After spending 3 months slicing, dicing and stirring as a gastronomy intern, here are the top ten things I've learned and loved about working in a Florentine restaurant:
10. Knife skills - Being used to the12-inch knife I bought at Target, I was surprised to be handed something twice as big and is extremely sharp that looked like a machete. I got a quick lesson on proper technique an committed it to memory. I'm now a decent dicer and can cut over 150 tomatoes for bruschetta in under twenty-five minutes.
9. Italian Soccer - There's an old, tiny radio duct-taped to the wall in the kitchen. It's primary use is to entertain us with American pop songs and classics while we clean the kitchen from top to bottom. No one really cares what comes on, it's just good to have some background music. On Sundays and Wednesdays however, it's a different story. Those are soccer days, and when the Fiorentina or Inter Milan are playing, the game is on and it's not background noise. Coming from America I couldn't have cared less about European soccer but after a month of listening to the guys yell at this tiny radio twice a week, I become pretty fond of the game. I've enjoyed my time rooting for the opposing teams just to bust on the chefs, but there's a big match coming up against Juventus and I dare not root for them. It'd be like wearing a Sox jersey to Yankee Stadium in October.
8. Making Ribollita - The best way to describe this "soup" is to think of a really thick stew without any meat. It's the very first item on the menu that I prepared from scratch and it's very Tuscan. There's not much to it, just a bunch of vegetables, beans, tomato sauce, and bread but it's been my responsibility since I've been working and it's been fun to make. I'm definitely bringing this recipe back home.
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7. Handling Seafood - We cook a lot of fish and there are pasta dishes with some shellfish in them. Therefore, the American handles all the smell-fish, cleans it and preps it. I've learned how to properly treat and clean clams, mussels, shrimp, prawns, squid and octopus. The best skill I've pick up though is how to filet a fish. I clean fish regularly and have gotten pretty good at it but am still incredibly slow compared to those deck hands on charter boats who filet your fish on the way back to port.
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5. Learning the language - Obviously I've picked up on food and cooking terms while I've been working at Il Teatro. The best part has been learning the slang and local terms that I can use outside the restaurant. It goes unsaid that some of the phrases I've learn shouldn't be shared outside the kitchen, but a lot of phrases and vocabulary have helped me in the classroom and on the street. Ho anche un discreto accento toscano ...
4. Learning how to clean- It sounds stupid but I used to suck at cleaning. Plates I would wash would have specks on them or countertops would be all streaky when was done with them. Now though, after cleaning the kitchen top to bottom every night, nothing gets by me, I'm like Mister Clean with hair.
3. The Doggie bags - Aside from it being my responsibility to pack up doggie bags for customers, I get my own doggie bags to take home. I've taken full pizzas home, Florentine steaks, pastas, cakes, and several bottles of wine. I haven't been to the grocery store in awhile.
2. The Food - No one can work on a empty stomach. To solve this problem, everyone sits down together and enjoys a huge dinner from 6:30 to 7:00 pm, before the dinner rush. It's always family style and the food is amazing. We've had everything from pasta with chicken hearts to American breakfast (which they think is hot dogs and eggs, close enough). I've never left hungry and that's because they always push the leftovers towards me around 6:50 and I finish everything off.
1. The Friends - To be honest, going into this experience I was expecting to be treated like "the American" and was bracing myself for constant ridicule and jobs more along the lines of cleaning toilets. The complete opposite turned out to be true. Everyone, and I mean everyone, couldn't be nicer at Il Teatro. The owner lets me come and go as I please. The chefs all try to teach me things and are extremely patient with with lack of experience, The waiters and waitresses all take care of my friends and their families from school when they come for lunch or dinner and always find the time to joke around with me in dining room. I consider everyone there my friends and have really enjoyed working with them every day.
By Mark Madden,
History of Art & Italian Studies in Florence
Spring 2011
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