A Saucier or sauce chef who's one job it to make sauces and that can take all day to prepared and nothing is held over night. Whatever is left is thrown away. And when you have from 8 to 12 sauces, well that's a lot of work. Other prep usually includes preparing the fish which comes in whole. Various meats that need to be butchered.
Let me introduce myself, I'm Nishan Desta, 26 years old classically trained chef from the Culinary Institute of America. I'm proud of that accomplishment considering where I cam from. I'm originally from a small city in Ethiopia called Harar in the central part of the country with only 100,000 people. Because of the false narrative propagated by western media people think of Africa as people running around barefoot living in mud built huts with no running water. Yes some places are like that but not all. Harar is a modern city with 5 to 6 story buildings. Its almost like any western city. Imagine a city like, I don't know, Newark NJ without the crime, or a small Albany NY without the cold. Don't believe the narrative Africa. We have a saying,
If Africa is so poor why does it support so many countries
.
My culinary journey was a little different than most. I started cooking with my mother, Menan which means Grace, at her roadside stand. She was a great cook. The place was always busy so she provided a good standard of living for not only me but my brother and 2 little sisters. My father died when I was 12 in an oil field accident. His small insurance policy let my mother be able to start her restaurant stand. Being the oldest I helped my mom the most. My sisters Selam 13, Raey 10 and brother Bekele 16 helped after school and doing their homework. It helped that the stand was in our front yard.
My mother wanted more not just for me but all her children. She sent me to live with her brother Abel and his family in Liverpool England when I turned 18. I went to secondary school, which is like High School in America for my last year. I worked part time at different restaurants and landed a full time job at The Black Horse restaurant after I graduated. I thought I knew how to cook but found out cooking traditional foods in Ethiopia was different than cooking other foods. The Black Horse specialized in transitional English food. Fish & Chips, Meat pies with Mushy peas, Full English breakfast on Sundays and Roast dinners on the weekends. I made a mean brown sauce and of course curry. I started as a dishwasher but soon worked my way up to prep cook and finally line cook. The head chef, Ethan, liked my work ethic. I was always on time and volunteering for any job that needed to be done. He taught me so much in the 2 years I was there.
I loved living in England. There is a large African population all over the country. Unlike America there is no Black English culture. We have culture from out countries. Its hard to explain if you're not Black or African-English. The social life was vibrant and at times wild. I was never a party person but I got out every once in a while. Usually going to the local Pub, The Hook and Horn. Watching Liverpool FC beat Arsenal or especially Manchester U. Whenever that happened it was Carnival in the streets. I thought football was big in Africa. England takes it to another level. I met my share of lasses during my time there. Never anything serious. I was just trying to live life. At 20 I wasn't looking to settle down.
Unbeknownst to me Ethan submitted an application on my behalf to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He had several friends there on staff and I was accepted for the next term. He was also in communication with my mother and Uncle. Between the the three of them I would be able to not only go but not have to pay anything out of pocket. At 21 I was making my second big move to another country. This time with no support system except myself.
After the two years I was at the CIA I thought again I had learned everything you needed to be a successful chef. That was until I took my first job in New York City at Queen City Grill. The grill part of name did not convey the true depth of the menu. It was more modern French than a typical American style grill. I was 24 living in one of the biggest cities in the world doing what I loved to do. My work life was great but my social life was non-existent. I was living with three other blokes in a small 3 story walk up apartment. I worked 10 to 12 hours a day with one day off. I was usually to tired to do anything except laundry and lay around watching TV. 18 months later Queen City was closing. I got lucky and got a job at Lemons and Capers as a Chef de Partie, a fancy term for line chef. L&C was a classical Italian place. So I've been cooking traditional Ethiopian, traditional English, Classical French in England and now modern Italian in America.
I had been there for 6 months when we hired a new pastry chef. When the Ryan the Sous Chef introduced her around I was speechless. She was tall at 5 foot 9 inches, beautiful clear sepia colored skin, somewhat thin without being skinny. She had the most interesting accent. And she was Ethiopian! We were told her name was Harriet. Most Africans have taken English names because their regular names sometimes are hard for English speakers to say. Her real name was Haset I later learned. Her name meant Joy or happiness. I could tell she was Oromo. It had been a while since I met someone from my homeland.
I just had a second to say hello and welcome as she was shown around the kitchen by her assistant pastry chef. I was surprised she was hired from the outside. Many times restaurants like to promote from within. I wondered if there would be any friction between the staff. So far we all got along pretty well.
Over the months the restaurants reputation continued to grow. Harriett proved to be a valuable asset. Her pastries and deserts were widely recognized and had received great reviews. We had been nominated for a James Beard Award and where hoping for a Michelin Star. We went from 100 covers a night to 200-250 a night. The kitchen was firing on all cylinders.
In the restaurant business a woman is definitely a minority. A minority woman is a unicorn. I wasn't interested in Harriet because a lack of choices. I was attracted because she was beautiful. We didn't have much interaction. She worked from 6am to 4pm most days preparing the deserts for night service. When we did work the same time I would catch her looking my way every now and she never spoke to me besides asking a question related to business. I noticed that she would come by my station and "accidentally" bump into me. I say accidentally because its very rare in the business. You hear people yelling "corner", "behind" "Sharp" as they walk through the kitchen. There are lots of opportunity for accidents to happen. I knew she had to much experience for that to happen.
I hadn't much of a chance to talk to Harriet. One day before our shift about 6 months after she started I decided to throw caution to the wind and ask her out. Thankfully she said yes. We both were working 6 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day. So we decided to have breakfast before one of our shifts. Dating was difficult with our schedules. But we made it work somehow.
I found out she was from Manchester England which is only 41 minutes from Liverpool. It really is a small world. She was first generation British. Her father and mother are from Ethiopia in the capital Addis Ababa, having moved right after they were married. She also had 2 sisters and a brother. Her oldest sister lives in North Carolina working for an investment bank after she graduated from University of Penn with a degree in business. She married a guy who owns a trash company there. The rest of the family still lives in England.
She wanted a change so decided to move to Canada after studying at the French Bakery School in Paris. After she graduated she worked at several restaurants in Montreal before finally coming to New York. After 2 years in France and 2 more in Canada she spoke fluent French. French became the unofficial language of the pastry department. She and the Saucier would have conversations in French. Its funny that most of Africa speaks French except in Eastern Africa. Ethiopia was one of the only countries that wasn't colonized. So with her Manchester accent along with picking up a french accent combined it made her cute and sometimes hard to understand. Manchester is known for its slang terms. Hanging means Disgusting, Gaggin means thirsty and on and on. You could hear the staff laughing because its usually something she said that no one understood. Besides English and French she also spoke Spanish which is a must in the industry nowadays.
And if you're wondering we did argue over who was better, Liverpool FC or Manchester United. Years later the argument is still ongoing.
She was a year younger than me. She funny with a quick whit and easy laugh. She didn't have that dry British sense of humor thankfully. She's not the most outgoing person. If she comfortable with you she opens up and her true self comes out. She can be very passionate about more than baking. I found she had a strange interest in old American western movies. She loved John Wayne and knew every word to most of his movies. And best of all she's a girly girl. She loves to wear dresses when not working. She has great legs by the way.
