Dorothy Hunt, prep cook, has been making soup and doing food prep work for 24 years at Hoss's Restaurant in DuBois.
Hunt's day starts at 8 a.m., when she begins making eight pots of soup. She usually makes four different kinds of soup each day, such as clam chowder, chicken noodle, minestrone and sausage and sauerkraut. The soup pots are big. And heavy. Each pot of soup begins with 11 quarts of water. Added in are the basics of most soups - onions and celery - meat and flavorings. In the end, there will be about 100-150 cups of soup in each pot.
The pots of soup are put on the stove to simmer while Hunt heats water and cooks pasta, then starts "racking" and baking the 35 dozen cookies she's required to make. She also makes au jus, gravy and salads and bakes bread pudding and cakes.
"I like my job," Hunt said. "There is nothing I don't like to do."
In the 25 years she's been employed in this line of work, Hunt said she hasn't seen many changes other than the "new helpers" who are hired to assist her. Hunt, the assistant prep cook and the person assigned to the salad bar that day are a team. "We work together and help each other," Hunt said. The others help Hunt lift the massive pots of soup from the stove.
Some ingredients are available ready to use; other must be sliced, diced or run through the food grinder.
On busy days, when the restaurant has a large party or bus scheduled to stop in, Hunt makes extra food like macaroni and cheese.
Hoss's has a cookbook full of their "secret recipes." However, Hunt doesn't use the cookbook because she knows every recipe by heart.
As in most jobs, documentation is necessary. Hunt documents her progress by crossing the completed task off her long list and writing the temperature of each and every pot of soup and pan of bread pudding she makes.
At 11 a.m., it's time to clean the work area and do dishes. Again, it's a team event, with Hunt and the food bar person washing and stacking the dishes. Then it's time to head out into the restaurant to double-check the salad bar and soup pots. A taste test is performed and changes made as necessary.
Then back to the kitchen to make pasta salad, stuffing balls and desserts.
The only drawback to her job? "I get really messy," Hunt said.
Following her long day of work, for several days every week, Hunt heads home to babysit her grandchildren and spend time with her husband. She doesn't always cook meals for herself and her husband, though. Sometimes she's just too tired and grabs some take-out. However, Hunt recently began teaching her oldest grandson to cook and he sometimes will prepare a meal for them.
But on holidays, Hunt takes the traditional route. She cooks the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy for her large family. A typical "busman's holiday" it is. But Hunt doesn't mind.
She enjoys cooking.
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