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Tag Archives: dinner rush

A COOK’S ANXIETY – A MOMENT IN TIME

08 Friday Nov 2019

Posted by culinarycuesblog in Uncategorized

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Tags

chefs, cooks, cooks anxiety, culinary, dinner rush, kitchen life, line cooks

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It’s 5:15, 120 degrees in front of the battery of ranges, and sweat is pouring down every cook’s back, dripping off their foreheads. This is moment in time, like the starting line for an important race, when adrenaline is pulsing through a cook’s veins, fingers are tingling in anticipation, knees are a little weak, and that 5-minute cold sandwich that was inhaled while standing over a garbage can isn’t sitting too well. Time to pop back another espresso, click those tongs a little faster, bounce from foot to foot while trying to keep the knees limber, and fold and refold those side towels again. It’s game time!

Sometimes we put on a good face – cool and calm – totally in control, but underneath we are stressed out most of the time. We can’t really ignore the adrenaline – to do so would stall out the engine, cloud our concentration, and lead to mistakes. “Slow” is the curse for a line cook. Idle time results in a loss of focus – a dangerous situation in the kitchen. Stress, at some level is an essential element – this is the edge of the knife, the seasoning of a sauté pan, and the blue flame from a char-grill. Stress is the spice that makes it all work.

Just like over-seasoning of a dish, or moving an item from perfect caramelization to burn – too much stress can turn the beauty of team symmetry and the confidence that comes from preparation-to chaos, loss of direction, and disaster. Total system collapse in a kitchen is always a few steps away from fine-tuned orchestration. Line cooks live on this precipice every day.

Those fleeting moments before the rush are filled with over-thinking, nervous energy, tingling fingers, throbbing back muscles, and multiple head games that push a cook to think about everything that could go wrong. Every serious cook lives by the rules of Murphy’s Law: if something can go wrong – it will.

The line cook looks to the right and left and gives a thumbs-up and fist bump to each team member. This is both a sign of readiness and a signal that the team is in this together. “I have your back – you have mine.”

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The first orders start to trickle in at 5:15 – the early birds have arrived. Cooks like this short build up – it gives the line a chance to adjust, to build their rhythm. Much like a quarterback in a critical game – the expeditor can use this time to adjust a game plan and even audible on the line. Planning is critical, but so is the ability to problem solve and adjust.

A few steaks and chops, trout meuniere, pan seared duck breast, a few orders of diver scallops and a smattering of apps from the fry station: so far – so good. Cooks are loosening up – the cadence of work is accented by the staccato of clicking tongs, and the banter of “ordering” and “yes chef”. Everyone is on his or her toes – they know what is coming next. Each line cook checks and double checks his or her mise en place, touches each part of his or her station, re-folds side towels one last time, and wipes down their counter space.

It’s 6 p.m. now and things are about to change. The host peeks her head in the kitchen and says: “the dining room just filled –hang on, here it comes!” BAM! Just like that – the POS starts spitting out tickets faster than the expeditor can call them off. Now the team is energized, the slow build up allowed them to dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s”, so confidence is pretty high. That adrenaline will be put to good use now as pans start flying on and off the flat top, flames from the char-grill leap 4 inches high, and the smell of great cooking fills the air. Sweat is pouring off the foreheads of everyone on the line and soaking the rims of their skullcaps. There is a bounce in everyone’s step as they pivot from the range and grill to the service line. “Pick up on table 34!” The answer from all in unison is: “Yes chef”. “Order/fire on that deuce that just came in.” “Yes chef”. “Jake – how long on that medium well veal chop (ugh)?” “Probably 8-minutes chef”. “Sue, I need a re-fire on that trout meuniere – he wants it very well done!” “Yes chef”.

The line is peaking right now. The board is filled with tickets and the expeditor is waiting on a table of 10 that is already 15-minutes late. This really pisses off the chef – the guest is always right, but few understand how tight everything is and how a late reservation can throw everything off. The host just tapped the chef on his shoulder and said that the 10 top just arrive, but now its 14. Great – right in the middle of the rush. “Heads up! We have a 14 top coming in soon – let’s try and clear some of the board before then.”

By 7:30 most of the dining room is served and the 14 top entrees just went out. The chef sent out an amuse bouche to buy some time and the table ordered a pile of apps – everything is working out. The dining room will partially fill again by 8:30, so it’s time to replenish mise en place, clean up every station, kick back a few more espressos, have each cook splash some water in their face, and take a quick accounting of everything.

By 10 p.m. the last few orders are leaving the kitchen. Only two returns tonight for re-fires, and almost 200 served. It was a good night. Lots of high fives to go around, then the last charge of adrenaline to get through cleaning, station breakdown, labeling and dating, filling out prep lists for tomorrow, and chilling down sauces. The chef strains the veal stock that has been simmering since late morning, and immerses the 5-gallon pot in an ice bath. He pulls everyone together for a 10-minute review and recognition for a job well done.

