counter
culture

TT’S strange how restau-
rant kitchens all smeli
the same.

Plates and glasses steaming
from the dishwasher; a wet
mop on brick-red tiles; a flam-
ing grill and bubbling deep
fryer — all carry odours unique
to a restaurant kitchen, from
diner to triple star.

I reflected on this truth as I
followed Susannah Coleman,
restaurant chef for Chartwell at
the Four “Seasons Hotel,
around the maze of kitchens
and prep areas that hotel guests
rarely get to sec. I should have
been paying more attention.

er a winding wek past
room service tables; the Bake
Shop, where desserts, pastries
and breads are made; and racks
full of dishes we stopped in a

e way to skin

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

THE man behind the meals ... Four Seasons Hote! executive chef Douglas
Anderson favours classic French cooking with a modern twist.

small room.

“This is the Garde-manger,
where we do some of the prep
work, here’s the freezer we use.
This is the fruit fridge. That's

ae es, BE oe _ NEWS photo Paul MeGrath’
‘SECOND cook Ysabel Cuyugan chops basi! for her —

miss en. places, or prep work.

_-Smorgasbor

the butcher shop.”

The guard-what?

We swung through another
set of doors.

“Here’s the veg fridge.”

We travelled on: through
the banquet kitchen, then a
quick tour of the front of the
house: the ballroom, meeting
rooms and into Chartwell —
the hotel’s acciaimed restau-
rant, as famous for. its warm,
elegant room as it is for its spec-
elegant roomasii for sp

a00

How did I get there — a
rookie food writer dressed in
chef’s whites, about to embark
on a couple of months’ worth
of kitchen experience in one of
Vancouver’s best restaurants?
Late last year, I mentioned my
wish for more food knowledge
to Glenn Eleiter, director of

|

| SUNDAY, April 16:
| MONDAY, April 17:

food and beverage at the hotel.

“Come work here for a
while,” he said. “You'll fearn
your way around the kitchen
fast enough.”

No kidding. Executive chef
Douglas Anderson agreed to
let me intrude on Saturday
evening, shifts for as long as I
wished. So for seven weeks I
donned the unfamiliar uniform
and spent eight hours chop-
ping, dicing, grating, mixing,
and yes ... even cooking.

Q00

After my tour, Coleman
lead me back to the Chartwell
kitchen and passed me off to
Linda Ling. Ling is a first cook
who usually handles things at
the fish station, but that night
she was working on the pantry
station, where salads, terrines,
cheese courses, fruit plates and

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“me.

a spud

more are prepared.
“Did you see where the
Garde-manger was?” she asked

“Yup,” Treplicd cheerfully,
expecting another guided tour.

“Great. Go back there and
go into the fruit fridge and get
me oh... say, a dozen apples.
Then go to the veg fridge and
get me some chantrelle mush-
rooms.”

Right. I left on my quest to
find the fridges, and immedi-
ately took a wrong turn.
Followed by another. When I
finally found my way there and
back, Ling seemed unfazed by
my lengthy absence and we got

down to work.

In the following weeks, I
learned how to make sabayon,
a French custard usually made
with egg yolks and wine —
though we did it with a maple
vinegar; 1 tied bundles of
asparagus with blanched leek, I
de-stemmed spinach and I
attempted to julienne peppers
and spring beans. I also cut
potatoes: into a small dice, into
saucer shapes, I peeled. them,
chopped them, grated them —
and frankly, got a little sick of
them.

But it was all good practice
for me to work on my knife
skills: cut away from the body

and keep the fingers of the .

hand helding the item to be
cut tucked under the knuckles,
which serve as a guard.

Watching the cooks and chefs _

do their work — blades flying
neatly, vegetables uniformly
diced and sliced — was frustrat-
ing, and it was tempting to
revert to my old ways with 4
knife: whatever gets the job
done.

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