Day 24: Expanding the Comfort Zone

Jun 19, 2022

Today is the last day. The end of the first part of this Chef Stage. I’m going to miss it, but I’m also looking forward to getting my life back. The kitchen sucks time out you.

Time disappears, when you’re working in a kitchen, like water down a sieve.

Suddenly 8 hours have gone by and it’s 1 am.

You emerge out the bubble that has engulfed you, and realise the world continues to spin, but you’ve been elsewhere, absorbed, focussed, lost.

I must admit, I kind of like it.

For the past month, I’ve been on a Chef Stage at El Monastrell, in Alicante - a Michelin one-star that faces out to the deep blue Mediterranean Sea, and from the kitchen I can see the boats bobbing in the harbour.

I came here straight out of Leiths Culinary School, my whites whiter than white.

Today, a month later, as I say my goodbyes, I notice there has been a change.

It’s not just my whites that have been put through their paces, but I most certainly have been too.

When you do these things and move out of your comfort zone there is a definite before and after; this was who I was, before, when I didn’t know any of this, compared to now.

Who would have said on Day 1 that I’d be running service by Day 17? Definitely not me.

Something’s shifted, and quite deeply; from then to now, who I was a month ago, and who I am now.

It might have cost me time and pushed me to a mental and physical exhaustion the sort of which, I’ve not known since my judo days, but this Stage has given back far more than it’s taken.

Like …

… how to cook using instincts, how to learn the rules, then break them, and how to go as fast as you can, but no faster. Especially when you’re using a knife!

How, if you want to survive a busy service and not find yourself overwhelmed and ‘in the weeds’ you must control the controllables, and even then, there will be times when the only way to stay sane is to slow down.

I’ve seen what Chef Life is really like. There have been long days that have made understand just why chefs burn out and question the whole industry.

But I can’t get enough of it. Chefs at the top of their game are like world class athletes; focussed, determined, dedicated, obsessed and are an absolute pleasure to watch in action.

Watching Josefa Navarro cook rabbit paella oven an open fire pit, a recipe perfected over three decades of cooking the same dish day after day, was the very definition of Excellence.

Or being in the presence of Andoni Aduriz (Mugaritz) who opens minds, asking questions through his edgy food. Lamb fur created from mould. Crab claw in macadamia milk. Preserved lemon cocktails. You don’t have to like something to like it.

El Monastrell Team (me, Victor, Marcos, Federico)

And of course, El Monastrell owner Maria Jose San Roman, (and Federico, Victor, Marcos and all El Monastrell team) who shared their knowledge with me, so openly, teaching me the intangibles you only learn over years of experience like how to experiment and balance recipes, and the difference one minute can make.

I’ve lost count of the new weird and wonderful ingredients I’ve been taught to prep: like sea urchins, sea anemones, octopus, truffles, cigallas and lobsters as well as the amount of almonds I’ve peeled, onions I’ve chopped, and tomatoes I’ve sliced.

And I’ve definitely eaten and cooked more paellas in this last month that I have in the 25 years living in Spain up until now!

The more you begin to learn, the more you realise how little you really know. I have a feeling this is just the beginning.

Because this Stage has given me something else, too.

Confidence.

Confidence, I find, doesn’t start before a challenge, but comes later, when you can prove to yourself that it is possible. Then, I can believe in myself.

‘This can be done, because I have done it.’

A realisation there is still so much to learn. A realisation I can.

Which means, I can now take another step, on this journey with no visible end goal.

And right now, although I’m not sure about where I’ll end up, I do know where I’m going next.

And that is a Michelin restaurant called La Finca, in Elche, run by Spanish Top Chef Judge Susi Diaz.

I’ll be continuing with Olympian Kitchen, then, will you join me?

Day 24: Expanding the Comfort Zone

Today is the last day. The end of the first part of this Chef Stage. I’m going to miss it, but I’m also looking forward to getting my life back. The kitchen sucks time out you.

It might have cost me time and pushed me to a mental and physical exhaustion the sort of which, I’ve not known since my judo days, but this Stage has given back far more than it’s taken.

But I can’t get enough of it. Chefs at the top of their game are like world class athletes; focussed, determined, dedicated, obsessed and are an absolute pleasure to watch in action.

The more you begin to learn, the more you realise how little you really know. I have a feeling this is just the beginning.

El Monastrell

Day 7: The Pursuit of Excellence (+ Recipe: Rabbit and Snail Paella)

Day 12: Learn to Experiment (+ Recipe: Orange Rice Pudding)

Day 16: Hollandaise, the easy way.

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