The cooks leave by 11:15 and head for the local bar for an after shift drink or two as the chef inspects the kitchen, shuts down the hood fan, and turns off the lights. The kitchen will go to sleep now – at least for a few hours. The baker arrives at 4 a.m. and prep cooks by around 7. Then it starts all over again. It takes cooks a few hours to bring themselves down from the adrenaline rush – a feeling that they both look forward to and dread at the same time.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER
Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG

 

 

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DIGGING DEEP: THE PRESSURE IS ON THE LINE COOK

25 Friday Oct 2013

Tags

chef, cook, culinary, dinner rush, kitchen, line cook, restaurants

DIGGING DEEP: THE PRESSURE IS ON THE LINE COOK

Having finished fabricating his fish for Friday prep, Jake moved on to the other proteins on his mise en place list. Venison tenders and Wagyu beef tenders were trimmed of their silver skin and portioned: three-ounce medallions on the venison and four ounces on the beef. The chain from the beef tender would be ground as part of the burger meat for the bar menu and the boot would wind up as tenderloin tips for the Saturday feature. Pheasant, airline style breasts were removed from the carcass leaving the frames for stock that the commissary-shift would use tomorrow. Finally, Jake removed the braised and chilled lamb shanks from their gelatinized braising stock and trimmed them in preparation for re-heating to order. The stock would be reduced with a caramelized mirepoix, red wine and fresh rosemary to accompany the shanks with a side of polenta. “ There”, thought Jake, “all of the proteins were set”.

It was now 3:30 and Jake knew that time was creeping up. He still had not even touched the prep for his vegetables and sauces as well as the set-up of his line station. While he washed and sanitized his table and reached for a new cutting board, he noticed that the other line cooks and interns had arrived and were busy working on their own “mise”. He felt better knowing that he had arrived early and would some how be ready for the chefs pre-meal tasting at 5:00.

Now it was time for some rapid knife work. To save time, Jake took a few minutes to write down all of the vegetables he would need so that he could make one trip to the walk-in, saving time and energy. He collected onions, shallots, garlic, leeks, Yukon gold potatoes, plum tomatoes, baby carrots with tops, chanterelle and shiitake mushrooms, Italian parsley, apples, asparagus and assorted herbs. Once again Jake drew his knives across a stone and steel, washed them and wiped them dry. He was ready.

Jake was masterful with a chef’s knife and bird’s beak. He had, after all, been going through this routine for many years leading to the point where his knives were simply an extension of his hands. Jake was focused but generally pretty easy going. Everyone liked him and respected him but also knew to stay away from his knives. These were his tools and no one else had any business using them (pretty much the rule of thumb with any serious cook). Jake attacked the vegetables dicing, mincing, cutting julienne strips from the leeks, trimming the baby carrots leaving a 1 inch length of green tops as a visual accent, pureeing the shallots so that they would actually melt in a sauté pan, trimming the stems of the chanterelles to make them tender, peeling the bottom half of precisely cut asparagus spears, picking parsley leaves for a garnishing salad on scallops, and cutting fresh herbs with a razor sharp knife into a chiffonade. In some cases vegetables (like the carrots) would be blanched and shocked in ice water so that a simple sauté movement in a pan would finish them in a few seconds at service time. While all of this was taking place, Jake found the time to start the reduction for the lamb shanks and was keeping a close eye on a beurre blanc that he was working for the fish. Time was flashing by. It was now 4:15 and he needed to finish his sauce work and set-up his station.

Moving to his set-up, Jake washed down everything again, counted out his sauté pans and moved them to a 600 degree oven for tempering, clarified his butter for sauté work, lined up his 9th pans for the roll top mise en place cooler, filled everything as per his standard arrangement (everything has a place and everything is in its place), folded a dozed clean side towels, made sure that his burners worked well, stacked plates under the lamps in his station – ready for service, filled a sanitizer bucket with water and the right amount of bleach, and once again drew his knives across a steel. The last step was to bring out his proteins to the lowboy coolers, strain his sauces, set-up his beurre blanc in a bain marie, soften some raw butter for finishing and breathe. It was 4:45 and the chef would be around in 15 minutes to check on mise en place and taste sauces. Jake scrubbed his hands for the 30th time today and grabbed a sandwich from the staff meal set-up while mentally working through his completed prep. He was ready.

Jake popped open a Red Bull and grabbed another double espresso. He would need to be on fire in a few minutes and welcomed the double jolt. While he waited for the chef he looked around at the other line cooks and interns, still a bit behind. He smiled to himself still realizing that in a few minutes he would need to jump in and give them a hand leading up to the restaurant opening at 5:30. He thought to himself again how lucking the interns were to have the ability to go to school for culinary arts. He wondered how much they really appreciated the opportunity and were willing to do what it took to become a great cook. He knew that if he had the chance, he would give 100% to every opportunity to learn. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards for Jake. He then thought about the chef as he left his office for the pre-meal check. Jake thought the world of this chef, the best he had worked for. The chef was talented, professional, totally committed and very hardworking. He was tough but fair, someone that Jake would certainly try to emulate. He did wonder if the chef still remembered what it was like to be a line cook.

Time to focus. The chef was at his station. “Jake are you ready”? “Yes Chef”! As he tasted his lamb demi and beurre blanc, Jake was confident and although the chef didn’t say anything, the fact that he simply moved on to the next station was a way of saying that Jake was spot on. The chef did bark at a few of the other staff members who were clearly not ready so Jake jumped in to give them a hand. Cooking was, after all, a team sport. It was now 5:15 and tickets would begin to spit from the printer any minute. Jake grabbed another Red Bull while helping others in these final minutes.

Game time!

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