Greek Food!

[Isa]

Congratulations Matthew!

[Matthew357]

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. My first night is past me and I have to say I'm more excited now than I was before going in to work, hopefully I'll be able to get to sleep.

The whole evening I felt like a wide eyed newborn, but I'm learning!

Matt

[KyleW]

Congrats Matthew!

[Matthew357]

Welp, day three has come and gone, figure I'll share a few random thoughts and musings.

My first is that I realized tonight how much I'm really enjoying this. Even though I was standing there with a table full of grape leaves that I had to get rolled into Dolmadikia (if you can ever try one of these do, they are, simply amazing) while at the same time four fish had just come back to be scaled, gutted and scored, and my back and feet were killing me, I was still (in the back of my mind at least) having a blast.

If you have to scale and gut fish, wear gloves, I learned how beneficial this is after I had torn my hands to shreds.

Knives are a valuable commodity, guard yours with your life. Swinging around a fish scaler like a deadly weapon seems to work. Also, when you really really need a steel, it will mysteriously vanish, when you don't need it, it will always be in the way.

If you had told me a week ago that I would be LOVING fennel and leeks, I would have told you that you were crazy. Now, I do really love them both.

Prassopitakia taste much better after you have made 200.

If the pastry chef stops at your station for a few seconds and you ask him if you are scoring the fish properly, much laughing will ensue as the Pastry Chef walks off.

Having the cook at the Grill station say "Good Job on that fish" is amazingly gratifying.

Even though I'm just doing the repetitive grunt work right now, I'm still loving every minute of it. Every minute I spend in the Kitchen working I am reaffirmed in my belief that this is what I really want to do.

Working in a three star (hopefully four after our next review) restaurant is everything I've expected and more.

Matt

[Athenaeus]

WHAT?????

You work in a three star Greek restaurant???

Oh well I should have know when you mention that you prepare prassopitakia!!!

Hey Mat, do you serve dolmadakia with a lemon sauce??

Hmmm You know Greeks are having the lent this period and instead of making the original domades they make the yalanzti (fake) ones. Just rice with a lot of onion and mint (to help you digest it

This one is served with yoghurt whicj is not allowed during the Lent but it's not as bad as meat

Tell me what else you serve?

[cape chef]

Dear Matt,

I just love your enthusiasism! It’s times like these (reading your post)
That I get a great big smile on my face. This is the type of attitude that is so refreashing.

It’s really hard sometimes to stay positive and focused on your goals when you are the new guy/gal on the block, but if you stay true to your heart, and work as hard as you absolutely can, you will succeed.

It’s obvious to me (and others) by your posts scatterd around the boards that you really want to learn and grow. What a pleasure for us to watch people’s development.

I would love if you could start a running journel of your expereainces for us.
A few have done this in the past and it’s a great tool and a lot of fun.

Once again Matt
Congratulations
CC

[momoreg]

Looks like you picked the right trade, Matthew.

[Suzanne]

Matt, reading posts like yours make me happy to work in this industry. Yes, learning is wonderful, food is wonderful, growing is wonderful.

BTW: what is/are prassopitakia?

[Nicko]

Matt,

Greek food is a great cuisine to learn it is my favorite. Everything is fresh and simply prepared. One of my favorite dishes at a restaurant I frequent here in Chicago is fresh roasted snapper with olive oil and fasolakia as a side.

Congratulations on the job.

Here is a tip on Greek cookbooks. The books by Diana Kochilias are very good. However if you want to get the real "from the heart" recipes find a local Greek Orthodox church and by one of the cookbooks that they ladies of the church put out. It will have everything you need and it won't cost much.

Also you haven't truly prepared Greek food until you have prepared Magaritsa (gut soup) or Kokoretsi (Athenaeus help me with the spelling).

[Suzanne]

There was a thread on Kokoretsi just around when I first got here last year (May? June?). Yum. Looking forward to the Ninth Avenue Festival just before Memorial Day to get to eat some again!

[Matthew357]

<<Hey Mat, do you serve dolmadakia with a lemon sauce??>>

I'm not sure how the Dolmadakia are plated. Hopefully if I can get all my prep work done early today I'll be able to hop over to the expo and watch some of the plates go out.

