Flaming haloumi and chocolate spheres – chef dreams get real

From the frontline of flames, frying pans and fillets, WITT chef graduates Charles Tulloch and Daniel Reed share their experiences - conjuring up delicious dishes and wowing clients in two of New Plymouth’s top restaurants.

The lifestyle of a full-time professional chef is not for wimps. But the long hours, busy services and demanding customers can be outweighed by a love of cooking, the buzz and banter in the kitchen, and the satisfaction of creating memorable meals for people.

Charles, a chef de partie (station chef responsible for a specific area of the kitchen) at Social Kitchen, graduated with New Zealand Certificate in Cookery (Level 4) last year. He says, “the key thing for a chef is time management. If you have five dockets [orders] you must work out how long each takes and coordinate with number of pans.”

Mise en place (everything in its place) is one of the many French cooking terms he learned from professional WITT chefs during his study – it describes a vital part of organising a kitchen so it’s convenient and orderly when things get busy, he says.

Charles is in his element early in the evening at Social Kitchen as he deftly sizzles up a slab of haloumi cheese before engulfing it in flames with a dash of Ouzo to dramatic effect. The elaborate menu is a contrast to his youth on a Waikato dairy farm with a ‘meat and three veg’ diet. He was, he admits, a fussy and unadventurous eater as a kid.

Charles boarded at New Plymouth Boys’ High School where he studied agriculture and hospitality. He recalls a ‘round the mountain’ school trip to visit farms. The one that most interested him was Roebucks organic market garden, where he worked for a while through the Gateway programme. Being so tall, market gardening work was not a great fit. As the top hospitality student in Year 11 and with no desire to be a dairy farmer, he decided to become a chef, working at Salt restaurant while studying at WITT.

Kitchen junior

Daniel, a chef de partie at the elegant Table restaurant in New Plymouth’s boutique NICE Hotel until recently, loved cooking from an early age. By the time he was 10, he oversaw making dinner, with his mum helping. “What got me into cooking professionally was cooking with mum.”

Daniel enrolled after landing kitchen hand job at Salt. He started his journey at WITT doing Level 3 Baking then went onto Level 3 Cookery before completing Level 4 Cookery.

“As a kitchen hand you’re not just doing dishes – there’s also a bit of prep and desserts. It gave me that firsthand experience of actually serving food,” he says.

Working a 40-hour week at Salt while and studying was hard graft but rewarding. “When I was at work, the chefs would be discussing the menu, and I could join in because I knew what they were talking about. I’d been learning about the same stuff at WITT.”

When a job came up at Table restaurant with his former head chef, he took it. Daniel says professional cooking involves learning new vocabulary, including French words, as France has been a major influence in the development of culinary arts.

A strong work ethic is essential to succeed as a chef, he reckons. “And wanting to be there. If you really want to be there and you want to learn you can make it in this job.’”

Time management, superb cooking skills and being able to work as a team are also key.

Salt and sugar

Food trends are constantly evolving and morphing. Both Charles and Daniel enjoy the creative and experimental side of cooking.

Charles says cooking is way more complex than he once thought, as he discovers new depths and layers in the way flavours, ingredients and methods can be deployed.

“A big thing with cooking is smelling – smell is linked to taste really strongly,” he says. “When I started, I didn’t know a lot of ingredients – star anise, bay leaves. I like finding different combinations of things.”

A basic rule of thumb he’s learned is that salt is not added to just make something salty, but to enhance flavours. “If you’re making a curry, it can have all the spices but without salt it’ll be completely flat.”

He gets poetic about a popular carrot dish – where carrots are caramelised in the oven with honey, then doused in fresh thyme and salt. “A lot of great restaurants round the world aren’t over-the-top. It’s not about showing off with complicated combinations. The things that impress people are basic dishes but with high quality ingredients.”

While he loves being a chef, he finds the lifestyle of long shifts that eat into nights and weekends can restrict a healthy social life.

Daniel’s talent for creating sweet things has led to having a say in Table’s dessert menu – quite a coup for a young chef. His chocolate sphere creation is a top favourite with customers, a mouth-watering amalgamation of a sculpted dark chocolate shell with mousse, berry coulis and a pouring of hot cream resulting in a sublime meltdown.

His love of working with pastries, doughs and designing sweet dishes has sparked a dream of one day opening his own dessert parlour. He recently moved to Wellington to pursue new opportunities.

Sizzle and sweat behind the scenes

Both enjoy the social side of their jobs, despite popular - but mostly untrue - media images of foul-mouthed, temperamental head chefs losing their cool while kitchen staff quiver in fear. 

Training in WITT’s professional kitchens with industry experienced chefs helped prepare them with skills and confidence for the steam, sweat and stress of restaurant kitchens.

“The resources at WITT are great,” says Daniel. “The kitchen is amazing, such a great space and having that industry level of equipment is fantastic. There’s a good vibe in kitchen - you can ask the tutors anything.”

Preparing food for dinner services and buffets at Impressions Restaurant on campus for paying customers provided “really good hands-on experience - you get the vibe of a real restaurant,” he adds. Customer feedback forms were helpful and validating too.

Charles recalls the fun vibe in the kitchen when he first dined at Social Kitchen, where chefs are visible to diners. “It impressed me a lot because it’s a pretty stressful environment.”

His observation underpins what he learned at WITT - the importance of mental health and managing the risk of burnout from long shifts in stressful conditions.

“The really good thing about cheffing and working in hospo is the people you meet,” he adds. “All it takes is one good plate of food and you can have a new mate.”

If you’re keen on cuisine and hospitality, check out our Bakery and Cookery courses starting in Semester Two, and hospitality short courses: https://www.witt.ac.nz/study/hospitality/?enrolling=true

Caption: (top) Charles Tulloch preparing a flaming haloumi dish at Social Kitchen; and (below) Daniel Reed, creating his signature Chocolate Sphere dessert at Table Restaurant.