I’ve always told myself that I would never, ever step foot into a restaurant kitchen. the idea of working in such a fast-paced, high-pressure environment scared me nearly to death... the thought of it alone brought on Hell’s Kitchen-esque images of crazy, screaming chefs throwing slabs of meat at their staff. so when I enrolled in culinary school I knew that eventually I would have to face this long standing dread of working in a restaurant, as much as I tried to ignore it.
last weekend I entered, for the first time ever, a restaurant kitchen. with only a month left in school we are all searching for the right fit for our August internship.
once you’ve found the place you’d like to intern, you then spend a day in the kitchen “trailing” – working an entire 10-12 hour shift to see if you like them and they like you. it’s kind of like a blind date but in a chef’s jacket and black & white checkered pants.
when I started researching restaurants I quickly became enamored with one in particular. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is Dan Barber’s restaurant (some of you might know him from the most recent Top Chef finale) up in Tarrytown, NY; there’s also a Blue Hill here in the city. a huge factor in my internship search was finding an establishment which supports local farmers, and Blue Hill is the ultimate farm-to-table restaurant. the vast property houses a farm, a learning center, a café, and the well-respected & much loved restaurant. I’d been hearing about Blue Hill for quite some time but had never made it up for a visit.
I arrived at 12:30pm and was thrown right into the kitchen. I separated and shucked spring peas fresh from the farm and finely julienned red and purple radishes. in the garden I picked
fresh Purslane (a wild, edible weed) and Johnny Jump Ups (also known as a Viola Tricolor, an edible flower) for the special tea they serve at dinner. after eating the staff meal outside overlooking the farm – a cool summer shower patting down on us – I returned to the kitchen for the real challenge. the kitchen is divided into two sections: the “a la carte” section, for those ordering off the menu, and the private dining section for parties and events and runs more like catering. I spent the second half of my day (well, night by then) prepping and plating appetizers & small plates… bite-size chicken on skewers with basil & cauliflower; tufts of homemade salami, bologna & prosciutto served on slate slabs; warm sturgeon 
strips over a bed of zucchini & pistachios, topped with large crystals of salt. while dessert was being served – mounds of chocolate truffles, homemade raspberry & yogurt marshmallows – I was out in the back hallway already prepping for the next day of service, skimming the fat off of gallons of chicken stock. I ended the night peeling the shells off of soft-boiled eggs, freshly lain, for their signature fried soft-boiled eggs dish (I had been forewarned of this task…) and at the end of the night I nearly knocked myself out on a pig hanging frozen and skinned in the walk-in.
as luck would have it, I start my internship there in one month. so much for never stepping foot into a restaurant kitchen… who would’ve thought?!?!
last weekend I entered, for the first time ever, a restaurant kitchen. with only a month left in school we are all searching for the right fit for our August internship.
once you’ve found the place you’d like to intern, you then spend a day in the kitchen “trailing” – working an entire 10-12 hour shift to see if you like them and they like you. it’s kind of like a blind date but in a chef’s jacket and black & white checkered pants.when I started researching restaurants I quickly became enamored with one in particular. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is Dan Barber’s restaurant (some of you might know him from the most recent Top Chef finale) up in Tarrytown, NY; there’s also a Blue Hill here in the city. a huge factor in my internship search was finding an establishment which supports local farmers, and Blue Hill is the ultimate farm-to-table restaurant. the vast property houses a farm, a learning center, a café, and the well-respected & much loved restaurant. I’d been hearing about Blue Hill for quite some time but had never made it up for a visit.
I arrived at 12:30pm and was thrown right into the kitchen. I separated and shucked spring peas fresh from the farm and finely julienned red and purple radishes. in the garden I picked
fresh Purslane (a wild, edible weed) and Johnny Jump Ups (also known as a Viola Tricolor, an edible flower) for the special tea they serve at dinner. after eating the staff meal outside overlooking the farm – a cool summer shower patting down on us – I returned to the kitchen for the real challenge. the kitchen is divided into two sections: the “a la carte” section, for those ordering off the menu, and the private dining section for parties and events and runs more like catering. I spent the second half of my day (well, night by then) prepping and plating appetizers & small plates… bite-size chicken on skewers with basil & cauliflower; tufts of homemade salami, bologna & prosciutto served on slate slabs; warm sturgeon 
strips over a bed of zucchini & pistachios, topped with large crystals of salt. while dessert was being served – mounds of chocolate truffles, homemade raspberry & yogurt marshmallows – I was out in the back hallway already prepping for the next day of service, skimming the fat off of gallons of chicken stock. I ended the night peeling the shells off of soft-boiled eggs, freshly lain, for their signature fried soft-boiled eggs dish (I had been forewarned of this task…) and at the end of the night I nearly knocked myself out on a pig hanging frozen and skinned in the walk-in.as luck would have it, I start my internship there in one month. so much for never stepping foot into a restaurant kitchen… who would’ve thought?!?!
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