ONLY salt & pepper?!
Updated: Sep 2, 2018
Okay gang, so this by far was one of the most irritating days of the first month of culinary school. Nit that I have been this top, classically trained chef my entire life, but I was very stuck in my own ways when it came to cooking. I say was because I have grown in the kitchen so much and I now understand that just like in any other areas in your life you can NEVER stop growing and learning and perfecting and experimenting. But anyway, enough that shit, let me tell y'all why I was SO MAD ON THIS DAY!
So I pulled up to class like any other normal day, walked in, grabbed my recipe for the day off the chef's table, all my stuff in my hand, set the stuff down, went to go pee, washed my hands, put lotion on them, put my glasses on sat down. I started reading over the recipe for the day and looking over the ingredients and noticed immediately that the only seasoning that was on the list was SALT & PEPPER. I didn't think anything of after a few seconds until when my head chef demoed the recipe and she didn't use anything but salt and pepper. when it was time for us to cook and I asked if we could use the seasonings on the shelf, she said, "no just what is on your ingredient list". It was then I just knew my food was going to taste like shit. I was LIVID because being African American, we season everything, and no I don't mean putting Lawry's Seasoning on everything, I mean we season with garlic powder and onion powder etc. The whole time I'm cooking, I'm just irritated.
By the time it was time to present the dish to the chef, I had calmed down considering cooking is a stress reliever for me. I was annoyed at my food but to my surprised she actually loved the flavor of my dish. We made roasted butter nut squash, beluga lentils, and fish with a sauce. All I had to use was fresh ingredients and salt & pepper. I frowned a bit when Chef Ida took her first bite and said it was good. her critique was minimal and my salmon was just ok texturally but flavor wise I was on point.
I still was annoyed that all we could use were salt & pepper unless otherwise noted on the recipe and it wouldn't be until later that I learned the valuable lesson behind this, but we'll get there.
With Love & Food,
-Chef Morghan