Abercrombie & Feast

I’m baaaaaack!

Please forgive me for the extra long break from my beloved blog. There were a variety of really boring reasons that I wasn’t here for the past few weeks (The flu!  Christmas season crazy schedule!  Lots of takeaway!), but I’m back now.

And don’t worry, the story I have for you today is going to make it all worth it.  You’re all going to ask me to go away again, just to see if I can come back with something this cool a second time (spoiler- I can’t).

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.  Here we go.

I spent last Saturday helping to prep and cook in the kitchen of a Michelin starred restaurant.

I KNOW!  How cool is that???  It was my Christmas present from The Greatest Husband of All Time, and I loved every single minute of it.

I have to apologise for the lack of pictures.  Andy sent me off on Saturday with a fully charged and ready to go camera in my bag- but I got so busy and so wrapped up in what I was seeing that I totally forgot about the camera until I was on the train home at the end of a long day.  I felt like a total loser.

I can’t give you a minute by minute account (as much as I’d like to!), because we could be here until next Saturday.  So, I’ll hit a few of the highlights for you:

• I was the only woman in the kitchen all day.  There were waitresses in and out, but the cooks and chefs were all men in their late 20’s or early 30’s (I’m guessing on the ages.)  The “F” word was used a lot, which was fine with me as I have been known to drop an “F” bomb myself from time to time and I’m not really precious about that kind of thing.

• This restaurant makes EVERYTHING in house.  Even the crackers for the cheese are made in by the chefs in the kitchen.  I got to help with the bread-making first thing in the morning (pre-9am.)  I was thrilled to get my hands into the smooth, elastic dough so early in the morning.  I’ve never worked with dough that wonderful- mine is always a slightly sticky mess.  The chef encouraged me to not be so afraid of yeast.  We’ll see how that goes.

• You eat with your eyes.  The kitchen staff were fastidious.  They wouldn’t put together a plate of food without first wiping (the already clean!) plate down twice.  The final platings looked like art.  I spent most of my day in the larder section, slightly away from the heat and scariness of the big ovens and ranges.  Twice the chef in that section had to put together dishes “on the fly” for customers who couldn’t eat a certain ingredient, or who were waiting too long for their meals.  He just whipped up dishes that would take me days of thinking and planning… and my versions would still not be as lovely as the plates he sent out.  This was true of everyone in the kitchen.  These guys were artists.

• Quality matters.  I got to work with hand-dived scallops, foie gras, salmon, braised oxtail and other beautiful, very high quality ingredients.  Everything that went on the plate was considered and expertly cooked.  The chefs all treated the ingredients with a lot of respect, which was obvious when you tasted the food.

• The food was awesome!  Part of the package was a lunch for me, prepared by the chefs.  I had sea bream that was perfectly cooked, served with potatoes and bacon and yum yum yum.  It was lovely.  As were the rolls that I had helped with, which came out of the oven half way through my lunch and were served to me still hot.  Heaven.

• The kitchen crew were SO nice!  I know that I must have been all kinds of annoying and in the way whilst the guys tried to do their job quickly, neatly and well… but they never stopped being kind, explaining what they were doing, asking me to put little garnishes on the plates, letting me taste sauces and generally being as welcoming as possible.  It made me think, would I be as friendly to someone who came along for the day just to “watch me do my job?”  I think I might just view them as an annoyance, and I’m sure I was one(!), but they never made me feel like I was in the way… unless I was actually in the way, then they asked me nicely to scoot.

• I was exhausted at the end of the day!  I didn’t even stay all the way through dinner service, but when I sat down on the train at 9pm I was totally knackered.  It is hard work!  On your feet all day, moving around at a fast pace, concentrating and doing small, precise work.  I was worn. out.

Those are just a few quick observations that I made during my day in the kitchen.  I really did have a wonderful time.  I always say that I’d rather have an experience than a gift… take me on a walk, to dinner, to a concert, to a museum, to France…anything.  This was honestly one of the best “experiences” I’ve ever had.

And, as I told Andy, I am going to be COMPLETELY insufferable now. Don’t even think of questioning the food I make… I’ve cooked in a Michelin starred restaurant!  “There’ll be no living with her now.”