Well, I went and did it.
I called Gina DePalma at Babbo and we had an interview this morning. Now everything is different.
She told me she only takes one extern a year and that she usually takes them when someone on her staff goes on vacation. This year that person is going in July, so that's when she needs an extern. And that's when I start my externship. And to top it off she will have a job opening in August. She said she will put an extern into that position unless they screw up horribly. So we met face to face to see how that might work and we got along well. She is looking for someone who wants to work in a restaurant and said that many students who she speaks to don't want that, they want to work in a bakery or catering. So I had a leg up by wanting to work in a restaurant. She then said that she is more about taste and flavor than presentation, that she wasn't into all the frou frou stuff. I agreed with her there as well, another point for Sam. Mentioned that I had read about her online and liked her approach to desserts. She said she has a culinary background, didn't study traditional pastry much, so she considers desserts food and wants others to think similarly. I agreed with her there too. Score many points for the pastry elf. She was a shred defensive to begin with but warmed up to me greatly as the conversation progressed. She said she starts people out plating, that that is what I would be doing, that it is important but that's where she likes to start people. She said you learn a lot by watching the kitchen work, and that it may be somewhat montonous, plating hundreds of the same desserts night after night, but so is the production side, it is a job after all. She says she modifys the menu a couple times a month so that keeps it fresher.
It's a nice dessert menu: Chocolate Hazelnut cake; Pine Nut Crostata; Saffron Panna Cotta; Lemon & Rosemary tart; Pistachio and Chocolate semifreddo among others. Nine items in all, plus a cheese plate selection. She gave me a tour of the kicthen, which is small considering how many people they feed a night. But pastry has a distinct area, not much room for many folks, but for plating at night it is it's own universe. As we talked she started speaking in the present tense about what I would be doing and what their policies are. Shifts are from 2:00 to closing which can be a late as 1:00, but usually is about 12:00. Five shifts a week, paid by the week not the hour, two days off every week. Health insurance after 3 months, and a dental plan which she says is fine for basic maintenance. She and Mario like people to hang around for a year when they start out. She said if I was miserable with the plating thing after a year and there was no opening at Babbo they have a network of restaurants (Lupa, Esca, Otto, Bar Jamon) where I could move around.
Notice she is already talking like I have the job. She said as for the externship thing she would sign all my papers, but at 50 hours a week (which seems to be the norm) after the 210 hours required for school she would start paying me. Does this sound like a good thing, or what? I am going in to trail in the kitchen in two weeks (only time it fit in for both our schedules), but she doesn't have anyone else lined up for the position. If I decide after trailing that it's not for me she will start looking for someone else. But if I like it, it sounds like it's mine. Can you believe my timing? I just happened to call her at the exact right moment! I think I should go for it. Unless I can't stand the kitchen it sounds like an amazing situation. Mario Batali is an even more well known chef outside NYC, than Colicchio and there is a job being offered with the externship. In four months I could be working in the industry, at an award winning restaurant. I am pumped. It will be hard work, and on the line during service, a thing that I ultimately do not want to be doing. But I think I will learn an awful lot doing my time in that kitchen. It is so small that one can't help but learn by watching your fellow cooks. And there is no way around the fact that I am brand new to the biz and will need to do some scut work for a while. Might as well do it in a esteemed establishment like Babbo. And in contact, occasionally I would think, with Mario Batali. If Gina does finally get a James Beard award, after three nominations in three years, she is hoping to get a cookbook deal. Good time to be working for her...
It all just adds up to the pastry elfs externship.
And we just did the Italians in class: Tiamisu; Zucca; Zuppa Inglese. Last night was a regression to ridiculous layer cakes, the Opera (or Symphony) and Grenoblois. Both made with a genoise variation and layers of buttercream and ganache. UGH. But I loved the Tiramisu, layers of Pan de Spagna (which is a genoise variation that I actually like) soaked with rum and espresso layered with sabayon. Yummy! And the Zucca was little bombes made of Pan de Spagna with a ricotta filling flavored with pistachios, chocolate bits and candied orange. The little bomblets get covered with whipped cream and topped with chopped pistachios. Cute and still tasty. Zuppa Inglese was layers of pan de Spagna, soaked with rum or cognac, layered with chocolate and then orange pastry cream, topped with Swiss meringue. Not my favorite, because of the pastry cream, which to me is too heavy and dense and overly sweet.
