Accepted under the mentorship of your idol and the world's hottest chef Gordon Ramsay, you must prove your skill and determination through competing in Hell's Kitchen- A month long cooking contest versus fifteen other fierce contestants and difficul...
For this dinner service, Bella and Taylor are on appetizers, Gail and Red are on fish, Cindy and Kalyani are on meats, and Gina and I are on garnish. I am thankful to be on an easy station for once, it is kind of hard to screw up vegetables and sauce.
Chef Ramsay calls out our first ticket– two risottos, and one crab cake.
The girls are doing well getting out appetizers, at one point Chef Ramsay turns to us with a risotto that Taylor had brought up. I am sure that she is about to get scolded, but instead, Ramsay praises her.
"Taylor, this risotto is amazing. Please, keep them just like that, right?"
"Yes, Chef!" Taylor responds, beaming. She looks to me and I give her a thumbs up.
It is only when we make it to entrees that the walls come crashing down.
"What the fuck is this? Everyone, look, come here!" Ramsay's irate voice pierces our eardrums. Everyone looks up and rushes over to see what he is talking about.
In front of him, he holds a pan with a very obviously raw piece of pork on it. He throws the pan down.
"Fucking raw pork, disgusting. Inedible. You know what happens when people eat raw pork?" Ramsay asks.
Kalyani looks guilty as she responds, "Chef, they could get worms."
"Yeah the fuck they could, Kalyani. I'm glad you know this, but how could you let it get sent up if you understand the risks? Which of you two cooked this?" he demands.
"I did, Chef..." Kalyani speaks, struggling to maintain eye contact with the enraged Chef.
"Not fucking good enough, Kalyani. You too Cindy, you need to make sure you both stay on track. No more raw meat at the pass today, got it?" he orders.
"Of course Chef, we'll be more careful!" Cindy retorts.
Thankfully the two of them kept their word and no more raw meat is sent up. The fish station is cooking up a storm in the meantime.
Cindy shouts to the fish station for a time and is met with silence. She again shouts to ask for the time, but Gail is already headed to the pass.
"Fucking shit!" Cindy curses. Her meat is only halfway done when she pulls it out of the oven.
"Where's my flank steak?" Ramsay asks from the pass, not turning around.
"Chef, I still need four minutes. The steak is raw and I'm not sending it up to you like that!" Cindy responds.
"If you still needed four minutes why do I have the fish already? I thought we went over this, communication makes or breaks the service!" He sighs, then dumps the fish into the garbage can next to him.
"Fire another fish, and be ready with the meats this time, and TALK to each other!" he beseeches us.
"Four minutes on steak!" Cindy yells, to which Gail responds, "heard!"
Gina and I both fire garnishes and sauces, putting them up at the pass on time. I'd just finished walking up a sauce when my heart freezes as I hear Ramsay start to yell.
"Who brought me cold sauce? Are you serious?" he put a finger in the sauce and grimaces.
"Me, Chef, I'm sorry I grabbed the wrong one!" I rush over to him and hand him the correct sauce. I had accidentally left an old sauce right next to the fresh one.
He exasperatedly shakes his head and sighs.
"It may only be our third service, but I expect you to check everything before you send it up to me," he pauses. "Being here is a dream of yours, yeah? Show me you mean it. Be meticulous as I am and we'll get along fine, right?" he says as he carefully hands me the cold sauce.
"Of course Chef, I'll be sure to check everything!" I nod seriously before I go back to my station. Gina gives me an apologetic look before she returns to firing spinach.
Strangely enough, I don't hear much yelling directed at the blue kitchen. Even Sous Chef Scott looks pleased as each of the men brings up their dishes to the pass. I only notice one or two things being scolded, mostly minor and easily fixed problems like under-cooked scallops or needing to cut a portion size down a bit.
"Shut it down, everyone. Nicely done, for the most part," Ramsay says, crossing his arms.
Once everything is shut off, we line up next to the stoves.
"Right, the blue team really surprised me today. Men, you've won today's service, well done. Tonight is not an elimination night, but the red team's raw pork has me nervous. You all better shape up before the next service," he remarks, eyeballing Cindy and Kalyani.
"As the losers of tonight's service, the red team will be cleaning the kitchens. Spotless, as usual, if you please. Then make yourselves something to eat and get some rest for tomorrow. There's going to be a new challenge for you early on in the day." He taps his chin for a moment. "I'd also like to mention that this Sunday I'll be meeting with each of you privately in my office. Just a little check up on how everyone is doing, what you might need help with and so on. As you all know, there are no mics or cameras here on Sunday, so please speak candidly. Be thinking about what you want to talk about with me."
My heart rate picks up. Maybe now I'll finally find out what's going on! In the back of my mind, I know my heart has sped up for more than just that reason as my eyes unwittingly flit from his shoes all the way up his body. When my gaze meets his eyes, he cocks an eyebrow playfully.
He rubs his hands together then nods. "Well, get to cleaning then red team! I'll see you all tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Chef!" everyone responds before the men happily make their way upstairs and the red team once again scrubs the kitchen clean.
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