<<Tell me what else you serve?>>

Welp, the entrees are mostly fish, prepared simply with olive oil and lemon juice. Fagri, Tsipoura, Lavraki, Salachi etc. The Mezedes are Dolmadakia, Pressopitakia, Tzatzki, Taramosalata, Melintzanosalata, Htipiti, Kalamarakia Tiganta, Piperies Kai Antzouyies, Feta Epirou Psiti. Side dishes are things like Agriohorta, Melintzanes Domates, Patates Tiganities, Patzaria Me Skordalia.

<<BTW: what is/are prassopitakia?>>

Melted Leeks, Scallions, Feta Cheese and Dill wrapped in Country Filo Pastry and then Baked I believe (maybe fried, not sure).

Matt

[Shimmer]

Let me get this straight... you graduated from the CIA and can still admit you don't know everything? That's when the chef knew he'd found someone great!

Hee hee... take that last comment with a grain of salt. Really.

I think having someone come in who is excited to learn and full of energy is better than someone who has worked with Greek food before and thinks they know everything.

Never stop learning.

I agree, keep a journal, then you can look back someday and realize just how very much you have learned. It can be an incredible realization.

Sounds so wonderful! We're all happy for you!

~~Shimmer~~

[Matthew357]

<<Let me get this straight... you graduated from the CIA and can still admit you don't know everything? That's when the chef knew he'd found someone great!>>

Heh, I wish I had graduated from the CIA...not yet, though I do plan on attending in about a year or so. Though, I know that really won't change my prospective on everything.

I made a promise to myself a while ago that once I graduate from the CIA I won't take any job other than a line cook position at a good restaurant. Sure I'll probably get job offers to be a Sous Chef someplace or if I'm lucky even the executive Chef position...but honestly, doing those things that early would just be pretentious of me.

<<I think having someone come in who is excited to learn and full of energy is better than someone who has worked with Greek food before and thinks they know everything.>>

Heh, I don't think even after I have ten years of experience behind me in a certain type of food will I feel comfortable saying I know everything about the food. I may say "This is the way I like to do it so this is the way we will do it" but not "This is the only way to do it" or "This is the best way to do it."

Matt

[Matthew357]

Just thought I'd give an update of the goings on in the kitchen. Work is going good, I think I'm fitting in with the overall operation of the place and the line cooks and Chefs all are nice folks and seem to like me.

My hands are in shambles because the restaurant operates in a somewhat unique matter when it comes to the fish. Basically our main kind of entre is fish prepared in a classic greek style and sold by the pound. So, you could order your meal to be a 1 pound lavraki or a 1.5 pounder. Most of these fish are gutted, cleaned and scaled before service but they also have a display of fish near the entryway of the restaurant where customers can also say "I want that fish" and they will weigh it, bring it back to the Kitchen and that is where I come in cleaning the fish and preparing it to be cooked. The problem is I'm also doing other work as well while this is going on so I'm constantly having to take my hands from dry to wet then back to dry. I wear gloves when cleaning the fish but it still doesn't keep my hands from getting wet. Hopefully soon I'll devlop some good calouses and it won't bother me as much.

I recently bought a set of some Wusthof Grand Prix knives and I absolutely LOVE them. Great balance, a good handle and they keep their edge well. I also bought a pair of Wusthof kitchen shears for clipping of gills and fins. Unfortunately they weren't that well constructed and they broke tonight (the conection between the two blades spread about 1/4 an inch apart making them unusable. It was kind of funny because after service was done we had four line cooks gathered around this one set of shears trying to figure out how to fix them. But we could never figure them out so I'll have to take them back to the store tomorrow.

It's been really fun so far. Even though I'm stressed to the max trying to keep up with what I have to do every day.

I've been really impressed with the lengths the Chef has us go to to assure that everything that leaves the kitchen is as fresh as possible. The fish is very fun to work with and incredibly fresh. Crimson gills and clear eyes all around. My favorite fish to clean are the Dover Sole. It's really amusing how their skin can just be peeled off in one quick motion.

Welp, that's all for now, I gotta get some rest...Saturdays are (as everyone knows) incredibly busy and I have to be on top of my game.

Matt

[Shimmer]

The antibacterial soap I always had to use made my hands break out really badly. I bought a generic creamy Vaseline lotion (cream, not gel or jelly) and it did wonders. Just thought it might help your hands take a break!

~~Shimmer~~