Osetra and Truffles; Cooking on a Cook's Budget

After that first course at Alinea "Osetra with Traditional Garnishes," I haven't been able to shake the craving for more caviar. On a cook's budget, especially after spending the whole of it on a silly "meal" at Alinea, caviar isn't in the picture. When my family offered to fork over a card for dinner if I would cook it, I was going for it. Any other time I've considered caviar, I also considered the weight in truffle fries I'd have to dip in the fryer to make up for that splurge. Not worth it.The Butcher's Block is the only place in Aspen selling fresh meat or fish and the only place on Earth charging $28.50 a lb. for sea scallops. I had my mind set on Osetra, too. A tiny little tin of Osetra was over $150...I wouldn't be able to sleep if I spent that much money on one ingredient smaller than the credit card I was using to buy it. I opted for the farmed sturgeon roe out of California. I know the cardholders are reading this waiting for the price of that roe.
That little smidge of roe was $98. I hope you all enjoyed it on your cauliflower soup last night, thanks for letting me cook for you! I pulled the inspiration from Gordan Ramsay's A Chef For All Seasons where the caviar is listed as "optional" in the ingredient list. I don't understand what kind of cook actually has that option. "Oh, tonight I'll just opt to spend my weeks pay on a garnish!"
The vast difference between what we serve at work and what we have the ability to cook and eat ourselves is insane. Think about this- This week 1.6 kilos, or about 3.53 lbs of white Alba truffles came in at $5,000 a kilo. On Thursday night we shaved about .75 of a kilo on risotto alone, about $3,500 worth of truffles. Those numbers don't even touch on the amount of black truffles that came in. This guy Coco I work with only eats sushi rice. I don't know if that's because he's accustomed to a line cook's wage or because he's a weird guy. Probably a combination of both. Either way, we don't sear scallops for dinner and garnish dishes with caviar...Well, maybe Gordon Ramsay does.
Do you know what family meal is? If you work in a kitchen, you know it's the food that resembles baby throw up that we get to eat for dinner. A- This stuff is not from the local farm, it's from the local freezer. B- Family meal tends to hang out in a hot box. Definitely not where we put food for service. C- Who ever is making it has a 5 hour long list of things they need to get done perfectly before service starts in one hour. Do you think they care what it turns out like? Thomas Keller has a wonderful spread in The French Laundry Cookbook about what family meal should be, it even includes a nice vinaigrette recipe for family salad. I worked garde manager. I made family salads. I didn't emulsify a vinaigrette and I didn't eat them. It turns out that most of the cooks don't eat family meal. Not only is the food scary, but we just spent all the spare time we had to eat that day making family meal. You should see what happens to left overs that make it back to the kitchen on nights like Thursday. We had an oyster bar with lots of left overs...that our staff housed in 30 seconds. I think the kitchen drank more Dom Perignon at the party than the guests.
It's funny that we can shave thousands of dollars of truffles without thinking twice, but going to the grocery store is a serious hit to our bank accounts and takes thinking twice, maybe three or four times before deciding between the strange hormone infested chicken, or the nice free-range, local chicken and we most likely chose the hormoney chicken to save a few bucks. I'm not sure if it's the same for every cook, but for me, I got into the kitchen because I love food, cooking, and mostly eating. Now that I'm in the kitchen, I can't afford the things I'm cooking, serving, and love to eat. That's irony at it's best.