Life as a commis chef @ Timberyard Restaurant ⭐️ memoir 3.

How to stay sane In the cheffing world.

Many people have many questions about why you work in hospitality, how you do it, it’s physically very demanding work, anti social hours, working weekends, very few days with breaks etc etc. The list of the cons in some peoples eyes are endless!

Although each and every one of these points above is valid and makes your working life a pretty challenging time, in order to succeed or to maintain ‘sanity’ there must be coping mechanisms, which I intend to cover in this article. The aim is to give an insight into how I keep going week to week throughout the peaks and troughs of this lifestyle I have chosen.

The first point to make is that I am 26 years old, I’m in a nice flat with four of my very best friends from school, luckily only a 5 minute walk from Timberyard. So I can certainly already count myself extremely lucky that these factors are in my favour, effectively no commute and a very nice living scenario with lads that are closer to being family than friends.

There are numerous instances of chefs in London who commute 2 hours per day and live in very mediocre accommodation to put it politely and honestly hats off to them as this just adds an extra strain on what is already tough enough.

Anyhow on on with the article. Sunday night is the big clean down of the week. This will generally finish up at midnight, at which stage the excitement of the chefs weekend begins. Generally still in our whites we will dabble in a beer or two at work and if there is left over wine we can tuck into this aswell. Some Sundays bring a pub session in the cow gate, others a wander home after your cans at work with plenty of leftover goodies. Whichever route it is there is always that same emotion of relief, excitement but also just sheer tiredness of the week that has passed, however good or bad it may have been.

(Pictured above was Sunday 2nd February’s goodies, left to right anti clockwise we have, in house made game sausage, fillet of John Dory, x3 pork steaks and 6 scallops)

Having had a piping hot shower getting into bed on what is generally very early on Monday morn is one of the best things after the working week knowing you few days off can begin and can begin at a leisurely pace. With no alarm ever set for the Monday morn I just get up when I wake up which usually slides into the brunch category time wise! The switching off from the intensity of a Michelin star kitchen can start with no worries in the world about what you need to try and smash out before lunch service, what needs ordered and whether you will get shouted at a little bit or loads that day.

Through to the kitchen in your jammies, suss out a good podcast (always about cooking, such a one trick pony I know), slam that on, cafetière of coffee, big bowl of porridge, drizzled with honey and berries and we’re up and away on day 1 of 3 off! They do say hospitality workers need to try and slow down physically and mentally on days off but this is always easier said than done dependent on how you’re wired, in my case this Monday morning is about as still as it gets. That being said as speak I’m listening to an 80s mix with a ‘cuppa’ conjuring up another article to bore you all with! So Tuesday afternoon is proving quite relaxing. That being said once this is squared off I will be getting the running shoes on, which leads on to another point of this article.

Exercise is utterly crucial in my humble opinion but this is not just in the case of cheffing, across the board. Thankfully I don’t wear the garmin at work because I think the amount of steps would be quite staggering especially considering these are the stairs lead to our freezers, fridge and effectively most things we need at work!

Gyming, running, getting up into the pentlands is my absolute love language. One of the first days we were shut in the new year, I bussed it out to the Pentlands, with nothing more than a book, a notepad and of course a suitable beanie hat! It was staggering and just so peaceful and pure, really clears the head and allows a little break from reality and the city lifestyle, only 20 mins from the centre of Edinburgh another pro of this wonderful city. Typically I did not check the bus times which led to 2 hours in the rinky dinky coffee shop at the base of the hill waiting for the bus, but no complaints as it was just relaxation central not a worry in the world! If you don’t find that relaxing I don’t know what will do it, could have been in the alps!

The final point that may surprise some people as a method of relaxation Is actually cooking, reading about cooking, completing engrossing yourself in what you do for living but just in a completely different manner. It brings a great amount of joy, you’re learning, coming up with dishes, music playing and you’re not under an ounce of pressure. It must be the hospitality side of me that when I cook a dish my soul priority is that someone else enjoys it, I have close to no interest in eating it myself (of course I actually do eat it). But you want to just wow people, it is one thing that is pretty cool and keeps you going when you can create something that others just absolutely love. I’ll tend to have a new dish a week, off the cuff brainstorming, trying to pair flavours, and going with your gut. This week there was a leek dish as a side with some gorgeous venison from work. Charred them, poached in chicken stock, then baked them with a cheese sauce, served with venison loin from work and some very humble but delicious crispy air fryer potatoes! Evidence is below.

I then did this exact side with some roast pheasant the following eve for the lads in the flat and they were rather content gentleman, but what’s the rule, you need to nail it three times before that it’s a fluke!

This pheasant carcass that was leftover I then got in a pot with a pigeon carcass I had previously roasted, onions, shallots, carrots, leek ends and bay leaves left this on the the stove for hours, strained it got lentils, green split peas and broth mix in and voila. I mean a touch more too it than that but I really don’t want to bore you too much with my spiel! Hopefully this article has given a little insight into the ongoings of days off for chefs, each and everyone of us is different but this is some of the activities I dabble in.