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A CHEF’S MANIFESTO – 2021

25 Thursday Feb 2021

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An exercise that I have found to be really helpful is to occasionally state/re-state what you believe in as a chef.  Every now and then this can serve as a “checks and balance” activity to keep you on the right path and assess where and why you might have strayed from those “stakes in the ground” that are important to your core.  This is also a great comparative process to use when seeking a new career opportunity – a chance to note if taking a different position aligns with your beliefs or if it causes you to compromise.  I would encourage you to think about this and take the time to write down your beliefs as a “manifesto” and then use it as a guide moving forward.

Here is my manifesto as a chef.  Full disclosure – I have drifted from these beliefs at times and have generally regretted doing so. 

[]         RESPECT:

All people are different – they bring their own set of baggage to work and to life.  They may not agree with you or you may not agree with them but they deserve to be treated with respect as human beings.  You can disagree, even disagree strongly, but they deserve the opportunity to look you in the eye and know that you do not feel superior because of that disagreement. 

Respect for the place where you work, those who own and operate the business and the physical property for which you are responsible is paramount.  Just as is the case with the first paragraph – even though you may not agree with the actions of the business or those in charge – you should always respect that you work for them.  You can disagree, take a stand, make your point, continue to have a unique opinion, but in the end – it is their business.  If this violates your manifesto of beliefs and cannot be altered then look for another place to work – do not slip from your commitment to respect.

[]         COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE:

Anything worth doing is worth doing well; in fact it is worth doing at a level that lives up to your potential.  Whether the task is washing pots, cutting vegetables, or setting up the most intricate plate presentation – that commitment to excellence should prevail.  Writing a memo?  Do it with excellence in mind.  Preparing a menu?  Excellence is the standard that you must follow.  If you are taking inventory on a Sunday night – approach it as if it is the most important task imaginable.

Excellence should never be a goal for which you strive – excellence is a habit that is impossible to break.

[]         FAIRNESS:

There will always be decisions that you will need to make as a chef; decisions that impact people (as most decisions will) – decisions that will not sit well with some.  Such is life and as hard as those decisions might be – just make sure that those who are impacted are treated fairly and justly. 

If you are in a position to reward performance – make sure you are fair in how you decide to reward.  If you need to punish for actions taken, make sure that you are equitable in your approach so that it is not perceived that you play favorites.  In general, people can accept your decisions, but they cannot accept them if they are done with bias.

[]         EMPATHY:

Remember, everyone has baggage that they carry with him or her to work.  The old adage: “When you come to work – leave your personal problems at home” is simply not feasible.  As the chef you are charged with helping your employees give a good days work for a good days pay, but to do that effectively you must understand the environmental factors that impact this work.  This does not mean that you should expect anything less that good work, but you should always try to understand what might be getting in the way. 

On occasion you may need to make adjustments so that an employee can work through their challenges (schedule adjustment, change assignments, send them home, offer advice, refer them to someone who might help, etc.).  Employees that know that you care are always more determined to try their best and less willing to disappoint you or their co-workers.

[]         TRUST:

Trust is something that goes both ways.  If you expect your employees and co-workers to trust you and the decisions that you make then it is imperative that you trust them first.  If employees are properly trained to perform a task then you need to trust them to do it.  Some refer to this as delegation, but behind delegation of duties must lay a willingness to trust.  Trust that is given leads to trust that is gained.

The irony of trust is that it is rarely given without experience and it is quickly lost when violated even once.  Be consistent with your approach towards people and situations so that others can predict and depend on how you will act.

[]         TRANSPARENCY:

When you hide things from employees and/or co-workers then trust will quickly erode.  Obviously, there are some things that are beyond the purview of others, but make it clear when that is the case.  In fact, wherever possible try to share more than people would expect.  You will be surprised at how much they appreciate it.

If you have a need to better control costs then begin by sharing figures and challenges with your staff.  Let them know about sales, food cost, labor cost, changes in vendor prices, increases in utilities, mortgage or lease arrangements, and how profitable or unprofitable the restaurant is.  What will often be surprising is that your staff members will have great ideas on how to save money and increase sales.  Bring them into the fold and they will rise to the occasion and feel ownership for the challenges as much as you do.

[]         LISTEN:

Sometimes it is far more important to listen than to talk.  As the saying goes – the best leaders listen more and talk less.  Don’t pre-judge a situation until you have heard all sides.  Don’t approach a challenge with a predetermined conclusion or action without inquiring into all of the factors involved.

Give your employees a forum for expressing their opinions, observations, and ideas.  This can be regularly scheduled staff meetings, 10 minute post shift wrap-up sessions, or an open door policy where they feel comfortable approaching you one-on-one.  Even if you don’t act or even agree – the fact that you were willing to listen is a big step in the right direction.

[]         STAY TRUE TO THE FOUNDATIONS:

You started out as a cook and did so because you focused on learning the right approach toward cooking.  The right way to hold a knife and cut vegetables, the right way to fabricate meats and fish, the right way to organize the kitchen and a work station, the right way to apply basic cooking methods, the right way to prepare a stock or a soup, the right way to purchase and control the quality of ingredients, etc.  Don’t ever lose sight of this in favor of short cuts that might interfere with quality or a consistent end result.  “If you don’t have the time to do it right the first time, when will you find the time to do it over?”

[]         QUALITY and VALUE:

These two factors are inseparable.  Quality is what built your reputation and quality is what will help to keep it.  Quality quickly becomes the expectation of all involved and reputation is built on it.  When quality is sacrificed then value is diminished and reputations with suffer.

Always remember that the reputation of the restaurant and the reputation of those who work there (including yourself) are based on everyone’s reliance on quality and value.  Once lost, a good reputation is hard to recover.

[]         THINK FIRST – THEN ACT:

There is a major difference between action and reaction.  The factor that gets in the way of good decisions is the emotion that you allow in.  Reaction is poisoned by fear, anger, hate, revenge, and misunderstanding.  Take a moment, breathe deep, and ask why did something happen that requires action, who was responsible, what is an appropriate action, and how should it be implemented and relayed to others.  It is that brief moment of reflection that will make all the difference in how successful you action is.

[]         PLANNING TO ELIMINATE MISTAKES:

Mistakes, more often than not, are avoidable if you take the time to plan.  Murphy’s Law is always applicable:  “If something can go wrong, it probably will”.  Your role as a chef is to think ahead, to run through scenarios that might occur, to take the time to organize thoughts and build a strategy, and then to implement all of that in an effort to eliminate the need to deal with challenges or minimize the impact of those challenges. 

Ironically, there are rarely decisions made that do not impact others.  Reaction without planning will uncover numerous other challenges that you failed to think through.  Take the time to plan.

[]         OWN IT:

Everyone makes mistakes – this is inevitable.  In fact, many people believe that the best overall decisions come from lessons learned from failure.  Failure weighs heavy on those who realize their mistakes, but even heavier on those who fail to take responsibility.  Co-workers, employees, and even customers will forgive your mistakes if you admit them and then work like hell to make sure the same mistakes are not made in the future.  You screwed up – so what!  Own it, ask for help, and learn how to recover.

[]         IF YOU ARE NOT SERVING THE GUEST DIRECTLY THEN SERVE THOSE WHO ARE:

As a chef your plate is always full.  You can’t be everywhere thus you must rely on others to step up and “do their job”.  Ultimately, it is the guest who must walk away satisfied, and hopefully impressed.  You can’t order, organize, plan, cook the food, plate the dishes, and deliver everything to a waiting guest – so one of your primary tasks must be to properly train and provide the necessary tools for others in your organization to attend to the details and bring about customer satisfaction.  “What do you need, what can I do, and where can I be to best support you” goes a long way toward achieving those goals.

[]         KEEP IT ORGANIZED:

Mise en place goes way beyond your personal work area.  As a chef it is imperative that you set the tone by creating an organized kitchen – everything has a place and everything is in its place” is a theme that sets the stage for success.

[]         LOOK THE PART, ACT THE PART:

Finally, a chef must always stand out as the example for others.  A clean pressed uniform, an organized office, a person who carries himself or herself as a consummate professional, a person who acts in a manner that is beyond reproach, a person who is consistent in how situations are handled, and a person who makes sure that everyone is treated fairly and respectfully is a model for others to emulate.  Be that person.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting

www.harvestamericacues.com  BLOG

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WHEN COOKING BECOMES MORE THAN A JOB

25 Monday Nov 2019

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Typically, it starts off that way – old enough to work, they’re hiring, no experience required – it’s a job. Maybe it’s a local diner as a dishwasher or assistant to a short order cook; maybe it’s a fast food operation as a “sandwich artist” or grill person for that hamburger chain; or maybe it’s a summer snack bar where you learn to walk through all of the steps. At some level, it is great to have a paycheck, but any real connection to food or cooking is something that rarely crosses your mind. What is important is that at the end of the week there is some cash in your pocket, albeit – not very much. There is never enough to be independent, and certainly no vision of a future in the food business, but for now – it serves a purpose.

For a few, at some point that changes. It might be a “moment” of inspiration, while to others it might be a slow and steady process of acclimation, but in time your thought process changes. It could be that incredible home cooked meal from a grand parent or a family dinner at a friends house; it might be that special occasion dinner at the “nice restaurant” in town when a perfectly prepared steak, chop, or seafood dish arrives at your table; or it might be that first “dare to eat” showdown with a friend when you allow that first fresh oyster to slide down your throat and savor that ocean brininess that is hard to describe – but, there is an a-ha moment when you suddenly realize that what you had been doing is not cooking – real cooking is an art, a passion, a life calling. It could be that transition from the lack of any taste 6 x 6 box of tomatoes that are out of season, to your first heirloom tomato, and then eventually picking a tomato off the vine that was sun sweetened in the month of July – taking a bite and realizing what a gift a tomato can be – but, again, there is a moment.

I say: “If you don’t know how to cook, I’m sure you have at least one friend who knows how to cook. Well, call that friend and say, ‘Can I come next time and can I bring some food and can I come an hour or two hours ahead and watch you and help you?”

– Jacques Pepin

When enlightenment happens, a person who thought he or she was a cook knows that there is so much more to the craft. That – “I wanna be a cook” individual takes a deep breath and makes the commitment to seek knowledge, to experience the lifestyle, to build the skills that are necessary to truly carry the title. There may or may not be a desire to become a chef at this point -today it is all about the craft.

Those entry-level positions offer a multitude of advantages and truly serve a need. They provide work for new entrants into the job market, they offer an immediacy that opens the door to everyone, they fulfill a definitive need in the marketplace, and they can provide an important step in building work ethic and a resume. On the other hand, these jobs rarely include the skills and knowledge necessary to be a cook in any way except title.   It is that a-ha moment that sets the stage for cooking to move past being a job.

So how do you know that you have moved past the paycheck and into the realm of a professional cook? Here are some indicators:

Painted in Waterlogue

YOU KNOW YOU HAVE MOVED BEYOND A PAYCHECK WHEN:

  1. You are proud of the uniform that you wear.
  2. When you get excited about that new restaurant cookbook that is being released next month and pre-order it through amazon.
  3. When asked what your most prized possession might be, and you answer: “my chef’s knife”.
  4. When almost all of your friends are also cooks.
  5. When you try to convince your family and friends to tighten up their mise en place.
  6. When you are walking down the street and constantly shout out “behind!”
  7. When you wake up in the middle of the night and break out in a cold sweat thinking about your prep for the day.
  8. When you call in, or stop in to work on your day off to make sure everything is in order.
  9. When your preferred gift list is a link to Extreme Culinary Outfitters. https://extremeculinaryoutfitters.com/
  10. When you get excited about visiting a farm, cattle ranch, commercial fishing boat, or flourmill.
  11. When you own more than three fishing tackle boxes filled with personal culinary tools.
  12. When you know all of the emergency room technicians at your local Urgi-Care because of the number of stitches that you wear with unusual pride.
  13. When you start complaining about people who work normal hours as “part-timers”.
  14. When asked – you can recite the names of the chefs who head the ship of the best restaurants in town.
  15. When you start building that “bucket list” of restaurants around the world where you must dine before you die.
  16. When you appreciate and crave a crusty slice of warm, artisan bread fresh from the oven with a smear of salted butter more than just about anything else.
  17. When you accept that great technique requires discipline and practice.
  18. When you know that dependability above all else, is the trait that is important in the kitchen.
  19. When even when you didn’t agree with the chef you know that: “Yes Chef” is important.
  20. When pride is directly connected to clean plates returning from the dining room.
  21. When you feel that every plate presented in the pass carries your signature.
  22. When letting down your fellow cooks would be the most egregious sin.
  23. When the title of cook, or later on – chef, becomes part of your persona. When your friends introduce you as a cook at such and such restaurant or refer to you as chef, rather than use your name.

When cooks move beyond a paycheck it is due to a shift in attitude, a commitment to self-improvement, a desire to build that palate, a need to truly understand why foods taste a certain way, and how a selected cooking method can elevate that taste and flavor. Many will never make this transition – they may simply use that job as a means to an end and then move on with a different career track – that’s fine. For those who catch the fever – they will never view what they do in the same manner.

There will be many challenges along the way, and ample opportunity to revert back to the “job” mentality: sub-standard wages, lack of benefits, excessive hours, isolating schedules, physical and mental stress, and occasionally a challenging work environment are all there to move the bar in the wrong direction. But, even the most frustrated cook will still admit that this is what he or she loves, this is what he or she was meant to do, and in many cases – “I can’t imagine doing anything else.” This is when becoming a cook moves well beyond a job.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consultant

www.harvestamericacues.com BLOG

 

 

 

 

CHEFS CHASING THE OWNERSHIP THING

15 Saturday Jun 2019

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I don’t believe that I know a single professional chef who doesn’t have a deep seeded desire to own a restaurant. Some are more obvious about the desire then others, some hide it pretty well, but underneath the façade of contentment with their current situation – every chef craves the chance to put their name on the front door of a restaurant.

Why is this ownership fixation such a fantasy for so many? Is it simply the American dream of being their own boss, is it a need to have the ultimate creative outlet that reflects their vision, or is it a false sense of confidence that allows a chef to think that he or she has the right formula for success? Maybe it is that sense of danger, the uncertainty of it as a motivational high, or it could just be a gnawing fear that they might wind up nearing the end of a career thinking: “could have, should have – didn’t.”

