...and what did you learn today?

One of my colleagues asked me this today.

And I could come up with only one concrete answer: the recipe for pickling liquid!

But concrete answers cannot sum up the day for an intern -- or any cook for that matter.

Starting out means doing some trivial things. It means lots of mirepoix brunoise; it means taking on two cases of corn, or entering bean purgatory to shell those delicious flageolets. And while they sound boring, those mundane tasks shouldn't be scoffed at. By the time I'm done with this internship, I will be able to destroy cases of corn, quickly. But ideally, my skills shouldn't stop with corn: I'll have a better feel for my tools, what processes work best for which task, a better feel for my hands, maybe even become more ambidextrous, and if I'm lucky (which I am), my colleagues will let me know when I'm doing something wrong. These abilities should spill over into everything else I do, and their development never ends. And it will hopefully translate to an intuitive feel for food, one day...

I haven't yet worked a full dinner service, so when I get home, I am only mentally exhausted. This is also a result of the learning process that cannot be explained in recipes. If I can lift my head up from my current task, I watch one of the sous chefs breaking down fish, and muster up the focus to go back to what I was doing. That is hard for me. Then there are little internal notes that begin to pile up: peer into the cooler or walk-in, take a mental photo; look at prep list; read yesterday's menu; read today's menu; look at recipe, note ratios; ask what ingredient goes with what, on what dish, think about how that works; stay for line-up, taste, analyze salt, acid, bitterness, fat, umami; train your palate; taste everything you touch; remember what that produce tastes like, because it's at its peak, and this kitchen has the best; take notes. Oh, and complete all your other tasks.

Writing a thesis challenges you intellectually, but not in the upfront, honest way a kitchen does. There's no B.S. here; you can't skim paragraphs, or argue your way out of a bad dish. You're starting out, and no matter how much you've read, you're still an inexperienced cook, and you will learn from everyone else. 

So be humble, and take in everything.