Hanging Out With The CheffyBoy and Harry
Here are some pics of me and Harry hanging out in the kitchen and of dinner
Friday, July 13, 2007
Monday, July 09, 2007
When Harry Met Cheffy
Thus the Men and the Myth
I really don't know where to begin with these CheffyBabbles...might be a long story...
Like I said in a previous entry, I took over this kitchen in March and renamed it Chef Mike's Cravings Cafe, developed a new menu and a different concept, put a little "About Chef Mike" section on the menu, all in an attempt to draw more food revenue.
From March to May I was working an inhumane amount of hours as a chef at an extremely busy catering facility, hired a couple people to run the Cafe and I would go to the cafe after work and stay there until after close.
For those couple months I was kind of in and out, just a face on a menu I guess you can say, met a couple people but did not really get close to any of our regulars, hell, not until recently am I learning some of their names, they know me by name and I only know them by face.
I guess me and Harry first met each other because he was Harry and I was Mike, the new kid on the block. I always found time to hang out with Harry and talk about food, color, taste, texture and the relationship was on. Harry is a big, personable blue collar construction guy that has a passion for cooking, so we hit it off pretty well.
Harry had told me about these eggrolls that he does that he is pretty proud of and I never really gave them that much thought, of course, I listened to Harry tell his stories about his eggrolls with interest about the passion he was sharing, although I have been known to roll tens of thousands of them in this thing I call a life...
In April, Harry was going to make his eggrolls for a little birthday party the bar was putting on for one of our regulars and Harry had asked if I could just heat them up and put them out for everyone to eat on. On the day of the birthday party, my sister had taken deathly ill and I had to leave immediately. I instructed my cooks on how I wanted them cooked and presented, had them cook me up a couple of them to take on the road with me and then headed to Virginia.
I started getting the munchies along the way and remembered that I had some of Harry's EggRolls. Oh, my goodness...I stopped on the side of the road and looked at my next bite and just thought that "these Eggrolls really rock...' Holy Crap Harry, remind me to tell you this story...
(At this point Harry was a name and a face, a friendly hello and an exchange of food stories...)
So starts the story with Harry, our relationship and his "Redneck Egg Rolls" as I refer to them affectionately...
This blog entry is going to be continued, I have to go give a cooking class, perhaps will finish it tonight...
Later That Day....
Freaking Harry is a blast...I had more fun watching him have fun than I did playing with the food...and we all know how Cheffy loves to play with his freaking food....
(just ask Harry what he thought about me eating my dinner with my hands...heeeee heeeeeeeee....purity baby...just freaking purity...what'd they do with food before someone invented the spoon...man...that ribeye is freaking awesome isn't it...as Cheffy tears off another piece of one of the most succulent steaks I have ever made/eaten...)
This pic was kind of funny and kind of has a double meaning...
Harry was looking for a whisk in the kitchen to mix up a slurry out of cornstarch and water that we were using to seal the eggrolls...
"Harry, what the hell you need a whisk for????? Use your damned hands!! How are ya gonna know when all the lumps are gone?????? Perfect slurry ain't got no durned lumps..."
P.S. (commonly referred to as 'Yo' Harry?????? What da' hell are you thinkin'?'
What the hell would'ya've done without a whisk??????? Did the fork evolve from the dag goned spoon or not??? Hey!!!!!!!!!ya know what????????They both look like our freaking hand don't they???? Just another CheffyPsychoBabble...
But anyway, the second fold of this story is that I used to work under a German Chef named Chef Fritzen and one time Chef told me that "...'da bes' tools in your kitchen Mr. Bones is the one that is on your wrist...jus' make sure your f***in' hands are clean...when I see you have dirty hands is the day you find another job..."
A lesson the CheffyBoy has never forgotten...
Friday, July 06, 2007
Harry and Cheffy (The Men, The Myth...The Beginning)
First, I guess I need to explain where my world has gone since it has been so long that I have written…
Left the catering facility in May and am at the café full time…not making any money, but am having fun with some of the events… I started doing cooking classes/private instruction at the Café (when we are not open) along with of the special events/cooking classes I am trying to schedule trying to score some more bucks, but as always…playing with food makes the CheffyBoy happy---financially profitable or not…and lately it is a big freaking NOT>…
Took over a Café at a Karaoke Bar last March, kept on working my job and hired a couple people to run the café and then I would go there when my day was done…for a while I was pumping out 100 plus hour weeks-freaking maniacs…am just a magician that dresses funny….