The majority of restaurant managers and operators come up through the ranks – this is absolutely important since it is such a simple type of business with enormous complexity in execution that can only be understood by those who have been there – done that. Many of those operators were accidental entrepreneurs who either fell in love with the business over a period of time, or spent so much time in operations that it simply became a logical progression. Chefs on the other hand seem to be born with the desire to own and operate. If a survey of culinary school freshmen included a question: “Do you want to own a restaurant some day”, I would dare guess that the overwhelming majority of young “yet to be cooks” would say yes. That desire may be beat out of them over the years, but it only takes a little encouragement, the sight of a perfect location, a few compliments on the quality of their cooking, or a visit to that new instantly successful concept that brings the desire right back to the surface – with a vengeance.

If you have read this far into the article, then I must assume that I have struck a chord and the ideas for the next great restaurant are filling up your head and soul right now. I am coming close to that scary 70-age marker and I still get excited about ideas for my own restaurant. After throwing some cold water in my face I am usually able to wake up out of those crazy dream states.

I know you have heard all of the reasons not to own a restaurant before – but I think that they are worth repeating – this way I might put a temporary damper on those over the top ideas that are floating around in your head right now. I know: a noodle shop would be killer, Native American cuisine is underserved, and Scandinavian food is hot on the world scene right now – so why not open one in Malone, New York? You can’t believe that no one has thought of this sooner – so the market can be all yours. Well let’s just tuck these realities under your arm:

  • There are over 1 million restaurants in the United States right now creating 1.5 million new jobs each year (many of them go unfilled because the labor pool is so tight).
  • The number one reason why restaurants fail is poor location – so unless you know how to assess demographic flow, population variances, and socio-economic realities within a radius from a site – then be cautious about your site selection.
  • The cost of food rarely goes down.
  • Customers are fickle and restaurants can be busy one week and empty the next.
  • Profitability in restaurants is quite low with the average successful restaurant realizing 4-6% profit if they can avoid mistakes.
  • It is unlikely that you will make a profit for at least three years.
  • We deal with highly perishable products with a shelf life measured in a few days – you better make sure that your menu moves well.
  • Turnover rates of employees in American restaurants are extremely high.
  • Rents are one of the next greatest reasons for restaurant failure. If you can’t keep your rent under 6% of sales then you are looking at almost certain failure.
  • Chefs make great marketing images for a restaurant and are responsible for producing the food that will help the operation stand out, but at the same time – most chefs are not the best financial managers, human resource managers, and marketing gurus.
  • Unlike many other businesses, a restaurant is quite an intense master. Chefs who work hard as an employee will work even harder as an owner.
  • Somewhere around 60% of all private restaurants that open today will close in a year, and 80-90% of those that remain will lock their doors by the time they reach year five.
  • The list goes on.

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Did I do a decent job of throwing cold water on your enthusiasm? I hope so. But, after all of that if you still think that your brilliant idea, and vast experience are just right for creating a successful operation then go for it! Find a partner with the management experience to be your balance. Make sure that the partner is bold enough to tell you NO, to counter some of your enthusiasm with business logic, and at the same time your best cheerleader when an idea is well researched. Make sure that you have investors willing to fund your idea, offer feedback and support, but are not interested in micro-managing the business (good luck with that). Find a location that is proven, through research, to be right for the concept, and ripe with ample traffic able and willing to support the restaurant. Create a conservative budget and stick to it. Create a realistic timeline for profitability and make sure you have the resources to weather the storm until you reach the anticipated point of success. And, by all means, make sure that your spouse or significant other fully understands what your commitment will be and is still excited about supporting you through thick and thin. NOW – take the leap.

The next three articles will cover three hypothetical situations where young chefs took the leap. I will walk you through some of the challenges that they would face, some thoughts on how they might approach those challenges, and the way that they can turn lemons into lemonade.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

And if you want to be an owner – THROW IN A HEAVY DOSE OF LUCK

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericaventures.com

Restaurant Consulting and Training

 

BECOMING A GREAT LINE COOK

21 Tuesday May 2019

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Whether you are a product of a formal culinary education or working your way up through the school of hard knocks, it is likely that all roads leading to the position of chef will move through the line cook position. Line cooks are the backbone of the kitchen and the sought after position by all who have a future in the back of the house. Dishwasher to prep cook, breakfast cook to afternoon of evening line – these are the steppingstones, the right of passage, for a serious career cook.

To be an effective line cook, the individual must possess certain attributes and he or she must adhere to certain “rules of play” that make the job much more fluid and goal focused.

To those who are fresh off the culinary school treadmill or hard knocks folks moving from that prep position to the glory of the line – here are a few attributes and tips that will make your transition much easier.

ATTRIBUTES:

  1. BE ALL IN:

If cooking is just a job, then your food will be more fuel than an expression of skill, tradition, and art. When you are all in then it becomes obvious that cooking is your chosen career – an extension of who you are.

  1. BE DEPENDABLE:

The most significant attribute of a professional is dependability. Start with this and you will set the stage for a lasting career. Be on time, be ready to work, be trusted to complete a task as required, in the amount of time required, and always be that team member that others can look to for support.

  1. BE PASSIONATE:

To be passionate about cooking requires that you are always interested in the why and how and are focused on constant improvement. You take pride in the presentation and flavor of the food that you are responsible for and would never place a dish in the pass that failed to meet those standards.

  1. BE AWARE:

Cooks need to be aware of what is taking place around them, what environmental factors might impact on their ability to perform, and how they might problem solve to minimize any negative impact caused by those factors.

  1. BE PART OF “WE”, NOT “ME”:

Solid line cooks are team players. They understand that cooking is a team sport and everything depends on the synchronized efforts of the group.

  1. BE ORGANIZED:

Organization is the heart of a successful kitchen – from the placement of mise en place to the stacking of plates and folding of side towels – every great line cook is an efficient machine.

LINE COOK TIPS:

  1. SHORT CUTS DON’T WORK:

Sure, some will point to tricks that they may have learned that speed up a process – saving time and energy, but short cuts that circumvent the time tested way that food is prepared will more often than not result in an inferior finished product. Never sacrifice quality for speed; yet at the same time always look for ways to be efficient without moving away from a process that yields the best product.

  1. KNOW THE METHODS:

Great cooking is all about understanding methods, not necessarily recipes. Recipes have their place, but do not factor in the variables that can pull a cook away from the goal of excellent finished dishes.

  1. PRACTICE TECHNIQUES:

Technique is an essential partner to methods. Techniques are where a cook can become more efficient, leading to greater speed and quantity. Knife skills and understanding how to use the tools available so that everything becomes second nature – this is efficiency.

  1. HEAT YOUR PANS FIRST:

Caramelization is essential in bringing out the flavor in certain dishes. Caramelization also requires that a product move freely in a pan, taking advantage of the best properties of heat. When the pan is hot enough first and technique is fully understood, then an ingredient will move freely in the pan without sticking.

  1. SLICE DON’T SAW:

When slicing through meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables – there is a technique that takes advantage of the knife-edge – offering a clean, even cut. Slice forward using the full length of the knife and then draw back in the same fashion. A dull knife, or improper technique will leave layers of saw marks and ruin the presentation of the food.

  1. KEEP AN EDGE ON YOUR KNIVES:

A cook’s knives must be sharp – bring an edge to the blade on a wet stone at the beginning of every shift and keep your steel close at hand throughout the shift to bring back that edge when needed. A dull knife at a line cook’s station is inexcusable.

  1. LONG SLEEVES SAVE LOADS OF PAIN:

I get it – the kitchen is hot and the tendency is to minimize clothing in an effort to ward off some of that heat. But, the kitchen is a dangerous place with super hot pans, cherry red flat tops, leaping flames from the char-grill, spitting oil from pans, and sharp knives working furiously through the demands of service. The reason for long sleeves on a chef’s coat, heavy cotton, long pants, aprons, and head brims on a chef’s toque is to protect the cook from burns and cuts.

  1. SALT AFTER COOKING:

Salt is certainly a common flavor enhancer and as such a well-respected seasoning in every kitchen – but salt on foods during cooking can also tend to draw moisture from the ingredient. Salt is oftentimes better used at the end of cooking to accent rather than penetrate.

Painted in Waterlogue

  1. YOU CAN ALWAYS ADD MORE SEASONING, BUT YOU CAN’T TAKE IT AWAY:

Herbs and spices, especially those that impart heat, are best when added towards the end of cooking. Some spices, such as all versions of pepper, increase in potency the longer they cook with a dish. To this end, if too much is added early in the cooking process it becomes very difficult to counteract the negative impact of a spice improperly used.

  1. HOT FOOD HOT, COLD FOOD COLD:

The first rules of thumb in the kitchen always apply. Hot food should be maintained as such and cold food likewise. Hot food should be placed on hot plates and cold food on cold plates. Even down to coffee served in a warmed cup and salads served with a chilled fork.

  1. THE STEAK DOESN’T WAIT FOR THE SERVER:

The quality of cooked food will deteriorate quickly. The pass on the line is properly named since the food should quickly pass from the cook to the server. Every second that a dish sits in the pass results in a loss of product character. Timing on the kitchen line is as essential as the process of cooking.

  1. TAKE CARE OF YOUR FEET:

Every part of your body is impacted by the care of your feet. Proper shoes with support, white socks, floor mats, and frequent movement all result in healthier feet. When the feet are not cared for then there is an impact on legs, knees, back, and even headache pain. Never underestimate the importance of foot care over those 10-12 hour shifts.

  1. TAKE CARE OF YOUR HANDS:

The most important tools that you have in your kit are the ten fingers at the end of your arms. Wash them frequently, cover them when appropriate, use care when handling blades, use towels when handling hot pans, and use hand lotion at the end of a shift. Protect your most valuable kitchen tools.

  1. STAY ALERT:

One second is all it takes for something to go terribly wrong in the kitchen. Hot liquids, flames, sharp tools, heavy pots and pans, slippery floors, splattering oil, or a rushed employee moving around the corner without warning – so much can go wrong – stay alert!

  1. HYDRATE AND FUEL UP:

It is not uncommon for a line cook to lose a pound or more of water weight on a kitchen shift. Dehydration can be very dangerous – resulting in heat stroke. Cooks need to drink lots of liquids during a shift to rehydrate and maintain an even body temperature. At the same time – your body needs fuel to maintain peak efficiency, build muscle, and stay focused. A staff meal – preferably with an opportunity to sit down and properly digest it, is critical to a line cooks performance.

  1. NEVER RUN OUT OF MISE EN PLACE:

Enough said.

  1. DRY TOWEL, WET TOWEL:

Both are important – the dry towel for handling hot pans and stove tops and wet towels (from a bucket with sanitation solution) for cleaning. Never mix the two.

  1. CLEAN AS YOU GO – EVEN WHEN IT’S CRAZY BUSY:

A functional station is one that remains organized and clean – the opposite results in chaos.

  1. KNOW WHEN TO ASK FOR HELP:

Every line cook, on occasion, winds up “in the weeds”. Know when you are headed down that path and turn to a teammate for help before it gets out of hand.

  1. KNOW THE MENU – REALLY KNOW IT:

Know the ingredients, their flavor profile, know the methods of cooking used, understand the appearance desired, and know why a dish was designed a certain way. The more you know, the better the dish.

  1. EACH PLATE DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION:

All cooks have favorite dishes, but in a restaurant every dish must be treated as if it is your favorite.

  1. IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME – WHEN WILL YOU FIND THE TIME TO DO IT OVER:

Time always gets in the way and far too often we look for short cuts to adapt to time constraints. In the end if it is not done correctly at first then the time constraints associated with a re-fire are compounded. Do it right the first time – this is the best approach.

There are probably dozens of other tips for success that every seasoned line cook can come up with, but this is a good start. Being a line cook is a challenging, focused, skilled, and extremely important job in the kitchen – make sure you are prepared to do it justice.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

APPRECIATE YOUR LINE COOKS

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericaventures.com

Restaurant Consulting

 

 

 

MORE LAWS OF THE KITCHEN

06 Tuesday Feb 2018

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A while back I posted an article that pointed to the Unwritten Rules of the kitchen. It seemed to strike a chord with almost 100,000 views. Any list that tries to address how a complex environment like a kitchen works is destined to be incomplete, so I thought it was time to add another handful of rules and observations that ring true in most kitchens. As usual, you should feel free to add those standards and understandings that are uniquely applicable to your kitchen.

[]         PUT YOUR CELL PHONE AWAY

Of course I understand that we are all glued to our smart phones, but the kitchen demands your full attention and to be perfectly honest – being separated from your phone for 10 or more hours a day is probably a blessing. Your phone creates more stress than joy, so put it on vibrate or lock it up for the duration of your shift.

[]         KEEP POLITICAL VIEWS OUT OF THE KITCHEN

The country is so politically polarized now that any reasonable discussion will never result in bipartisan attention or compromise. The best rule of thumb is to keep all politics out of the kitchen. We should do everything possible to bring team members together rather than find ways to drive a wedge between opposing views.

[]         SUPPORT YOUR TEAM

All for one and one for all is the rule of thumb in functional kitchens. Team members may take the opportunity to critique each other and even point out shortcomings among themselves, but no one outside of this tight group will ever have the right to criticize or harass any member of your team.

[]         BE ON YOUR GAME

There is no excuse! Every member of the kitchen team expects everyone else to be on his or her game every day. Any weak link will quickly bring a team to its knees. This is not going to happen!

Painted in Waterlogue

[]         CLEANLINESS ALWAYS

Cleanliness in a kitchen is a constant. You don’t leave cleanliness till the end of the shift, it happens after every move, every task, every plated dish, and every flip of a steak or caramelization of a sauté dish. Work, clean, sanitize, and back through the process again and again.

[]         TAKE CARE OF THOSE INGREDIENTS

Cooks are only as good as the raw materials they work with. Professional cooks take care to properly ice the fresh fish, wrap and store meats, wash and contain fresh produce, gently handle that delicate cheese, ice bath a stock or sauce, and take care in handling all dry goods. These ingredients deserve a cook’s respect.

[]         IT’S A BUSINESS OF PENNIES

Cooks understand what things cost in a kitchen. Not just the food ingredients being used, but the cleaning chemicals, china and glassware, disposables, small wares, and major pieces of cooking equipment. If a cook fails to understand and practice cost control savvy, then those pennies fade quickly. The fate of the restaurant is in the hands of every employee.

[]         NO ROOM FOR DULL KNIVES

Cooks taking care of their knives means that they keep them honed with the sharpest possible edge, clean, polished and protected. A dull knife is a crime in the kitchen and any cook who fails to understand this should look for a different career.

