Edible Orlando invited me to cook on their stage at the Central Florida Home & Garden Show this past Friday at 6:30. I prepared Cumin-Dusted Snapper with a Tropical Salsa. I developed this recipe for the Spring Issue of Edible Orlando along with the article, Get Hooked on Sustainable Seafood: Wading Through the Ocean of Choices When Buying Seafood.
Not only was I thrilled but I was honored. What an experience.
But there’s a difference between cooking in a kitchen and cooking on stage with a live mic.
I’m going to add here that Elvis and I also had tickets to Lady Gaga at 8pm that same night. No pressure there, right?
It’s a given that I am confident in the kitchen. In fact, I have been in many, many kitchens over the years where I gained confidence, wisdom and sheer trial-and-error experience. I’ve worked in tiny apartment kitchens where the oven was so small that it didn’t fit a standard baking sheet. Although my restaurant kitchen had cool tools, it had some antiquated equipment, too, a learning curve in of itself. I’ve worked in some commercial kitchens that were so big (over 3,000 sq ft) that I got lost in the pantry, another time I got stuck in a walk-in freezer and no one noticed until I banged on the door for several chilly minutes. I’ve worked alongside chefs at trade shows and in many restaurants. I’ve baked countless pies & cookies, roasted sides of beef, seared bacon & sausage, sauteed squid & shrimp, steamed mussels and displayed frozen out-of-the-box pastries so they look irresistible and not like cardboard. I’ve steamed vegetables, sliced breads and shaved turkey on a meat slicer that weighed more than I did. I baked fresh salmon and even demo’d how to brew the perfect cup of coffee.
None of that prepared me for the open stage.
First, it was hot. The bright lights were hot.
Then, I was concentrating so hard on Lady Gaga concert saying the right words, that I forgot to say those right words.
But I managed to get the snapper in the skillet, after I kissed the stove-to-oven skillets with a light touch of EVOO. And I managed to relax (a bit) when I mentioned the Ancho Chili Chocolate, the surprise ingredient in my recipe. I also remembered to give a few cooking tips: rinse & soak the cut peeled onion in cold water for twenty minutes, salt the fish filets thirty minutes before you cook to give you time to set the table, open the wine and light the candles. Then I relaxed (again) when the fish came out of the oven, perfectly prepared.
Lucky for me, Elvis was in the audience taking pictures and video. The latter will be a training manual for me to know what not to do and say the next time I’m invited on stage.
Finally, I remembered to ask the audience if they had questions and direct them to my literature about SLO. The most important thing I remembered was to thank them for hanging we me for thirty minutes while I stuttered smiled and sauteed, instead of chillin’ at the beer and wine booth. After all, it was Happy Hour on Friday and I had the Lady Gaga concert to get to.
What about you? What are your tips for keeping cool under the stage lights or in the kitchen?
