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Showing posts with label Journey of a chef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Journey of a chef. Show all posts

6 May 2014

Manning The Egg Station - Eggs Eggs Eggs


Have you stayed at any hotel which serve breakfast buffets before? Be it complimentary or not?

If yes, there would be a high chance that the hotel would have a station where you could 'order' your eggs anyway you like. Of course I meant the standard ones and not the sous vide to whatever degrees celsius kind or eggs benedict. Those half boiled, soft boiled and hard boiled eggs can be requested and were done in the kitchen of course.

Anyway, I got the chance to mend the egg station for breakfast before and it was my virgin experience preparing those eggs ala minute for people. At first, it was really nerve wrecking for a newbie like me. But then, practice makes perfect and I focused on whipping up perfect omelettes and fried eggs for costumers instead of rushing through the cooking process. Speed of course was another issue depending on the crowd. 

There are many ways to cook an egg but I shall just list down the common types of specification in which people would want their eggs to be cooked.

'Fried' — eggs are fried on both sides with the yolks broken until set or hard. 

'Over well', also called 'over hard' or 'hard' — cooked on both sides until the yolk has solidified. 

'Over medium' — cooked on both sides; the yolk is of medium consistency and the egg white is thoroughly cooked. 

'Over easy', also called 'runny' — cooked on both sides; the yolk is a thin liquid, while the egg white is partially cooked.

'Sunny side up' — cooked only on one side; yolk is liquid. The egg white is often still rather runny as well. 

Omelet  very lightly scrambled in the fry pan, but cooked flat and rolled up.

Not to forget, Chinese people would normally say 荷包蛋 (he bao dan) which means 'pocket eggs' in translation. It is just fried eggs that are folded and fried to a desired consistency. 
  

There are strange people with unique requests, even when 'ordering' eggs.

I came across a person who requested an omelet with 5 big spoonful of diced onions, capsicums and tomatoes each. He mentioned that he loved vegetables and he requested the same serving for the following 3 days. I felt like I was making a vegetable roll instead of an omelet for him.

There are also health conscious people who requested no oil on the pan. The moment I heard the word no oil, I was like 'O shit'....high chance the egg (especially the omelet) would stick to the pan!

Some would request only egg white omelet. An evil though just came in mind - I should request that in future to bring inconvenience to the cook who prepares it for me! (Nah!)


Since I am still a newbie, I have experienced a few embarrassing moments before. Care to know what?

Firstly, I busted yolks while flipping the egg over. People may wonder why this chef can't flip an egg properly.

A couple of times, annoying people would just request their orders and walk away. This really can confuse the order especially when a few people does that at once. People! Please queue up... because some people
actually took others' order and left the explanation part to me.

Once, the kitchen serviette tissue that was used to wrap around the handle of my pan caught fire from the stove's flames. (The kitchen serviette tissue is to prevent the heat that transmitted upwards from burning my hand.) I quickly removed it and put out the flames by hand within a few seconds and threw it into the bin beneath me.    


Beside that, I really love it when people gave me compliments about my nicely done omelet or fried eggs!
No harm praising the chef who did your eggs in future right? It will make his day happier too!

2 Apr 2014

Graduated from At-Sunrice! Spice Odyssey 2014

This 18 months was like a whirlwind to me. I enrolled into At-sunrice and started my course almost 4 months after my army days. Even the pictures I am about to post felt like an aftermath of the whirlwind since I am at a loss of what sequence should I start my story line with!  

Every story have a starting as well as an ending. I shall begin mine with the layout of my group's given
presentation theme - Survival and Preservation. I further modified the concept to Kampong Survival and
Preservation of our Heritage so that it would make things easier. I present to you our layout that day of our
presentation! (Not the full layout actually)

My team that comprises of 3 pastry and 3 culinary students. With kampung theme, we dress kampung style! 

Another group shot sitting on the floor like kids! I wore singlet that day although I know I do not have a perfect body.
Who cares? I am known to dress anyhow as long as I am comfortable with. Note: For hygiene purpose, I
did shave my armpit hair the day before.  

A selfie playing with a paper kite that day. Although badly taken but no choice as this was the
only picture my friend sent to me....

My Orh Nee Roll which is my own rendition of the popular Teochew dessert. Shall post the recipe next
time. Really survival looking right?

We had to pack some door gifts for our guests and we bought some of these really old school toys and
candies! Remember these? We also bought some other toys like five stones, paper balls and chapteh to
play with during our presentation (not shown here). We wanted our guests to walk down the memory lane
and re-experience the past. 

I know it looked quite cheapo in plastic bags but it is Kampung style! Each group was only given $100 to
spend on whatever props and stuffs we need for our presentation.

We had to present our concept and food 3 times to different batches of guests. We were only allowed
one invite each. Taken a photo with one of my close friend's wife when she visited my group for food
tasting.