[]         FEET, HANDS, AND BACK

Knives and ingredients are only effective as part of a special dish if the cook takes care of him or herself. The most common aches and pains in a kitchen involve feet, hands, and backs. The right socks and shoes, isometric exercises for your hands, learning how to bend and lift, including stretching exercises in your daily routine, using dry side towels when grabbing hot pans, using gloves when appropriate, and care when using kitchen equipment will all help to prevent cuts, burns, pulled muscles, falls, carpel tunnel, and swollen feet. This is paramount.

[]         DON’T PUNCH DOWN MY ADRENALINE

Every cook goes through an adrenaline cycle, every day on the line. Too much adrenaline early on in a shift can cause careless mistakes, too little adrenaline when orders are flying off the POS printer will back up service, and the inability to temper adrenaline after the last orders leave the kitchen will result in late nights and bad decisions. The cook needs to find rhythm to make the best use of his or her energy and part of the chef’s job is to set the stage for optimum adrenaline management. Doing anything to upset this rhythm can be disastrous.

second cook

[]         COLD PANS DON’T WORK

Take those extra few seconds to make sure your pans are hot enough to sear, caramelize, and reduce. The sound of perfectly heated pans is music to a chef’s ears. Cold pans simply don’t work.

[]         SIMMER – DON’T BOIL

For the most part you can assume that there isn’t much need for boiling in a kitchen outside of a light boil for pasta and potatoes. Simmer takes time, but helps to extract flavors and protect the integrity of ingredients while they cook with grace. A stock left to boil will result in cloudy, harsh flavored broth and will give a chef premature grey hair. Be in control of the heat rather than have the heat control you.

Painted in Waterlogue

[]         YOU’RE NOT REALLY GOING TO THROW THAT OUT ARE YOU

Back to a business of pennies – there is a use for most every part of a vegetable and every part of a sub primal cut of meat, piece of fish, or shellfish. Scraps of certain vegetables can work in broths (not stocks), bones for stock, scraps of meat for pate and sausage, stale bread for croutons and bread crumbs, stale cakes and puff pastry for crumbs, egg shells to help clarify a consommé or compost for the chef’s herb garden, somewhat sour milk for pancake batter, and shells from shrimp and lobster for shellfish butter or fumet. The list goes on and on.

[]         IF YOU CAN’T TAKE THE HEAT

The oldest kitchen quote in the book is still applicable. Kitchens are hot, kitchens are stressful, kitchens are intense and much of the time on the verge of chaos – if you can’t see yourself working in this environment then you should probably look for a different career. Certainly we can make things more amenable to order and comfort, but the odds of dramatic change is probably not going to happen any time soon.

[]         FLAVOR IS MORE THAN JUST TASTE

Every good cook knows that taste is only one part of the formula when it comes to cooking. Flavor involves understanding how a dish tempts the olfactory senses, the texture impacts on bite and chew, the visual aspects of food affect the anticipation of taste, and even the positive sounds of cooking drive the experience of eating. Flavor is a combination of everything that builds up to an experience.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

The Rules are there for a reason.

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericaventures.com

Restaurant Consulting and Training

**THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

A COOK’S UNWRITTEN, BUT FULLY UNDERSTOOD KITCHEN LAWS:

www.harvestamericacues.com/2015/11/09/a-cooks-unwritten-but-fully-understood-kitchen-laws/

 

A LINE COOK’S LEGAL VICES

19 Friday Jan 2018

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ine-cook

The dictionary may define a “vice” as a bad habit or fault, but sometimes those habits cause less harm than the definition may imply and far more joy than one might assume. We all have a vice or two, some are related to our personal lives and occasionally they are connected to what we do for a living, but in the case of the cook these vices tend to connect almost entirely with that career in the kitchen. Here are some of the “legal” ones that make a cook’s life complete and sometimes deplete their checkbook.

[]         GREAT BREAD

The smell, texture, and flavor of quality bread especially right from the oven with a generous spoon full of salty butter, is maybe one of the most anticipated and revered experiences in a kitchen. The anticipation of the experience is nearly as important to a cook as actually consuming that first slice.

[]         CHEESE OF ALL KINDS

Once a cook has been exposed to quality cheese then he or she is spoiled for life. The transition from Kraft singles to that first quality Brie or Epoisses from France, Goat’s Cheese from Vermont Creamery, Bleu from Jasper Hill, Manchego from Spain, or perfectly aged Romano from Italy is dramatic and eye opening. Cheese becomes one of a cook’s most expensive habits.

[]         BUTTER

It may have been Julia Child who said if you don’t want to use too much butter you can always substitute heavy cream, but to a cook it is butter that defines great flavor. I even know a serious cook who had a tattoo of a pound of butter emblazoned on his bicep.

[]         GOOD WINE

Life is too short to drink cheap wine. A cook has an opportunity and almost a responsibility to learn as much about good wine as possible. The only real way to a good wine education is to drink it and cooks will often view this as a mission in life.

[]         THAT SPECIAL BEER

Just as drinking good wine is essential to a cook’s education – transitioning from PBR or Bud to craft beers is enlightening and incredibly gratifying to a person who is serious about food. Cooks can easily become obsessed with testing the waters and finding that beer experience that is as complex and gratifying as any wine experience.

[]         CHARCUTERIE

Cooks love fermented products: bread, cheese, wine, beer and charcuterie all fall into this category. Watch how contemporary cooks have rediscovered the art of charcuterie from fresh sausages to deeply cured hams, salami, pates, terrines, and galantines. A perfect meal to a serious cook is great bread, intense cheese, salty charcuterie, a few cornichons, and a great glass of wine or beer.

[]         SHORT LIVED RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES

It is probably due to the strange work hours that cooks keep and the intensity of the environment where they practice their trade, but cooks (male and female) seem to easily fall into the challenges of relationships at work. Although the best intentions are there, these relationships rarely turn out well.

[]         THE ADRENALINE RUSH OF A BUSY NIGHT

Cooks are totally addicted to the high stress intensity of a busy night, especially that push around peak times when everything seems to be totally on edge and impossible. For whatever reasons this high adrenaline, blood pressure driven experience brings cooks back every day looking for more.

[]         PASTA AND PIZZA

Some of most common comfort foods for a cook on the job are pasta and pizza. It may be the need for high energy carbs, the universally gratifying flavors, or the ease with which these items can be consumed standing up while still working at a station – in any case this is a cook’s go to menu.

[]         BEAUTIFUL KNIVES

Cooks might have a tough time paying their rent, filling their home refrigerators, or finding a few dollars for gas, but they will always scrape together enough cash to buy that $250 Shun knife that they always wanted to add to their arsenal of a dozen or so “must have” tools. They care for these knives with obsessive behavior and totally freak out if anyone even touches one of their blades.

[]         A TATTOO THAT SHOWS HE OR SHE IS A SERIOUS COOK

Yes, this seems to be a time when tattoos are no longer the exception, but the rule. It is becoming harder and harder to find a person under the age of 40 that doesn’t have some type of body art. A cook may be one of the few types of individuals who insist on adding numerous details that pay homage to knives, food, animal anatomy, or cooking terminology. Some might see this as compulsive where others view it as dedication and membership to a club of unique professionals.

[]         COMFORTABLE SHOES

Next to a cook’s knives his or her shoes are oftentimes the next essential investment. Every cook knows that the right shoes can make work a whole lot more enjoyable and the wrong shoes will quickly result in foot, back, and leg pain, headaches, and miserable attitude.

[]         RAMEN AND PHO

When a cook is off of work then there is a transition from the quick comfort of pasta and pizza to something that stimulates all of the senses – Ramen and Pho are the most important meals of choice – full flavored, spicy, fun, varied in texture, and spiritually enlightening – a bowl of noodles is inspiring.

[]         MUSIC THAT FEEDS THE RUSH

Music is important to everyone, but to a cook music is also essential to work patterns. Laid back music to wake up to, intense and fast paced music during prep, and light and soothing music during the adrenaline push of the rush are all critical. Some chefs don’t allow music of any type in the kitchen, but if managed correctly music can set the right tempo to different parts of the workday.

[]         SALT

“Needs salt” is one of the most common responses to tastings that happen constantly in the kitchen. Salt seems to serve as the answer to flavors that have not been fully developed and as a result can quickly become a fault in cooking. Salt does help to bring flavors to the surface, but can also overpower and take away from the flavors that are there waiting to come forward. Many cooks have a salt addiction.

[]         OYSTERS

OK, one of the most vivid food epiphanies that almost every cook has is that first, fresh from the ocean oyster with the wonderful, briny liquor that is hidden under it’s shell. Once experienced this wonder food then a cook is hooked. It might be partly because there is always a struggle to get to the meat and working for your meal is always stimulating, but most would agree it is the unique flavor and texture that wins the day.

[]         FOIE GRAS AS LONG AS SOMEONE ELSE IS PAYING FOR IT

Not every cook has a chance to work with duck liver, but once they have seared a slab of foie gras in a hot pan, and served it with the right accutrements then the experience becomes imbedded in his or her brain forever. Any chance that a cook has to consume foie gras that the chef or restaurant pays for is taken with a veracity of passion.

[]         COFFEE

Cooks drink lots of coffee, strong coffee, good and bad coffee – sometimes black or sometimes with way too much sugar and cream, when they can as espresso and with lots of zeal as cappuccino with a bit of art work on top. Coffee is essential to a cook – one of the food groups that they can’t survive without.

[]         ANY SENTENCE WITH A FOUR-LETTER WORD

As a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective – four letter words seem to spring eternal in the kitchen. As much as chefs may try to temper it – for some reasons it has been accepted as a universal language for cooks. Most become immune after a while and don’t even realize that they are using them with excess until they are out in public and talk with reckless kitchen abandon to the surprise of others.

[]         CRUSTY HANDS

It may seem strange to talk about rough and blistered hands as a vice, but those cook’s claws are a visual representation of how hard they work. Just as beat up hands are a badge of honor to tradespeople, construction workers and farmers, so too are they symbols of a cook.

[]         HEAT AND FIRE

Finally, every cook is obsessed with standing over a cherry red range burner, the melt your skin off 750 degrees of a wood fired oven, or the 4 – inch flames from a char-broiler that are essential to searing a perfect steak or chop. Cooks sweat – that’s what they do.

This is a sampling of a kitchen warriors vices – most of them are enjoyable.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericaventures.com

Restaurant Consulting and Training

IS THE KITCHEN A COOK’S “SAFE PLACE”?

16 Tuesday Jan 2018

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team

Look around the kitchen and pause to really assess what you see. The lifeblood of the kitchen is not found in stainless steel, contemporary equipment, or even the ingredients that fill cooler and storeroom shelves. The lifeblood of the kitchen is the people who stand tall in their hounds tooth pants and double-breasted white jackets. Now look more closely at those people and begin to see who they are, what their connection to the kitchen might be, and why they just seem to “fit”.

What I truly love about the kitchen, and what many other “lifers” will tell you is that these people are special. They might also be surprised to find out that the person that they know in the kitchen is a totally different person outside of that environment. There is a comfort level, a sense of purpose, and a camaraderie that exists around a battery of ranges that moves way beyond whatever a person’s life is on the outside. This kitchen to many is a safe place, a place where they no longer feel that they have to be that other person, but rather can breathe free, be expressive, demonstrate a skill that has been developed over time, smile, high-five and fist bump, and know that they are part of a team of like-minded individuals with a common goal.

Think about it for a moment. We have all been around big, rough and tumble cooks with scars and tattoos that tell a story of a hard life, delicately place a fresh herb on a plate of beautiful food, wipe the rim and smile as it is placed in the pass. We have all been around that cook who is shy and lacking in social skills interact as a confident, self-assured person when in their station on the line. We have all been around that cook who is typically stoic and antagonistic tear up when the chef tastes his or her food and nods in appreciation of something that is truly delicious. Why the change in character – the metamorphosis when a person is faced with heat, sweat, incredibly hard work, and the threat of cuts and burns around every corner? Is the kitchen a “Safe Place”, and what does that mean to so many cooks?

Here are some thoughts:

[]         ACCEPTANCE

A cook who takes his or her job seriously is on equal ground in the kitchen. No one cares about a person’s past, how he or she acts or is perceived out of work; what their views, beliefs, color, ethnicity, or lifestyle might be – if they put forth the effort they are simply accepted as an equal.

[]         OPPORTUNITY

There is always a chance to be great in the kitchen. A cook may have developed a skill that demonstrates loads of potential, potential that may have never been recognized in other settings – but in the kitchen cooks can shine if they so choose. The opportunity is here.

[]         THE SENSES

What an opportunity the kitchen provides – a chance to appeal to all of the human senses with everything a cook prepares. Every cook is a potential artist with an ability that no other artist has – the chance to appeal to a person’s sense of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Incredible!

[]         APPRECIATION

Outside of the kitchen there may be very little appreciation for a cook’s potential or the work that he or she is capable of doing, but in the kitchen there is ample room for a nod from a fellow cook, a high-five from someone else on the line, a thumbs up from the chef, and a clean plate coming back from the dining room. Appreciation is something that everyone craves and where it happens becomes that safe place, a place of comfort for the individual.

[]         BROTHERHOOD AND SISTERHOOD

We are all in this together, this place of hard work, sweat and toil, danger and opportunity, stress and the joy of success – this is the kitchen – a place where we are all in this as a team and as a result are bound in a manner that is only experienced by those with a common goal in mind. The team is family.

[]         WE MADE IT THROUGH

At the end of every shift there is an opportunity to feel as if the battle was won. We made it through the push, the time when it seemed as if we might be on the precipice of falling apart, yet we pulled it together and put out some incredible food. Every end of shift provides this opportunity to celebrate, to feel a sense of accomplishment.

[]         THE COMMON CHALLENGE/MISSION POSSIBLE

When those first tickets start flying off the printer the team kicks into action. There is a silent recognition that everyone is ready and focused on his or her role. Everyone knows that it is the sum of the parts that makes the service work, they know that their common mission goes way beyond getting through it, the challenge is to do that with grace, passion, and a commitment to preparing excellent looking and tasting food. It is really mission possible – not impossible.

[]         CREATIVITY INSPIRES

Even a crusty pirate who sees the world as an unfriendly place responds well to the opportunity to create and make something that others appreciate. People are inherently tactile individuals who love to make things that are sensually stimulating. The kitchen provides this every day.

[]         MISFITS UNITE

I have always been amazed at meeting cooks that I have worked with off the job and out in the real world. I sometimes scratch my head and think, “Is this the same person that I worked with?” Whatever the inclination of a cook, however they want to act or be perceived outside of the kitchen, once they put on the apron they are transformed into a person of talent, skill, and passion for excellent work. The kitchen is their safe place.

