By Robert A Emmanuel
Ham and turkey, fruit cakes and puddings —the Christmas season brings together family and friends to enjoy a special time in each other’s company, eating good food and exchanging gifts and greetings.
Christmas time also means an influx of visitors from colder countries like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, as they seek an escape from the biting temperatures and the snow to enjoy the warmer weather of the islands and partake in meals prepared by top chefs at restaurants and hotels.
But have you ever stopped to think about the chefs, bakers and other workers in the culinary field who work hard to ensure that piping hot meals arrive at your table?
Observer sat down with a few chefs and bakers to get an insight into their life during the festive period.
Sheer Rocks owner shares his experience running a successful restaurant during the festive season
Alex Grimley, Managing Partner at the Rocks Group and a reputable chef in his own right, has been working in the culinary field for over 27 years, after moving to Antigua from the UK in 2007.
He, along with Kate Taylor, purchased Sheer Rocks, formerly ‘Sheer’, in 2010 and have expanded the business enterprise into what it is now.
Speaking to Observer, Grimley said that the Christmas period is hectic as his staff engages in “as much business in seven or eight days that you normally do in a whole month,” highlighting the value of communication during this time.
Grimley said, “Communication is everything—it’s really important whether you’re a manager or director, a supervisor or a line staff, or even a temporary staff helping out over the holiday period, it’s imperative that you understand not just what we need from you in terms of output and working hours, but also that you understand what the point of it all is.
“The minute everything just becomes a robotic job, a lot of the love disappears from it, and if you want to deliver a high-end product, everybody’s got to understand that their contribution is essential to that end result, and so communicating that vision is just as important as communicating directions and orders.”
According to Grimley, preparation for the Christmas period begins in earnest in September with the writing of menus and taking bookings, and as time draws closer to the Christmas holidays, much of the food preparation takes place.
“Now, when it comes to a food perspective, a few weeks out from Christmas, we would start with some of the preparations and making things like chutneys and preserves, and things that are going to benefit from being aged, and then with the heavy prep, in terms of all the fresh fruit, vegetables and meat and fish and stuff, that will all begin to come in this week.
“But, with the very high perishable items, really, we’re doing that as last minute as possible, so no more than two days in advance.”
He added that Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day all present a unique challenge for his company as staff need to ensure they are ready for three days of non-stop activity.
“To put that into context, on Christmas Eve starts the festive menu at both Sheer Rocks and Catherine’s [Café], and on that day, we’re running that new menu, but we’re also still preparing for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
“So, you have half your team running service for a fully booked restaurant, and the other half preparing for the next day’s fully booked restaurant, so we’ll have over 130 people working that week to make sure that we can accommodate everybody and deliver a standard.”
However, ensuring a good balance of spending late hours working in the kitchen with the need for family time is difficult for many chefs and members of staff, and Grimley said it was no different for his team.
“There’s no way to dress it up, I think the industry is absolutely amazing, but it definitely comes with its challenges, and Christmas can be quite a lonely time.
“As a young chef in London, I often found it quite lonely—you’re working very long hours and you go home and … you suddenly get home and realise that you’re in your apartment, on your own.
“Now, in Antigua, a lot of people still live with family, so hopefully it’s not quite as lonely, but what I would say [to aspiring chefs] is stick with it.
“It is, without a doubt, one of the hardest weeks of the year—the pressure is on everybody, you’ll be asked to work faster and harder, shorten your break and all these things that come together with teamwork.
“I saw Christmas break a lot of young people, and they decided that they didn’t want to be in the industry, but honestly the way I look at it, working with my teams over Christmas, [they are] my other family, and there’s very strong camaraderie; we try and make it as pleasurable as possible,” Grimley added.
Shadae Williams speaks on the importance of time management, creativity and preventing dry turkey
Shadae Williams of Toast268 said the Christmas holiday means finding innovative ways to serve customers and expand your culinary skills.
“I see it as an opportunity—if it is that sorrel and ginger are in high demand, you need to find creative ways of utilising them because you don’t want to see the same thing over and over.
“So, it’s like you get an opportunity now to really showcase how versatile you can be,” she said.
Williams said that she has been in the culinary field for nearly eight years, and she shared that she learned the importance of proper time management in the industry.
“Time management is really everything around this time because it gets really busy,” she said.
“Honestly, you just have to look at it from an eagle eye’s point of view: if it is that you have caterings coming up, you create a schedule and you work with that schedule to do everything.
“But also … if it is that you’re getting overwhelmed, just relax for a few days; you don’t want to deplete yourself because it can be very mentally taxing on your [psyche] and physical health.
“You have people running [all over the place], the oven is really full, so you have to remain focused and also try to take a step back and take a breather because it’s just creating a balance.”
