"Ticket landing; one seared praline salmon, one bœuf Obisani, one lamb chop a la vin rouge!"
"Heard, chef!"
Kahlia pulled away from the ticket station, tossing the hand towel over her shoulder as she made her way through the kitchen and back to her place. The cook in charge of the meat station called time on the meats, prompting the cook in charge of the garnish to call time on the toppings. The young woman found her place in front of a soup pot, grabbing a spoon to dip into the thick liquid and taste it.
Onion and spices bloomed on her tongue, topped by a subtle taste of cheese that drew a smile to her face. Satisfied, she lowered the heat of the flame and closed the lid, turning to toss the spoon into the sink. She quickly turned her attention to the second soup, the bœuf Obisani, as she'd named it. It was a recipe she'd crafted and perfected with her father, and it was always in high demand.
The deep red soup was full of root vegetables, with its colour and main flavour being derived from a liquified blend of beets, tomato, bell pepper, and red wine. She added some more white pepper to it to enhance the flavour, then left it to simmer for exactly two minutes to incorporate the ingredient.
"One seared praline salmon, one lamb chop a la rouge to the window. Time on the bœuf Obisani?" The sous chef called out, prompting her to plate the soup, running her damp towel around the edge to ensure the pristine appearance and topping it with chopped rosemary.
"To the window now!" She slid the plate carefully beside the other two just as a ticket came in, and after making sure the server carried off all plates correctly on the same tray to the same table, headed off to read the new order, skewing the served ticket as she did so. "We've got a big one tonight, people!"
Before she could open her mouth to say more, a server walked in with wide eyes, almost out of breath. "Chef! Table eighty-six's ticket just came in, right?"
"Yeah, I'm holding it right now." She waved the ticket before clipping it back on the prompter. "Two bœuf Obisani's, two soupe de oignon's, one dinde á bénédiction, one côte de mouton, one venison steak!"
"Heard, chef!" Her team called out in unison, immediately followed by the roar of the fire as the sous chef flambéed the onions.
"One venison steak, eight minutes; dinde á bénédiction, six minutes; côte de mouton, four minutes! Firing up now!"
"Eight minutes on the garnishes!"
"Chef Obisani, that order is Dorian Bankfurth's table." The server was wringing her hands nervously. Kahlia frowned, waiting for her to continue. "He's the toughest food critic in the industry right now!"
"I know who he is, Kate." She pulled away from the table to plate the seafood risotto on an order. "I just don't know what you want me to do about it. Seafood risotto to the window!"
"Aren't you worried? One word from him and your career would be in shambles!" Kate looked away from her boss to bark an order at a server, making sure that the plates were positioned perfectly on the tray for optimum balance.
"Whether he ruins my business or not, I don't see the point in worrying about it now," Kahlia shrugged, roughly cutting an onion into big chunks to toss into the awaiting Vitamix. "Besides that, we've done well for ourselves here without his help."
Kate waited until the chef blended the onions in broth and poured the juice into the big pot behind her filled with onion soup. "He's cutthroat, chef. One mistake and he'll make everyone regret it."
"Then we won't make mistakes." Kahlia shrugged, grabbing two plates and pouring the red soup into them, evenly adding root vegetables and beef into both. She repeated the process with the onion soup, sliding the bowls onto a silver tray and sliding it to the window. "Two onion soups, two beef Obisani's in the window!"
YOU ARE READING
Sugar
Romance"My compliments to the chef." ~~~ Twenty-six year-old Kahlia Obisani is the youngest chef to have won the title of Food Doyen in the nation's toughest televised cooking competition. Overseen and judged by the biggest names...
