I used to do
difficult interviews. Frankly, almost always I had already decided who I was going to hire beforehand and was only
conducting interviews to keep the management off of my back. Hell, most of the time I even knew when we
were going to have a vacancy, because as Chef, I would decide who I was going
to make quit and when. Sometimes we
would bet on it. If it was clear that a
cook was not going to cut it, me or one of my Sous Chefs would turn up the heat,
increased responsibility, more prep, impossible expectations, dangerous working
conditions. I’m sure that some still
bear the physical scars. Normally that
cook would get the message and find another place to work. Rarely did it come down to confrontation, at
least in the better kitchens.
When we
needed a cook, I’d make a couple of calls to my Chef buddies around town. Most of the time another guy would have a
cook who was ready to move. If that
young cook had learned all he could from Chef A, he would get a blessing and
move on to Chef B seamlessly. That way
I, as Chef B, would get an apprentice who was motivated and had some
skills. I would know his strong and weak
points, also his psychological triggers, which is very important in a high
stress business. That was our
system. It benefited everyone. The Chefs got trained cooks, the cooks got
trained. Wages were kept down, because I
could always point out to the new cook that they were getting a fantastic
opportunity (to work for ME) even though they had such paltry skills.
It worked
out great, at least until management stuck their heads into our perfect world. At some point in the 1990s, the restaurant
managers, as one, seem to have decided that you would have to interview four
candidates for each open position. They
reasoned that since the Restaurant School, New England Culinary and the
Culinary Institute of America were churning out cooks, we should do our best to
get the pick of the litter. Their
reasoning was based on the flawed premise that these schools were actually
training cooks that could step right in and be a help. Don’t get me wrong, some very talented people
came out of the culinary schools, particularly the Restaurant School in the
early days, however the vast majority of them had gone into the biz with no
experience and graduated unable to cook in the real world. Many became food stylists.
I didn’t
have time to do all these interviews, so like my brother Chefs, I just
continued incestuously trading cooks around with my friends and conducting sham
interviews. I would ask questions like, “What’s
your favorite hand gun?” or “Maddox or Mantle?” then tell them to make lunch
for my staff in order to give my guys a break.
One cook saw through this charade.
I told him to make dessert for the staff dinner. He responded, “Yes, Chef!” Then proceeded to rummage through the stale
bread bin. I almost forgot that he was
there until about an hour later he presented a bread pudding with a hard sauce
that was among the best I had ever eaten.
Additionally, he gave me a cost breakdown showing that each portion
which I could serve for $7.25 would only cost the house $.85, almost pure
profit.
Jerry got the job and I never
let the staff eat up the bread pudding. I put it on the menu that
night.
_____
Bread Pudding
(serves 12)
10 cups
bread, torn into ½ inch pieces
6 cups whole
milk
6 eggs
3 cups brown
sugar
1 tsp.
vanilla extract
1 stick, 8 tbs.
unsalted butter
1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ c.
sliced almonds
Preheat the
oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 9”x14”x2”
deep baking pan. Put it in the freezer
so that the butter sets.
Tear the
bread into ½ inch pieces. Set aside
while you make the batter. Mix the
milk, eggs, 2 cups of brown sugar and the vanilla extract in a large mixing
bowl
Add the
bread and let it soak up the batter.
Remove the baking
pan from the freezer and rebutter it, leaving a 1/4 inch coating that will prevent
sticking and brown the sides and bottom of the bread pudding. Return it to the freezer until you are ready
to bake.
To make the
crust, combine the flour, almonds, one cup of brown sugar and 3 tbs. of butter
in a medium sized mixing bowl.
With your hand, blend in the butter, mixing it with the other ingredients until it is completely incorporated and the crust looks even and sandy.
Sprinkle the
topping evenly on the bread pudding. Put
it in the oven and bake at 325°F for 45 minutes. At that time, the pudding should have just
begun to brown and set.
As soon as that
happens, increase the temperature to 375°F and bake for an additional 20
minutes, until the topping has browned evenly and a knife inserted into the center is clean when removed.
Remove from
the oven, allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting and serving with the Orange,
rum cream sauce outlined below.
_____
Orange,
Rum and Cream Dessert Sauce (serves 12)
3 navel
oranges, peeled, juiced
1 c. brown
sugar
2 c. water
3 shots of rum
(one for the cook, two for the sauce)
1 ½ c. heavy
cream
Peel strips
of orange zest. Try to get as little or
the white part of the peel as you can, however don’t worry too much. A little adds an interesting bitterness to
the finished sauce. Slice the peel into
thin strips. Juice the oranges.
Put the peel,
sugar and 1 cup of water in a small pan.
Bring it to a boil. Reduce it to
a glaze. Heat the cream in a double
boiler.
When the sugar
and peel mixture has reduced, add the second cup of water and the orange juice.
Bring it back up to a full boil, add the rum.
Flame off the alcohol. Again, reduce to
a glaze. This procedure will fully cook
the peels.
Add the
reduced flavorings to the cream, mix thoroughly and allow the sauce to reduce
and thicken slightly for the next thirty minutes.
When serving, pour the sauce onto warmed
plates, center a piece of the bread pudding and place a few peels on top of the
pudding. It is better to avoid pouring
the sauce on top of the pudding. Didn’t
you work very hard to make a crispy crust?
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