That was from March to Late May…since then I am the only employee and trying everything in my power to drum up more business or finding ways of taking advantage of my kitchen when I am not “providing a service” for the establishment
Then I met Harry...
Bullfeathers Karaoke Bar and Chef Mike's Craving's Cafe
Harry and Cheffy (The Men, The Myth, The Menu)
Better get into the menu before I even attempt to get into the Men and Myth thingy….The Harry and Cheffy Boy Story is kind of in depth, but a lot of fun….
I was going to give Harry a private instruction. One-on-one with the Cheffy Boy in my kitchen on a day when the kitchen was closed and do a private invitation-only dinner for 10-15 people
“Find something you want to learn and I will teach it to you…” I even gave Harry my new edition of the “Professional Chef” textbook… “Find something Harry…”
So after talking about it for a couple weeks, Harry came and hung out with the CheffyBoy in his magical world...what a freaking blast…
The Menu-
Mesclun Salad with Vine Vegetables Garnished with Roasted Garlic and Chipotle Infused Caesar Salad Dressing
Redneck Eggrolls in an arabesque of Sweet and Sour and Harry’s Hot Mustard accompanied by Pan Fried Asian Noodles on Napa Cabbage. The Eggrolls were drizzled with a Wasabi Dressing.
The Grand Finale was Asian Infused Ribeyes with Baked Potato and Garlic Infused Sesame Oil Asparagus Tips….
Dessert was Friends, Family and talking about food...
Freaking Life Is Good!!!!
Harry, The Cheffy Boy, Asparagus and Green Onions
This pic was comical...shit like this keeps me humble...
I had shown Harry how to make the flower/firecracker out of the green onions, then I showed him the importance of snapping asparagus rather than cutting it...in the midst of his cleaning asparagus, I decided to clear his cutting board of the asparagus ends (which I wanted to save for a soup) I put the pile right into all the green onions I just had him cut the ends off of...so the pic is The Not-So-Freaking Infallable Cheffy Boy, and Harry looking through the asparagus to try to separate the green onions... (now what in the hell did you do that for??)
Inspirations and Cooking Classes
Inspirations....
Man, where would life be without them...
Quick story about the pic...
Me and Greg haven't been bouncing around in the same kitchen for about 8 months and we fed off of each others behaviors both in and out of the kitchen, we were truly an inspiration to each other.
In this pic, Greg walked into the kitchen and was like "What'd'ya want me doing?"
I was in the final stages of a cooking instruction for a buddy of mine Harry and we were going to do 4 courses for 12-15 pp---totally freaked Harry out seeing that part of the world...a lot more about Harry later, but Greg, Harry and myself had a freaking blast...
Harry is really proud of these eggrolls that he makes that I call the Redneck Roll (reasons I'll explain in my Harry post), I really like them. Harry was pretty proud to show me how freaking simple his recipe is. So needless to say, me and Harry rolled quite a pile of eggrolls (none of which lasted long).
When Greg and I were contemplating plating design of Harry's Infamous Eggrolls I am explaining to Greg, (after I shot down a couple of his other ideas, and he popped in with the arabesque idea)...BUT I WANT HEIGHT!!!!! Is funny sometimes how much talking my hands do...Greg's arabesque made the plate, awesome idea...
The plate was really awesome looking, Harry was beside himself, I showed him how to make the green onion flowers (firecrackers, whatever you wanna call 'em)
That there's the durned pertyest plate of Redneck EggRolls I ever have seen...
The arabesque for the plate was sweet and sour with Harry's Asian Hot Mustard, then the eggrolls, a Napa Cabbage leaf topped with an Asian Pan Fried Noodles.
Just having a day off and bringing someone into my kitchen, cooking for a couple hours showing them how crazy my world can get, and hell, we were only doing 15 people...hell ya oughta see me doing 1500...ha ha....
This story is far from over, I will post alot more pics in the other posts of all of us. Man, that was a fun night...
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