Bob On The Job: Catering Chef

Let's get to Bob on the job. He's a chef. What you cooking? Well, I don't know whose bright idea was to do the onions here, Chef Juan. I'm here at 12th Street Catering. I have to fix my hat, Michelle. Thank you. My goodness. My gosh. Thank you, Michelle. Michelle, of course, the owner here, she's one of the ladies being honored this coming Sunday at a big event, the Heritage Dinner Event, up at Glen Ford Mansion. And we're kind of going to give you an idea of what what's going to be happening on Sunday. The onions make me cry. Who's cutting onions? Oh, it's such a good time. Bob Kelly. Good times, man. I'm so happy. You can't stand the heat. Get out of the kitchen. Yeah. OK, let's get back to this. I'm here making the desserts for the Heritage Event on Sunday. Somebody's got a taste test. Bob, we needed that cake for the event. Oh, wait, I'm coming to this. But today, we're going to be sampling what's going to happen this coming Sunday. You're being honored after 44 years. I am quite an honor. 12th Street Catering. And one of the items we're serving on Sunday, Juan, is what? Chicken mole. Chicken mole? Oaxacan chicken mole. All right. A classic Mexican dish. And what do we got to do, Juan? What are we doing here? We got to remove some of the seeds. All right. And then we're going to toss our chiles in the oven. We got to take all the seeds out of all these things here? Yeah, we have to remove all the seeds. But the winner is going to be, we get to have dessert. Look at all the cakes that are lined up, live, coming up next from 12th Street Catering. OK. The Heritage Dinner event is going to be at the Glen Ford Mansion coming up on Sunday in East Horsedale. Oh, that's huge. So Bob is at 12th Street Catering, and he's hopefully getting things ready. And getting things ready. When are they going to load up my recipes here on Sunday? I am behind the scenes. Keep staring at it, will you, Chef, please? Michelle, 44 years, you're being honored on Sunday. Is that amazing? Congratulations. Thank you so much. So tell me about your business. As you said, I've been in business for a long time. This is my catering company. We do incredible events, everything from simple little birthday parties to lifetime milestones, weddings, galas. You are rocking it here. I mean, you have, like, you just took me for a tour. There's so many different kitchens. Everything is all done right here on site. We make everything for service. And then we're going to Glen Ford on Sunday. And one of the dishes we make is your, which you know. We chose a mole, because they asked me to do a dish that was sort of a signature. A signature dish that represented my 44 years. I started out the business in the Reading Terminal Market selling Mexican food and making Mexican food. So I think that this dish represented my history. And what is a mole? What is a mole? That's a mole. Oh, no, that's the wrong one. That's amore, sorry. It is a classic dish that uses about 39 ingredients. Very, very, very regional. Each region makes it a little bit differently. And it's a mix, as you can see, of all these dried chilies, fruit, some warm spices, toasted nuts. And then we're also going to have a salmon dish that you have over here. Right, so that's our mole over a really beautiful achiote rice. And then the salmon dish is something that is in the cookbook from the women from the Canal House. And that's what it's all about. It's all about honoring women in food and hospitality. So tell me about how I can get tickets at Glen Ford Mansion. Yes, Bob. You can get tickets for the Heritage Dinner on our website, ledomphilly.org. There's a few still available. There's going to be 20 chefs making food to honor these women, and to also help us raise money for scholarships. So tickets are $200, but that includes everything. Soup and nuts. Everything, cocktails, oysters from Sweet Amalia, and then a grand cake table. And Leslie has organized that cake table. I love desserts, Leslie. Come on, here we go. I can't wait to hear it. And what do you have here? Well, we are curating a beautiful cake table by 14. And one of our honorees has the Cake Bible. Yes. This is in honor of Rose Levy-Barenbaum, yes. And we have 16 local pastry chefs and bakers who have come together and created sweets inspired by Rose and her iconic book, The Cake Bible. Can I bring this lady in here for a second? What is your name? Hi, I'm Jenny. Hi, Jenny. Come on in. You've got to fix the cake. I took a lick out of that. OK, so we're going to do something with it. Now, how do we do in that? Well, let's see. So I'm going to try to just do a little design there. Oh, there you go. When I took a, I got you. Just going to cover it with a flower. It's like it never happened. I love it. Perfect. You guys can do anything with that, right? Yeah, absolutely. So what are the other items that you have down here? You want to point out something? Go ahead. Yes, this is a white velvet cake that is in Rose Levy Birnbaum's book, and it's filled with a strawberry Grand Marnier filling. I think it should be quite delicious. It's sparkling on the top. Like, are we able to eat all those flowers? Everything. Everything is edible. The lace, the flowers, everything's edible. Can we get to lick the bowl? Yeah, I'll bring it. I love it. OK, you come on in here. And what do you want to talk about here? I'm talking about the banana cake with the toasted meringue buttercream. So did you do that all by yourself right there? That is rosette design to honor Rose. What are these here? Those are raspberry pistachio marshmallows. Please take a bite. They're new. Uh-huh. Mm. I would be fired from taste testing all day long. Oh, we snack all day, so. Yeah, really? We, I honor it. You have to snack all day. So raspberry pistachio marshmallows, vanilla macarons. I was just going to say, hand me that fork there. I'm listening to you. Vanilla macarons, raspberry pistachio marshmallows, and then there's banana chocolate. Oh, what is this? Banana something or other? Banana marshmallow dipped in chocolate. Look at them making everything here. All right, so it all takes place this coming Sunday, Glen Ford Mansion. Congratulations to you and all the other women in food. You've got to love what you do. I love what I do, and this is really an honor. A Lifetime Achievement Award doesn't get any better than that. Listen, if you put grilled cheese on the menu, I could probably come and help you out. You're coming in. I'm coming in. You might not have to get it all over your face when you cook the next time. I know, well, I don't know how all this happened, but grilled cheese for everybody. The new chef, there's a new chef in town.