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CITYSunTimes Online Extra October 2010 | Read the full ARTICLE

FOOD & WINE

[ Read the rest of Susie's article in our October issue.]

The older I get, the less important my birthday becomes. This must be a significant sign of maturity?
This year, amidst insanely hot and humid weather and other various stressors, I was offered the chance to celebrate in style. I figured, “Hey, what the heck?”
So, I threw caution to the wind and headed up to the Four Seasons at Troon North to experience the “Chef du Jour” program.
After checking in, I headed to the pool where I ordered the cold bento box from the Saguaro Blossom restaurant. It was a square box of joy! From the ceviche to the tuna tacos, I loved every bite. I also discovered a new cocktail: the Divot. It’s basically an alcoholic Arnold Palmer, but I loved that the vodka in it was Sweet Tea flavored – simply awesome.
I headed back to the room around 2pm to get ready for my cooking extravaganza.
I met Executive Sous Chef Jesse Hansen in the Onyx Bar and he handed me my chef’s coat. Emblazoned upon the lapel were my name and the Four Seasons logo. I felt completely legit and I had not even entered the kitchen.
Hansen offered me a cocktail (yes, please!) and we headed into the expansive kitchen of Talavera.
Executive Chef Mel Mecinas was on vacation the day I experienced Chef du Jour, so I spent my time with Hansen and various other cooks and chefs in the kitchen.
I started out at the pastry kitchen with Chef Lance Whipple and his crew. I figured my experience was not going to be anything like an episode of “Hell’s Kitchen,” and I was thankfully, correct.
These guys are as far from “tyrants” as imaginable. In fact, everyone should have been humming “Whistle While You Work” because it felt so positive and uplifting.
I got to work on creating apricot tiramisu with Pastry Chef Eric Gamage. He walked me through the entire from-scratch process whilst I sipped on some chocolate stout that Whipple scrounged up from the chocolate room for me. Yes, they have a chocolate room.
It’s pretty much a walk in fridge filled with chocolate goodness. Next summer, I plan to ask them if I can live in that 50-degree room and exist on chocolate alone for a few days. I am certain that’s not a health code violation.
We also lit a big pot of stuff on fire from which to make ice cream, and they showed me how to make their delicious banana and Nutella Panini dessert.
Hansen came back to check on me and asked a question I’ll not soon forget, “Do you want to come hack up some rabbits?”
So, some background about bunnies and me: for whatever reason, my husband and I have adopted “Bunny” as a pet name for each other. As a matter of fact, I rarely call him Eric. We are friends of bunnies. I have an aversion to eating bunnies. And actually, the idea of “hacking up some” really was unappealing.
However, I was in good spirits, and decided one man’s cow is another man’s bunny.
So I dove in.
The boys were hard at work removing the rabbit filets and then cutting them up to use in a very complicated terrine of rabbit to be served at one of their upcoming wine dinners.
They asked me if I wanted to slice and dice. I declined and opted to use my journalistic skill set to interview them instead.
We discussed how incredibly difficult it is to make a dish like terrine (sear, braise, dry, chop, wrap, store, etc.) and it turns into a tiny serving.
The longer I watched them with the rabbits, the more respect I had for the amount of care and time it takes to make food from scratch.
After about 30 minutes, we took the rabbit parts over to the meat station and at this point I was pretty much over the trauma of rabbit slaughter.
It was now time to sear and then braise the rabbits to be later shredded for the terrine.
My observations of the meat station were that it was immaculate and hot. Very, very hot. My respect increased even more for the cooks at the meat station, as it was likely well over 100 degrees standing in front of the broiler and burners. We stayed there for another 30 minutes until we had seared all the rabbits and had them ready for the oven.
It took two large men to heave the gigantic pot into the oven for two hours to braise the bunnies.
Next, I spent some time learning how to create the perfect steak. Since I am a big fan of cow, it was a lot of fun. We talked about searing and creating the hash marks on the steak and then finishing it in the broiler.
I also had the chance to pound out some raw beef for Carpaccio-wrapped Crab.
Overall, the experience on my Chef du Jour was simply amazing. The kitchen staff at Talavera all seemed to genuinely love their jobs and each other. I’m sure it can get intense during dinner service, but it was harmonious and highly entertaining during prep.
I sat with them during their pre-service meeting and was very impressed with how much they really cared about who their guests were going to be in the restaurant that night, looked out for special requests and took special care with seating.

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FOOD & WINE Foodies Like Us Online Extra | CITYSunTimes October 2010