I always remember those times when my children would be on vacation with my wife and I, in a different place, far from their normal friends and associates and how different, free, and happy they were to just be themselves. That is exactly what the kitchen provides – a place for people to be their true selves.

[]         JUDGEMENT ASIDE

The over-riding sense of comfort in a kitchen comes from these facts alone: there is only one important assessment in the kitchen – “Are you ready to put your best effort into this task, are you prepped for the shift, are you committed to making food the way it should be, and are you ready to support your teammates?” If the answer is “yes” then everything else is unimportant and not worthy of another person’s concern.

Is the kitchen your safe place?

PLAN BETTER –TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting and Training

www.harvestamericaventures.com

*PHOTO:  Dream Team in Chef Joe Faria’s kitchen – Vero Beach

THE CHEF’S INTELLECT

28 Thursday Dec 2017

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NO ONE SHOULD EVER BE HUNGRY IN AMERICA

It is certainly true that professional cooks and chefs live in a tactile world. The kitchen is attractive to many as a vehicle for working with your hands – building and creating dishes and presenting them with flair that inspires others. But in reality a chef is a person with a highly developed intellect that feeds this tactile environment.

The silo mentality that believes that white collar and blue collar are separated by physical work vs. mental work is far from the truth. Spend time with a carpenter, plumber, or electrician and marvel at how integrated math and science are with their daily work and this misconception will evaporate quickly. The same is true in the kitchen – the balance of understanding, problem solving, and planning with the physical work of cooking is apparent every day with nearly every task.

A cook’s career path is a process of building physical skills and broadening his or her ability to truly understand and apply intellect to the steps in cooking a perfect dish. Those who have a desire to reach the position of chef must invest the time and effort in developing this intellect. Let’s look at some vivid examples:

[]         UNDERSTANDING AN INGREDIENT AND A DISH

What makes a tomato an incredible fruit? Is it season, soil, temperature, the right balance of water and sun, or is it maybe geography and the attention of the farmer? To become a chef is to know the answers to these questions. What makes the flavor of a braised item so profoundly comforting? Is it the amount of fat in a shank, beef shoulder, or short rib? Is it the process of braising and addressing each step appropriately, or is it the connection that a cook has with this process? Understanding is knowing the answer to these questions and securing this understanding in a cook’s subconscious.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
– Albert Einstein

[]         KNOWING WHY

Following a recipe fails to impart the knowledge necessary to consistently replicate the quality of a properly prepared dish. Recipes are tools, but are not the answer to becoming a great cook or a chef. Why does a cook sear meat as the first step in braising? Why is it important to caramelize proteins and vegetables prior to building the flavors in a stock? Why use a raft in the process of clarifying a consommé and how does it actually work? Why clarify butter before using it as a cooking fat on the line? The list of questions is limitless, yet each is an important part of building a chef’s intellect and ability to understand cooking and master his or her craft.

[]         UNDERSTANDING LEADS TO CONTROL

The beauty of understanding lies in a deeper feeling for a dish and the unique ability to problem solve and adjust in the process of reaching an agreed upon goal. Once a cook understands the flavor intensity of an organic heirloom tomato – picked in the July sun, simply sliced and served with virgin olive oil and sea salt then he or she can begin to determine what can be done with that greenhouse tomato in February to try and replicate some of that tomato experience. It might be a process of oven drying that tomato with olive oil and salt and combining it with complementary ingredients that will never exactly replicate a July heirloom but can create a pleasurable experience for the guest that far exceeds simply using that greenhouse product as delivered.

Knowing what to expect in the end can aid a chef in changing a food experience for the better. Every day in the kitchen a chef is challenged to do just this.

[]         SOLVING PROBLEMS

Beyond cooking itself – problem solving is a skill that is drawn from intellect and experience. A chef who determines an anomaly in food cost will tap into his or her intellect and experience to determine what might be the cause. Was it a mistake in inventory; is it time to adjust selling prices; could there be an issue with theft; or is it time to look at yield and waste in the kitchen. A chef never accepts a problem for what it is – he or she has the ability to identify the cause and make necessary adjustments.

[]         SCENARIO PLANNING

Chefs, through their experiences, are able to tap into their acquired intellect to anticipate problems before they exist, establish preventative measures, and when necessary – quickly tap into that mental database of solutions.

“Entrepreneurs are moving from a world of problem-solving to a world of problem-finding. The very best ones are able to uncover problems people didn’t realize that they had.”

-Dan Pink

[]         DIFFERENTIATING TASTE AND FLAVOR

Taste and flavor are truly intellectual. Our mind tells us what a strawberry tastes like and registers what it should taste like. Experience trains the mind to be the active evaluator of taste and flavor and our taste buds and olfactory senses are the vehicles to deliver this data to the brain. A cook will never know what a veal picatta should taste like until he or she has prepared it properly and built that taste and flavor memory. That perfect tomato flavor is determined through experience. The intellect of taste and flavor is built throughout a cook’s life, recorded in his or her subconscious, and activated through intellect when needed.

“The thing about all my food is that everything is a remembered flavor. Maybe it’s something I had as a child or maybe it’s something I had in Milan, but I want it to taste better than you ever thought.”

– Ina Garten

[]         BEING IN TUNE WITH PEOPLE

In the end, the chef’s primary job must go beyond cooking. The chef, through experience and commitment to building intellect and great communication skills is able to nurture an understanding of what makes his or her team members tick. Knowing what their needs, strengths, weaknesses, passions and goals are will allow the chef to be successful and the restaurant to thrive. Chefs know how to set the stage for self-motivation, when to complement and when to coach, and how to inspire others to reach for common goals. This takes intellect, experience, and a deep appreciation for the individual.

[]         FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Chefs may not need to understand the complexity of accounting, but they must understand how to analyze, compute, and use the information that is provided through solid accounting practices. Chefs will inventory, determine product cost, establish selling prices, manage labor costs, track item popularity and contribution, budget, and prepare the foundations for weekly or monthly profit and loss statements. Cooking is the soul of a kitchen, but solid financial management is the lifeblood.

[]         PLANNING AND ORGANIZING

The most effective chefs, especially in a very busy operation, invest a considerable part of the day planning and organizing the shop. Chefs design menus, determine amounts of product to order, build production schedules, expand recipes, build employee work schedules, establish timing for events, establish future budgets, and define how everything is done within the walls of the kitchen. Effective cooks spend years building this intellectual capital and creating a base of knowledge that will allow them to be effective at these tasks that go way beyond the tactile portion of their job.

[]         MARKETING AND BRAND CREATION

Just like any other business professional – the chef has a role to play in building the brand of the restaurant and getting that message out. In many cases, the chef is the brand and as such must also be the face of the operation and its promotional efforts. To this end, the chef must build the social and intellectual skills necessary to be a positive role model and spokesperson for the operation.

[]         A VISION BASED ON WHAT YOU KNOW AND WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

In conjunction with owners and other managers, the chef must also acquire the intellectual savvy to be part of the visionary team for the restaurant. It is never acceptable for an operation to remain stagnant – there must be a vision for the future and a strategy to get there. This strategy must include a deep awareness of what the chef doesn’t know and a commitment to build that base of knowledge moving forward.

The primary point is that the role of chef has changed dramatically over the past few decades and the once cooking focused position has evolved into one that requires a new skill set and a highly refined intellect that allows the chef to make the right decisions for the team and the operation. So you want to be a chef? Well, the chef of today is just as concerned with becoming a knowledge worker and an intellectual leader, as he or she is a great food technician.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Training and Consulting

www.harvestamericaventures.com

“Be Something Special – be a Chef.”

 

 

 

 

WHAT MAKES A CHEF’S JOB SO CHALLENGING

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

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Eamon

If you cook in a serious way, if you have defined the process of cooking as something that you want to invest in, if you find that the passion of working in a professional kitchen is something that inspires you, then you will have an undeniable desire to become a chef. What many do not understand is that the difference in responsibility and what a chef will face is monumentally different from that of a cook.

“I call all chefs ‘cooks.’ They’re all cooks. That’s what we do – we cook. You’re a chef when you’re running a kitchen.”

-Tom Colicchio

Running a kitchen is a whole different ball game – a game that too often takes a person away from what he or she started in this industry to do – to cook. A chef, when the term is used correctly, is a manager and a leader. This is the person who builds teams, nourishes a restaurant concept, defines the standards, manages the execution of cooking, leads the business forward, and sets the stage for profitability.

Of course the passion for food and the teaching of others does allow the chef to cook, but not at the same level as those who work the line every day. To reach the pinnacle of a cook’s career and become a chef means that a new set of skills, challenges, and opportunities rise to the surface. Here are some of the things that make a chef’s job so much more challenging:

[]         THE CHALLENGE OF THE RIGHT MENU

Every cook that I know dreams of the day when he or she can put their stamp on a menu. “Finally, I will be able to cook what I want to cook and put my mark on the restaurant.” While this is certainly true at some level – the right menu is often times a departure from this ideal and rather becomes the menu that will attract guests and keep them coming back. Sometimes the chef’s vision and the customer’s reality are one in the same – typically this is not the case.

[]         THE NEED TO BE UNIQUE

While the reality of customer preference is always a top consideration the chef still needs to find a niche that defines the restaurant as unique – different enough for people to go out of their way to choose that operation over another. The chef’s signature is crucial to the individual cook and to the restaurants reputation.

[]         THE RESTRAINT OF KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Chefs love to build menus that define who they are and what their team is capable of. Typically, we like to push the operation to see just how robust the menu and individual presentations can be. The reality is that well executed, simple, clean and flavorful preparations and presentations are often the ones that are well received. Complicated doesn’t always mean better so chefs need to show some restraint.

“As I mature as a chef, I no longer aim to pack multiple techniques and ingredients into a single dish. Realizing that restraint is more difficult, I find it often renders incredibly beautiful results.”

-Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison)

[]         THE CHALLENGE OF THE SOURCE OF INGREDIENTS

Chefs know that the success of their menu relies heavily on the quality and consistency of the ingredients available. Chefs are constantly working with vendors, farmers, fishmongers, and sources of quality meat to set the stage for success in the kitchen. There is never enough time to do this, yet the time must be invested.

[]         THE COMPLEXITY OF BUILDING A TEAM

By far one of the most difficult tasks of a chef, and the most important to the restaurants success is identifying, finding, training, and retaining an exceptional crew. The chef knows that how this team gels will determine how well the food is received. To this end, the chef must be an excellent recruiter, a mentor, teacher, trainer, coach, disciplinarian, and role model.

“There’s a bond among a kitchen staff, I think. You spend more time with your chef in the kitchen than you do with your own family.”

– Gordon Ramsay

[]         THE CHALLENGE OF CONSISTENCY

It has been said that even relatively mediocre restaurants can be successful as long as they are consistent, yet inconsistently excellent restaurants are doomed to failure. Chefs must respect the quality of ingredients, build systems to ensure the same approach to handling them, and work with recipes yet train and teach cooks how to adapt to those factors that can push a menu in the wrong direction. Consistency must be the goal.

[]         THE RESPONSIBILITY TO LEAD AND MANAGE

Leadership and management are distinctly different. Chefs must know the difference and be able to offer both. Managers are excellent at guiding the successful completion of tasks to meet predetermined objectives while leaders inspire others to invest their very best in this process and follow the chef in the direction that will define the operation.

“A good chef has to be a manager, a businessman and a great cook. To marry all three together is sometimes difficult.”

-Wolfgang Puck

[]         THE SHADOW OF WASTE

Waste is the enemy of efficiency and the opportunity for waste is present everywhere in a kitchen. The chef must first build a menu designed to fully utilize every ingredient while the cook must be always conscience of the evils of waste. As Chef Marc Meneau from the former 3-star restaurant L’Esperance in France once proclaimed: “You don’t make money from the onion, you make money from the onion peel.”

[]         THE BURDEN OF FOOD COST

Just as cooks are measured on their ability to execute consistent preparations within the timeline expected and do so with the energy of a distance runner and the finesse of a painter – the chef is measured on his or her ability to keep customers happy and coming back and the ability of the restaurant to meet certain specific financial parameters. One of those is food cost that is controlled through waste management, effective purchasing, inventory control, and standards of preparation.

[]         THE CHALLENGE OF PERFECTION

Since every meal that leaves a kitchen carries the invisible signature of the chef, he or she is oftentimes overly focused on details and impatient when these details are not dealt with in the same manner. Perfection is something to strive for, yet something that is impossible to reach. The chef knows if the team strives for perfection at least they will achieve excellence.

“The hardest thing for a chef is to become comfortable with what you do. Not to be too neurotic and worried with what you are doing and how wrong or right you are.”

-Daniel Boulud

[]         THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FOOD SAFETY

Every chef understands the importance placed on food safety and proper sanitation. The health and wellbeing of the restaurant guest is a moral and ethical responsibility as well as a legal one.

[]         FINDING THE TIME TO TRAIN

Effective training takes planning, research, and time spent on developing the right execution. It is very obvious to all involved when a chef fails to invest the right amount of effort here.

[]         THE CHALLENGE OF PROFIT

No matter how talented the chef and how dedicated the team – if the restaurant fails to earn a reasonable profit then the operation will have a short life. Chefs are always focused on this.

“I don’t have any interest in being a chef without being on the business side of things, or vice versa, because if you don’t make money at the end of the month, you’re going out of business.”

– Tom Douglas

[]         THE FEAR OF CHANGE

Change is one of those factors that everyone talks about and everyone fears at some level. Whether it is change in concept, menu, method, presentation, customer base, staff dynamics, or vision – chefs must learn to accept the reality of change, occasionally invite it in, and manage it effectively. This is NOT easy.

[]         THE CHALLENGE OF TIME

Time is one component of life that is very difficult to manage. There is only so much time and in a kitchen we find that this is challenged constantly. With too much on his or her plate a chef may be faced with the need to compromise – something that chefs abhor. There is always a constant battle between the need for consistently high quality execution and the need for owners to maximize business volume. Many chefs part ways with very successful restaurants because they do not want to compromise what they believe in.

[]         THE KNOWLEDGE THAT NOTHING IS CERTAIN

No matter how organized, how well planned, or how well defined every detail in a kitchen is – there will always be curve balls. Chefs, over time, are able to scenario plan and anticipate the unanticipated. This is where a well-seasoned chef/leader is able to shine.

