A Catering Career Can Be an Adventure

By Chef Mardav
Culinary Institutes Columnist

A thousand unusual treats in just two hours? That's the assignment that was thrown at Chef Alex Trieste on his first job in catering. Trieste didn't let the challenge rattle him. He dipped into what he had learned in his catering training and rose to the occasion.

The Unusual is Usual in Catering Jobs

"Some clients are very organized," Trieste told us. "They draw up contracts for the kind of catering jobs they want done and they stick to them. The adventure in a catering career comes with the crazy, last minute orders like the 'thousand unusual treats' people. It was at a conference that had gone into an extra session and they wanted snacks for all the delegates."

Coping With a Challenge

We asked Chef Trieste how he responded to that first big trial in his catering career. He decided to create a seafood treat.

"I sent my assistants out for fresh ocean scallops, green-lipped New Zealand mussels, peeled bay shrimp and a bunch of other ingredients, such as lemons, canned garbanzo beans, garlic, and green Japanese horse radish called, wasabi."

Seafood Snack à la Chef Alex

The chef blended together the beans, garlic and a small amount of the powerful wasabi. He steamed the mussels very lightly - just enough to open the shells - and steamed the shrimp. He also seared the large scallops.

The shells were filled with the blended garbanzos, garlic, and wasabi. One seared scallop was set on top of each shell. A very thin slice of lemon went on each scallop. Next came a mussel and then a shrimp. The whole stack was held together with a toothpick.

With the chef and his two assistants working like an assembly line, the 1,000 unusual treats were ready to deliver in two hours and Chef Trieste's catering career was on its way. Your career could be on its way too, just like Chef Trieste; Culinary Institutes provides you with one of the largest listings of culinary schools on the Internet. With training from a top-notch culinary school, you can begin your catering career in very little time.

About the Author

Chef Mardav entered the kitchen at the age of seven and now, many years later, is still there. His writings on a variety of subjects have appeared in a wide range of publications. He is also a visual artist whose illustrations have appeared in Europe and the United States.

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