My classmates! We all dressed accordingly to our theme that day. My dressing is definitely the most
'CUI'! LOL! 

My close cliquey of friends! 

Guys only shot! One of them went for smoke break I think...

Back at Sats, thank you chef for loaning me some of the equipment for my presentation! 

This is just a brief post and I did not have time to try my friends' food or to take pictures of other teams' layout/food. We all knew we did what we could and to happily graduate from our course, no matter whether we would want to continue this profession in future.

16 Mar 2014

Taking the path of a chef - 10 factors you need to consider before accepting the job as a chef

Singaporean
Alumni of At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy (Diploma in Pastry and Bakery Arts)
Date entered     : 24th Sep 2012
Date graduated :   7th Mar 2014

My days of being a trainee has ended and my job as a full time chef has commenced. This blog would be my space to blog about my experiences and journey to be a chef since I have decided to stray away from my design diploma and pick this challenging career after attaining my 2nd diploma.

Being a trainee for a year at any apprenticeship site has its peaks as trainees are just considered as a helping hand (and we hardly get screwed). I was allocated to this not-my-choice company by the school's administration and the feeling definitely, seriously sucks big time. I was constantly relocated to different stations where I get to learn the basics of production line and also where manpower is required. Since the company focused on mass production, I got used to producing huge quantity instead of quality food. Worst still, the travelling distance from my house to my workplace can add up to one and a half hours long. How I dreaded stoning in the Mrt and bus, reading from my bought-for-that-purpose Ipad mini and yawning from time to time.  

Just merely a year of apprenticeship, I felt that my story could go on and on. Dwelling about the past would be useless as right now, I should be focusing on the present.

About 2 months before my graduation, I have already started researching and hunting for my ideal job as a chef. Come to think of it, 2 months before is way too early and I think about 2 weeks before would be great.
As I mentioned, there are many factors which contributes to the meaning of ideal job and these are some of the common factors that you could refer to. (Provided that you also want to be a chef.)

10 factors you need to consider before accepting the job as a chef 

1. Cuisine of Specialty

Pastry, Bakery, Western, Chinese, Japanese, or even more exotic cuisines such as Mediterranean are different and special in their own ways. They could differ in preparation methods and the ingredients used. I am not the right person to describe in details since I am not specialized in anyone of them yet. The best if you could continue that particular cuisine and master it.

2. Location

I consider this quite an important factor since I have to travel to work 5 or 6 days a week in future. One worst case scenario would be travelling from my house to my apprenticeship site which required me to change from red line to circle line, to green line and taking a bus again to reach my destination. Another reason is that if you are late for work, you actually pay lesser for your cab fares due to the shorter journey. With shorter distance, you would not feel that demoralizing going to work and enduring the overcrowding transport system.

3. Pay

Money makes the world go round. For fresh graduates like me, with or without culinary experience or certificates, $1500 is already considered decent to start with. Some places' salary could be as low as $1200 and after deducting your CPF, you get peanuts (<$1000). Unless you want to consider migrating to neighboring countries with exchange rates twice of Singapore's currency. For some places, you do get tips as extra pocket money!

4. Working hours / Shifts

It is either a straight shift, split shift or even a midnight shift. (You get roughly about $200 more from a split/midnight shift.) Even if yours is a straight shift, it could be morning this week and afternoon the following week. There could also be plenty of OT (overtime pay) when it gets busy during festive seasons or during the holidays period.

5. Brand

The same reasons why people go for Gucci or Louis Vuitton, I also picked a quite-new 4 stars hotel to work in. I felt that it is more of a satisfaction issue if the name of the establishment is of a certain popularity and class. Sounds better for resume purpose too.

6. Company Benefits

Different companies may have slightly different benefits. From what I have heard, hotels normally have more perks than restaurants. Up to you to find out.

7. Laundry Services

For lazy people like me, I would prefer laundry services to be provided. At least there is one less thing to fret about - ironing my own clothes.

8. Excitement Factor

This sounds rather random. It could be helping out with some banquet, the restaurant importing some rare seasonal products from other countries or even an ultra hot lady keeps coming into the restaurant just to see you. LOL  

9. Learning Opportunities

A wide array of options from a menu that changes from time to time would mean more learning opportunities. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect!

10. Advancement Opportunities

I definitely would want to advance in my career and not stay stagnant. The chance to exhibit your skill is important, to prove your worth and not stay within 4 walls peeling potato for years. Promotion also means more responsibilities too.


Anyway, these points are just my personal opinion. Feel free to list anything I happened to miss out.
I can't guarantee I am able to stay in this industry throughout my career. Who knows? ...

8 Feb 2014

Helping out at a VIP Event @ Marina Bay Cruise Centre!


