//------------------------------// // Basic Cooking part 3 // Story: The Chef's apprentice // by vincent789 //------------------------------// As Twilight and Velvet enters the kitchen, Twilight takes another good look around the kitchen. She sees that there are more cupboards then she previously though she saw and that they are all filled up with lots of cooking ingredients. On one of the counter tops she sees a knife block which is used to store their knives safely into it. Next to it she also sees a bowl with a selection of fruits in it. Following Velvet eyes, she sees the ingredients laid out before them. Velvet then proceeds to grab the cookbook out of the cupboard with the cookie jar to put it on a book holder. She then moves the pages till they are on page 256. "Okay Twilight. Why don't you start out by cooking the pasta in a pan with hot water." Velvet tasks Twilight. Twilight first looks at the cookbook then she grabs a soup pan and fills it with hot water from the sink. Then she puts it on the stove and lights the stove with her magic. "Should I first let the water become boiling temperature before putting in the pasta?" Twilight asks Velvet. Velvet nods "It doesn't say that in the cookbook but yes. In fact the basic of cooking tells that you should always take a cookbook with a grain of salt. The reason being that it sometimes doesn't tell you the right course of action." Velvet explains "Of course if you are in a kitchen however, you should to follow that recipe to a T. Or risk lowering the quality of the dish. Something that your gast and boss won't like." Twilight nods as she proceeds to wait 10 minutes till the water is boiling. She then carefully places the pasta inside and adds a butt load of salt into. Velvet raised her eyebrow at this "What are you doing?" "I was told that when you add lots of salt, not only will you get better tasting pasta, but you also make it cook faster to a certain degree." Twilight answered. "I see. Well anyways while that is cooking. Please mix some heavy cream and some grated parmesan cheese into a bowl." Velvet tasks while she is cutting some vegetables for a greek salad. Twilight immediately put some of both into a bowl then she mixes it till it becomes a whole mixture. She also adds some parsley to the mixture along side some salt and pepper. Velvet looks at the pasta. Seeing that it's done, she quickly grabbed a strain and proceeds to dump the pasta through the strain. She then puts it back into the pan after all the water left the pasta. Twilight then proceeds to put the mixture with the pasta without being asked to. She also starts mixing it really well. In the meantime Velvet finishes her salad up and moves it to the table. Night who was sitting right there, decks the table with plates and cutlery. Twilight being done with mixing. moves the pan to the dinner table and proceeds to put some on her plate, together with some greek salad. her parents do the same. Twilight then tastes the salad and notices that it's missing something. Thinking about it her face suddenly lights up and she ran into the kitchen. Her parents looked confused at her reaction and patiently wait for her to return. While also taking a small bite out of the salad. Once she is in the kitchen, she grabs a new bowl. She grabs a honey bottle, and a pot of gardening spices from a cabinet. And she also grabbed some greek yogurt from the fridge. She mixes the yogurt with the spices and the honey. Not forgetting to also add some salt and pepper to the mixture. With the greek yogurt sauce complete she moves it into a bottle. then proceeded to move the bottle back to the dinner table. Where her parents look at the bottled sauce she just made on a whim. Twilight then puts some sauce into her salad. She mixes it then takes a new bit out of it. Her parents meanwhile also do the same thing, Velvet tastes the salad now with sauce and is surprised by it heavy but refreshing taste along side of the vegetables. Night also looks surprised at the salad then at Twilight. Night then asks "Twilight, perhaps you would like to learn how to cook? We certain would love to teach you." Velvet approving of it "Indeed. We certainly could take the time out of our jobs to teach you." she says. Twilight shakes her head "I already am going on a cooking lesson from a professional chef that works in the castle." Twilight taking another bite "Cadence set it up for me. I am to arrive at the public canteen kitchen at 7 in the morning" Night and Velvet looks at each other then nodded "We approve of it Twilight. But who will teach you? This also means you have to go to bed after this. No more books for today or you