This week at Blend Kitchen: Bread making, first service and tasty burgers

We’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been able to install one of the best kitchen’s I’ve had the pleasure of working in, into the new Blend Kitchen site. One of our corporate partners who have contributed significantly to this is law firm, CMS . CMS kindly donated a significant amount of kitchen equipment to Blend Kitchen including our double oven, blast chiller, dish washer, crockery and some incredible Sheffield made cutlery. Having this standard of equipment provides our trainees a first class facility from which to learn in.

After the success of last Friday’s young people’s training session, I made the decision in the middle of the week that we were going to invite some of the Twinkl staff in for a take away lunch. This was a big step as it was a chance for the young people to get their first taste of a restaurant service. We’d decided the week before that we were going to make burgers as it was something they all love and there are a number of skills you learn that go into making a great burger.

Step 1 was making the bread cakes for the burger. I love making bread and being able to pass those skills on to the young people we are working with, brings me a lot of happiness. Also, the difference in taste you get from making your own rather than buying in is something I want us to carry forward when we open.

Next up was making some coleslaw. First step we showed the young people how to make their own mayonnaise before doing some knife skills work prepping the vegetables for the coleslaw. Making our own burgers followed before getting set up ready for our first lunch service. Each of the young people was given a job ranging from Connor who was greeting customers and taking orders when they arrived, Emma running the pass and co-ordinating the kitchen team, Evan cooking the burgers expertly to order and Billy plating the burgers ready to go out.

To say these guys had never done a service before, they absolutely smashed it. Check out the finished burger below!      

The other goal of this session was for the young people to understand the importance of communication and team work. Helping the young people understand the huge benefits of interdependency whether in a restaurant service or in wider life is critical. Through the life coaching we are providing to the young people alongside the very practical training, our goal is enable them to value their skills and experiences and make a positive contribution during their time at Blend Kitchen and beyond.

This week we’re going to be cooking a roast dinner, Blend Kitchen style. On the menu is a roast supreme of chicken marinated with ginger, garlic and coriander, chilli and mustard seed hasselback potatoes, curried parsnip puree, spring greens, lemon, tarragon and walnut stuffing and a chicken gravy (vegetarian alternative also available). We’ll be giving the first 10 portions away for free and will have another 10 portions available for a discounted price of ￡5 ready for collection from Blend Kitchen between 1pm and 2pm this Friday. If you fancy getting your hands on this weeks meal, simply email [email protected]. We can either serve the food hot for you to enjoy there and then or box up for you to re-heat when you get home.