Off the Menu
There’s nothing easy or glamorous about working in restaurants, but sometimes, there are unexpected perks.
Take staff meals. They’re the meals restaurants offer to their workers before, or sometimes after, their shift, fuel for the work ahead, or a pat on the back for another night on their feet. Often, staff meals are very different from the food the restaurant cooks for its customers. Staff meals are family food, pure and simple.
The September issue of Bon Appétit magazine reminded me of staff meals. The issue was the magazine’s annual restaurant issue, and it included some fun articles. There was a story about cooking fried chicken with the revered golden boy restaurateur Thomas Keller, an article on female chefs, and a collection of staff meal recipes taken from fine-dining restaurants around the country.
I was curious what Winston-Salem restaurant staff might be eating after or before hours, so I e-mailed Chris Fulk, the owner of Christopher’s on Brookstown Ave. He serves a regular staff meal after the restaurant closes, feeding his staff with a simple pasta dish, or leftovers. As a treat, he says he’ll make some things off the menu for the staff, like lobster mac and cheese or grill a few rib-eyes, then serve them with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
“A recent staff meal was angel hair pasta with zucchini, arugula, and capers in a lemon dill cream sauce,“ Fulk wrote. “I know many restaurants do staff meal at the beginning of the shift but we have always done it at the end. I don’t know why we do it at the end. Maybe it is a kind of thank you for their work that night or maybe it is a type of benefit, since being a small independent business I can’t afford benefits like health insurance.
“Sometimes if it has been a really hectic, busy night and I’m tired of cooking, I will actually have pizza delivered,“ he added. Fair enough. That’s what people do at home when the going gets rough.
All this staff meal talk also reminded me of a great recipe in one of my cookbooks called, amazingly, Staff Meals from Chanterelle. Chanterelle is a well-known New York restaurant, and its chef, David Waltuck, apparently feeds his employees really well. Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic is nothing new, but I’ve been using this recipe since dinner parties in college. It can feed a lot of people, and leaving them full and happy - and that’s what staff meals are for. I want to eat it now - it’s perfect food for a rainy day.
Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic
adapted from Staff Meals at Chanterelle
serves 8 to 10 - you can easily make this recipe with just one bird, which is what I do.
2 chickens (3 to 3 1/2 pounds each)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper for each chicken)
6 heads garlic, peeled
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Preheat oven to 450F.
Rinse the chickens, inside and out, under cold running water, removing any excess fat. Pat dry with paper towels.
Rub the chickens all over with the fat or butter and sprinkle inside and out with salt and pepper. Place the bird in a flameproof roasting pan that can hold them with a little room to spare. Roast for 30 minutes, basting from time to time with pan drippings.
Add the garlic to the roasting pan, then reduce the oven temperature to 400F and continue roasting for 15 to 20 minutes more, basting and stirring up the garlic cloves occasionally. Add the wine to the roasting pan and continue roasting the chickens about 15 to 20 minutes more until they’re just done (prick a thigh with a fork, and clear juices will run out if the bird’s done). Transfer the chickens to a platter and keep warm by covering them loosely with aluminum foil.
To make the sauce, put the roasting pan containing the garlic and the cooking liquid on top of the stove over two burners (but make sure you have a pan that will allow you to do this - I wouldn’t do it with a Pyrex pan, for example - it could crack and make things exciting, er, dangerous). Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil over medium heat, scraping the delicious browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice and swirl in the butter until melted and incorporated. The sauce should thicken enough to coast the back of a spoon. Taste it, and add more lemon juice if you wish. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
To serve, carve the chicken and pour the sauce and garlic cloves over it. Great with a great salad, and some crusty bread (trying smearing the garlic cloves on it, like butter).
