Baked Halibut Medley with Tosazu

Work has been pretty tough the last couple weeks.  Patio season has arrived(the weather here in Vancouver for the year is usually composed of 70% rain and 30% sunshine), which means 50 more covers on top of the 250 covers per turnover.  Now this is what we call The Juice in kitchen lingo.

The Juice, is usually made up of the following:  not having the right amount of bodies on the line.  Ideally, your pan-fry station needs at least 3 bodies, ovens/salads station needs 4 bodies and your entree station needs 3 bodies on a busy lunch rush to operate smoothly.  Each body on the each station has a specific task.  For example, on entree, you have your call cook who calls out orders, your grill cook who's in charge of cooking and your finish cook who makes sure that everyone is hitting their bill times and maintaining the order on the line.

If the kitchen is well prepared for the lunch rush, they would've added 1 more body on top of the 10 bodies already on the line.  This extra body is quite valuable.  He's considered the ninja of the line, jumping from one station to another to help out ease the tension from any station that needs help the most.  This person must be proficient with all the stations.  We call his own station, The Bermuda Triangle, the lost station of the kitchen.  This guy is your swing-man.

Another basic component that contributes to the creation of the behemoth that is called The Juice is, the amount of bills rang into the kitchen within the span of 10-15 minutes.  Imagine the whole restaurant's orders being rang in the span of 15 minutes.  I'm quite sure that you'll be in the fetal position after seeing the amount of bills hanging in front of you and from your printer(this is called a white out when there isn't any space to stick your bills on).

These last couple of weeks, I've been working at least 10 hours a day.  It's starting to take a toll on me.  They say that cooking is therapeutic, and they're right.  On my day off I made something from Nobu's book.  Baked Halibut Medley with Tosazu.

 Baked Halibut Medley with Tosazu:

1 piece Halibut belly
1/4 cup of chopped green onions
3in. square kombu
1 packed cup of bonito flakes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce

First, take off the skin from your halibut belly and save it.  Separate the meat from the belly and chop it into chunks. 

For the skin, fry it on a pan filled with hot oil until it is nice and crispy. 

 

As for the meat, grab a tray and place an aluminum foil on it.  Place your ring mould on the tray and spray the insides.  Place the halibut meat that you've chopped inside the mould and bake it in a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes.

 

While waiting for your halibut to cook, heat up your soy sauce in a sauce pan and add your rice wine vinegar, sugar and kombu.  Bring it to a simmer and as soon as it simmers, take it off from the heat.  Add your bonito flakes and let it steep for 5 minutes.

Once your halibut is cooked, top it off with the crispy skin and chopped green onions.  Serve it with the tosazu sauce.