Abu Dhabi: A long lazy indulgent Friday brunch that offers unlimited food and beverages is a fixation for many UAE residents.
And what it takes to cook up a sumptuous spread like that, week after week, is the best kept secret in every hotel’s kitchen.
Spilling the beans on what goes behind a brunch, Christian Antoine, Executive Chef at the Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi, tells XPRESS it is very much like conducting a symphony orchestra.
“I hold the baton, give directions and unify the performers. One wrong note by anyone in the team, and things go terribly wrong,” said Antoine, 38, from Mauritius.
With an army of 60 men – butchers, cleaners and chefs – handling 50 kg of seafood, 40 kg of chicken, 45 kg of Wagyu beef, 50 kg of fresh vegetables, to prepare a feast to feed up to 500 people, a brunch definitely demands meticulous teamwork in the kitchen.
Codified task
“There is a core kitchen team that manages a cold team that takes care of salads, sushis, dressings etc. The hot team is responsible for everything that needs cooking,” explained Antoine, who has 15 years of experience as executive chef doing brunches. He joined Ritz Carlton two years ago.
Much like rehearsing is the key to delivering a flawless musical performance, the chef says a brunch is all about planning and executing orders with surgical precision.
“It is a highly codified task. We have extensive checklists for each and every dish explaining the ingredients to be used, their measurements, time and temperature for cooking etc.”
And when does all the action begins in the kitchen?
Antoine says, the preparations for a brunch start as soon as one is over. “By Saturday, we are already working for the next Friday brunch.”
Base sauces, gravies, fish and chicken stock are made ready by Saturday. Meat is cleaned, cut and trimmed on Sunday. By Monday and Tuesday, meat is marinated, and kept in refrigerators. On Wednesday, cooking begins.
A special technique called sous-vide cooking is used to retain the taste and texture of the meat.
“The meat is placed in vacuum bags and cooked to a precise temperature. One degree more or less, you do not get the right taste.” After cooking, meat or seafood used in cold items goes through a process of blast chilling that brings the temperature down to four degrees within an hour, before it is refrigerated.
“This ensures the moisture is retained and the texture does not change when it is ready to be served,” said Antoine.
“By Thursday night, 90 per cent of the brunch is ready. Final touches and all hot dishes like curries and pasta are cooked on Friday morning,” said Antoine,
Desserts
In less than an hour, 25 live stations including for pasta, carving, crabs, scallops, foie gras, oysters, lobsters, soups etc are all set at the Giornotte restaurant. Dressings are added to the salads, seasonings and decorations are done and the tables are laid.
But wait! No brunch is complete without the desserts. Enter Laurent Allereau from France - the man who gives a sweet touch to the Friday brunch at Giornotte restaurant at the Ritz Carlton.
Four bakers and eight pastry chefs work under him in the pastry kitchen to prepare 80 varieties of desserts for the brunch.
“We are split into three teams – one handling hot desserts, the other creamy dessert and the third team takes care of all dry desserts,” said Allereau, who has been a pastry chef for more than 16 years.
And the flow of work, much like the main kitchen, starts a week ahead.
On the Friday morning, Allereau’s kitchen looks like a colour palette. Trays of muti-coloured desserts of different shapes, sizes and textures are laid out. And with the panache of an artist, Allereau goes about giving them the final touches – a glazy sugar coat for the pineapples, a pinch of gold leaf on the tarts, some grated lemon for colour and so on.
Before the clock strikes 12, the brunch is laid out in all its glory. That is when the curtains drop, the artists withdraw to the background and the feast begins.
In numbers
50 kgs of seafood used for one brunch
40 kgs of chicken used
45 kgs of Wagyu beef used
50 kgs of fresh vegetables
5 kgs of chocolate for one Friday brunch
1,000 kgs cheese used in a year for Friday brunches
3,800kgs of lobsters are used in a year
14,400 oysters are cracked in a year for Friday brunches
60 men including chef, butchers and helpers in the kitchen
4 bakers and eight pastry chefs to prepare desserts
600 people Friday brunch caters to
