My Cooking Thru Chicago and other food experiences

First of all – for all of you that are reading my blog “thank you!”  Seriously I never imagined that anyone besides family and friends would read my blog.  Much to my surprise I am finding that there are around 150 or so of you everyday that are taking the time to read what I have to say. So it is still challenging to write but now at least I know that my words are reaching people.  Please take a minute to tell me what you think and share any suggestions about what might make my culinary adventures more interesting.

We were planning a family excursion into the city.  We live in a suburb of Chicago and try to spend a few weekends a year in the city.  I was very excited for some family time and trying out some new restaurants.  After thinking about it I realized that beyond the great meals I was also going to be roped into hours in women’s clothing stores while my two sisters tried on everything that they saw while me and dad searched for comfortable chairs to wait in. I started to think of a fun alternative for everyone, or just me. I realized I had a friend that was on North Avenue and its name was Lillie’s Q.  As quick as I could I asked my mom to get on the phone and call to ask if my services could be used for a day. I was thrilled when I heard Charlie tell my mom that it would be great if I could come and to get there as soon as possible.  Not wanting to waste a second, I grabbed my new cooking crocs and hurried the rest of my family out of the door.

Walking into Lillie’s Q for the second time was much easier and much less daunting.  When I walked in they quickly hustled me into the kitchen to get an apron and help Jason put away the food that had just been delivered. I was told the correct way to put away meats making sure that you never had a package of meat with a higher cooking temperature on top of something with a lower cooking temperature. I was then given a marker and told to date and put away everything. Since it was a team effort we got it done pretty quickly.  Next we needed to carry tons of heavy cast-iron stuff from the downstairs into the truck for storage.  A back-breaking task but with the entire kitchen staff pitching in we were done in no time.

Then Steve, the head chef, told me to go and get a box of collard greens and stem them. Though I feared it, I knew I would be assigned this job again.  It is clearly the job that no one wants so it is a great task to give to the young kid.  I made the best of it and became one with the collard greens.  In the end it only took me an hour and twenty-seven minutes! I brought the newly stemmed collard greens upstairs and then I got to take hot links out of the smoker and slice them all in angled slices. While I was slicing them Steve came up and told me that when I was finished I should get a box of ribs and rub them. I finished with the hot links and then went down to work with some ribs. I brought the ribs upstairs and put them in the smoker.

I was then handed a plate with a huge tri-tip sandwich and some chicharrones (fried pork rinds). Steve told me to eat quickly then head down and start devein the shrimp. I was starting to get used to the non-stop rush and ever growing list of tasks that needed to be done and was really enjoying the quick pace. So I scarfed down my sandwich and got back to work cleaning the shrimp.  It took me a little longer than it should because I DID NOT want anything to be left in the shrimp, and I can guarantee there wasn’t any. I then mixed the shrimp in with the marinade, covered them, and put them in the fish fridge upstairs.

Next James asked me to help him make the hush puppies. So we mixed, flour, eggs, pimento, and beer. Then I chopped three cups of green onion smaller than I thought was possible. We then promptly made the delicious sweet potato dressing for dipping the hush puppies in. If I remember right it consisted of apple juice, apple cider vinegar, white pepper, coriander, and sweet potato. We mixed all of this in the blender and it was done. My next task was to get two cases  of chicken, wash them, put them on trays, and  put the tray in a large bag. While washing the chicken I nearly spilled an entire bus tub full of chicken into soapy water, luckily I have quick hands and I avoided that disaster.  I saw that it was 7pm I knew my family would be there in fifteen minutes to eat and I would be joining them.  Where had 6 hours gone to?? I had one last job- – preparing the cheese for their world-famous macaroni and cheese.  Imagine 10 pound blocks of cheese! I cut the blocks into rectangles, and then put them into a food processor to shred the rectangles to a size you could melt for the macaroni.  As I delivered the cheese up to the line, my phone buzzed, and my parents were here. I took a quick photo with Charlie, my moms request, and joined my family at their table.

It was a lot of fun eating at Lillie’s Q after spending the day in the kitchen.  Of course everyone in my family wanted to know what I thought they should order.  Charlie stopped by to say hello and my dad asked him for a recommendation. Charlie suggested the Shrimp and Grits (no veins in those shrimp dad!) and my dad said it was the best he had ever tasted.  My sisters had the taste of LQ with tri-tip, ribs and pulled pork.  I had tri-tip for lunch so I chose the ribs for dinner.  My mom is a huge fan of the tri-tip.  We had a couple orders of macaroni and cheese, some fries and of course the hush puppies with sweet potato dressing.

What I learned:

• Working in a kitchen is way better than shopping with your sisters (I actually already knew that but I was able to prove my point)
• There is no downtime when you are working in a restaurant kitchen.  There is always something to be done
• While all five of the sauces at Lillie’s Q are great the best one is the Carolina (in my family it is the unanimous choice!)
• You do a lot more than just cooking in a restaurant.
• Use the right tool for the right job.

