Day 03/05: It was Christmas Day in the cookhouse
I do marvel at the Distribution Centre, The Hub, that stores and supplies the food to the kitchens around London and now Birmingham, Coventry and Croydon.
Palettes of food and supplies are being loaded into vans with volunteer drivers and navigators delivering 7D24H resupplying our kitchen as we run low of essential items. We don't know what food or quantities they will have so chef looks at our Gate larder, The Hub stock levels and the number of guests to decide on the menus we can cook.Our guests and volunteers always hope for traditional Christmas menu and today will be no exception, I've noticed and learnt how it hold a different poignant meaning to them and the serve is to be treated seriously and with respect.
Chef briefs us on the plan of attack, roles and responsibilities, target times and posts the menu of the shift on the fridge. The Morning Shift had helpfully prepped a lot of the vegetables so potatoes have been peeled, parsnips sliced, but there was still a lot to do getting the boxes of carrots, sprouts and onions ready for the ovens or saucepans.
Our tradition is to feed the guests first, they can come back for seconds or more and we will then feed our volunteers as stocks allow. We depend upon food donations from the supermarkets backed up by cash we receive from public donations to buy essentials.
Each year is different, but we find feeding volunteers from the same menu is good for their morale, makes them feel appreciated (they are!) and more likely to return and recommend volunteering to their friends.
Good morale amongst our volunteers flows onto how they work and engage with guests and the spirit of a British Christmas Day. Today chef gives me the roasting parsnips task because I did it last year, it's hot and physical and I know what's in store and expected of me . My first job is to find some oven range burners I can sequestrate for the whole shift using them to par-boil and then oil fry the parsnips so they are soft on the inside, crispy and golden on the outside and have that fantastic popular sweet root vegetable taste.
Par-boiling is one thing, but gallons of boiling water has to be disposed of, the parsnips cooled down and dried, all of this happening in multiple parallel large batches over time while the large woks are being prepared with hot oil.
Wearing spectacles that immediately steam up gives an added frisson to the challenge of hefting the saucepans to the steel sinks on the other side of the kitchen.
I get to watch everyone else around me in this large kitchen whilst standing at my station, there is surprisingly little conversation as we are all focussed on our tasks, a mistake at this scale of operation can be huge and the impact would hit what we'll be able to serve to hundreds of people waiting eagerly for the published Christmas dinner.But the atmosphere is calm, purposeful and is why kitchen volunteering for me is so rewarding and educational, being part of a temporary team when it clicks and delivering a huge task on time from an unfamiliar school kitchen.
Olga is working several tall ovens hard, moving around opening and closing doors including a pair below my range, she's taciturn today deep in thought putting, fetching and examining what's happening inside those hot ovens.
When you open a tall oven door a fearsome blast of super hot air can hit you, so you really want to be standing in just the right place as the blast escapes into the kitchen.
We have a working safety rule that only those of us working on the ovens and ranges are allowed into the alleys between them, so whilst I am stationary, I can see what Olga is putting into the ovens, testing or pulling out. The ovens don't stay empty for long and at our peak every oven, range, workstation and kitchen assistant is in action and a sight to behold.
If you don't have the right UK food hygiene certificate you're not allowed to enter a working kitchen to experience catering in the heat of battle. I am reminded of this whenever I gaze at the service charge on a restaurant bill during the year or see someone in kitchen whites having a quiet cigarette break at a side door as they cool and calm down.
After a ropey and variable start I nail the method and timings for parsnips in the wok and settle down to what turns out to be be five hours at the range in the close company of parsnips with an unexpected oil change along the way to halt my momentum. Yet this is a fun task because the chef is partial to a parsnip and keeps sneaking up to carefully peer and select a roasted parsnip to enjoy, but I can't be distracted and have to keep close watch on those hot woks!
James is a regular volunteer and on turkey duty, he only has to prep and roast more than twenty turkeys today!!! I'll know we are approaching serve time when I see them coming out of the ovens and then the pressure is us to complete the last of our batches of vegetables.
When the turkeys have sat, Chef and James have a competition to see who can slice and dispatch their turkey first! Digger had come in this afternoon to resharpen our kitchen knives, so those knives cutting through the turkey are absolutely razor sharp and for experienced hands only. Trust me, you don't want to be casual and make a mistake whilst slicing turkey today.
By the time I switch off the woks the irony is I don't fancy eating roast food anymore, so grabbing some fresh fruit to go and sit out in the front courtyard to cool down and breath in cold fresh night air at last. I see a guest on his own who beckons me over and we eat the fruit together and reflect on Christmas night in SW London. Strangely there isn't a place I'd rather be eating a banana and mandarin tonight hanging out with a guest I've never met before as we ponder Gate Christmas night activity in front of us, he tells me his name, V., and I introduce myself too.
One of our services is secure storage managed and guarded by a pair of general volunteers so guests can leave possessions during their stay here. Storage keeps the sleeping areas clear and guests can move around unencumbered. This year I see a stored item includes a bike with a loudspeaker on its rack ridden by a musical guest who only speaks in Italian to me when I serve him a meal.
But V. is optimistic that Crisis may help him find some accommodation in Richmond in the new year, so I return to the kitchen with a spring in my step with unexpected high spirit to figure out how best to decant and dispose of a huge quantity of hot oil before scrubbing and cleaning can start.
We aim to complete in time for a kitchen handover to the night shift by 11pm who will serve overnight food to the night owls and prep for the Boxing Day breakfast at The Gate that will be cooked and served once the morning shift to arrive around 8am.
Happy Christmas.
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NB: These diary entries are written as a thank-you to everyone who has donated to Crisis, or would still like to. I write this diary to let you know how we spend your money and to encourage you to keep supporting Crisis as it depends upon your donations or volunteering to fund the huge Christmas operation and year round services - https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/llct2018
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