Special requests and silliness

For the most part my job is pretty routine. I go in check the client menus to see what they have picked out for dinner, pack the picnic lunches for the next day and then prepare dinner. Pretty straightforward. During hunting season it gets a little more exciting since the lunch is a sit down affair and I'm feeding the guides as well as the clients. So a 19 client lunch turns into a 38 person lunch due to the guides. The cooking is pretty straight forward but the plating can get a little challenging. At dinner I serve the clients and then have a separate meal ready for the guides that want to partake of it. This year we're offering the guide meal as an option for the clients as well since last year there were some comments like "wow I wish I could have meatloaf instead of this perfectly cooked steak, or brilliantly presented quail."

Ok that wasn't the real comment but something to that effect.
The point is now the guide meal is a client option. We'll see how that works.

Any hoo, for the most part my cooking usually falls in to a routine.
Every once in a while, however I get to break the routine and cook some special thing for a client. This is where it gets fun. Some times it's a cake to mark some special occasion like a birthday or anniversary. You've seen some of those pictures like this one.

But the best requests for me are the savory ones, like we caught some trout so can you create a surf and turf platter for us. The end result being Trout for ways and a couple of ribeyes on a platter together like this.

Then there is the whimsical like this one.

In this case the clients were giving one of the guides a hard time saying that he would get spam for dinner. Earlier they had asked me if I could come up with a fancy way of serving spam. And so the end result was Spam Fricassee with a stuffed tomato. After a hearty laugh the clients then gave the guide his real meal which was a 16 oz medium rare steak.
On occasion the client will ask to have his catch or kill cooked for him or her as was the case last week when I was presented with a grouse. Unfortunately I failed to take a picture of the result but it was: Mustard crusted Breast of grouse with a Ballontine stuffed with Cranberry Relish served with grouse pan jus.
The client loved it and it was truly a great time cooking it.
I guess we'll see what this year's hunting season brings.

Reflections on a wedding...

As I sit here with my cool libation at the end of a marathon fourteen and a half hour cooking session, I am exhausted. The past three days have been nothing but intense preparation for the wedding that took place today in addition to my regular work load. Still I find myself satisfied and looking for the next marathon session that will inevitably come my way.
I have kind of a love and hate relationship with weddings. A wedding can be one of the most grueling challenges for a chef. At least if you take pride in what you do. I've known chefs who just view a wedding as another gig and mindlessly crank out mediocre drivel for consumption on one of the most important days in the life of a couple. To those kind of chefs I say,"What the Fuck!? Get your sorry ass out of the business."
From my viewpoint I think that is crucial that a chef showcase their best offerings for a wedding...within the constraints of the bridal party's restrictions. Ah...there's the rub. It would be great if we could create our best dishes and throw expense to the wind. Then the attendees would marvel at the exquisite talent and artistry that resides in the kitchen. "Ah" they would gasp, "We should eat here all the time. How did we poor culinary luddites come to be in the presence of this gastronomic genius?"
But the day is not about us in the kitchen. It is about the honorary couple. And that couple is often on a serious budget. After all the food is one in a myriad of expenses that are encountered during a wedding. Besides lets not kid ourselves, after the bride and groom, the freakin cake is the star of the show. How did a thing made from flour, egg, water, and sugar become the spotlight hog that it is? Did the bakers guild drug couples back in the day? I smell a conspiracy here.... but I digress.
Anyway, so keeping in mind that there is often a modest budget to work with and no one really likes to go "out there" for this kind of occasion. ( I don't think Uncle Manny and Aunt Theresa from Tucumcari, NM are going to understand Sake Braised Sweetbreads with Morel Foam and Soy Smoke)
The challenge is to make staples like Salmon, Chicken, Roast Beef and Lamb taste damn good in mass quantities on a limited budget. This can often be tricky not because these are difficult ingredients to work with but because a wedding always comes with a few quirky special requests. The bride has a gluten allergy but doesn't want to experience "Food Envy" so what can you do? The ceremony starts 45 minutes late and now you have to hold back service for an hour or so. Whatever it is the challenge always pops up. This is why I hate weddings. There's always some little thing that just makes brain want to exit from your head in the quickest way possible.
But if you just maintain a sense of zen and your belief that you have made the best meal you possibly could given all the challenges there is always a point where you experience the gratitude. Not from a random guest but always from someone directly involved with the wedding party. Could be the father of the bride, a grandparent, or possibly the bride and groom themselves; inevitably someone will pull you aside and say " you know this was great, thank you. "
I suppose it's kind of like the "nod" in the movie Groove.
That is why I love weddings.
They're a pain in the ass to prepare for, but if you do your best work there will always be a moment where you realize you made the Bride and Groom look like geniuses for picking you to host their event.
And after all isn't that what's its all about?

The Baker in Me

I have to confess. I really can't stand baking. At least that's what I have always maintained. I think it's the exactness of it. When I'm preparing a soup, sauce, or entree there is always room for improvisation. In baking everything has to be more or less exact. Otherwise there can be disastrous conclusions. And quite frankly if you screw up you may not have time to correct the mess before service. This is and the fact that I really enjoy the energy of the line are probably why I am averse to the role of the baker. I cannot, however, avoid baking altogether in my current position and so I have been forced to confront my inner baker with offerings such as these.
On the way I have found out that making tart shells is not as easy as I thought it would be. Pastry cream is not as hard as I had envisioned and ganache can be really fun. So perhaps baking is not as evil as I had thought. At any rate it's something I have to do so I might as well become as proficient as I can so it's not such a chore. Who knows maybe I'll really take the plunge and start making my own bread for the lodge as well. But let's not get too carried away.