GIVEN A DUTY TO PROOF OUR SELF'S
The first month of our apprenticeship was exciting, new, different to everything I never done before. In that first month I was given the opportunity to proof that cooking is going to be a trade that suits me. Vise versa, for the Hotel and the Executive Chef, that month was for them to get to know me and see if I fit in professionally and socially. Kind like a trail period. After that first month I was now officially a first year chef apprentice of the Hotel Holiday Inn, Zurich Airport.
The second month the initial training began. From that moment until 3 years later, I was going to be trained as a Chef.
On of the first lessons would be a lesson I would use every day till the last day I work in a kitchen. In every trade, not just chefs, workers have duties, responsibilities and obligations. No matter which job, trade, qualification or skill, responsibilities and obligations are part of the package. Our own life has responsibilities, duties, obligations, no different to the work life.
My first duty as a new chef apprentice was to get the vegetable and fruit delivery signed off, checked for quality, weight and quantity matching the invoice. After that I had to bring the delivery into the kitchen and put everything away. The invoice I dropped off to the Executive Chefs office. Every day I was working in the production kitchen, my duty was to take care of the vegetable and fruit delivery every day.
I also got to see prices of the vegetables and fruits. The Executive Chef would walk up to me and ask me how much a 10 kilo gram brown onions was. On a different day he would ask me the price of the strawberries and how many where delivered this morning. These are all questions he could check on the invoice, but the whole idea was to make us getting use to numbers and to remember what was delivered that day. Also product knowledge, I had to learn every single food item in existence, especially in our hotel.
The next month I had to take over the fish and seafood delivery as well. We had a fish and seafood delivery every second day.
As time progressed, we where given different duties and responsibility's and harder challenges.
Every month, the stock take was part of a monthly check list of how much stock we hold. This is done to have a starting and finishing date on all stock (your meats, vegetables, fish, seafood, fruits, sweets, dry goods, oils and all cooked and precooked foods. Every satellite kitchen had to do a stock take as well. Every single food item is placed on scales and the weight is written down. Other food items are counted and the amounts written down. The stock take is a control mechanism to see where the food cost is and how much money we spend and how much money we take.
When the stock take took place, we apprentices where always involved. One of the chefs would have a reprinted list and he would then call out for example, potatoes. We would then get all the peeled potatoes and whole potatoes, including the one we cut up before and place them on the scale. Then we would reply with the weight of the potatoes, like 56 kilo grams. That same process would happen with every single food item in that kitchen. Everything counted to the last bunch of parsley.
I knew, that having duties and responsibilities is part of a successful teamwork. That will never change.
Next week you will read about our Staff Party before Christmas. Have a fantastic week and enjoy fine food.
My first duty as a new chef apprentice was to get the vegetable and fruit delivery signed off, checked for quality, weight and quantity matching the invoice. After that I had to bring the delivery into the kitchen and put everything away. The invoice I dropped off to the Executive Chefs office. Every day I was working in the production kitchen, my duty was to take care of the vegetable and fruit delivery every day.
I also got to see prices of the vegetables and fruits. The Executive Chef would walk up to me and ask me how much a 10 kilo gram brown onions was. On a different day he would ask me the price of the strawberries and how many where delivered this morning. These are all questions he could check on the invoice, but the whole idea was to make us getting use to numbers and to remember what was delivered that day. Also product knowledge, I had to learn every single food item in existence, especially in our hotel.
The next month I had to take over the fish and seafood delivery as well. We had a fish and seafood delivery every second day.
As time progressed, we where given different duties and responsibility's and harder challenges.
Every month, the stock take was part of a monthly check list of how much stock we hold. This is done to have a starting and finishing date on all stock (your meats, vegetables, fish, seafood, fruits, sweets, dry goods, oils and all cooked and precooked foods. Every satellite kitchen had to do a stock take as well. Every single food item is placed on scales and the weight is written down. Other food items are counted and the amounts written down. The stock take is a control mechanism to see where the food cost is and how much money we spend and how much money we take.
When the stock take took place, we apprentices where always involved. One of the chefs would have a reprinted list and he would then call out for example, potatoes. We would then get all the peeled potatoes and whole potatoes, including the one we cut up before and place them on the scale. Then we would reply with the weight of the potatoes, like 56 kilo grams. That same process would happen with every single food item in that kitchen. Everything counted to the last bunch of parsley.
I knew, that having duties and responsibilities is part of a successful teamwork. That will never change.
Next week you will read about our Staff Party before Christmas. Have a fantastic week and enjoy fine food.
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