Williams gave the example of her own work experience where, despite the implementation of a dashboard to keep track of orders coming in, “sometimes we don’t even have any space to put the checks”.
But what time does she and the Toast 268 team start to focus on that hectic time of the year? Well, according to Williams, they start preparations around Thanksgiving.
“That’s when the place starts to get really busy because, remember, Thanksgiving has certain elements that are kind of similar to Christmas—you’re going to be utilising ham and turkey around that time as well, so you’re already getting in the mood, and you’re starting to write menus that represent both of them using certain ingredients,” she expressed.
However, at the end of the day, it is important that a chef’s creativity remains intact even as different orders pile up as the holidays draw closer.
“What we try to do is to give the person exactly what they’re looking for, because they have some creativity in terms of like customising their plates and the catering aspect of it.
In spite of the hustle and bustle and the grind of it all, she still feels the holiday magic even if she said people need to pay closer attention when baking a turkey to prevent it from becoming dry.
“I look forward to this season because it’s just that spirit that’s in the air, you know; you have this feeling of happiness in the air, and you get time to really be creative in the kitchen.
“You get to make your own menus at home, you get to make people smile and enjoy your food, and it is an opportunity to make something—both savoury and sweet—so let’s say, you’re trying a new drink, or you’re trying to bake a new version of fruitcake [it’s exciting].
“At the end of the day, a lot of people look forward to Christmas and a lot of people don’t; a lot of people don’t look forward to Christmas for dry turkey because a lot of people haven’t mastered the art of turkey, so they have this trauma,” she smiled.
She went on to give some tips on the proper method of making moist and well-prepared turkey.
“This is what people don’t understand; you can’t just cook turkey like it is chicken. You have to go back inside the oven and base it, and if it is you can stuff some butter over the breast, you will have a perfect turkey for Christmas.”
Meanwhile, her message to other aspiring chefs would be to just “jump in” if you have a passion for the culinary arts.
“Whether you get your degree from ABHTI, or you decide to just work your way up in the industry from a dishwasher, just jump in because, at the end of the day, knowledge is power.
“You can learn from the theory, or you can learn from the practicality in the industry itself, so I would welcome anybody to join; we do need more hands and more passionate hearts on deck,” she remarked.
Jacqui Joseph speaks about carrying on a family tradition – good black cake, fresh bread, and salt ham
For Jacqui Joseph, after moving to Antigua and Barbuda several years ago from St Vincent and the Grenadines, making the traditional black cake was more than just a treat at the holidays, or something to sell, but a close family tradition—one that she continued to pass to her children.
“It was a big tradition in our house where we got together, my aunts, my cousins and we mixed up one big batch, and everybody took it home to bake, so when I came to Antigua, I decided I was going to continue my black cake.
“The recipe I used was given to me by my grandmother, and she got that when she left Trinidad after she got married, so the recipe is now over 65 years old, and I still use that same recipe today.
“There was a time when, before Hurricane Luis, I used to do black cake for restaurants, sometimes I would make, like 60-something black cakes for the month.”
Black cake, or rum-soaked fruit cake, is a staple around the Christmas table in the Caribbean, and as Joseph said, whether you love it or hate it, black cake gets right to the heart of the Christmas spirit.
“There was a time when I didn’t enjoy Christmas Day because I’ll be doing black cake for people who would come in at the last minute, and so, on Christmas Day I was dead tired.
“In the beginning, I was actually working a full-time job and just making black cake for Christmas; I semi-retired and started doing it full-time, but health reasons have prevented me from continuing on a large scale.
“I still do it because it is the only cake my husband eats, but black cake is like ducana – it goes to the heart of the people who love it,” she stated.
Meanwhile, a Christmas tradition that Joseph enjoyed growing up and still enjoys is waking up to the smell of fresh homemade bread with salt ham on Christmas morning.
“In the 30-plus years that I’ve been here in Antigua, I always make fresh bread on Christmas Eve night so that we have fresh homemade bread on Christmas morning, and the salt ham, that is also important, even though I can’t really eat it that much these days, but it is still an important part.”
She recalled a story where a few years ago, shipments were delayed from reaching the island due to a storm, and following a phone conversation with her parents about the lack of salt ham, her father took it upon himself to ensure the tradition continued.
“The next day I got a call; [my father] had put a 15lb salt ham on LIAT so that I would have it for Christmas, so that is how important it is to my family tradition,” she said.
To Joseph, knowing your limits is important for any chef or baker during the Christmas period.
“People tend to make us take on too much, and at the end of the period, you end up being fatigued, you get sick.
“Know your capability, know how much you can handle, the equipment you have and know when you have to cut off, because you’re going to end up being tired [if you don’t]; sometimes people get sick and it’s not worth it,” she remarked.