian cuisine. The menu changes daily, so I get to see and experience the entire process from preparation to the finish product. Rice is a staple in our daily diet, and there are more than 10 ways of preparing and cooking rice ! Just amazing how diverse can a simple grain of rice be, and the condition of the cooked rice can make or break a meal.
Week 6 – Beach Restaurant
Finally, the last week in kitchen. Delays after delays, I get to work in the beach restaurant. The beach restaurant is a semi-fine dining restaurant, so everything on the menu is served individually and of course, pricey. Loads of attention is given to each dish to suit each customers taste and needs to make sure it is satisfaction guaranteed. Well, you pay for what you get right? The restaurant caters a variety of choices of food, such as Western, Japanese, Indian and Thai. For the 1st two days I was working in the Western section. Pasta, lasagna, steaks and soups are prepared daily. Later, I went on learning Japanese, I get to try out making all the stocks and soups for the meals. Chances were given to me to make my very own sushi, looks abit weird at first, but quickly I’m getting the hang of it. After this I might come back to the kitchen for a couple of weeks, I hope, to further my experience in Japanese cuisine. We have an in-house Japanese Chef. He is a local malay, but he started working in a Japanese restaurant since he was 14! Imagine all the knowledge and experience he has, can’t wait.. Last night, we were the lucky few to have the chance to plate dishes for a wedding held in the resort. The whole event is a small scale event, only 74 guests were invited. But still, the preparation, plating process is still chaotic, the Chef was screaming like crazy, maintaining the flow of the food being sent out. The wedding dinner lasted for about 2 hours, exhausted but satisfied, we cleaned up, packed and got ready to go back. What a day to end my kitchen days.
