Chef on Base

With all of the activities i have done so far on this blog, you may be forgiven for thinking that i don't actually do any work.. So this post is just to set the record straight. 

 As a Chef the work is very demanding with everyone on base eating every 2 hours and while everyone has Sunday off we Chefs have to work. We are also working while everyone else is having a break eating. This in fact means that when the workers finish work at 5 / 6pm and come in to eat at 7 / 7.30pm, by the time we have fed them,  cleared down and cleaned up,  it is 8.30 / 9.00pm.

Which takes our day to 13 hours. Times that by 6, because we do get one day off in the week, and that makes a total of 78 hours a week, on average.

Here is how the day generally goes:

4 chefs on base, Me, Ant (the last wintering chef and lead chef), Chris (this years wintering chef) and Pat (who came in with me to do the summer season).

We all start at 7.30 am.  2 chefs in the Laws Kitchen catering for 80+  and 1 chef in the Drewry kitchen catering for 30+.

From Monday to Thursday There is one chef off. Ant has Monday, Chris Has Tuesday, Pat has Wednesday, and i have Thursday every week. Unless something happens like a plane or a ship comes in and more people descend on base, then our day off gets cancelled. But that has only happened twice since i have been here.  On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we all work, with 2 chefs in the Laws and 2 in the Drewry.

The first thing we do is get a batch of bread on.

 once it has been mixed we leave it to prove. While it is proving we think about what we are going to put out for lunch and start preparing morning smoko  which is either a bacon roll, cheese toastie, burger or sausage bap, always a soup and bread roll and vegetarian alternatives. We have to give 2 per person as it says in their contract, although some have three and four…We make 200 bread rolls a day and 30 loaves of bread.

We have 2 hits on morning smoke,  the Morrisons Contractors have theirs at 10.am and that has to be taken over by quad bike to their logistics tent on the construction site. The 2nd hit is at 10.30 am when BAS employees come into the Laws dining area for their smoko.

The picture shows the bread dough being weighed to 80 / 90 gms and rolled into shape.

Here i am rolling the dough flat , ready for the second prove.

Once it has doubled in size on the second prove it goes into the oven to be cooked and a second batch is made repeating the whole process.

While Morning smoko is going on we then start preparing lunch, which is always a soup and bread, there is always a salad bar with items such as cold tinned meats, salami, sardines, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, sliced onions and peppers, only when available.  Grated carrot, potato salad, beetroot salad, maybe a pasta or rice salad, tuna fish, and anything that can be used up.

The main lunch is always a use up lunch from previous dinners before, like:

Lasagne,Macaroni cheese, cottage pie, Pizza etc. Today we did cornish pasties.

Once we have cleared away from morning smoko the time is approx 11.15 am

and lunch is well on the way, we now have an hour to have everything ready for lunch. So if we are far enough ahead we can stop for 10 minutes or so, have a cup of tea and marvel at the magnificent view from the kitchen window.

At 12.30 pm Morrisons crew arrive bang on time for their lunch, and in half an hour they devour everything in sight.  By 1.00pm they have left the dining room and the BAS guys are waiting for the nod to come in and eat.  We have to quickly replenish the empty trays and dishes of food, then in they come.

They are there for half an hour, they finish their lunch, wash their plates and get back to work.

Meanwhile we take the bread out of the ovens and we  sit down for 20 mins and have our lunch. By this time it is approx 2.30pm and we have to start getting afternoon smoko ready, which is anything sweet to give them their sugar fix. This has to be ready by 3.30pm and is exactly the same as the morning smoko with the Morrisons smoko delivered to the logs tent by 3.45pm, and the BAS lot coming to the dining room at 4.00pm

We alternate afternoon smokos so as to keep it varied. So one day will be a biscuit type, like shortbread or ginger snaps, the next day will be a cake type, like lemon drizzle cake or bakewell tart. Then it will be oaty or fruity, like flapjacks, we have done marshmallows, rhubarb crumble bars, meringues, maderia cake, chocolate marble sponge, muffins, do-nuts, choc chip cookies the list is endless.

Here i am painting chocolate onto some flapjacks

Once smoko is over there is time for another cup of tea outside to see what is going on.

There is always something happening, like this Antarctic hero i spotted fixing the electrics. This is  Paul this wintering electrician . I had to get his picture with the Union Jack above him.

Then it's back into the kitchen and the prep starts for dinner. In this picture i am poaching a few eggs and i needed some ice to cool them. No prizes for guessing where i got the ice from??

Every thing for dinner has to be ready for the first sitting at 7.00pm for the Morrison boys, then again at 7.30pm for the BAS lot. Dinner is always a big meal with a good choice of dishes, veg and potatoes, vegetarian options and a couple of choices for dessert.

example dinners are:  Lancashire hot pot, Beef stew and dumplings, fillet steak and chips (only if we think they deserve it), stuffed pork escalopes, Chicken chasseur, spaghetti bolognaise, Liver and onions, etc etc, Friday night is always Fish and chip night, and Saturday night is always a themed night, this saturday is curry night and everyone makes an effort on a Saturday. The tables get clothed and laid, wine is put on each table and everyone gets dressed for dinner.  This Saturday we gave them: Beef Vindaloo, Chicken Rogan Josh, Lamb byriani, Sag aloo, Mushroom balti, Curried chick peas, Basmati rice, Fresh naan breads, and poppadums.  For desserts they had Ice cream, Lemon Syllabub, Mandarin oranges and Ground rice pudding. Which from the chefs perspective is and was bloody hard work!

But everyone seemed to enjoy it and the evening went without a hitch.

Here i am standing in the Dining room before the masses descend upon us.

On the wall behind me are pictures of every wintering team at Halley, from 1962 to present day. The walls in this dining area are designated to the Antarctic teams.

This is the servery before it gets destroyed.

The following pictures  will really interest my sister Susie,

So this is for you Sis.

This is how they all dressed for dinner on this Saturday evening. The GA's,( field assistants) had been working on the emergency containers, emptying and restocking them and generally making sure that all emergency gear was there and in good working order. They opened one container to find clothing from the early days of Halley's Antarctic research. They decided it would be fun to all dress as they did in the early pictures behind them.

sitting on the first table in the red checked shirt is Tim, vehicle op, then clockwise, Richard, Scientist of meteorology, Sue, summer Dr, Rory, wintering plumber, Ed, field guide, Craig, electrician and Mark, last wintering plumber.

Another picture of the guys after the meal. Notice me in the background talking with Ant and Tim

Then after dinner every one adjourned to the bar for drink as they are all off on a sunday, Here Richard, Tim, Michael, Mark and Ed let there hair down and have their quoter of beer, which on a Saturday is 4 cans. The rest of the week it's 2 cans a night.

A real authentic trio, especially Michael and Richard in those trousers, notice the pipe and how cool are their beards and side burns. They even had the original string vests.

And then the originals. This picture was 1962 and the clothes are the same as the ones in the emergency containers. they even have the pipes.

This is a great picture taken with the Famous Halley dogs. which is another story in itself.