will be late the next day." Velvet stated Twilight nods afterwards proceeds to eat this new dish. She tastes that the carbonara is a thick yet fluffy cheesy pasta. The pepper and salt really shines in this dish she noticed. While the greek salad creates a conflict with the carbonara. As it's also thick, but it also has some refreshing taste to it. She grabs a scroll and notes down 'You should not serve carbonara with a greek salad for it's a too thick of a dish.' "A chef called Royal Chef. He currently works as a head chef for both the public canteen as well as "The Royal Star" restaurant" Her parents looks shocked at her then nodded "I wish you good luck then. I hope is not too serious on you." Velvet stated. Twilight nodded then quickly finishes up and proceeds to go to the bathroom upstairs. As she enters the bathroom which had marble tiles all over the room. She quickly notes that the bath is still dirty as well as the shower in the corner. Going towards the sink she brushes her teeth and washes her face. Leaving the bathroom to go to her bedroom. Once inside her bedroom she moves towards her fluffy bed and she sets up her alarm clock at 6 O'clock in the morning which is besides her bed on a nightstand. She then enters her bed laying her surprisingly heavy head on her bed and falls asleep instantly when her head touches the cushion. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "RINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!" as her alarm clock rings. Twilight slowly wakes up and moves to stop her alarm clock. She then quickly washes up and grabs a light snack. Which is a slice of bread with some jam on it. She then quickly ran around town towards the castle. As she arrives she looks at the clock and sees the it's 6:45 in the morning. She was 15 minutes too early but nevertheless she ran towards the backdoor of the kitchen and enters. When she got inside she saw that Royal was already standing there with his kitchen outfit on. Twilight proceeds to walk to the locker room to quickly put on a kitchen outfit. For some reason they already had a kitchen outfit of her size which caused Twilight to raise her eyebrow at it. Shaking her head she puts it on and re-enters the kitchen. "You are on time Twilight" Royal said approvingly "Today's lesson contains making a vegetable soup." he says to wasting a moment. "However I won't help you, I want to see what you are capable of." Royal tasks Twilight simply nods her head. but Royal wasn't done "You see that small kitchen in the back? That is your workstation. It has everything you need to make any dish, from a stove to a small fridge. Just remember that the food is stored in those fridges and shelves over there and in the freezer behind the metal door." Royal states while pointing first at the workstation then at the fridges, shelves and freezer. Twilight nodded again and asks "How fast would you like me to make it?" "Both as fast as possible, with the best possible care you can give it. If it's good enough we will give it to the soldiers at breakfast." Royal stated as he walked away to do some administrative tasks. Twilight saluted and rushed towards the fridges. She grabs mountain lettuce, tomatoes, green unions, a pumpkin, some potatoes, and a whole bunch of spices from the cupboards next to the fridges. From the fridges themselves she simply looks in them as she didn't need anything from them. At last she looks in the freezer but she also didn't need anything from it. However she did see that it only contained meat. "Also Twilight, we weren't able to use all the meat from the party, all the meat in that giant freezer is all the leftover meat. If you have an idea of how to use some of it, I would love to hear it." Royal said before closing the door to his office as Twilight left the freezer. "I will think about it after I am done with the soup." Twilight said back but he didn't hear it. Twilight afterwards quickly moved to her workbench. She then grabs a wooden cutting board from a drawer. She also grabs a big cutting knife out of the knives block that's to her right. She also searches the cabinet to grab the biggest soup pan she could find and fill it with hot water. then places it on her stove. She puts the heat on medium while she adds her spices to the pan. She adds: a tablespoon of salt and pepper, a teaspoon of cayenne, a teaspoon of parsley, two bay leaves, some fresh basil, a teaspoon of celery powder and as last a teaspoon of garlic powder, to her soup. After taste testing her soup she closes the lid and proceeds to cut her vegetable into to pieces. She minces the lettuce. She also cuts the tomato in half cuts. The green