Mashed Garlicky Potato

I have had more experience than most at cooking large quantities of Garlic Mashed Potatoes. I make some of the best in the business from what I have been told, but that does not mean I like said starch or even that I like preparing this decadent delicacy. Now since this is my first post in my new venture to write down the funny quirky, sometimes heartbreaking stories of my experiences over the past ten years I am going to try a few different approaches. My fears are that the cast of characters is so large that I feel people will get lost without any back story, and it would take a novel, which I am not talented enough to word properly, to get readers to evoke emotional responses to all the friends, colleagues and lovers that I have had interaction with over the years. So i am just going to wing it, a motto that has gotten me quite far in this business where formal training was an after thought to the powers that be that always signed my checks and then proceeded to make all the emloyees feel as though they were doing us a favor. As I used to tell Wesley( his story will come in time) “Improvise and Overcome my friend.” Hopefully I have success in this creative new foray.

Anyways back to the Potato, one of those staple ingredients that you can prepare in so many ways it would make your head spin, from a basic bake to a delicate perfectly browned Rosti,the imagination and somewhat of a sensible palate are the only limitations to making an accent dish proud of your entree. That is all well and fine until it comes to producing any of these items en mass. There comes a point when you are next to a stove, in the middle of the summer, mashing 80 pounds of potatoes by hand that you really start to question your own sanity. I mean throwing together a quick saute to satisfy that one vegetarian that your sales person neglected to put on the menu is aggravating but very controllable. Realizing a little too late that someone turned down the 50 quart stock pot that you had intended on finishing your potatoes in early enough so that you were not a sweaty mess when you went out to do Pasta to order for 200 guests would try the patience of ghandi himself. Ok no problem grab a couple smaller pots transfer said potatoes into them cover them in foil(all the while knowing how valuable that stove top space is) but no matter what we have got to start mashing in 15 minutes. Well 20 minutes later when this once peaceful desolate kitchen rises to a crescendo and everyone is just waiting to duck because something is going to flying across the kitchen, there stands me appearing as though I am churning butter like it was 1895, pot on the floor, one of the kitchen guys holding the pot, and potato and cream flying everywhere. There are no fancy electronic devices to aide in this endeavor, manual labor(corporal punishment) are the basis of this fine company, if you aren’t sweating you aren’t working hard enough was the motto, and boy was I living up to my end of the bargain.(as an aside, the man who created that motto for us was in Northern New England with his family, on his boat fishing with his kids, at his summer home) Added my secret ingredients, mashed some more, had my official potato tester Jack try them out, got that smile like only Jack could give me, got the official” You still make the best Garlicky Mashed Potato(that’s what he always called them) threw on a chef coat, got a clean apron and went out for the next phase of the evening. Half way through serving the pasta I had the guest of honor of the function come up to me and tell me, “Could you please tell me who made the mashed potato.?” I said” Jack, the chef out back did, go tell him how much you loved them.” Then I was happy. This is what I do, I am a caterer, and as a caterer you get all the pressure of being a chef with not a lot of the prestige, but what has always made it worthwhile to me is the fact that in a restaurant you are meant to impress, sure, but as a caterer you are contributing to lifelong memories, you are at the helm of someones special day, a day that they, and their friends, family, and colleagues will remember for quite some time. when you leave a restaurant you say wow that was a great meal, and very rarely do you connect that with one of the most important days of your life, and pretty much all the time noone in the kitchen at a restaurant realizes that there is special meaning to your meal. I create memories for hundreds of people every week, that is why I am a caterer, and that is why I have never fully taken that leap into the restaurant world, as difficult as it can be(and just the pressure of preparing just the potatoes on this event) it is the most rewarding job I have ever had.