[]         THE DIFFICULTY IN HAVING A LIFE

Of course, this is the age-old challenge – how does a chef give 100% all of the time and manage to have a life outside of work. This is easy to complain about, but hard to solve. Some are able to do it and should thus become role models in this regard – most chefs have somewhat shallow lives after work as a result.

Every job has its challenges – the chef’s job does seem to be one that is the poster child for complexity.

***PICTURE:  ADAPTED FROM CHEF EAMON LEE’S PHOTO DURING A SCANDANAVIAN TRIP OF A LIFETIME

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting and training

www.harvestamericaventures.com

A COOK DEEP IN THOUGHT

12 Wednesday Jul 2017

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If you are a restaurant cook – how often have you paused to think: “Why am I doing this”? Every cook understands that there is a balance of good, bad, and ugly with most careers, but at times it does seem like the cook’s job leans a lot more towards the bad and ugly. So, why do we do this? There is a part of every cook that believes that continuing to do what they do is an example of self-inflicted pain. Is it possible that we even enjoy this personal torture – you know – the hours, the social isolation, the physical work, the heat, the cuts and burns, the stress? It is worth a little study to try and figure out what makes a cook tick.

I have suggested in the past that most career cooks don’t necessarily choose this career path – it chooses them. The inference is that certain people are made to cook; it might even be a predetermined genetic abnormality.   Putting aside the bad and the ugly for a moment, the person called cook is quite unique in many regards – a kind of casserole of traits, skills, and aptitudes baked into his or her profile. Think about those unique characteristics for a moment:

CAREER COOKS ARE:

[]         DISCIPLINED (at least in the kitchen)

We show up ready to produce, follow the rules of the game from sanitation to product handling, from how to hold and sharpen a knife to how each product is addressed with the edge, we practice the foundations of cooking that have been handed down from generation to generation, set-up our stations in precisely the same manner every day, speak to each other in the language of the kitchen, and address the kitchen leader with a simple: “Yes chef!” Aside from the military and professional sports, you would be hard put to find a career more disciplined than cooking.

[]         HIGHLY CRITICAL OF THEIR OWN WORK

The chef and the customer may or may not point to flaws in a cook’s preparations and presentations, but if they do they pale in comparison to a cook’s own assessment of the work done. It is this intense self-assessment that drives cooks to always improve, but also remain emotionally impacted by any comment that points to errors or inadequacy.

[]         OBLIVIOUS TO THE EXCESSIVE HOURS REQUIRED OF THE POSITION

Cook’s may complain about excessive hours, but at the same time they accept that it is what is required. Those shifts that have a start time and open-ended finish time driven by how customers order and the start time that always means “show up earlier if you want to get the work done” have become part of the gig. It may be wrong in the eyes of some, but it does go with the turf.

[]         ABLE TO WITHSTAND EXCESSIVE HEAT AND COUNTLESS HOURS ON THEIR FEET

Career cooks can endure the hours associated with the job, but 100 plus degree temperatures, crippling humidity, and those 12-hour shifts standing on the flats of their feet can become an exercise similar to a boxer in the ring. Cooks are able to tough it out and look like they just went 8 rounds with a welterweight champion.

[]         PROBLEM SOLVERS

Seasoned cooks are able to solve dozens of problems every shift without even giving them a second thought. Unlike other problem solvers who might need time to reflect on various approaches to a challenge, cooks don’t have the time for reflection. Cooks simply rely on their experience and instinct to act in a manner that will avert chaos and disaster.

[]         OBSESSIVE ABOUT DETAILS

Once that confidence that defines a cook is realized he or she becomes totally focused on the details of cooking, station set-up, plate presentation, and flavor. It happens at some point – the cook can no longer accept mediocrity no matter how small the detail. This is a gift and a curse, but it is part of a cook’s makeup.

[]         HIGHLY CREATIVE AND HAVE A NEED TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES

As I have expressed many times, one of the most interesting characteristics of serious cooks is their desire and need to be creative. Sometimes this is contrary to their need for discipline, but even discipline can exhibit creativity. Cooks need to experiment, challenge themselves, perfect a dish, and eventually put their signature on a dish that proclaims their work. Like all artists, the cook is never satisfied with what they have created and constantly strives to work on ways to improve.

[]         PROTECTORS OF THE CRAFT

The media enjoys pointing to those cooks and chefs who are pushing the craft in different directions, but even those explorers have a deep commitment to established methods and flavor profiles. Career cooks know that the ability to create will always depend on a respect for what came before. Serious cooks embrace this reality and work every day to protect the standards of a centuries old craft.

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[]         PROUD OF THE PROFESSION EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY NOT ALWAYS ADMIT IT

Like any other profession with a strong history, cooks do feel pride in the uniform of the kitchen and what it stands for, they are proud of those cooks and chefs who make a difference, and are very comfortable telling others what they do for a living. As a friend of mine once stated: “There has never been a better time in America to be a cook or a chef.”

[]        HIGHLY COMPETITIVE and GOAL ORIENTED

Career cooks are, by nature, highly competitive people. They compete with numbers (guest meals served, sales, food cost, number of features served, Trip Advisor rating, number of diamonds from AAA), they compete in a friendly manner with their co-workers (how busy their station was compared to others), but most importantly they compete with themselves (how prepared they are, the quality of their prep, the taste of their dishes, the reaction of guests to the appearance of their food). Competition can be very healthy and is usually a trait that helps a restaurant continually grow and improve.

[]         ABLE TO RESPOND TO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN DEMAND

There are some restaurants whose business is very predictable, but most find that swings in business from day to day and hour to hour are anything but predictable. Career cooks have the ability to go from 10 miles an hour to 60 at the drop of a hat. This is an invaluable skill that every restaurant depends on.

[]         MASTERS OF THE SENSES

Finally, career cooks have developed acute sensual perception that allows them to adjust seasoning, embellish on aroma, perfect textures, and stimulate the sense of sight with magnificent food that gives the guest pause as they simply say: “Wow”. This is a skill set that comes with experience, but is built on an innate ability to understand how all of the senses marry into an experience.

Of course the job of a cook is insanely difficult at times, unforgiving of mistakes, somewhat unpredictable, team dependent, poorly compensated for the skill and effort, and even dangerous – but, most career cooks will put those things aside and reflect on the “good” that brings them back day after day. Isn’t it ironic that a career with such polar opposite feelings of love and hate can be a beacon that attracts so many to a life on the range? This gives credibility to the belief that some are genetically predisposed to put on a chef’s coat and apron and say: “Bring it on!”

PLAN BETTER –TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting and Training

A LINE COOK’S LIFE DIRECTION

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

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“There’s nothing worse than a feeling of being lost.”

-Chef Daniel Boulud

These are such important words from a chef and restaurateur whom many consider one of the worlds finest at his craft. They gave me a moment of pause as I reflected on my life in the kitchen, realizing like many others, that it was (is) the kitchen that gave me direction, a professional purpose in life.

I would dare say that most young people, and some not so young, have faced that very perplexing question: “What is my purpose? Why am I here and what can I contribute that will be fulfilling and important?”

We all have a desire, and to varying degrees, the ability to create. This desire and ability manifests in a sense of pride and a feeling of accomplishment. From the earliest age people are inquisitive and anxious to create something that makes them feel a sense of satisfaction and draws praise from others. This must be something innate, or something in our genetic makeup that needs to be fueled and allowed to grow. When an environment of support for this creativity exists – great things are sure to follow.

There are few environments more supportive of this creativity than the kitchen. I have seen countless individuals find their purpose in front of the range. There is something magical in the transformation that takes place when these individuals rekindle their desire and need to be creative, to make something that has meaning, to work hard at becoming very good at what they do. The focus, the determination, the organization along with the freedom, the sense of urgency along with the intent on always doing it right, and the melding of flavors all combine to create an environment of purpose, of no longer being lost. This is where a cook was meant to be, this is what he or she was meant to do.

What makes the kitchen and this sense of purpose flourish? Here are a few important notes:

[]         PROGRESSIVE LEARNING:

There is a sequential order to cooking, to learning the craft. This step-by-step process that allows a cook to see daily progress is incredibly gratifying. Holding a knife for the first time and learning to respect how in a conditioned hand this beautiful piece of steel can transform ingredients into hundreds, if not thousands, of different items. To feel the power of the knife and learn to respect how to control it is one of the first steps in this progressive education of the kitchen. Learning about ingredients, staking control of a flame, becoming one with cooking methods, building speed and dexterity, having the confidence of a palate that grows every day, and creating a cook’s signature for plate layout all come together in the gratification of pushing a perfect plate of food through the pass.

[]         STRUCTURE:

For freedom to take its rightful place in a kitchen there must first be some structure that allows this to happen. It is this structure that oftentimes first draws people to the life of a cook. Individuals need structure and a sense of “fit” in a system – this is a position of comfort, of trust that allows individuals to be at peace and feel comfortable adding their creative twist to how things might work within that structure. The kitchen always provides both structure and freedom.

[]         FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:

Just as the innocence of youth provides many vehicles for self-expression, the kitchen – once a cook finds his or her place within the structure, provides ample opportunity to be unique, to sign the plate in his or her own unique way. It might take some time to convince the chef that this expression is right for the restaurant, but once this happens this signature will become the calling card for a cook.

[]         BEING PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN YOU:

There is purpose in being needed. That your unique skill set is critical to the success of the restaurant and to the integrity of the line. Whether it is perfectly marking steaks and chops and cooking them to the right degree of doneness, knowing how to properly sauté that veal dish, caramelize diver scallops, baste a fillet of Dover sole, or finish the sauce – monte au beurre, for a braised lamb shank, or timing those pommes frites just right so that they are crisp, hot, tender on the inside and perfectly salted, each person in the kitchen has an important job to do, a job that at this moment they are perfectly qualified to accomplish. Knowing that the entire line and the dining room depend on your consistent performance is deeply gratifying.

[]         THE INTENSITY:

There is a tremendous amount of satisfaction in being involved in the dynamics of a busy kitchen. The intensity to many would be hard to imagine, yet to a cook it demonstrates everything that he or she has prepared for. The ability to think and work through that intensity and produce exceptional food is quite an accomplishment.

second cook

[]         SENSE OF URGENCY:

A close neighbor to the intensity is the urgency that accompanies every task. Success is measured in seconds and minutes. Most preparations on the line are measured as a’la minute (in the minute). Even though a cook’s mise en place is well designed and individual ingredients are ready in waiting as they should be, the actual cooking of most dishes, building flavors, and finishing each menu item as the operation has designed is done on demand. Timing is essential and each member of the line team must work together under the umbrella of this sense of urgency to ensure that all dishes come out as planned, at the same time, awaiting those finishing touches and a wipe of the plate rim by the expeditor in the pass.

[]         THE ORGANIZATION:

Every ingredient must be just right, in the correct amount, stationed where it must be so that the cook doesn’t even need to think about where to reach – this is mise en place. Mise is something that gets a cook excited. Knowing that he or she is ready for whatever might come is another point of purpose. “Bring it on” is not a dare, it is a statement of confidence, a rally around purpose. This cook is not lost – he or she is always on point with a clear sense of direction.

[]         EXECUTING A STRATEGY:

Walking into a kitchen those last 60 minutes before service would lead an outsider to believe that panic is the rule of thumb. Every hand is busy, every cook is focused, no one is straying from the appointed tasks, and the chef is looming over the team making sure that the “t’s” are crossed. There is always the danger that they won’t pull it off, but underneath they know that they always will. With moments to spare before the first orders tick off the printer, the calm starts to set in. This seemingly panicked situation leading up to service is actually part of a well-established strategy – a means to an end. The cooks themselves turn it up during crunch time to make sure that they are not only physically ready, but also mentally and emotionally prepared for service. This same strategy is evident in restaurants from coast to coast. This is kitchen life.

restaurant-food

[]         THE PRODUCT:

When that perfectly prepared scallop, steak, chop, lamb shank, roasted chicken, or burger and pommes frites lands on the plate, is adjusted for the best visual impact, garnished as part of the flavor profile, and spun for presentation in the pass awaiting the expeditor’s approval, there is a real sense of accomplishment, of pride that builds on the face of every cook. After all, it is the product that defines the culmination of a cook’s talent and brings the guest through the restaurant door. The cook can think to him or herself: “I made this perfect dish”.

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[]         THE SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT:

There it is, at the end of a shift there were many opportunities for success or failure, but this team of cooks made it happen. Guests were pleased, the chef was satisfied, the food looked fantastic, flavors were on point, and the line team functioned like a well-oiled machine. Now the smiles comes, the high fives and fist bumps are offered, and maybe a thumbs up from the chef and servers define what it means to be a cook, a cook with a sense of purpose.

Everyone has a place, a purpose, a career and life that best suit his or her innate abilities, passion, and demeanor. Sometimes they methodically plan out this choice and sometimes it seems to choose them. I have enjoyed working with many young cooks who find comfort in the kitchen. They view this as their place, a place where they can make a difference, a place where they can offer something special of themselves.

BE SOMETHING SPECIAL – BE A CHEF!

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures

Restaurant Consulting and Training

www.harvestamericaventures.com

*If you are interested in stories of life in the kitchen and the factors that impact on cooks and chefs lives, then order your copy of: “The Event That Changed Everything.” Click on the link below for more details and to order.

www.amazon.com/Event-That-Changed-Everything-Relationships/dp/1491755105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490716612&sr=8-1&keywords=the+event+that+changed+everything

THE ORIENTATION OF A NEW COOK – WELCOME TO THE CLUB

14 Tuesday Mar 2017

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“Welcome to the camp, I guess we all know why we’re here.” These opening lyrics by the Who in their dramatic album “Tommy” referred to an underlying understanding of purpose. Anyone could interject numerous scenarios that point to common beliefs, direction, misunderstandings, reflections, or transitions in a persons’ life. One of those transitions is finding a career that provides purpose – a calling – what a person was meant to do with his or her life. Such is the case with many who willingly or sometimes unwillingly make the leap into kitchen life. I have always felt that more often than not, this cooking career finds the person rather than the opposite.

Sometimes (probably more frequently than we imagine) people fall into a career as a cook. To many it is initially a job that seems relatively easy to find – restaurants seem to always be in the market for entry level as well as fully developed prep and line cooks – the door swings freely as cooks come and go. So, life in the kitchen begins with a simple need for a paycheck. Maybe, no – probably, that first job was washing dishes but quickly reverts to either a firm decision to “never do this again”, or the start of a keen interest in what those line cooks were doing – much more interesting than diving for pearls.