unions she minces really fine and the pumpkin she cuts into small cubes. However she only used half the pumpkin, the other half she puts in plastic wrap and back onto the shelf next to the fridge. The potatoes she put in a different deep pan and puts it on the stove. It cooks much faster because of the size of the pan. Then the soup that is in a much larger pan. It still wasn't cooking, despite being on it for like 10 minutes now. After it was done cooking for a much smaller period of time, she removes the water out of the pan. Then she puts the potatoes in an ice bath so that she can peel skin of the potatoes. She then cuts it into small cubes. Realizing her workstation is a mess. She quickly add every vegetable and potato into a single large bowl. And proceeds to clear out her workstation by cleaning everything she isn't using. Placing her cleaned items back where they belong. She quickly checks her soup to see that it's boiling and carefully adds her remaining ingredients into the soup pan. She then lowers the heat to a simmer as she cleans the remaining items from her workstation. Being done and having to wait till the soup is ready. She decides to watches other chefs work in the kitchen. She then noticed something interesting. She sees that a selected amount of chefs only work at one side of the kitchen. They appear to be primarily baking items near some very hot stoves. On the other hoof she sees on the other side of the side of the kitchen to be primarily busy prepping the ingredients then levitating the required a ingredients to the chef who needs on the other side so that they can cook in sync without being disturbed. While looking at this, she realized that they are a well oiled machine of ponies work who work on a single dish. She then quickly realizes that she is far from being a true chef. Not only that, but she also realizes that her task is not only to test her skill but also character. since she is noble and her co-workers are all not noble, they might not like nobles. Since they might mess with the kitchen while they are doing their best. One such pony would be Blueblood. He would give nobles in a kitchen setting a bad name. However it probably wasn't only nobles messing with the kitchen. But also Cadence as she was known to be very critical of the food that is delivered to her. On the other hoof however. There are also nobles that do give them a good name. Such names as Royal Chef and Fancy Pants are ponies on the other side of the spectrum. They are loved by chefs. And they are good ponies in return. Sadly Twilight woke from her stupor when she sees Blueblood arrive at the kitchen. From a distance she saw that Blueblood was angry because someone added an ingredient that Blueblood hates in his favourite dish which was an avocado salad with oddly hayfries. "Who made this?!" Blueblood shouts. Twilight suddenly had a bad feeling about this as he looked towards one of the chefs. She looked for Royal but he was gone from the kitchen as he had some administrative tasks to do. Twilight realizing her impending doom she quickly grabbed all the ingredients for a avocado salad she thought it might have, including spices. She then quickly whipped up a new avocado salad in less than 3 minutes. If someone was paying attention, she would have broken a few academy records for how fast she successfully made it. Her doom she saw coming was immediately realized when a chef shouted. "She made it!" the chef points towards Twilight who flinches at the intensity of the shout. Blueblood too angry to think straight approaches Twilight. "You better make me a new one, you ruffian!" he said enraged. Twilight however didn't back down "I already did! After I saw you entering the kitchen." Twilight said as she presented it to Blueblood. Blueblood realizing who he just accused, looks at her dish. He levitates it out of her grip and eats it right where he stood. He stood there for a moment. Then he looked at Twilight approvingly and shouts "Now this is how you make a an avocado salad!" "But in all seriousness, Who made that dish?" Blueblood said calmly after he finished his dish. He then proceeded to give Twilight his plate. Twilight quickly clean his plate and looks at her soup which was finished. She quickly put it on low heat and watched as Blueblood complains to the actual chef who made the dish. "What is your name?" Blueblood suddenly asks Twilight. Twilight who quickly was brought out her stupor "Twilight sparkle, Your highness." Twilight said politely as she bowed. "Very well Twilight Sparkle. You did well making that dish as I noticed you added a few ingredients from which was mostly spices. I also