Dinner parties.
I LOVE dinner parties!
I also love breakfast, lunch and brunch parties but dinner parties are special.
I love hosting them and I love going to them. How can anyone dread a dinner party?? Its pretty simple...it's food, it's people, probably a few drinks, and load of chatter, some of which is quality discussion such as politics and current events, and some that is mind numbing or flat out gossip about who's with who and how did they 'link-up'. Music hums in the background, random bursts of laughter and hands slapping knees as a hearty joke is told with impeccable timing.
A room can often divide with the amount of topics that fly across the space and more often than not I am the silent participant in the vocal tug of war. Observing and nodding my head when a valid point is made, even when I'm the guest, I will lovingly pour wine and refresh glasses as the table talk continues.
Dinner parties.
But every once in a while, (especially, when I'm NOT the host) then attention would somehow fall on me and the world's more vanilla question lands in my lap.
"So, what do you do?"
Yep, it's a pretty lame question. Frankly, we all do a lot of things. But it always revolves around one's profession. So I tend answer like this:
"Oh, well, I'm in F&B..."
Pause.
"F&B? So you're in food and beverage. Doing what exactly?"
Now we're getting into specifics.
"Well, sales at the moment. But I'm a chef by tra-,"
Another voice from across the room blurts out,
"What? You're a chef? Hun, did you know that she's a chef? That's fantastic!"
And so it begins...The slew of questions about food and cooking. And the politics stop, the banter becomes a bit muffled as I start to ramble on and on about the thing I love the most. Food & Drink:
So how do you stop chicken from sticking to the pan?
Preheat well, don't cook in a cold pan.
THEN add the fat.
THEN add the meat.
THEN don't try to move it
But what if it burns?
Turn down the heat a little. *duh!*
Allow it to brown
Browning is the universes way of making sure you know it's okay to flip it.
Natural non-stick indicator, trust it.
How many appetizers do you need to make for a party? I never know...
Depends, are you serving dinner? Or is it just cocktails?
Yes to dinner: 3-4 bites per person of light snacks, veggie platters work
Then do a hot app and then one other cold app.
Dips save a lot of headache. Master 3 good dips and you're sorted.
No to dinner: Be generous. At least 6-10 bites per person.
Dips, something baked, include a varieties of beasts - fish, chicken, beef
Vegetarian options. Ever tried making a bruschetta station?
This is my big save! Lots of bread, and easy to make in advance.
*next question*I'm on a roll!*
My chocolate chip cookies are always really tough...I want them to be chewy!
Don't mix up the baking powder for baking soda
Measure correctly. Don't 'cowboy' it.
Never 'cowboy' in baking.
Butter is expensive, you'll regret it.
How are you not like, HUGE? I mean, if I were a chef, I'd eat everything!
Chefs don't eat what they cook.
It screws up the food cost.
What makes us full is the act of cooking alone
Sounds deep and meaningful but its quite simple:
Ever get in your mind you really want to cook a dish?
Like you MUST prepare it and eat the whole thing?
You go out and buy all the ingredients, and not cheap ingredients...no no
We're talking VIP ingredients! Top shelf stuff!
Come home, cut and prep. You get excited!
By the time you've finish making it, you're so over it?
Yeah...that's us every day.
We'll take a pound of chicken wings with hot sauce and 2 colds ones from the shady pub down the way, thanks!
I just LOVE cheesecake, do you have a good recipe?
2 bricks of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Crumbs of choice packed into a spring-form pan with butter - blind bake for 15 mins let it cool
Whip all the other players up, pour it over the cooled crust
Bung it in the oven with a water bath to prevent cracking
About 30-45 mins at 350. Edge will be cooked but the centre will jiggle a little - that's all fine
Cool, then chill-chest
You're laughing!
Wait...wait...say that again?
What's you're email, I'll send it to you.
So...what's the deal with chefs and the attitude, why did you stop?
This is loaded. I usually say the following - Oh I still chef, I just do it at home now and focus on other aspects of F&B to build my career. That attitude stuff is just a bit overblown, it's really an individual thing. That's the short answer.
The real answer is this:
Why the attitude?
We work long hours in very close quarters with each other.
You get bumped,shoved, burned, cut.
Sweating and living off of coffee and eating over a sink
Dealing with untrained servers, and being short staffed
Low pay, high stress, again eating over the sink
Missed mom's birthday, can't make it to new years eve parties
I lost feeling in my left index finger 7 years ago
Ankles click when I walk and I had zero fashion sense for ages
Wearing a man's uniform for so long does that to you.
Haven't made time to go to the bank, still used a flip phone
Touch screens were just messy
Didn't do laundry on time, took to arriving to work extra early to sleep in my Mazda in the empty parking lot so to not be late. I also had with me a baseball bat as I slept...just in case
Ate over the sink yet again and drank that last bit of Merlot out of a chipped tea cup
Dealt with rage-aholics, alcoholics, drug addicts and sexist delinquents.
Got stuck in a walk-in fridge once, not cool - no pun intended
Been critiqued by "foodie" people who don't know the difference between a stock and broth, who were shocked that vichyssoise was served cold, and asked for their tenderloin to be served well-done! What the hell!? Reallly?! Well-done? Here's my shoe, eat that...
I look around at the raised eyebrows and the paused faces
No blinks. Just stares.
But I can julienne an onion without looking
Perfectly hard boiled eggs take less than 10 mins
I've saved wedding cakes and fed the homeless
I can tell when a fish supplier is selling me frozen salmon versus the fresh stuff.
Yep, the skills are still there!
But to answer your questions...why did I stop?
Truth is, I never did. No chef quits being a chef. They just hang up the apron and take off the hat.
They find a moment in life where cooking doesn't have to be a way to make a living, but cooking becomes how to be alive. You can take away a canvas and brush but the artist will continue to paint.
Food and Drink are who I am. I still eat over the sink and even though now I have a touch screen phone, I don't mind having sticky finger prints on there. And yes, I still pour wine into the closest cup I find.
Yes, I love a dinner party.
Cheers!
xo,
The Girl
