The Details:
Time of Day: A little after two hours after noon
Location: The University Campus grounds and then the Main Kitchen
The Tale:
Time ticked by and while those that worked in the kitchen were busy bustling around, Jarah was lost in the task that had been given to him, the mountain of spuds that he started to tear into starting with the smaller sized ones first. This of course was a bit of a tactic move for the cook as since the larger ones would surely take longer to peel, thus the bucket that had been placed before the stool Jarah was sitting on began to quickly fill up as skin cleaned yellowish white potato was tossed into a bin that would be used to rinse the dirt off of them before they would be used in the meals preparation.
Many times Jarah managed to get the peels off in one long continuous strand other times they came off in pieces or several strips, but about fifteen minutes into his time frame, Jar had moved on from the small to the medium sized potatoes. He of course repeated the process for peeling, starting at the top of the potato’s shape and moving down until no skin was left.
Numerous times he would quickly signal to the boy that would grab the pail overflowing with skins and replace it with an empty one while he ran to empty the one that had just been picked up. Jarah’s hands were of course starting to hurt by the time he reached the larger spuds that seemed to make up a third of the pile. Taking in a deep breath, the cook in training slowly let it out and focused all of his thoughts and skill into finishing the task. He didn’t even dare look up as the last few seconds ticked away and the Head Chef Master who had been keeping an eye on Jarah the whole time, strolled over to where Jarah was and placed a hand on the lad’s squared shoulder. This caused Jarah to jump almost slicing the knife’s tip into his thumb.
“That’s enough you did well, no one else by themselves have been able to get as far into a mountain like that before. Come now it’s time for your next test.” Devindaher showed Jarah over to where the potatoes were being washed up by two women that were often in charge of the cleaning up of the vegetables.
“Now I want you to make me a dish using these potatoes… don’t’ worry you don’t have to use all of them just want to see your skill in coming up with something new, exciting and that would be pleasing to a taster’s palate. I’ll give you an hour and a half this time.”
Jarah was then given a small section of the kitchen to work on his next task. This was just fine with Jarah as while he could often work with others he greatly preferred to work by himself when it came to ‘designing’ a new recipe for someone. With a bowl of freshly washed potatoes on the counter top, Jarah began to puzzle over what to make. Then he got an idea, this caused a smile to appear on his scarred face as he headed off to the storage room to gather together the ingredients he needed. Selecting out some cream from the chiller, a small chunk of butter from a jar of butter, along with a wedge of white cheese, next he picked out some garlic, bread, salt, pepper, eggs, and some yellow medium sized onions. With these items all in two bowls, Jarah carried them out of the storage room and back to his station. Once back there he set to work starting first with slicing the onions so they would be a nice thin thickness making it easier to cook them, he also sliced the potatoes in thin manner as well.
Mincing the garlic went by fast as did tending to the eggs until they were slightly beaten. Jarah took the bread slices he had taken from one of the baguettes’ end pieces and toasted it until it was just dry but now browned. These became crushed until they were one fourth of a cup of crumbs. Jar then whipped the cream until he had two cups worth. Last came the task of finely shredding up the cheese wedge he had picked out from the chiller pantry.
After the prep work was done, Jar set to work mixing the ingredients together in a pan that would be going into the oven that was next to the stove. He started with placing the spud slices into a large cooking pot, then mixed in the whipped cream, garlic along with about a teaspoon of salt and just a half a teaspoon of the pepper. This was brought up to a boiling point and then moved to a smaller flame and was allowed to simmer for a maximum of twenty five minutes with a lid upon the pot. This was to make sure the potatoes were tender to the touch.
In the next part of his recipe process, Jarah took the pot from the stove and stirred in the eggs, and three cups out of the full four cups he had shredded of the cheese. This mixture was poured into the casserole dish which Jar had smeared butter around the surface to make sure that the dish didn’t burn or stick to the pan itself. However he had layered the garlic and potato mixture between a layer of the thinly sliced onions. Once the dish was full of the onions and creamy mixture, Jarahed combined the bread crumbs with the remaining cup of shredded cheese and sprinkled this over the potatoes and onion casserole. Taking the dish over to the oven, Jarah slid the item in and then waited for another twenty five minutes, basically until the cheese had melted and the potatoes were tender to cut through.
Plating up some of the meal, after having carefully removed the hot pan from the oven, Jarah carried this plate over to where the Head Chef Master was waiting for him with a fork in hand. Now came the real test of both Jarah’s talent and nerves as he waited for the review from the man that held his fate in aged hands.
The Head Chef Master took his time tasting the meal that was presented to him. It was a bit of a twist on a potato meal but something told him that many of the students and staff members of the University would like the meal as it was different. Finishing off the plate Master Devindaher kept Jarah waited by drinking some of the wine from his glass that had been filled by one of the helper boys, and then wiping his mouth on the back of a cloth rag napkin. He could tell Jarah was waiting as patiently and was doing his best to not show how nervous he was to the older man.
Finally the elder spoke, “That was very interesting I must say. I like the little flare you put in with adding in both onions and garlic with the potatoes. I would love to serve that at the next lunch or dinner meals if you don’t mind teaching it to my staff.” The smile was the finally clue that Jarah had been accepted among the staff of the University’s kitchen and cafeteria. “Welcome on board, Lad. Now go find you a place to stay a cottage nearby preferably. I’ll expect you here bright and early in the morning. I could use a good assistant and something tells my old bones you are the man for the job. And don’t worry I’ll be sure to let the bosses know so you can start getting paid for your work around here.”
Jarah grabbed the man that was now his boss’s hand and shook it with a firm grateful grip. “Thank you, Sir. I’m glad you like the dish, and I’ll be here brighter than anyone ever before.” And with that Jar ran out of the kitchen leaving behind a chuckling Head Master Chef who didn’t stray long at his little table as he had another meal to prepare and time along with hungry bellies waited for no lay about.
The End |
by Jarah Sulayman on February 16th, 2012, 9:46 pm 
