Galley Work

Nov 3, 2006
Friday
Day 3

I’ve been working my shift in the galley for 2 days now and it is really fun! Don’t get me wrong, the work is very hard, especially since we are all still adjusting to the altitude. I’m stiff, achy, and am usually fighting a headache at the end of my shift. I’m also so tired that I dread gearing up and walking back to the J-ways. I work an 8am-6pm shift as a prep cook. I prepare all the food for the AM Sous Chef and the PM Sous Chef. Normally how a typical kitchen is structured is there is only one Chef. Chef means chief in French. Under him is the Sous Chefs who are in charge for everything prepared during their shift. The Chef is usually busy placing product orders, doing paperwork, doing admin stuff, as well as sticking his head in the kitchen and cooking. Then you have production cooks and prep cooks who execute many of the tasks to be done.

I’m very fortunate in that my shift spans the AM and PM shifts, gets a taste of all of the meals of the day, and I get to work with all of the people from all of the shifts. We have an excellent crew and really work as a team in getting everything completed for the 200 or so people who are at every meal. Most of us in the galley have been with each other since training in Denver and have really bonded. I think any crew in any discipline is most successful when their personalities complement each other and they have big hearts that wish to see everyone on the team achieve their best. It really feels that we have that with this group.

The food here is excellent if I do say so myself! The Chef gives us creative latitude in all that we cook. We follow a general menu plan, but are able to create our own soups and pasta salads and add in any details we feel necessary. At McMurdo when I was helping in the galley, I was given a box of cauliflower and told to make a cold salad from it, however I wanted. I made a salad similar to my mom’s. Some of the other cooks tasted it and said in their North Carolina drawl “That your momma’s recipe? Is your momma single? I’d like to marry her.”

There is only one small walk-in freezer directly attached to the kitchen. The rest of the frozen goods are kept outside on a type of patio. Again, there is a huge freezer door leading outside, but this time, your freezer has no walls and is the entire outside. The galley is on the second floor so all goods are hoisted up to the patio by pulleys on palates. I’ve had to make many trips to this outside freezer and most of us don’t take the time to put on our coats, we just do what we need to do quickly. The only mistake, which I will never make twice, is to grab the metal, outside freezer door handle with my bare hands.

The AM Sous Chef hasn’t been adjusting well to the altitude and so the outgoing Sous Chef from the Winter crew has told me that we are to take over her duties until she is better. She instructed me to start planning out and be ready to execute the soups and salads for the coming week. I’m very excited as there is definitely a sense of pride when your creations are on the line to be served.