Class dynamic is not getting any better. We get this Monday off and I sincerely hope some of these people go out and have some fun, or something, have a drink, go dancing, get laid, whatever! Then maybe they can stop being so cranky with each other. We are moving into the last module in another 10 days, the end is in sight.
So happy that Spring has sprung.
A Bientot,
Samantha
Not doing too well. Last week was a tough one as I took a culinary class during the days and then had pastry at night. I think I have also been less motivated to post because cakes just ain't my thang.
And then at the end of that week I trailed at Craft. That was definately the high point of the week. I have found my externship location. They have a beautiful kitchen, the pastry area is separate and quite large. The equipment in still in good shape and they have all the necessary tools to get the job done well. The people are very nice, I especially liked Karen DeMasco, the pastry chef, she is very human. She said she would be happy to have me back as an extern. So the question is do I trail anywhere else, or should I just let it be? I have now trailed at 4 restaurants and each has been different. 11 Madison and Craft were the most similar with Craft winning out for personalities. Reasons to stick with the Craft choice include those mentioned above plus the name recognition value outside of NYC. Come to think of it the name recognition value within NYC is pretty spectacular. Tom Colicchio (the chef) worked at Gramercy Tavern before starting Craft, he now has a place in Las Vegas, and he has three cookbooks. The reason this sort of stuff is important is because when Don and I move to Maine I want as much recognizable experience on my resume as possible. Being relatively new to the field I want to show any potential employers that I can hold my own in a big time NYC restaurant. Figure it will help my future job search. Also think that the connections I make in that type of kitchen will pay off in the future, even if it doesn't necessarily lead to a job at that moment. The restaurant world is very fluid and word of mouth spreads, plus people like working with people they have worked with in other situations. Trial by fire makes comrades in arms. (ooops, mixing some metaphors there, huh?) Another plus is that DeMasco is up for a James Beard award (ceremony in early May), if she wins she will be even more in the spotlight for the next year.
The only other restaurant I wanted to trail at is Babbo, the Mario Batali flagship. The pastry chef there, Gina DePalma, is supposed to be very good and supportive of new pastry people. She is also up for the James Beard award, so it would be a little like hedging my bets. Although I have no idea if she is as nice as DeMasco, or if I would get along with her. Going to talk to the externship coordinator on Wednesday and see what the timetable truly is and then I will make a decision. Can't imagine it would be a waste to spend one more day in a new kitchen.
So the culianry class was a disappointment. I had Chef Gerri as a teacher, what were those odds? And I didn't learn much new, except that I should trust my own instincts. It was a class for beginners even though it is not billed that way. I really was hoping to learn some tricks of the trade, some insider scoop on how to braise or roast or something. But no. I guess it was not a total waste, although by the end of the week I was mighty tired. I have more faith in my abilities now, seeing how I knew most everything she taught. And I had learned it all through cookbooks, TV or just plain old trial and error. Someone in class last night said 'you're really plugged in to the food world, aren't you?' . I said no I just read everything I can get my hands on about it. I have always been big into research. If you want to know about something there is informtaion out there somewhere about your subject. With a little digging you can usually find all sorts of reference. Food is no exception. You can google a chef's name, the restaurant's name or a type of cuisine and come up with worlds of info. th internet has certainly made this process much easier, although in the old days (I know, I'm not that old, but I am old enough to know that there were other ways to do research before the internet) you could always find books or publications on your subject. It's all out there you just have to have the motivation to go look for it.
Last week, with the culinary days, I was spending my nights working with Genoise cakes and their decoration. I can officially say I do not like genoise. It is a dry spongy cake with no flavor on it own, requiring one to drown it in simple syrup with ganache or buttercream or whipped cream. ugh! I will be very happy if I never have to make one of those again. Last night we worked with a genoise variation, Mousseline, which requires adding melted butter to the genoise batter. This makes a slightly moister genoise, which is sligthly better. With the mousseline we made Miroirs which are small cakes with layers of mousseline between bavarian cream with a nappage glaze on top. They are actually quite elegant and the bavarian cream (which is very much like mousse but has gelatin in it which gives it more body) was a welcome alternative to buttercream. Tonight we are working with another genoise variation, biscuit.
