My first two years off apprenticeship were a big challenge for me. Having to work 15 hours a day when still being 15 years old did not make me happy at all. I had to spend that time with hard working adults that did not have much patience for the spoiled, arrogant kid that I was. They quickly made me understand that I was just the, "little new guy," and I would need to obey to their rules.
The sous chef, Didier, was first in line to make sure I understood the new environment I was in. I was his new help. Everything I could do he wouldn't have to do. We never got along well for diverse reasons, but today I am thankful that he push me the way he did. After dealing with him as a sous chef, I could now deal with any kitchen Caporal chef. He made my introduction to the professional kitchen world a two-year nightmare which made every other place I worked in an easy gig.
The first task he gave me was to clean wild mussels, not the one you see in your local supermarket, the ones that look completely cleaned and even in size. We are talking the wild stuff with: algae, large beards and tiny parasites on the shells, the ones that needed to be "completely cleaned". I would scrub them for hours. At first, my still-then young soft hands would eventually develop blisters and clefts until they would eventually develop some tough skin. A good year after cleaning my first 20 pound bag of mussels, he tells me (as I was showing the new apprentice in town how to do the job), "Hey why do you waist your time removing every single thing on those, just give them a good brush making sure to remove the beards and they'll be just fine..."
With that, let's learn how to cook some mussels by watching my video: Mussels in a Curry broth.
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