Ran out of creme fraiche mid-service on a Friday night last month

I was plating a mushroom risotto at my station in Portland and went to grab the creme fraiche for the garnish. The container was bone dry. I had 3 tickets up and no backup. I ended up whipping some heavy cream with a splash of buttermilk and a pinch of salt right there in the pass. It actually held up fine through service but the stress was real. Has anyone else had to scramble like that with a missing ingredient?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_bailey21mo ago

Last month I had a similar moment with creme fraiche during a Sunday brunch in Seattle. @nathan851 brings up a good point about the salt balance - I actually forgot to adjust mine the first time and the risotto ended up a little flat. It's crazy how something so small can throw off the whole plate when you're already in the weeds. I feel for you though, that scramble to fix it while tickets are coming in is the kind of stress that sticks with you. Glad your fix worked out, but man, that Friday night panic is real.

nathan8511mo ago

Huh, that's a clever fix actually. I'm curious though - did the buttermilk sub change the tang level enough that you had to adjust any other seasonings on the fly? I've done the same move before and found it can throw the salt balance off if you're not careful.