A Chef’s Tale

Life as a chef may not be a necessarily glamorous one (no killer heels here darlin) but it’s certainly colourful, full of interesting moments and of course great food (not that we ever really get to eat any of it but I’ll come to that).  It is also a good opportunity to meet lots of interesting (sometimes quirky) clientèle.

As a private chef we tend to go where the work takes us.  If you’ve read the tweets, looked at my site, facebook and all that jazz,  you’ll know I cater all over London and the Essex region but I have been as far Dorset, Somerset and even Whitstable!  It’s an adventurers life for me!  And the work has been varied.

I even catered on Christmas day! Yes, that was fun, whilst the client and her guests enjoyed the merriment of Christmas day (that’s drinking to you and me) my team and I slaved away in the kitchen (OK, so not quite slaving but hard work nonetheless) roasting deboned and stuffed turkeys, beef wellingtons and potatoes plus a whole host of other trimmings!  I love my client, she’s a regular of mine and so I didn’t mind obliging her on that special day.  She doesn’t cook either so I felt it was also an act of goodwill to her guests and I am sure I will go to heaven.  She did ask me though, “So, Hulya, what will you do for your family that day? Will you go home and cook your Christmas dinner?” Theirs was a lunch. I laughed, “You’re jokin’ aren’t you love?” Although, I did then cook our Xmas dinner on Boxing day and the entire holiday thereafter for the many friends that just happened to be ‘passing by’ ..yeah right. I think the only breaks I had was to sleep. The word ‘Relentless’ springs to mind!

Which brings me round to another popular question a chef is asked is, “So what do you eat?” It’s a known fact that Chefs as a breed, generally don’t eat what they cook (I think Gordon Ramsay was spotted coming out of Burger King once). Mainly due to no time, especially if you run a restaurant, but also if we ate everything we cooked then most of us would be the size of a house. Some argue that a fat chef makes for an excellent chef…I think the jury’s out on that one… I prefer to stay trim and healthy so I can pick up those huge pots and pans.

Chefs do get asked some of the funniest questions. I had a client once ask me if I could speak French. I said if he wanted to communicate via French food terms, then yes….make of it what you will.  Another client asked me if I offered any other services, I suggested cooking lessons but I don’t actually think that’s what he meant.

Of course, life as a private chef is also about discretion so I can’t reveal too much about my clientèle, that would be telling….well, maybe if you twist my arm…maybe… Now I need to cook so until next time…!