had the feeling you didn't know how to make it, so you grabbed a picture and made it based on said picture, correct?" Blueblood questioned. "That is correct, your highness" Twilight answered. Blueblood impressed by her ability "Perhaps next time I will ask you to make me a dish. In the meantime it was good meeting you." Blueblood stated as he walked out the kitchen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Blueblood was gone, the chefs looked at Twilight approvingly. One of them walked towards her. "So your name is Twilight, huh?" the chef that stood on the baking side of the kitchen asked. "That is correct, once again." Twilight simply replied "My name is Sundown Keeper. I am the sóus chef of the kitchen. I primarily oversee the hot side of the kitchen." Sundown explained "Thank you for defusing the situation. I saw you preparing that salad in the background and I must say I am impressed that under those circumstances you were able to whip up that dish in less than 5 minutes." Twilight blushed "No problem, I knew the kitchen didn't trust me, so I acted quickly" Twilight said "Well not anymore! The kitchen appreciates ponies that are willing to do things to improve our relationships with our clients." Sundown states "Welcome to the kitchen, Twilight sparkle!" He shouts "Thank you. Say, where is Royal? I completed his task in making a vegetable soup." Twilight asks while looking at Sundown. Sundown looks at her, then proceeds to grab a spoon and tastes her soup. "The soup tastes amazing, Twilight! Good job. We will serve this to the guards since we are about to have morning rush." He states. "Don't worry about Royal! I will tell him. Why don't you sit back and watch us work. You aren't quite ready to help us with this." Sundown asks "Okay. I will take a break." Twilight answered Sundown nodded and shouted "Rush hour is about to start! Get ready everypony!" The kitchen suddenly became a war zone. As chefs and other staff members shout over each other. Plates were flying all over the place. Prep chefs suddenly chopped their vegetables ten times faster. The hot side of the kitchen got 3 times hotter. She then heard ponies on the other side of the shutter. Royal enters the kitchen a moment later. He sees Twilight taking a break. As he is about to talk to Twilight he is interrupted by Sundown. They chat for a bit then Royal looks approvingly towards Twilight. He then rushed forward to get her soup ready for serving by plating it up. Then the shutter slowly open up. Once it was fully opened up, the war zone turned even more chaotic. As Sundown approached Twilight "Twilight. Could you please make a lot more soup? One of our prep chefs will watch you make it." he asked "Okay." Twilight answered as proceeds to grab ever soup pan she could find. She proceeds to place 5 of them on the stove all filled with hot water, and one small deep pan also with hot water as she restarts her process. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This sequence of events continued till the end of the lunch break. Her soup was really popular. It was well spiced and quite filling which really suited many guards preferences. They were after all standing around doing the heavy lifting. Twilight who noticed this, wrote it down that most guards appreciates filling dishes and that the spices were an added bonus. Royal, who finally was done for the day, approaches Twilight "Hey Twilight! Today went very well, didn't it?" He asked Twilight who was exhausted said "Yep, I was a lot of fun! But I am exhausted." Royal laughed "Of course. Kitchen work is very work intensive. However for your first time in a real kitchen, you did really well." Royal praised "Of course it would be around right now that you go home. However I want to give you some money. You did so well that if I didn't give some bits for today's work, the other chefs might start complaining." he said smilingly. "Here, take 50 bits! Thanks to you for the second time in a week, we ran out of ingredients" Royal praised as he gave her the bits. Twilight who looked too exhausted to fight over the bits, that she decided to just take them. "Can you help me get back home? I am too exhausted" She asked "Actually Cadence will move you back home. She was here a second ago. Right now she should be preparing a carriage." Royal said. Cadence walked in a moment or two later "Come Twilight. The carriage is waiting." Cadence stated. Twilight calmly walked with Cadence to the carriage as soon as she sat down her eyes grew too heavy as she fell asleep with her head laying on Cadence. Cadence smiled when she noticed this. Cadence then simply brushed her hair in the process.