The Beginning of the Chef's Life

A chef's life is one not to be taken lightly. You can make or break yourself with just one meal. That is what would seem to cause the most stress but for me right now it isn't. What is stressful is barking on a new journey as a chef. It can be kind of intimidating being around everyone who has the chef experience.

My first day of externship was pretty okay. I don't have a lot of negativity to say about it. The Executive Sous Chef was very informative and patient. I walked in with a kitchen full of experienced people, some with degrees and some with none. They knew what to do and how to run the kitchen. I was under the leadership of the line cook for the day. She had to teach me while keeping up on her main tasks. They started me out on Prep; which for those who do not know is prepping the salad bar (making the cuts, prepping back up, making the dressings and sauces). There is more but I wasn't doing that at this time.

I didn't have to worry about the uniformed cuts I learned in school (as of now). They had a particular way of doing things. I was cutting cucumbers, onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. The Exec Chef gave me a tour of the facility, introduced me to everyone and had me to follow him around when the Sous Chef clocked out.

He then put me on the scariest task that you could put a person on their first day. I was on "expo" which is making sure the orders that were placed were presented correctly, in a timely manner, had everything that the dish came with and placed with the right ticket. Oh it was crazy and he had to run off and handle some thing important. I was all by my lonesome and just about freaked out. I got some of the orders out but I wasn't familiar with the menu and what it was supposed to come with so it didn't happen as quickly as they would have liked. However, all in all it was a good day and thankful for the experience.