The Vaujany Experience Part 9…….”Yes Chef! 5 Minutes Chef!”

If skiing was supposed to be the only challenge I thought I was going to be faced with during the ski season, I was in for the biggest shock of my life! Skiing was a piece of cake, a walk in the park compared to the challenge I was about to be faced with…..

On the same day as we were all enjoying our first day on the slopes in Alpe D’Heuz the appointed Chef for Franrick Lodge (the lodge I worked in) was being fired and driven straight to Geneva airport by Wendy, our Manager. This was obviously a massive blow for all of us. It was the right decision made for the team and the reputation of Kick Ski at the time. I had anticipated its eventuality for many days and was thankful it was still setup week and guests hadn’t arrived yet.

Within that first week of arriving in resort I had become the chef’s sous chef. I was eager to learn from a professional chef. So with my willingness to learn I took interest in the kitchen and was cooking many of the puddings and vegetarian meals on his request. Unfortunately I quickly realised that my eagerness to cook was actually hiding some of his great weaknesses as a chef. Much to my disappointment and amazement, the chef had no idea how to cook cakes or desserts, nor the imagination to come up with enjoyable vegetarian meals, let alone some other very basic elements of cooking. Of course I found this quite worrying and at night, after cleaning all day and spending many many hours awake, I would somehow stay awake until sometimes 3am in the morning trawling through recipe pages on the internet. I could see that we needed a back-up plan, in case of the eventuality that I could foresee becoming a reality. I knew I had to be ready to jump into the role, because finding a chef at this late stage, with guests literally arriving in a matter of days was not an option. I knew I would have to be the one to put my hand up for the job.

So it was no real surprise to me when I learnt that the chef had been fired. And it was in that moment that I knew what I had to do. I chatted with the other chef employed to run the kitchen in our other chalet. I talked to her about the possibility of taking on the role. Thankfully she was full of encouragement and knew that I would be perfect for the position. She had seen my cooking over the last week and had been impressed. She urged me to speak to Darren, our director and owner of the company. But first I wanted to talk it over with the rest of the team to gauge their confidence in my ability. Thankfully, they were also very supportive, so with their backing I went to Darren and said “If you are willing to give me a go, ill do it! Ill step up and become Chef!” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. What on earth was I getting myself into? I was supposed to be having an enjoyable season working on the slopes with little to no stress involved. I wanted a job with no responsibility for once, yet here I was completely changing my season forever and beginning a new career path! I knew the amount of work involved and how it would affect my season, but it was a challenge I was willing to accept. I simply couldn’t let the opportunity slip me by. It had only been weeks earlier while I was in Devon that I had looked into becoming a chef. I had decided it was something that I wanted to pursue as a way of continuing to travel around the world. So when the opportunity arose I knew it was meant to be.

So I strapped on an apron and got into ‘MY’ kitchen! I had two days to familiarise myself in my new surroundings and set it up the way I wanted to before the first guests arrived. I didn’t get much time to develop a menu plan that I could feel somewhat confident with, so I was running by the seat of my pants!

I have always loved cooking, it has always come very naturally to me. Being brought up in an Italian family, I had developed a deep love and passion for food. I feel comfortable within a kitchen and I find cooking very relaxing and somehow therapeutic and even now after cooking for five months straight I am lucky enough to still feel like that when I am cooking. I love finding new recipes and playing around with their flavours and ingredients, making them into my own or learning a new skill in the kitchen and mastering a new dish.

So there I was, newly appointed CHEFETTE!! Promoted after only 8 days! My new role meant I had to be responsible for the smooth running of my kitchen, making sure all the staff were fed well and abided by strict food safety and hygiene requirements. My kitchen, storeroom and food stocks were all my responsibility. As was feeding the guests of the 28 person chalet, whom were counting on me to provide beautiful meals for their much anticipated once a year skiing holiday! I had to drive to Grenoble (an hour away) each week to do the weekly shop and menu plan within a strict budget.

On the cooking front, each day I had to provide a hot option as well as the usual continental breakfast spread between 8-9am, have afternoon tea, cakes and biscuits laid out in the dining room ready for the guests arrival off the slopes in the afternoon, before preparing and cooking a 2 course meal for children at 5:30pm and a 6 course evening meal for the adults at 7:30pm. And all of this was done day in day out, 6 days a week! On top of this of course, I had to provide a vegetarian option for each course each night and cater for any dietary requirements for the guests and staff. Consequently I didn’t leave the kitchen for most of December while I was finding my feet; and by my birthday on the 5th of January I had only been able to get up onto the mountain a total of 5 days! It wasn’t turning into the season I had expected, but I was loving it.

