Work experience at Rick Stein's - Day 6 - Split Larder

A full day in larder. And what a day it was.

First of, I had to kill a huge box full of velvet crab that were all really feisty and trying to get away. Honestly, I don't blame them, knowing that they had to be thrown into boiling water and cooked for 6 minutes. Once cooked they go into the blaster chiller to be cooled down quickly because some of them needed to be prepared for service.

While waiting for them to cool, I went on to filleting and skinning a huge box of lemon sole. These were so slimy, natural slim that is it was really difficult to hold on to them. But the more I did, I kind of developed a technique. From there I moved on to Dover sole. However, I didn't fillet them; I only cleaned out the roe by pressing my thumb over it and the roe came out where the fish had been gutted.

By that time the crabs had cooled down enough and I had to clean them. That meant taking their head shell off without breaking it because it had to go back on. Then getting rid off what is called "the dead man's fingers" which I think are the filters through which the crab feeds and their "jaws". Once that's cleaned, you put the head shell back on.

I also did some veg preparation slicing cucumbers, dicing shallots into brunoise and making lemon wedges.

Finally I was cleaning clams and cockles and started to peel prawns. By that time, the lunch service which is usually not too busy for larder was over and time for me to go on my break.

I was back at 5pm for the late shift. First I continued to peel the rest of the prawns. But when service started I was really busy at some point putting together small and large Fruits de Mer salads, meaning steaming shellfish, opening oysters and arranging everything beautifully on a small mountain of ice. I also prepared trays with seafood for the starter section which they cook for the Hot Shellfish dish.

I really enjoy the buzz of the service and must say again that I feel quite proud when "my food" goes out to the customer. It might sound silly, but I can't help it.

It was midnight when I went home. I was quite exhausted, my feet were hurting like crazy and it took my forever to wind down - but it felt good, too.