Life in the Kitchen

While you are relaxing at your table, waiting for your amazing dish to arrive, sipping on your glass of heavenly bubbles, have you ever wondered what life is like in the kitchen of a busy, bustling restaurant? Jesse Demers is the creative head chef and kitchen manager at Isaac’s Way Restaurant in Fredericton and he spends his days cooking and composing the many dishes that customers are craving when they come in.  Here is a peek at Life in the Kitchen…

For Jesse, “Cooking represents love, passion, and creativity.”  These elements are essential, especially in a restaurant .  A cook first of all must truly love food –  the flavours, the textures, the recipes. To be successful as a cooking career, he or she requires the passion to please the customers and to provide them with a sensory experience. The third essential element is creativity which allows a chef to think outside the norm, to intertwine shapes and colours with the ever so important tastes and textures. When asked, “What inspires you, Jesse, when you are cooking?”, Jesse admits, “People inspire me to create great dishes.  Hearing their compliments gives me energy and inspiration.  A true chef wants to please the customer.” Lately, Jesse has been experimenting a lot with coriander, curries, marinades, and his favourite mushroom – the portobello.  

Jesse Demers

Life in the Kitchen is stressful, there is no doubt about it. It has been labeled as one of the most stressful jobs a person can have.  Jesse agrees. “It is complete stress, absolutely, but I love the adrenaline rush when the orders are coming in strong and fast, and the guys are all buzzing around each other, their thinking skills and cooking skills working overtime.”  Why does he do it? What is the reward?  ”When it is all over, the sense of achievement is so high, the pride you feel, this is the reward. You crave it each day, and even when you are getting things ready for the next rush, it’s exciting. We all anticipate the adrenaline high, and truly look forward to it.” He relies heavily on his teammates, the other chefs that are also there “stirring the soup”. Jesse admires certain qualities in his fellow cooks, “They need to be dedicated to the job, they require a passion for the industry, skills of course, and a big one is he/she needs to be a hard worker that can handle the stress.  The good ones keep coming back even though it is stressful. Oh, and they need to be able to handle a little heat.”  He enjoys training the guys, putting some pressure on them, and watching them grow. It’s like a family.

Over the past 10 years, Jesse has noticed a shift in recipes and food trends.  ”The older dishes are coming back around, updated with a twist to make it new again, with added seasonings and a lot of fresh herbs.  Recipes are also emphasizing fusion, and we are seeing chutneys and sauces and new flavours married together. Even the business has changed. What a customer wants today is a healthier menu, some new flavours to try, and the overall dining experience is more important than it has ever been. The standards are higher, and a restaurant needs to keep evolving. There is a need to shop locally as well, to do what we can to protect the environment.”

Jesse has been passionate about cooking since before he started school.  He can remember being in the kitchen with his mother, his grandmother, cooking together. He would even alter their recipes in search of something better. “Where do you see yourself in 15 years, Jesse?” To no surprise, he replies, “I’ll be cooking, of course, and loving it.” Here is one of Jesse’s favourite recipes.

Bayou Curried Shrimp

A beautiful heron that lives on the river.

1/2 pound mushrooms, cut in quarters
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 medium sized onion, chopped
3 Tbsp browned flour
1.5 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp kitchen bouquet
1.5 tsp salt
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1.5 cups coconut milk
1.5 pounds fresh shrimp, peeled and cleaned 
1 cup cream
4 cups cooked basmati rice
1 shot dry white wine 

In a large pan or wok, cook mushrooms slowly in butter for about 7 minutes.  Add onions, stir and cook 7 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix flour, curry powder, coriander, garlic, kitchen bouquet, salt, and worcestershire sauce, then add coconut milk slowly, stirring to form a paste.  Add it to the mushrooms and onions, mix well, cook for 3 minutes.  Stir in shrimp and cream, and simmer for 10 minutes until shrimp is pink inside.  The shot of white wine is added near the end, when there is only 5 minutes remaining.  To serve, pack a small cup of rice into a cylinder shape, place it onto a plate, and pour the Bayou Curry mixture over top. Garnish with some coconut shavings and a sprig of coriander.  Enjoy!