The vibe in class has been pretty bad lately. Few are showing the Chef Reeni any respect and so she does not seem to have any control over the class. They talk while she's talking, and I even heard one woman tell her last night that she wasn't going to do the homework (a short written piece about the components that make up the miroir) because she just didn't have the time. As Don said last night, she shouldn't have any trouble controlling a class of adults, but it is really amazing how many people revert to HS behavior when put in a classroom situation. It leaves me with no respect for most of my fellow classmates. There are some of them that I would truly like to throttle, but I am restraining myself, knowing that all it will take is a short while in a professional kitchen before someone else puts them in line, painfully.
Spring has sprung and I should take the doggie for a walk. He has been very good sitting under the table while I write. Two days in a row he has let us sleep to 7:00. Ah, the progress.
A bientot,
Samantha
Just a short update, I have been silent here because I have been rather busy elsewhere. Will post for real on Friday. Currently enrolled in a culinary intensive techniques class that runs from 9-3 M-Th. So I am doubled up this week. Trailed at Mesa Grill last week so I will be able to report on that. Also trailing at Craft on Saturday. Have to give an oral version of my paper on the French baking tradition Thursday in class, so my dance card is truly full. We are still making cakes like there is no tomorrow and I still don't like them....
It's raining here and it feels like spring. School is zooming by and the reality of pastry is setting in. I have had my head so far in the kitchen lately I was barely aware of the hostages in Iraq. Did get a look at the 30th anniversary issue of People and was proud of my decision to leave.
More Friday, unless I am too tired, in which case it will come on Sunday.
A bientot,
Samantha
We are on to new territory. Cakes!
This week I brought home two layer cakes: a lemon scented white cake with lime buttercream frosting and toasted coconut and a chocolate cake with a layer of orange buttercream between the cakes, a frosting of coffee buttercream and a glaze of ordinary ganache. (heehee, we're working with ganache) After a week working with cakes, the most attention being spent on the decoration thereof, I can say I am not a huge cake fan. They strike me as old fashioned and overdone. Too much buttercream. We are still working with butter cakes, I may change my mind when we get to the sponge and egg foam cakes like Genoise. These butter cakes with buttercream frosting feel like throwbacks from old bakery days. Quaint, maybe nice for a small taste, but ultimately overbearing. I have no desire to go into the wedding cake business, unlike many of my fellow students. Interesting to see how they are suddenly jazzed by the subject matter. It's as if they have been waiting through all those doughs to get to this point. Half way through this module we will segue into plating deserts, something that will have a practical application in the very near future.
My trail last Sunday at Blue Hill was interesting. Great group of people in that kitchen. When I showed up at 2:00 there were 6 people at work prepping for dinner. In a small kitchen. Everyone was very friendly, approachable and helpful. I was unfortunately first assigned to trail the cold station guy because of a miscommunication. So I supremed a mess of citrus and then I was actually cutting up fish! There was a tasty staff meal at which I learned that another woman lurking around the kitchen was a pastry extern from ICE, and the new guy who was poking around was a real estate lawyer who had gone to FCI (french culinary institute) but couldn't bring himself to make the leap to food. Both of these people told me that Blue Hill is very much a teaching kitchen, when you trail or stage there they make a point of teaching you things and giving you the opportunity to use those new skills. Just before service started the fish guy realized that I was a pastry student so he put me with the pastry chef, who I had realized was this little unassuming latino guy cruising around the kitchen. So for the rest of the night I was actually working on deserts.