Just a little update - My last day of internship ended over a VIP Event located at Marina Bay Cruise
Centre. Fortunate for us trainees as it was our first outdoor event exposure that we get to experience,
instead of being enclosed within 4 walls of our production kitchen carrying out our boring routines.

Our job here as trainees would be to constantly refill the dessert spread whenever any desserts are
running low in numbers. The next few pictures would definitely make you salivate and desperate to dig into

the wide array of colourful petite portion desserts! I quickly snapped these pictures before the VIPs (about
800 pax) started swarming in with starving tummies.   

Some of the lovely desserts available!

Colorful background lighting as well as sculpture decorations to enhance the overall presentation of the
buffet line.  

More desserts! Too bad I did not get a chance to try most of them... I could if I wanted to, just that I did
not want such high amount of sugar intake in a single day.

Refreshing fresh cream with fruits! 

Different types of cheese, dried fruits, grapes and plain crackers.

Fact #1 - Do not be surprise if you see many people (ladies especially), going directly towards the dessert
             spread before having their main course. 
Fact #2 - Macarons were the first to be completely wiped out, including the countless trays of spare which
             I had to refill constantly throughout that evening.
Fact #3 - Some ladies really could eat up to 12 pieces of macarons (more is highly possible).
Fact #4 - Desserts could be ladies' main course instead.
Fact #5 - Top favorite macaron and first to run out was the nutella flavor (probably closest to chocolate
             flavor).  

The lighting was kind of dim, resulting in blurry pictures. Although it was from 1.00 to 10.30pm that day, I
went at 9.00am in the morning to help out a bit. The experience sure was a load of fun, better than being
stuck in a production kitchen (wanted to stress on that point again)!

21 Aug 2013

A kelong kitchen at Batam


Hi! Let me start this post with a panoramic view of harbourfront centre jetty!These photos were taken by
my newly bought Samsung WB800F camera from the electronic fair at Expo, a week before this trip (last
month). Bye Sg, Hi Batam!

I would prefer to directly go into my main point as I don't think I would want a 'travel' section in my blog.
More pictures can be found in my facebook album here, which I had already change the settings to allow
public viewing. By the way, this was the jetty to my kelong stay! 

After about a 15 mins rocky boat ride, the destination that came into view! I was like OMG....so cui r?

Bye boat, see you tomorrow!

Went to take a peep at my lodging and I went Omg again...

The place was rather beautiful and I tried hard to enjoy the nature and the fresh constant
gentle breeze as much as I could.

My first time enjoying and swinging in a hammock! It was so uncomfortable and my butt hurts after
that. I don't quite understand why everyone else enjoyed it.

Another panoramic view. It looked like 2 parallel corridors but actually it was just a straight line! 

The orangey hue which was caused by the setting sun. Such a beautiful scenery that I stared at blankly
for a long long time.

This was actually my favorite shot! When the sun goes down, it looked so romantic that I almost melted
down too! How I wished I had a girlfriend to spent the night with, admiring the vast blue sea and relishing a
bbq dinner with her. The fire has already started, dinner soon! 

Time to introduce you the kitchen! No fancy stoves or good storage place. Lucky no hygiene check or els
sure fail. You would not want to see the amount of houseflies hovering in here too.

The red container - Where fresh food were stored, chilled by ice for up to 2 days only.

Other ingredients...

The auntie who did all the cooking for us. I kept dropping by the kitchen since I got bored staring at the sea. I really felt like helping her! At least I help to stir a bit and serve the dishes out! Does that counts?

I am no minions from despicable me but I never say no to snacks! Banana for... 

Pisang Goreng which I tried frying them myself in the kitchen! All you need would be a simple flour batter
and hot oil. I ate 5 pieces as they were just so addictive - Crispy, light batter, a bit oily and sourish (65%)
sweet (35%) bananas! Sliced and fanned out for crispier texture!   

Went for a short fishing trip in a boat and I only caught a sea bream as they rest were caught by my
friends. Thankfully I caught only 1 as I could not stand the sight of the snagged fishes struggling in agony
with the hook piercing through their mouths.

Since this cute little fish was not confirmed to be edible and it was still alive, we quickly tossed it back into
the sea to resume its life. 

Some of the simple yet delicious dishes I had for lunch and dinner! Flower crabs that were fresh but little
meat.

Gong Gong shellfish which I tried for the first time.

Pulled the flesh out to savour and it was slimy! Ewwww, I really do not know how to appreciate such stuff.

Curry chicken with potatoes. The curry was quite good I must say!

Simple vegetable were crunchy and fresh.

Fish fried to perfection! Slightly crispy exterior and super moist interior!

Prawns in tomato sauce!

Another fresh vegetable dish!

Chicken drumlets and wings fried with sweet sauce resulting in a little charred surface.

A shot with aunty! Thanks for allowing me to help although I am a visitor on holiday!

Last but not least, a camwhore shot of myself in one of the many new shirts which I
bought!