Chef Diaries - Kitchen Adventures

Entry #2: Dark Chocolate Mousse

One thing I hated about my job was not the task itself but having to be with the person you didn't get along with. It really shouldn't matter because I could just ignore that person, right? No. We were both trapped in a small room since we work together as a team in the pastry section. That meant we had to communicate every day and get along to keep up with the production. Things were a bit different back then.

I had been an intern before I joined the company as a regular employee. Before I signed anything, I was offered a position that changed everything. Chef Rachel was my senior. She taught me all the tips and tricks around the kitchen. Moving around in a real hotel kitchen was far different from the pace of a school kitchen. A chef had to think and move fast especially when last-minute banquet orders were given a day or hours before the event. This wasn't just feeding a group of twenty people. It was feeding more than two hundred to a thousand people. The crazy thing about where I worked was that there were only two chefs in the pastry section. One had to come in early for the AM shift while the other came a little later for the PM shift. Imagine being at each other's throats all the time.

One day, I was called into the head chef's office. I sensed it was important since Chef Travis had this stoic expression on.

"Yes, chef?"

"Please have a seat."

When I sat down, he immediately went to business.

"So, I called you in about your regularization. As you've heard, you're promoted to the position of Chef de Partie. I want you to know I appreciate all your hard work. The skill set you have shown us can greatly contribute to this company," Chef Travis praised.

I nodded in gratefulness, "Thank you, chef."

"However, there are additional tasks have been added with the new role that has been assigned to you. Aside from doing pastry production, you also should be trained to do some admin roles."

With the lack of workforce in our section, I couldn't believe I have more work to do. It wasn't that I was complaining, but this would be a real challenge.

Chef Travis then continued, "I want you to focus on coming up with more a la carte and banquet menus, learning how to make a banquet production report, doing a monthly inventory of our stocks and also dab onto our system used for recipe costing. I know it's a lot right now but eventually, you'll get the hang of it." He just smiled comfortingly as he just poured all these additional works that I now have to do.

After meeting with Chef Travis, I went back to our section and saw Chef Rachel working on the dark chocolate mousse for the dinner function tonight. She laid out all the shot glasses with the mousse in it and piped on some whipped cream on top. She looked up when I walked in but said nothing.

There was an evident tension between us ever since the news broke out that I was being promoted. Of course, she would think it was unfair. Chef Rachel was a pioneer employee ever since the hotel started its operation ten years ago while I have only been working for a year. I never expected to have been offered with this kind of opportunity. It was hard to say no to it. This was my future. I couldn't let one person ruin it for me because of some rivalry.

The difference between us was that we had something different to offer. Chef Rachel was a pro with producing cakes and pastries at a very fast rate. She could handle the pastry and cold section at the same time. I never knew it could be a talent. As for me, I was more inclined to do the art side of making pastry and cakes. It was something that I was good at. My specialty was doing fondant cakes, chocolate art, and aesthetic plating. When combined, we were an awesome team. If the tasks were equally divided, it would be easier for us to get the job done.

However, Chef Travis saw how my skills were more advanced than Chef Rachel's. She was basically more into doing traditional cake decorating like what you see in commercial bakeries. The career growth opportunity hindered Chef Rachel to try all the trending desserts that went viral online. She had to juggle her tasks alone without any help. I was only hired because the hotel was developing and needed more manpower to provide an excellent service to the guests. It was something the hotel itself hadn't paid more attention to – their hardworking employees. Other than getting paid to do the job, we needed more motivational growth and not just the stagnant routinary workload.

A company should always remember:

If you have happy employees --> You get better performance for the company --> Which generates more income --> Incentives will then be awarded to those who reached their weekly/monthly goals --> They work harder --> Repeat

I swallowed the guilt that I was feeling and offered help, "Hey chef, what can I help you with now?"

"Can't you see I'm almost done?" She snarkily replied.

"Sorry," I replied meekly and went on to see what other tasks needed attention.

It had been a few days and she was still cold towards me. I acted as if nothing was wrong but it was clearly obvious that she was mad because I got the recognition that she wanted. All I wanted was to happily work for this company and bring joy to the people who get the chance to eat and experience our unique dessert items offered. At the end of the day, you push yourself to do better.

Whoever said that life has been laid out perfectly for you after graduating high school was lying. Some may have found what they were destined to do, but most of us didn't even know what we were trying to do to get through this so-called "journey". My parents guided me to a path where they knew I could succeed. Not to be a stereotype, but most Asian parents usually had control over their child to be the person they have always wanted for themselves. The downside was that they never really asked what we wanted. As an undecided individual, I went and agreed to their path.

I have wasted enough time – 9 years to be exact. Graduating a course, you never came to love and landing a job that you hated doing. That was when I realized that I despised working in an office. It was so boring. Sitting down and stare at the computer all day. No offense to anyone having that kind of job but it was just not for me.

In the nine years, I spent finding myself; I discovered that I have put up to be quite fond of food. As I learned more and went to school for it, desserts were what had drawn me the most. The art and the attention to detail just gave the artistic side of me to use a different medium. My dream was to be a pastry chef. I worked really hard to get where I want to be now. Nothing was stopping me.

But of course, I always reminded myself:

Always be kind.

Work hard. Harder.

Don't settle for less.

Be the best version of yourself.