I did not get to do any plating as I was hoping I might. There was another woman trailing who had been hired to do swing shifts on a couple of stations, including pastry, so he was showing her the ropes. But she was friendly and let me tag along, explained what she was doing and answered all my questions. It was a good night, I liked the vibe in the kitchen very much. When the chefs actually arrived, one who was on service that night and the other who was doing paperwork and so just passed through, they both made a point of introducing themselves and welcoming me. Juan Cuevas, who was on service, asked me what I was studying in school. I asked him about the Stone Barns project and the fact that they were closing Blue Hill down for a couple of weeks. He told me that the Barns were coming along a little behind schedule but that they were very excited about it. He also told me that when they were closed they were installing new stoves in the kitchen and a new floor in the dining room. He spent a good five minutes talking to me, during service. And when Dan Barber was whipping through the kitchen at one point he stopped, shook my hand and introduced himself, welcoming me to Blue Hill. I was impressed. As I said I liked the vibe.
The one thing I was unsure of was the actual deserts and the approach of the pastry chef. The reviews I have read have never been very positive about the deserts. I thought the bread pudding, that is supposed to be their signature desert, was bland. The pastry chef has been there since they opened four years ago. So one woudl assume that they like him and what he is doing, regardless of the reviews. I don't know that I think he is great. Think that he is more about presentation than about the quality of the flavors and combinations. The one thing I was truly impressed with was a chocolate truffle with fresh mint. Otherwise many of the deserts left me cold. So that's a problem.
Because on Tuesday after I worked they called and said they want me to extern with them. There are many issues here to be examined. I have to call them back the end of next week, and I'm hoping they will let me put them off a little with my decision. I want to trail at a couple more places : Craft; Mesa; Babbo. Mesa is Tuesday. My newest suprise is that Karen DeMasco (pastry chef at Craft and recent James Beard award nominee) actually lives here in my building. I have not yet laid eyes on her, but am hoping to run into her in the elevator someday. Or at least be able to use that little tidbit when I trail with her. But here's the thing. My experience at 11 Madison Park showed me that it will take me longer to get to a position where I actually get to do anything. That's just the nature of a large kitchen. But at Blue Hill I might actually be working service immediately. And with the new place being opened in May the Pastry chef will be up there most of the time. So maybe I will get to have some impact on the menu(?). I also know from school that they are looking to hire someone in pastry. Externing there could very well lead to gainful employment, and in a place where I might actually make some small impact.
On the other hand, working with a name chef at a bigger restaurant I may learn more, be exposed to more, and find some coat tails to ride on the way up. But I could also languish in the corner (not that that is my style). Hmmmm. Much to think about. Trying to trail once a week, hoping that some clarity will come from more time in kitchens.
On the home front Don and I are hosting a desert wine tasting on Sunday. There is a revolving group in our building (oh if only Karen DeMasco was part of this group...) who host wine tastings. We have done Spanish wines and Italian wines. Don and I decided to be adventurous and try desert wines since I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to exercize my skills. So Don went to Astor and bought some muscats, a sauterne, a tokaj, an Australian late harvest riesling, a vin santo, a tawny port, an Italian rose something and some champagne. I made some pistachio brittle and some biscotti. Today I made my brownies with fresh mint (an experiment) and rolled out some puff pastry and made little pithiviettes (cookies with an almond apricot filling). I am also planning on serving orange curd tartlettes (ironic considering I hated making those things in class) and pistachio rhubarb financiers. I made the pate sablee today for the tartlettes, will roll them out and bake them tomorrow. I have curd that we made in school that I brought home so that's all ready to go. Assembled the pithviettes today, they will stay in the freezer till I am ready to bake them tomorrow. I may make gingerbread, and then again I may not. I have ginger pound cake from last weeks class so I could just cut that up into interesting bite size shapes. Being bite size and portable, able to be eaten without plate and fork, is very important, hence the small size of everything. I am pumped. Spent the whole day baking and will do so again tomorrow, I am enjoying it greatly! Think this might become my new way of entertaining, desert parties! Looking forward to the responses and the feedback. Just wish I could have learned about DeMasco earlier so I could have gotten her here. sigh. Might be too much pressure anyway.
We have Monday off for Passover, and then I trail Tuesday at Mesa. Glad for the Monday as I am just starting to catch up on lost sleep. Doggie actually slept till 7:00 this morning!!!
A bientot,
Samantha