Do You Know How to Turn an Artichoke?

The big Chef was at work today. This being my first day working with him. A quick bio on this Chef is that he is a CIA grad, worked at the French Laundry for 3 years, and is really responsible for this restaurant getting its Michelin Star. He is in his 30's, serious, and runs a taut ship. I walked in and said my hellos and got my cutting board to get ready to dive in to my parsley-chives-tarragon-chervil chopping routine when the Chef asked me if I know how to turn artichokes. "Yes Chef". But since everything is done a little differently in every kitchen, I asked him for a demo. He turned a perfect choke. In school, I would have to turn one or two for my practicals, but today I had to do a whole case. It was slow going, and mine were not as pretty, but the repetition allowed me to improve my speed and technique. I was told that the kitchen record is 20 minutes for a case...uhmm...90 minutes later, I was finally done. No new artichoke records were set today.



I was down for only a 4 hour prep today and would miss the service to allow me to have sufficient rest for my flight

tomorrow. Next I was given a bucket of lobster legs to shell followed by chopping some cooked rhubarb for the  Sous Chef. Next I helped the meat cook with his mis en place by trimming beans, shredding some potatoes and skinning fava beans. That was it. A short day.