Day 18: Is that fear, I feel?
Today is all about slicing. We need to get a lot done, and quickly. Red flags are flying. Rushing and slicing. Even I know, that’s not a good mix.
In one hand a Japanese mandoline, in the other a radish.
I hold the radish with just the tips of my fingers, and push it along the grooves, until I feel the resistance of the blade, I push some more, until out falls a perfect circle of paper-thin radish.
And repeat. And again. Until I dare.
Easy enough.
But then, the ante is upped. Green beans, longways.
Hand and blade, are now within a few millimetres.
The guard? I’m too chicken to ask for it, as they are rarely used in professional kitchens.
But I notice I stop slicing way before the others, too. I might be chicken but I also have all ten fingers, and I’d like to keep it that way.
I’m on Day 18 of this 100 Day Chef Stage at El Monastrell restaurant in Alicante, and so far I’ve learnt how to develop recipes, and why mise en place is so important.
Each day I’m learning how to be more efficient, work faster, and above all how to stay safe.
Kitchens are dangerous places and there are times when fear is there for a damn good reason.
Next up, we move into serious territory, the electric butcher’s slicer.
Frozen octopus is passed through a butcher’s slicer.
Someone is asking me questions, but I can’t really hear them. All I can hear is the slicer, as it cuts effortlessly through the frozen octopus.
I am one hundred and ten percent focussed on task in hand, as frilly, purple edged octopus slivers fall out of the machine.
Later these translucent slivers of octopus are dropped into hot oil, where they will curl and twist themselves into a lacy, purple cephalopod crisp.
With its high tech safety guards, the butcher’s slicer is actually a lot safer than the mandoline, but that makes it no less terrifying.
As I slice, I feel the fear rising.
I let it rise, recognising it, realising it’s there to protect.
Most often, I find fear is best combated by facing it head on, crashing through it, gung-ho style.
But that strategy only works for irrational fears.
You know the type; the fear before you get up to speak in public, or step onto fight a judo contest, or walk into an exam.
Fear that is irrational, illogical, groundless.
Irrational fear is anxiety around something that is unlikely to cause us harm.
So, you stutter and balls up the speech, so what, it’s just a social embarassment, the sun will come up tomorrow. So, you lose the match, it’s a disappointment, but life goes on, you are physically unaffected.
But gung-ho is not the way to tackle this very rational fear that is flooding through my body as I move the butcher’s slice back and forth, and drop the octopus into the oil.
Gung-ho and sharp blades do not mix well.
Rational fear is when there is a real threat, which will hurt us.
No rational fear, is a whole different animal and one you should listen to when it growls.
This is not the time for chit-chat, or worrying about the bills, this is the time to be one hundred percent in the here or now - or a slice of index finger might be joining the octopus canapé tonight.
That said, tools like these can really help speed up the process, and are a great addition to your kitchen kit.
A butcher’s slicer might be OTT, but a mandoline like this Benriner is a good investment to save time, and add finesse to dishes.
Think perfect potatoes for your dauphinoise. Wafer thin apple crisps. Cucumber sliced in seconds. Pretty courgette ribbons. Stir fry vegetables cut in minutes.
Sliced fennel like on top of a Scallop Ceviche, or these Beetroot Wrappers with a goat’s cheese filling.
Just watch out for those fingers. I’d definitely advise using the guard and even one of these cut-resistant gloves.
Back in the kitchen, and we are way ahead of time.
It is staggering the quantity of vegetables that the three of us have prepared in less than twenty minutes. There is no way we would have been able to do this with a knife, in the time given.
And everything looks so uniform.
Hundreds of perfect-circular radish rounds float in water, waiting to be plated up with the lobster.
Layers of impossibly-thin slices of green beans, ready to blanched, refreshed and added to potato foam.
And slivers of octopus, so thin you can see the light coming through from the other side.
What’s more, and what is definitely more important, the team is all in one piece. No lost fingers. Not one cut. Not even a nick.