There is the environment, the language, the banter, the confidence, fire and sharp objects, the creativity, and of course the food – everything melds together into a pretty appealing stew of opportunity. There is another aspect to kitchen life that really defines what makes the work so special – the difference is the team environment – the club. Unlike other clubs there is no need to pay dues, no need to have special connections to “get in” (although connections do occasionally help).

Those who seek membership will have to pay a non-monetary price. Entrance into this club does require an interesting orientation, questioning eyes, very little trust, and even a little bit of hope that the candidate will fail before they are accepted.

I am not sure whether or not this orientation has real value, but similar to the old “pledge” system for fraternities, sororities, or even the military – once a person makes it through they feel as if they have earned their place. If it gets out of hand, we have all seen the damage that can result, but in small doses – is there value to this system of earning acceptance? Let’s take a look at some of the tests that are often part of kitchen culture (you can add your own to the list) and judge for yourself.

[]         UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE OF THE KITCHEN

There are two language formats in the kitchen one has a purpose and the other is part of a poorly defined culture. The language of cooking was drawn from classic terminology (primarily French) that over the decades has become accepted by most serious cooks and kitchens. The names of classic sauces, the terminology for organization, the words used to accentuate cooking methods are all second nature to professional cooks. It is thus an assumption that new employees will fully understand this language. Slang and abbreviated terms that evolved into the unique nomenclature of the kitchen are dotted between the classic terms resulting in a kitchen language that is only known to those who stand in front of a 120 degree ambient temperature range. Mise en place, sec, béchamel, demi-glace, monte au beurre, concasse, pate au choux, pot de crème, brunoise, tourne, and julienne are intertwined with the window, 86, stat, fire, all-day, and dupes or tickets are part of this special language. The other inappropriately embraced cultural language of the kitchen is laced with four-letter expletives. A young cook unaware of this language will be taken off guard and shown to the team as being naïve.

[]         THE TEST FOR COMMON SENSE

Either Voltaire or Mark Twain defined “Common sense is not so common” as a reality. Regardless of the author, most people would agree that the statement is true. In the kitchen – teams seem to always enjoy pointing out that unseasoned cooks are void of common sense. There are numerous erroneous requests made of new cooks like: “Get me a bucket of steam”, or “Go down to maintenance and ask them for the walk-in cooler expander”. Enjoying the pain of embarrassment, cooks will subsequently laugh while watching these eager “newbies” take off in search of the Holy Grail. Sometimes this eagerness is painful to watch as the new cook is asked to mop the freezer floor. Most cooks will eventually shake it off and earn the respect of the team for being able to take a joke. Harmless to most, harmful to some.

[]         CAN YOU TAKE A JOKE

A young cook’s ability to shake it off and laugh at his or her own naivety will quickly win the respect of others. This, of course, is easier said than done. Underneath it all, most people don’t care to be made the brunt of other’s jokes.

[]         TOLERANCE FOR PAIN

I remember part of Anthony Bourdain’s book: Kitchen Confidential, when a seasoned line cook scoffed at Bourdain’s request for burn cream. He then proceeded to grab a hot sizzle platter from the broiler with his bare hand to demonstrate a cook’s ability to withstand pain. Over the years I have found that most cooks are more concerned about showing signs of weakness when they burn or cut themselves than focusing on the wound itself. Far too many cooks have toughed it out when first aid, a few stitches, or burn cream would be in order. For some reason cooks feel that working through the pain is a sign of strength.

[]         HOW THE PERSON RESPONDS TO SERVANT MENTALITY

Team members will try to push a new staff members tolerance for servitude. Willing to please, new cooks tend to accept demands or directives from more seasoned employees without stopping to assess whether or not the directive is reasonable. Long-term employees will take advantage of this as long as they can. Anywhere else this would fall into the same category as middle school bullying.

[]         SABOTOGE

One of the meanest tactics to test a new cook is when seasoned employees purposefully sabotage the new member’s work. Turning up ovens, turning off burners under a stock, allowing a pot of soup in a cooling water bath to tip over and take in water, diluting the product, and adding extra salt or pepper to a dish when the cook is not looking. This is mean, dangerous, and not funny. If caught, this is grounds for a chef to fire an employee for attempting to sabotage the work of the kitchen.

[]         EVERYTHING IS EVERYONE’S JOB

Sometimes new employees are unaware of the Cardinal rule in the kitchen “everything is everyone’s job”. “I was hired to cook, not wash pots” is a response that will immediately ostracize a new cook from the team and start a rapid demise of respect from everyone in the operation.   Pushing this message is one of the few underground orientation tactics that has real merit.

[]         SCHEDULING PAIN

See how serious a young cook is by scheduling them for the worst shifts, back to back 12 hour days, closing one night and opening the next, scheduling them for every holiday, etc. Low person on the totem pole always seems to receive the brunt of the worst schedules, the ones that no one else wants to do. The new kids on the block should be willing to accept this, at least until they are firmly a part of the team.

[]         TESTING THE THRESHOLD OF TRUST

The most important attribute of any team member is trust. Staff members will be very leery of welcoming someone into the club until there is relative certainty that he or she can be trusted. “Will this person have my back, can I trust that he or she will do their share and do it well, can I tell this person something in confidence?” The trust factor is far more important to the team than skills. Skills can be taught; trust is something that is part of a person’s character. The team will test new recruits during this orientation period to assess their trustworthiness.

[]         JUST DO IT

When in the heat of battle – will this person step up to the plate and go the extra mile or will he or she crumble. The proof of this will happen pretty quickly in the heat of service.

[]         BOOK SMARTS VS. TIME IN THE TRENCHES

The classic friction between those individuals with the culinary degree pedigree and stripes from the school of hard knocks will always be an undercurrent in the kitchen. The graduate brings an understanding of the “why”, while the veteran brings the chops from cranking out thousands of quality meals over a period of time. The only way that there will be acceptance if each agrees that he or she can learn something from the other. The chef, manager or owner must expedite this part of orientation. It rarely happens organically.

Good, bad, or indifferent, this is a process that does happen in many kitchens here and abroad. It can be cruel at times and sometimes counter-productive. Club membership, once earned however, is membership for life. I do not condone, nor chastise the process – I believe that in small doses it can be a welcome process that helps to break the ice and discover whether or not an individual has what it takes, but left uncontrolled, it may very well turn good people away from a career in the kitchen. A chef should not encourage the process, in fact, a more formal orientation that is designed to train, acclimate, and integrate new people to the kitchen is usually more effective. If a culture of underground orientation exists it is likely due to a lack of formal orientation provided by the restaurant.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

A COOK’S PRIDE

04 Sunday Sep 2016

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Pride is defined in both a positive and a negative manner. To some, pride is something to avoid: “An irrationally corrupt sense of ones personal value, status or accomplishments.” – Wikipedia – Or as some would label it: “ego”. On the other hand, pride can be viewed in a positive sense: “A humble and content sense of attachment towards one’s own or another’s choices and actions…a fulfilled feeling of belonging.” – Wikipedia- In this case pride is viewed as a virtue. Two different interpretations of pride – two different outlooks on how a person carries himself or herself. In the kitchen, as in other places where careers are made, both defined individuals exist.

My friend and a chef who, I deeply admire – Jamie Keating, owns and operates a highly successful restaurant in Columbus, Georgia called “Epic”. On the wall above his line rests a simple statement: Culinary Pride. This – to him and his crew represents all that the restaurant is about, all that the chef is about, all that the guests of Epic expect, and all that Chef Keating expects from his staff: a fulfilled feeling of belonging and a humble commitment to making the right choices with the food that they are privileged to work with. To a true professional – this is what it’s all about.

I just began watching season three of “Chef’s Table” – an extraordinary series of documentary films produced by Netflix that depict the life of prominent chefs from around the world. The series is robust and deep in its ability to delve into the person behind the food, not just the result of what takes place in the kitchen. “What makes this chef tick?” I am pacing myself this time rather than binge watching through the entire series in a day or two, because I want to take time to have each chef’s video bio sink in. The first in the series takes a look at Chef Alain Passard who’s restaurant” L’Arpege in Paris is respected world-wide as one of the best. It’s long history of three-star Michelin rating points to the intensity and the quality of the restaurant and it’s food. What the series does best is to examine the mind, body, and soul of Passard. Once you have a sense of the individual then the reputation of the restaurant makes sense – the “why” becomes clear.

Passard made a bold move a few years back and took all of the protein focused items off of his menu, all of the items that had brought him world acclaim and Michelin praise, and made the decision to become a vegetarian restaurant. This, in Paris of all places, was considered not just risky, but even suicidal. His reason – he had lost his passion for what he was doing and needed to find that excitement that brought him acclaim many years ago. He wanted to talk to his guests with a new voice and to energize his staff with a new, adventurous mission, and he wanted to pay respect to ingredients that had, for years, played a supporting role – never the lead.

Passard did not use the term pride, but instead talked about “Grace” as a way to show respect for a new way, a way of excellence, a way to respect the ingredients and the process of cooking.

“What I love is cooking, the act of using my hands, that feeling of belonging in the kitchen. This is why people come (to L’Arpege).”

-Alain Passard

How many of us who have made an active decision to spend our days in the kitchen can reflect on his words? The feeling, as he points to, of “belonging in the kitchen” is something that many cooks have made reference to: “This is a place where, no matter what, I feel like I belong.” We take pride in knowing that this is it – our calling, and in a humble way we feel very good about this discovery.

When Passard and his team at L’Arpege are in the zone, author Christophe Blain who wrote a tongue and cheek book about Passard (In the Kitchen with Alain Passard), refers to the environment as “The Flow”. As he describes it, when the operation, built on Pride is in “The Flow”, nothing else can exist in the mind and hearts of the team. There is no room for anything else but total dedication to the process of cooking.

In Yountville, California – a quaint little village on the edge of Napa Valley sits a restaurant that many consider the finest in America and one of the best in the world. The restaurants chef is noted with acclaim from all corners of the culinary world for his attention to detail, focus on excellence, and daring approach towards cooking. The restaurant is the French Laundry, and the chef – Thomas Keller. On the wall in his immaculate kitchen that some have referred to as a “Culinary temple” rests a single word: “finesse”. Finesse to Keller, his staff, vendors, peers, and guests have the same meaning as Chef Keating’s “Culinary Pride”. It is the humble mantra that says we have a mission, we owe respect to each other, the kitchen where we work, the ingredients we work with, and the history of the profession to do things right and to strive for perfection. This is not ego, it is the over-riding directive that demonstrates to everyone else – we are serious about what we do.

There are many, many others who continue, in their own way to show this pride. The mission can be, applied to any type of restaurant. This cook’s pride is not exclusive to those extraordinary fine-dining restaurants that only a select few can afford to patronize. “The Flow” exists in most successful restaurants especially at the time of service. There is a need for total focus and commitment to cooking well, being consistent, respecting a cook’s role in the process of making great food, and knowing that their reward is a satisfied guest. We may use different terms, but the feeling and the commitment is the same.

[]         POLISH

“To improve something, to make it better than it was before.”

-Webster’s

[]         MASTERY

“Knowledge and skill that allows you to do, use, or understand something very well.”

-Webster’s

[]         CRAFTSMANSHIP

“The skill involved in making something beautiful or practical using your hands.”

-Macmillan Dictionary

[]        PANACHE

“A stylish, original, and very confident way of doing things.”

-Webster’s

[]         POISE

“Behavior or a way of moving that shows calm and confidence.”

-Free Dictionary

[]         EXCELLENCE

“The quality of being outstanding or extremely good.”

-Free Dictionary

The beauty of becoming a cook is that we can most often choose how we approach the position. There are some, like Keller, Passard, or Keating who can’t choose because they are wired to take pride and their body and mind cannot accept the alternative, but most of us can make an active choice to be excellent, take pride, and show grace, or not. When a cook makes the choice to be all that he or she can be, and be the cook that the best would consider “the only way”, then the job changes. We are now part of something important, something pure and fulfilling. To be this type of cook is to be something truly special.

The choice is yours.

NOTE:

Some others whom I have known and in some cases worked with: Anton Flory, Noble Masi, Daniel Boulud, Gavin Kaysen, Dale Miller, Tim Hardiman, Eamon Lee, Tim McQuinn, Curtiss Hemm, Jennifer Bennett, Kevin O’Donnell, Fritz Sonnenschmidt, Anne Rosenzweig, Eric Ripert, Michael Beriau, Walter Zuromski, Dan Hugelier, David Meyers, George Higgins, Charles Carroll, Lars Johanson, Roland Czekelius, Neil Connolly, Heather Miller, Steve Jilleba, Ed Leonard, Phil Learned, Marc Meneau, and countless other committed cooks and chefs.

EPIC Restaurant – Chef Jamie Keating

http://epiccuisine.com/

L’Arpege – Chef Alain Passard

http://www.alain-passard.com/en/

In The Kitchen with Alain Passard

By: Christophe Blain

www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Alain-Passard-Inside-Master/dp/1452113467/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1472987804&sr=8-2&keywords=Alain+Passard

The French Laundry – Chef Thomas Keller

http://www.thomaskeller.com/tfl

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

Restaurant Consulting and Training

**Have you ordered your copy of “The Event That Changed Everything“?  Tales of the kitchen, restaurant ownership, the integrity of the food supply, the environment, and restaurant relationships.

Click on the link to order your copy from amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Event-That-Changed-Everything-Relationships/dp/1491755105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472992775&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Event+That+Changed+Everything

 

 

 

THAT ONE INCREDIBLE MEAL

27 Saturday Dec 2014

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What was the moment, the event, the restaurant, the dish, that changed your life? Can a meal or a restaurant experience really change a person’s life? Maybe it wasn’t in a restaurant after all, maybe it was a memorable experience created through the hands of a parent or grandparent. In any case, there are those moments in most of our lives that carry such strong memories causing us to reflect and use them as benchmarks. With many cooks, the connection to that one incredible meal is profound.

Career decisions in life are often driven by experiences that we hold close. I am sure that watching Jeff Beck or Stevie Ray Vaughn sparked the interest of many young people grasping their first Stratocaster. Seeing a father or grandfather risk everything, as a fireman to help those in crisis has been the impetus for building entire families of firefighters. Watching Joe Montana control the football field, as he did so many times, was the spark that helped to create multiple generations of quarterbacks, and connecting with writers like Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck was the driving force behind a cadre of writers to follow. But, can food experiences do the same?

What is it about food that in the past three decades has been the impetus behind the exponential growth of restaurants and culinary schools, as well as the preponderance of cookbooks, food novels, and television food entertainment? If you stop to think about this rapid change, it really is amazing.