I was thoroughly enjoying the experience of cooking and being chef and although I was incredibly stressed and under intense pressure most of the time, it was only because I wanted to be the best that I could be at my new found career. I set myself high standards and wouldn’t allow myself to feel confident until I had perfected a dish. I became very focussed within the kitchen. Often going into my own little zone, trying to orchestrate and time manage the smooth running of 6 courses without a hiccup during the nightly service. At any given time I might have had 3 things going on the stove, 4 trays in the oven to worry about all while I was finalising the last of the canapés ready to go out for guests with their pre-dinner drinks. My head was constantly on overload in the kitchen, I couldn’t for a second let my mind rest. But eventually with time and practice it did calm down and I found a rhythm within the kitchen as I began to understand the ebbs and flows of how to orchestrate such a mammoth task each evening.

At the dinner service the staff and I were expected to sit and eat at the table with the guests throughout the 3 main courses, invariably this meant that I would be sitting with the guests answering their badgering questions of where I had learnt to cook or how I had landed up working in the French Alps all the way from little old town of Melbourne in Australia? All the while all I could think about were the beans boiling on the hob, hoping they were boiling by now, or the leg of lamb roasting in the oven and hoping that it wasn’t overcooking. It’s lucky that I have always been a fast eater because I found myself sitting down; eating the meal very quickly, excusing myself from the table and racing back to the kitchen to start serving the next course. It became an art I eventually landed up perfecting. Each night the menu had to be planned so that I didn’t have to be in the kitchen every minute and I could sit down at the table without having huge pauses between courses while I cooked the next course.

As Chef I had to take full responsibility for everything that came out of the kitchen and with each course I had to introduce the meal to the guests. I would stand at the top of the table once all plates had been laid in front of each and every guest and proudly introduce the dish they were about to tuck into. I always found this incredibly nerve racking. I felt like a fraud! I wasn’t a Chef but here I was pretending to be one. But as the weeks passed, my confidence grew and I was soon receiving standing ovations and wonderful praise from the guests. I would walk back into the kitchen and pinch myself, thinking, this can’t be real! This cant be my life! How did I land up here? This is just crazy! But it was real and I was doing it….somehow!

As I had just spent 7 months living in Italy in the heart of the beautiful Chianti region of Tuscany, and being of Italian/English/Australian heritage, my menu was a mixture of Asian inspired fresh Australian flavours blended with many Italian dishes with hints of English touches also. I cooked my favourite Tuscan pasta, traditional Tuscan chicken liver pate, my Nonna’s tiramisu and tomato bruschetta recipe. My pannacotta with a stunning mixed berry sauce became a common favourite as did the prosciutto with herbs wrapped pork fillet. I blended these dishes with Asian inspired Australian dishes such as 5-spice roasted duck breast with a tangy peach salsa, soy and mirin glazed salmon, or sage and butter pan-seared scallops and exotic fruit jellies with lychee puree. And as I was mostly serving to English guests I added English touches such as mustard mash, apple and rhubarb pie and of course the good old humble crumble!

Luckily I was able to source great produce. I did the weekly shop at a huge cash and carry warehouse called Metro each week. Metro had everything from a great fish mongers, a huge selection of cheeses as you would expect from being in France, as well as great dairy and meat sections. They sourced produce from all over the world, I could even get frozen New Zealand lamb, kangaroo, and any kind of sorbet you could imagine. I tried out some of the more unusual flavours such as violet, cinnamon and basil sorbets as palate cleansers as well as making my own. The fresh produce was brought in from all over the world. Fresh figs from brazil, plums, nectarines and peaches from South America, avocados and melons from Costa Rica and pomegranates and pink grapefruits from Egypt. The selection was fantastic which meant I was free to experiment as much as I liked with my menu whenever I wanted. It was such a contrast from being in Italy where ONLY seasonal produce is available.

So my confidence grew and the staff’s boredom with the same meals week in week out became apparent I began experimenting with new recipes. Researching new recipes and trying new things became a new found past time that I enjoyed and a way for me to continue to push myself. By the end of the season, having cooked for 5 months straight, 6 days a week, you could say my cooking repertoire has somewhat improved!

And with 5 months cooking experience under my belt, I am ready to take on new challenges within the kitchen. Allowing this new found career path to carve a route around the world for me for a while. Who knows, I may become a creature of the winter season, following the snow capped mountains from the northern to southern hemispheres for many years to come! Cooking my way around the world! Bring it on!!