Learning the ways of the fryer....

So I start frying this week. My Nicer Than Nice Manager is teaching me. We have about 30 racks of donuts that we need to fry. She trains me in the on the fryer. Here is what I need to know:




1. Watch out, it’s really hot.

2. Dump the donuts in.

3. When they are brown, take them out.

4. Watch out, it’s really hot.



She patiently explains this to me then asks if I want to write it down.



I write down, “Take out donuts when brown”. I hope I can remember it all.



So I start.



Well turns out there is MUCH MUCH MORE to this than just dumping them in.



No joke.



You see some donuts sink, some float, some stick together, some crumble, some if turned too quickly they flail out, some implode, some get too brown on one side and some are so little they fry up to little pieces of hot sticky grizzle. And my only tools are a bent cooling rack, a slotted spoon and two pointy sticks. And my fingers when I forget how hot (duh) fryer grease really is.



My outfit is no longer white.



I discover that the food preparation gloves we wear in the bakery melt RIGHT INTO YOUR skin when you forget to not put your hands in the hot oil to retrieve your pointy donut stick.  Don't do that.   See point #1 and #4 above.



I actually biff (for real) about 30 donuts.


Yah thirty.  That's a lot of biffing.


They are burnt, crumbled, stuck together, raw, ugly, burnt, misshapen or burnt.  My Manager tries to cheerlead me and assures me I will get better.  Translation:  you can't get any worse clearly - so I guess it's going to look up from here. :)


My biff pile is growing.



The Super Sweet Baker is watching me. With that look on her face. She is afraid.



I go get the free sample bin. I fill it. With my biffed donuts. I cannot close the lid there are so many biffed donuts.



I take it out to the floor with no lid.


For 15 seconds I’m a hero to the kids in the bakery. A Mom walks up smiling and looks at the donuts. Her eyes get wide as she takes in my pile of what looks like mutant, morphed greasy chicken nuggets. She hastily pulls her child away from the bin and walks briskly in the direction of away from me.



Nice.



I figure they’ll look better when they dry out and get stale.  :)



My manager asks me to cut up my biffed donuts before I put them on the floor for samples.  She nicely suggests that would make them stretch further (there are like 700 now).  Really she means, "Oh my gosh could you please stop touching ANYTHING the customers might see????"

I offer to spend the rest of my shift scrubbing the fryer.

She thinks that's a super idea...