In the early sixties when I was wrestling with my first job in a kitchen, being a cook was anything but glamorous, yet it had an attraction. Was it the freedom that comes from receiving a paycheck, the interesting characters that worked alongside me, or was it something deeply rooted in that one incredible meal, dish, or restaurant experience at some previous point in time?

The end of the year is an opportunity to reflect on what came before as each person consciously or unconsciously begins to plan for the year to come. My reflections typically go back much further than the year coming to a close. Today, I found myself thinking about what brought me to a lifetime of food, a career that I am proud of, and connections to hundreds of unique people who I call friends and associates. Where did it begin? What role did food experiences have in the direction that I chose? I think that it is a great exercise to look back and understand what “light bulb moment” was the catalyst for your life. “If I hadn’t done or experienced this when I was 16, or 18, or 30, what would my life look like today?” Who was the person, or for that matter was it a person, who coached me, or drove me in a certain direction?

I can remember so many different food events that may have been the catalyst. Maybe it was not a food moment, but rather a series of moments that continued to reinforce those early decisions. If so, I could rightfully assume that I am, and always will be, in pursuit of that next incredible meal or food experience to solidify my decisions. I do have that proverbial “bucket list” of food experiences, so maybe that is the key. That great initial experience makes us hungry for more (no pun intended). Maybe, we need to constantly feed our need for more and that is the real value of those eye-opening experiences early on. It was that first Hemingway novel that hooked a young student into a life of reading and writing. Quite possibly, it was the connection with an art museum filled with Impressionist work that inspired a young girl with colored pencils to choose art as her form of life expression and a career that gave her the opportunity to create. Maybe it was that Jeff Beck concert that parents took a begrudging teenager to that allowed him to shift from listening to hip hop and take up that Stratocaster with a new sense of purpose and passion. Maybe it was a young college student walking by the Ground Zero memorial in New York that gave him pause as he read about the countless firefighters and police officers that lost their lives trying to save people from the Twin Towers, that made him eventually become a volunteer firefighter in his hometown.

Anyway, as I reflect, here are a few of the food experiences in my life that may have turned on the switch.

  • It was my great aunt who baked fresh bread every week in the 50’s while nearly everyone else was convinced that Wonder Bread was the way to go.
  • It was certainly my grandmother’s famous chicken and dumplings that she cared for like a child. I always remember her directive: “Make sure it is a young chicken.”
  • It could have been my first homemade pasta at Leonardo’s Restaurant in Buffalo that made me see the light.
  • Without a doubt it was that USDA Prime strip steak at the Palm Restaurant with caramelized crust, and juice captured inside until I cut into it and found a perfect medium rare.
  • My first raw oysters and clams on Allen Street in Buffalo outside of Mulligan’s Brick Bar were certainly enlightening.
  • It was the signature cromesquis at Marc Meneau’s L’Esperance in France (foie gras infused with truffle and cognac, breaded and deep fried) that burst into such intense flavor that my sinuses filled with the aroma to match and my eyes teared with the wonder of how anything could be this good.
  • It had to be my first beignet in the French Quarter of New Orleans that inspired me to continue on a culinary path.
  • I know that it was the best cappuccino of my life that I found in an Italian Restaurant in Boston’s North End that solidified my choice of career.
  • The first of five experiences at Charlie Trotter’s Restaurant in Chicago made me see what was possible with a deep understanding of food.
  • Wine in the personal cellar of Alfonse Mellot in Sancerre still makes me smile.
  • Chicken liver dumplings with Spaetzle in Frankfurt, Germany – monumental!
  • That incredible tamale at Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill or even the margarita made with fresh squeezed lime did the trick.
  • Roast Chicken from the kitchens of Union Square Café in New York was truly memorable and brought me back to the importance of keeping it simple.
  • The sushi and sashimi at Nobu with Drew Nieporent and Kevin O’Donnell spoiled me for sushi anywhere else.
  • A rack of perfect bar-b-que baby back ribs from a hole in the wall restaurant in the Carolina’s.  Slow cooked ribs with that fantastic bark, slightly sweet glaze, and ear of corn, coleslaw and potato salad.  Hard to beat the combination.
  • That first Rodenbach Sour Ale at the Three Penny Tavern in Montpelier made me a beer lover again, and the place demonstrated how important a neighborhood watering hole is to a community.
  • Veal cheek ravioli and a bottle of Barolo at Babbo after shaking Mario Batali’s hand at the bar created a perfect dinner package.
  • Single Malt Scotch in the Oak Bar at the Plaza brought me back to the way it must have been at the turn of the century.
  • My first taste of Turley Zinfandel, Miner Family Vineyards Oracle, and Daniel Chotard’s Sancerre will always be part of my flavor memory.
  • Coffee and Croissant while sitting in an outside café with Notre Dame in the background is my most vivid memory of Paris and the importance of food to the French people.
  • Epoisses cheese (quite possibly the smelliest in the world) on a slice of fresh baguette – incredible.
  • Poilane bread – enough said.
  • Wood fired pizza from American Flatbread in Vermont – the best of the best.
  • Goat’s cheese from Vermont Creamery, Cheddar from Grafton, Bayley Hazen Bleu from Jasper Hill, Camembert from Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in Central New York –will help you to differentiate great cheese from average.

ribs

The list can go on and on, and every event or dish that makes my list brings back not just memories, but also confirmation that what I chose to do with my career was right. It certainly has been rewarding. As cooks, we live to experience these moments and strive to create them for others to enjoy.

What are your food memories and which one or ones drove you to be the cook or chef that you are today. It is always good to remember.

Happy New Year!

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC

www.harvestamericaventures.com

COMING SOON:         The Event That Changed Everything

A novel

by: Paul Sorgule

Available in early 2015

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LINE COOKS ARE THE ENGINE THAT DRIVE A RESTAURANT

11 Sunday May 2014

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LINE COOKS ARE THE ENGINE THAT DRIVE A RESTAURANT

It takes many years for a good cook to become a great cook, to become a chef. There is an enormous amount of experience that leads to the ability to lead a kitchen, to create a vision and set the tone for consistently excellent performance. Aside from a strong understanding of foundational cooking technique, the chef must have accumulated an understanding of purchasing, menu planning, human resource management, inventory management, cost control, artistic presentations of food, sanitation and safety, public relations, wine, as well as communication and brand building. Yes, this position is a culmination of a lifetime of skill and aptitude development, however, chefs must never lose sight of the role that line cooks play in the daily successful operation of a kitchen.

Line cooks are the lifeblood of any professional kitchen operation. It is, after all, the line cook who has the responsibility to prepare, develop flavors and consistently execute the menu under what outsiders would consider – inhumane conditions. The chef may be in the driver’s seat, but the line cook is the engine. A driver without a well running engine would not get too far.

I am currently finishing another terrific, accurate book on “a day in the life of a kitchen” that truly depicts the intensity, challenges and incredible skill that a line cook must possess. In this portrayal (Sous Chef, by: Michael Gibney); the author, while living the role of the second in command pays true homage to the line cooks who make his success possible. From experience there are a few realities that drive me to acknowledge the significance of the young, upwardly mobile and sometimes satisfied to stay where they are, pirates of the line.

1. Let’s face it being a line cook is more often than not a younger person’s sport. The physical demands of working the line are only surpassed by the mental acuity that is required as line cooks attempt to keep track of multiple a’ la minute preparations, timings, plating’s and interconnections with other cooks on the line. In my last position as a chef I knew that I could work as hard and longer than most of the cooks in the restaurant (I paid for it with aches and pains that rarely went away), but the older I got the harder it was to process the rapid fire mental activity that is the routine of a line cook. Bending over hundreds of times, 120 degree heat, burns, cuts, clanging of pans, and the speed with which a line cook must act and react is way too challenging for most over the age of 40.
2. Each station on the line is a private entrepreneurship. The set-up, calculated mise en place, position of each ingredient from sliced garlic to clarified butter, from minced shallots to pour bottles of white wine and olive oil and from tongs (a line cooks most important tool) to neatly folded side towels is uniquely that cooks. True, the chef may initially train a cook how to set-up a station, but once they have grown into the position they will inevitably treat that area as if it were their own business. This “seasoning” as a line cook is absolutely critical for the efficient operation of a kitchen and once it is set, it needs to be that way – always.
3. Although a good portion of the pre-work for the line may be done by an earlier prep shift (stocks, mother sauces [where they are still relevant], peeled shallots and garlic, braised meats, fabrication of steaks and chops, filleting of fish, trimming and blanching of vegetables, etc.), it is the line cook who must know how to cook as completely as he or she knows how to breathe. He or she must know how to cook a perfect steak, when to turn a fish on the plancha, the right time to add a splash of wine, how to season items in a pan by holding that salt and pepper above the dish and allowing it to evenly forecast, how much time is left in the cooking process so that the plating of a table’s order can be orchestrated and most importantly; how to taste (a great line cook MUST have a well define palate). The line cook needs to have an eye for plate presentation even though the layout may have originated from the chef and must know how important it is to take a few extra seconds to show the finesse to place each item at its perfect spot on the plate. Maintaining the discipline for all of this to take place is hard to imagine.
4. The chef will undoubtedly know how all of this is done and he or she probably taught the cook early on how to manage these steps, but most chefs, once they reach that position would find it very difficult to step in and do the job as well as a line cook.
5. Finally, the line cook, as I pointed out in a previous article (Life Lessons from a Line Cook) https://harvestamericacues.com/2014/04/11/life-lessons-from-a-line-cook/ must be a consummate communicator and in most cases “listener”. The chef, on a busy night sets the cadence for the line and is the sole voice in the kitchen. Service staff will use the chef/expeditor as the portal for communication with cooks, but line personnel know that it is that voice that they must tune into. When a directive or question is posed, the line cook must zero in on the command, acknowledge it and then network with other stations as they execute the directive. Sometimes this networking is handled with simple eye contact and a nod, other times it will be succinct words like “fire, plate, garnish, sauce, hot, pick-up, hold, etc.”. All of this takes time to develop, but once it is there, the line can hum on all cylinders like each station entrepreneur is electrically connected to each other station and the chef/expeditor. This invaluable relationship is magical and goes way beyond the importance of the chef as an individual.

The dining room may be full of people who have heard of, know about, met or would like to meet – the chef. They may, in fact, have come to the restaurant to try the “chef’s food”, but rarely do they truly understand that the chef was probably never involved in the actual cooking of the dish. The chef is in the limelight and he or she has earned that position through many years of extremely hard work, but the chef could never function without the efforts of the team of line cooks who stay behind those swinging doors. The chef knows this all too well and although he or she may not thank the line enough until there is a gap in staffing, this knowledge that they are where they are because of the dedication and seasoned entrepreneurial spirit of the hourly paid line cook is always present in a chef’s subconscious.

It may seem that I spend an inordinate amount of time talking about cooks, even more than chefs, it is because having experienced a return to a great and reasonably busy chefs position in the later part of my career I learned very quickly how much I depended on these crucial members of the team.

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER

Harvest America Ventures, LLC
http://www.harvestamericaventures.com

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READ THIS EXCELLENT PORTRAYAL OF KITCHEN LIFE:

Sous Chef
by: Michael Gibney

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TYLER SCOTT: A YOUNG CHEF MARKS A PATH TO EXCELLENCE

25 Friday Apr 2014

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TYLER SCOTT: A YOUNG CHEF MARKS A PATH TO EXCELLENCE

New York City has been called the center of the universe. For chefs and restaurateurs it is the mecca for the best talent to be found and a place for aspiring professionals to earn their chops, refine their talent and build their personal brand. New York is also very tough on cooks. The best restaurants are in such demand by young cooks that many agree to work as a stage’, dedicating countless hours for little or no money in exchange for knowledge and a resume builder. Thousands of cooks look to cut their teeth in New York while others might enter the New York landscape having built their skill set elsewhere and now seek approval from a very discriminating dining public. There are nearly 25,000 options in the boroughs of New York for guests to find a restaurant meal – an incredible amount of competition. In this type of environment the strong survive and the weak shall perish.

I find that it is always fascinating to follow young cooks who have the passion, the commitment and the patience to set a path from learning how to cut an onion to plating some of the most sophisticated food to be found on any table. The shear dedication and determination necessary to ride the train from point A to point Z can be hard to imagine with many bumps along the way. Those who make it – deserve it.

I have had the pleasure to watch many young culinarians reach their goals and feel for even more who falter along the way leading them to seek a different career path. One who has followed his dreams and continues to impress all who know him and enjoy his food is Chef Tyler Scott. He agreed to this interview as an opportunity to demonstrate a path for others. He is an inspiration to me.

1. What or who influenced you to pursue a career in food and beverage?
“I would have to say my mother and aunt. Growing up, even though she was working full time, my mother still made time to produce bread, and pastry items from scratch as well as can jams from all the summer berries. We didn’t have many traditions or family rituals but I always looked forward to cinnamon rolls at Christmas and strawberry short cake well into long Western New York winters.
My aunt, on the other hand, taught me the importance of being specialized and that if you are liberal with the use of anything let it be butter. She only cooked three things: French toast, Snicker Doodles, and city chicken, but all of them were uniquely hers in some fashion and delicious”.
2. Who mentored you in your pursuit of this career?
“I worked for a number of talented chefs over the years but two really guided me: Brian Skelding and Michael Powell. Chef Skelding instilled the foundations of cooking in me. Then later in my career Chef Powell schooled me on management and leadership”.
3. How would others describe your style of management?
“I believe that others would describe me as being fair and understanding with a strong emphasis on educating the people we employ”.
4. Do you have a business philosophy that drives your operational decisions? If so, can you describe this philosophy?
“Teamwork – I strongly believe that working as part of a cohesive unit is a crucial part to being successful”.
NOTE:
Chefs quickly realize that there is less room for individualism in kitchens than one might think. There are way too many tasks to accomplish, far too many variables that can distract and enormous pressure to be ready for anything and everything to even attempt to work without the complete cohesive nature of a team. This goes beyond “teamwork” and parallels the relationship that a successful sports team would encounter. All for one and one for all is the motto that kitchens live by.
5. Can you name a particular food experience in your life that was your epiphany? An experience that stands out as the moment when you said, yes, this is what I need to do.
“My first job after graduating from Paul Smith’s College was at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. I worked more and with more intensity during my time there than I ever had before in my life, but the first time I really held down a station on the main line and felt that rush of adrenaline I was hooked”.
6. What is your pet peeve about working in the food and beverage industry?
“The never-ending debate over meat temperature correctness drives me nuts. It is comical as well as irritating, especially in an age where chefs are so popular and information so accessible. This may appear to be a small thing, but it seems impossible to find two people (cooks or guests) who can agree on what medium rare looks like”.
7. Who are your most valuable players in the operation where you currently work?
“Hands down Oscar. We have a small staff at Ze Café and it is easy to see when someone is not pulling their share. Oscar is young with no formal training prior to this job, but you can see that he understands the foundations of what makes you successful as a cook on a daily basis”.
8. If you had an opportunity to provide some guiding light to young cooks, bakers or hospitality students looking to make their mark in this business, what would you tell them?
“Hard work pays off – period. Also, when the time comes and someone gives you a shot – have a clear idea of what it is that you want to do and how you are going to do it”.
9. When you hire people to work in your business what traits are you looking for?
“I look for a positive outlook on life, adaptability, and a willingness to learn. A positive outlook is huge for me in the work place, I try to smile and keep a bright mind set. This attitude helps with productivity and creates a more pleasant work environment. So I try to employ people with a similar attitude”.
10. If you were not working in food and beverage, what would you choose to do for a career?
“I would choose something that would keep me in close contact with the outdoors. I am an avid fly fisherman so maybe a guide”.
11. What would you like people to know about your current business and the products that you produce or sell?