This is my second blog post and its not easy yet! If you haven’t read my first post called Getting Started you might want to check it out as it lets you know who I am and why I am writing.

The really short version is this: 13 year old kid with great passion for food and cooking decides to develop his own work-study program to get exposure to and experience in kitchens around Chicago to find out if he has what it take to be a chef. This blog is where I plan to record my experiences and solicit input from my readers.

In my first post I explained how my true passion for the culinary world was cast in stone after coming in second at a cooking competition just before my 11th birthday. Well, a couple years and many great meals later I found myself in the parking lot of Ethyl’s Dive Bar for “Food Truck Thursdays”. While hanging in the parking lot talking with Stephanie Izard and sampling food from some of the trucks; my mom and I sparked up a conversation with Chef and Owner of Lillie’s Q Barbeque restaurant, Charlie McKenna. Charlie had just launched a food truck called Lillie’s Q Meat Mobile. After a few minutes of polite conversation my interest in cooking came up. My mom knew I was eager to get my work-study program off the ground and she asked if I would be able to come and “work” on the food truck for a day. Charlie was eager to help but said the real experience was in the restaurant not on the truck (due to current laws in Chicago they cannot actually cook on the trucks). He gave my mom his email and told her to follow up.

So, yesterday (December 3rd) I found myself at Lillie’s Q at noon prepared to work an 8 hour shift. Charlie was there when I arrived. He greeted me (had my parents sign a waiver) and brought me into the kitchen to meet the staff. As I walked in I was immediately engulfed in the fun and energetic atmosphere. Amazing food aromas mixed with the loud music coming from the speakers throughout the kitchen.

I was given a white button up chef’s shirt and an apron and thrown right into the action. I was then given a giant container and a recipe and was instructed by the bartender to make the bloody Mary mix for the afternoon. At first I was astonished to be given a task with such little instruction so soon, but I decided to give it a go. I managed to get all the ingredients from the many spice racks and walk in refrigerators and mix it all together without a problem. I did have a near disaster, as I was getting the container of horseradish I made the mistake of holding it by its lid. I was no more than one step out of the refrigerator when the base of the container dropped towards the floor. I guess all of the money my parents have spent on sports paid off because I caught, I kid you not, a centimeter from the floor without spilling a drop.

After that I asked one of the chefs, Jose, where I could get something to drink. I am pretty sure I lit up when he told me that I could go to the bar and fill up a cup with whatever I wanted from the soda gun. I, like most other kids, have always thought soda guns were awesome so now I was as close as it gets to living the dream!

Next Jose told me to follow him downstairs into the prep kitchen where he proceeded to open boxes of what seemed to be hundreds of racks of ribs. He gave me a vat of mustard, a brush, and six or seven large shakers of their rib rub or as they say “Dirt”. Jose told me to brush each side with mustard and cover each side with a generous coating of rub. He went back upstairs and I was once again left to my job alone. It was very cool to not only see how some of the best ribs I had ever eaten were made but actually be the one making them. The fun ended after about thirty racks when my arm started cramping up from repeating the same motion for such a long time.

The Delicious, now infamous rub

When I was done I brought the trays of ribs upstairs where they put them in the smoker. Next job was to stem a gargantuan amount of collard greens. What a tedious task! Stemming collard greens takes a long time and needs to be done perfectly because the stems are very hard to chew and even more bitter than the leaves. After what seemed like hours I was done, not to mention exhausted.

Apparently stemming collard greens is a job that is rewarded because the next thing I heard was, “What do you want for lunch?”. Seriously, in this mecca of bbq I was being asked what I wanted. I wanted everything!, “ I was handed a plate heaped with ribs, some tri-tip, tons of the great Lillie’s Q sauces, macaroni and cheese with breadcrumbs and bacon and some amazing fried pickles. I sat down and proceeded to devour one of the biggest, and best meals I have ever had.

Reenergized by my huge meal, I was ready to take on my next assignment which was to go down stairs and help James with whatever he needed… I spent the rest of the afternoon down stairs with James doing things like pulling chicken, making salad dressing, preparing hot links, making banana pudding, shucking oysters, and deveining shrimp. And the entire time James shared his philosophy with me on things that varied from life, to whether to have the garbage can to your left or right when cleaning chicken.

My parents came to pick me up at 8pm. I was exhausted and energized all at the same time. I had actually done it. I had worked in a real restaurant kitchen and I loved it.

What I learned:
• There is so much to learn…
• Basketball shoes are not made for working in for 8 hours straight. I am asking Santa for kitchen crocs!
• There is nothing glamorous about working in a restaurant kitchen
• Charlie is the vision behind the food and the restaurant experience but he isn’t there all the time
• The people at Lillie’s Q are wonderful – warm, inviting and passionate about what they do
• Lillie’s Q has taken bbq to the next level and turns out a product that is high quality and great tasting in a great setting