The White Falcon - 24.11.1978, Blaðsíða 5

November 24, 1978
White Falcon
Page 5'
by Karen Mayo
Q^iotos by
JOSA Paula Onstott
for yourself—you're doing a favor
for your guests. Cook for their
taste."
The assistant chef at the Top
of the Rock, Gudlawgur Gudmundsson,
"Gullie," has worked at the club
for the past eight years. Gullie
has been working as an assistant
chef for 10 years now. Working
under a four year contract appren-
ticeship with the head chef at
the Top of the Rock, Jon Bodi
Bjornsson, Gullie pursues his pro-
fessional chef's license. He also
attends a cooking school in Reyk-
javik. He attends French, Danish,
English and Icelandic language
classes, along with mathematics
and typing. Gullie noted, "French
is the cradle of cooking. All
cooking terms being used world-
wide originates from the French."
Gullie mentioned that the Top
of the Rock serves 150 to 250
meals a day, including lunch. He
said that the most requested meals
are the seafood platter and the
filet mignon. "They are well-
rounded meals and reasonably
priced."
As assistant chef, Gullie is
responsible for preparing the
evening meals and preparing food
for the next day.
Preparing buffets is what
Gullie likes to do most. "One
can suit the customer's appetite
by giving a variety of foods to
MS2 JUANITO O. CAJIPE works at
the Officers' Club as head chef
in charge of special parties.
MS2 DELFIN GREFALDA'S advice to
women who cook at home is, "Use
your imagination and have lots
of patience when you cook."
select from," he said.
When asked what the most dif-
ficult part of being a chef was,
Gullie explained, "When a customer
doesn't understand the meal. If
we try a new dish that people
don't recognize, they automatical-
ly get confused. People would
much rather order a hamburger
than something they've never tried
before, simply because they know
what it tastes like."
If you ever wondered how dif-
ferent restaurants can make the
same type of steak or any food
taste different, Gullie has the
answer. "All chefs spice their
food different. We have a special
steak sauce that we use on all of
our steaks and the flavor is
different from what you'll find
at another club on base." Unfor-
tunately, the steak solution is a
secret recipe, so Gullie was un-
able to share it.
Asking Gullie what his most
important kitchen utensil was, he
replied, "My hands." A chef's
hands, along with his imagination,
creates the chef-d'oeuvres (master
pieces) that professional chefs
are acclaimed for.
Like MS2 Cajipe, Gullie too ad-
vised planning as the most im-
portant part of food preparation.
At the Windbreaker Club, Mess
Specialist Second Class Delfin
Grefalda assists the head chef
during the noon and evening hours.
P02 Grefalda has been a mess
specialist for eight years and
claims he enjoys the work im-
mensely.
Grefalda said the Windbreaker
Club serves about 100 meals a day.
He said paydays, especially when
they fall on Fridays, are ex-
tremely busy days in the kitchen.
When asked how the cooks handle
a busy night, MS2 Grefalda answer-
ed, "First come, first serve."
Although it may appear like your
meal is taking forever, the food
is being cooked according to the
time the food ticket arrived in
the kitchen.
Chateau briand and cordon bleu
are the most popular meals on the
menu at the Windbreaker Club,
says Petty Officer Grefalda.
The most difficult problem
MS2 Grefalda has as an assistant
chef is not having fresh produce
to work with. He mentioned that
a special effort is made to make
all the food taste as fresh as
possible.
Now, MS2 Grefalda's most im-
portant kitchen utensil is the
knife. "The knife is the first
utensil used to prepare food."
Whether you're dicing, slicing
or fileting—the knife must do
the trick. He said he is es-
pecially careful about checking
the sharpness of the knife before
he begins any food preparation.
MS2 Grefalda's advice to home
cooks is, "Have patience and use
your imagination. In cooking, you
need a lot of imagination to make
the food look as appealing as it
will taste."
The entire spectrum of cooking
and being the chef de cuisine in-
volves a lot of hard work, long
hours and experience. Satisfying
the public's taste and appetites
is an extremely challenging feat
and all chefs work for that one
purpose.
The chefs at the Officers' Club,
the Top of the Rock and the Wind-
breaker Club use their professional
ism and experience to please you—
the patron.
The chef's motto and ultimate
goal: "As long as the customer
is happy, we're happy."