“Ze cafe is a small restaurant with a French influenced menu. We focus on freshness and quality of product. During most of the year we are privileged to receive fruits, vegetables, and eggs from our owners farm just south of Albany, New York”.

NOTE:

I had the pleasure of watching Tyler grow from his early days as a culinary student and captain of our student culinary team. Tyler’s experiences since then brought him from the Greenbrier, America’s premier American Plan Hotel to his current role as Sous Chef for Ze Café. Along the way, he followed his culinary dreams from coast to coast as defined in this bio from Ze Café website:
“Born in Buffalo New York, Chef Scott spent his pre-college years working in restaurants. Upon graduating high school he attended Culinary Arts and Service Management at Paul Smith’s College.
While at Paul Smith’s Tyler was the Co-captain on the school Cold Food Team, which received two gold and silver medals at the New York City Food Show.
Shortly after graduating he was selected for the apprenticeship program at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia where he was immersed in the world of Classical French Cuisine.
Returning home after three years, he worked as a Sous-Chef to Chef Scott Bova at The Athenaeum Hotel in Chautauqua, NY for the summer season of 2008. The following fall, Tyler moved to Portland, Oregon where he was able to pursue his interests in farm to table dining, butchering and Charcuterie working as a Sous -Chef under Ryan Bleibtrey at Urban Farmer Restaurant.
Tyler returned to Western New York to work for Chef Jonathan Haloua at La Fleur a Four Diamond Award Restaurant in Mayville, NY. After working at La Fleur, Tyler was offered the Chef de Cuisine position at the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club where he worked for 4 years. He returned to work with Chef Jonathan in the summer of 2013 at La Fleur and joined the Zé Café team Fall of 2013.”
______________________________________________________________________________________
Ze Café receives exceptional reviews as a top tier French inspired restaurant in New York. The next time you are in “the city” stop in for dinner and ask for Chef Tyler. Satisfaction guaranteed! Visit their website at:

http://www.zecafe.com/

PLAN BETTER – TRAIN HARDER
Harvest America Ventures, LLC
Restaurant and Culinary School Consulting, Training and Coaching
http://www.harvestamericaventures.com

Follow our blog at: http://www.culinarycuesblog.wordpress.com

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DECEMBER 5TH: I’LL DRINK TO THAT!

05 Thursday Dec 2013

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DECEMBER 5TH: I'LL DRINK TO THAT!

Today is a momentous day for the U.S. restaurant industry. On December 5, 1933, Prohibition was repealed. That marked 14 years of illegal manufacture, distribution, sales and consumption of alcoholic beverages and a law that was literally impossible to enforce because the majority of American’s were not in favor of the mandate. That day in 1933 really marked the beginning of the restaurant industry in the U.S.

Granted there were restaurants before Prohibition and there were restaurants during Prohibition, but the scope of the industry to come, the connection that restaurants would have with the American people, and the role that restaurants would play in our lives had it’s first real spark as a result of Prohibition’s repeal.

Think about some statistics first before I explain why I believe that repeal was the watershed moment for restaurants. The alcoholic beverage industry in the U.S. generated over $400 billion in sales in 2010, There are 60,000 free standing bars in the U.S. (not including restaurants that serve alcohol or retail stores that sell directly to consumers), There are well over 600,000 restaurants in America, a majority of which sell alcohol; 340,000 of those restaurants are independently operated; in 2012 Americans visited restaurants 60 billion times; the industry as a whole employs 13 million people which is about 10% of the U.S. workforce and places the industry as the second largest employer within our borders. How much of this would have been possible without the legal production, distribution, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages?

Now, some will refer to the negatives associated with alcohol: it’s potential addictive nature, the impact it may have on the psychological state of some, it’s contribution to crime, the impact of drunk driving, and the debilitating impact it has on so many who have become physically and emotionally dependent on the beverage. I cannot disagree with any of these facts and it is not my position to defend or criticize, however those who are able to drink in moderation, use an occasional alcoholic drink as part of socialization with friends (without using alcohol to make you social), and never get behind the wheel of a car with more than one drink under your belt, then alcohol certainly has its place.

Now, back to why the Repeal of Prohibition was the start of the restaurant business in the U.S.: my grandfather owned a speakeasy (he was also a local town supervisor which helped when the revenuers came to town). From family lore, I have discovered much of how this environment worked. He bought his liquor from Canada and in some cases even made some of his own “bathtub gin”. He was fortunate in that his was the only speakeasy in town so there was no competition like in larger cities. In order to keep his patrons happily drinking for periods of time it became necessary to serve some type of food, so he began offering sandwiches and soup. This was the case with nearly all speakeasy operations across the U.S. As a result, this illegal bar was where people went to socialize, discuss the issues of the day, and nourish themselves.

When Prohibition was repealed, the speakeasy, in order to maintain their business and a competitive edge, had to increase their menu offerings and create additional reasons for guests to continue their tradition of socialization in the operation. From the foundations of the speakeasy rose the modern restaurant where now the food would take center stage and alcohol would solidify the partnership with guests.

The restaurants and bars of America have a social, historical, moral and ethical responsibility to serve alcohol with care, respect the importance of the beverage and how it marries with food and on December 5th each year give thanks for the wisdom that was shown when an illegally produced beverage became a legal one for better or for worse.

*The historical photo is of a bar on June 30, 1919 – the day before Prohibition went into effect. It is part of the archives of the Library of Congress.

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PROFESSIONAL COOKING IS A TEAM SPORT

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

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The cadence of orders in a busy kitchen seems unrelenting. A staccato clicking from the point of sale printer sends out a drum roll of orders while the expeditor calmly, yet seriously calls out tickets in kitchen lingo to the battery of cooks on the line. They in turn signal back receipt of the order by either repeating it or simply saying “yes chef”. Ordering, fire, picking up, re-fire, I need an “all-day”, is part of the script that every professional cook understands and responds to with surgical precision. Orders are pre-fired and finished, plated as per the accepted design, edges wiped, placed in the window, inspected and finished by the chef/expeditor and passed on to servers in a seamless stream of syncopated and rehearsed activity.

To watch this interplay is truly amazing. The orchestration by the chef/expeditor is possible because everyone on the line is in sync. To allow this magic to occur every cook must be on their game. They must have impeccable mise en place (prep and organization), must know not just the details of their station but that of every other station, they must have the desired flavor profile of each dish embedded in their flavor memory, and must approach each single plate as if it were their personal work of art that makes a statement about their abilities and passion for food. Each cook must accept their role and understand how important their role is to the whole. They must respect the chain of command and never question directives from the chef, and must at all costs maintain the desired quality of their work. They must support those who are “in the weeds” and be comfortable asking for help when they see the same issue creeping into their station.

When it works, the busy kitchen is a beautiful thing. WHY? Because this group of cooks has become a team, not unlike any other professional body with a focused mission. Football, baseball, basketball, hockey, the military, or for that matter any driven business adheres to the same “call to arms”: Understanding, acceptance, discipline, preparedness, practice, respect, passion and common goals = TEAM. TEAM = SUCCESS.

Contrary to what you see on these very un-realistic television “reality cooking shows”, kitchens cannot work when there is a lack of any one of the aforementioned components. Chefs who yell and belittle do not inspire great cooking. In fact, this will do just the opposite. This type of chef (and I use the term loosely here) will create an environment of winners and losers and survival of the fittest. The result will almost always be chaos, back stabbing, inconsistent food, and unhappy guests.

Effective chefs can learn from those leaders in any business who aspire to create a team environment. To do so will lead to a cohesive group of committed, proud, supportive and successful cooks. These individuals will relish the opportunity to work in such an environment and treasure their employment as a result. Great teams = longevity among a restaurants cooking staff.

Given the chance, every diner would benefit from touring the kitchen of a restaurant they choose to dine in. If the operation is clean, if the cooks seem focused, if they are able to occasionally smile and if the chef works like a coach whose job it is to support, encourage and orchestrated, then I can assure you that the food will be great.

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“You’re Gonna Like the Way You FEEL, I Guarantee It”

26 Wednesday Jun 2013

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I can’t remember where I found this jpeg, probably on FaceBook, but it really struck a chord. When I was at the helm of a kitchen my feeling was that every customer wants a dessert and should be given the opportunity to say “YES” and purchase something sweet. As a consumer, I still have that desire but find far too often that restaurants feed into the reasons for people to say no.

Let’s face it, we don’t need the calories or fat, and probably could live without spending the extra cash, yet a meal that doesn’t end with a dessert seems to be lacking.

There is a growing population of very talented, passionate pastry chefs who should receive the same level of respect and accolade that quality savory chef’s have come to expect, yet how much thought is really given to the importance of dessert to the guest experience and the ways of accomplishing a “guilt-free” sale.

Since a very early age, desserts have been a stress reliever for many. There is a sense that buying dessert is special and in some ways a departure from “being good”. Desserts do bring a smile to people’s face, provide a special reward for good times and a respite from the not so good times. In the hands of a gifted pastry chef, any guest should be able to enjoy this finish to a meal without guilt.

At some point restaurants made a decision that bigger is always better and developed desserts that were so over the top in calories, portion sizes and fat that they became intimidating to order.

Toning down the portion sizes, reflecting on the use of fresh fruits and nuts, incorporating fresh herbs and alternative spices in lieu of added sugar can result in exceptional end-of-meal desserts that excite and satisfy. Five-hundred calorie desserts that push the envelope of common sense do not help the guest, the server, the pastry chef or the restaurant.

Every dessert should be comprised of four different components (based on conversations with some of my favorite pastry chef friends):
Something Soft
Something Fresh
Something Crunchy and
a Complementary Sauce

Working this into a formula that strives to create 3-4 bite desserts will help to bring a smile to your guests, pride to your pastry chef, added revenue for the restaurant and a larger base for server gratuities.

Create a “stress reliever” dessert menu rather than one that creates stress for the diner. Remember, it is the total dining experience that brings people back to a restaurant. Make sure that desserts remain a part of that experience. At the end of the meal, the diner should enjoy the way they feel, not sense that they owe their body an apology.

Pastry chefs – feel free to chime in!

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SEEKING RESUMES OF TALENTED CHEFS, SOUS CHEFS & RESTAURANT MANAGERS

16 Sunday Jun 2013

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As a restaurant consultant I am constantly faced with finding the right team leaders for restaurants and resorts of all types.  Harvest America Ventures is thus looking to build a strong portfolio of passionate, honest, talented chefs, sous chefs and managers who are interested in opportunities that may arise.

I do not charge any fee for representation but would serve as the initial interviewer to insure that there is the potential for the appropriate “fit”.  

If you are interested in confidential representation and the opportunity to learn about positions that may arise, simply send me your name and email address.  I will continue you in short order for a preliminary discussion.

For more information about my consulting firm please view the harvest America website at:

http://www.harvestamericaventures.com

Send notification of your interest to: psorgule@hotmail.com

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RESTAURANTS NEED TO PAINT OUTSIDE THE LINES

07 Friday Jun 2013

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What ever happened to creativity and the fun associated with developing something new, exciting, delicious and trend defining in restaurants. Certainly you could cite those handful of unique restaurants that grace the cover stories in trade magazines, win James Beard Awards and Michelin stars, and are home to chefs with names that are present on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but what about the other 950,000 restaurants in the United States along with business cafeterias, college cafes, and health care facilities? Are there exceptions to the rule, you bet, but they are few and far between.

Playing it safe is the rule of thumb, until someone creates that “ah ha” moment in restaurant dining that reinvents a segment. Do we really need another shop that serves Pizza Margherita, Ameri/Mexican restaurants with burritos and Chimichangas, white tablecloth operations with Shrimp Scampi or Veal Piccata? I have found myself many times referring to how important the classic dishes are and that they are always great to fall back on because after all – they sell! The problem is not their acceptability or the taste profile; the problem is that the industry is too boring. Did I really say that? Yes, the restaurant business is boring.

Customers play it safe, just like restaurants do, and thus the cycle continues. Those chefs and restaurateurs who try to break the mold gain notoriety among journalists, young chefs looking for excitement and that 2% of the population referred to as innovators, but walk down the street and you will find dozens of restaurants who are content (or stuck) with doing the same thing that everyone else does.

I am not a fan of what has been referred to as “molecular cuisine”; however, I am fascinated by those chefs who are head-over-heals committed to pushing that envelope. Grant Achatz, Ferran Adria, Wylie Dufresne are part of the pack of rebels who (forget what you think about the food) are trying hard to pull us out of our shells and learn to “think different”.

Steve Jobs was a genius. Some loved him and others despised him. Say what you will, but as the soul of Apple Computer he embraced creative thought above everything else. He had the uncanny ability to go beyond what people wanted or needed, he anticipated what they were going to need before they ever thought of it. So too is the case with a few contemporary chefs and restaurant owners/operators.

If Achatz, Adria and Dufresne are too radical for you, consider some who have been with us for a long time, treasure the classics, but who interpret those items in a way that breaks the barriers of “playing it safe”. Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, Charlie Trotter, Alice Waters, Charles Carroll, Daniel Boulud, Gavin Kaysen, Marcus Samuelsson and Cat Cora all continue to move their creative ideas to the forefront of restaurants that carry their signature while 950,000 others continue to ignore the need to be just a little unique.

Part of our job as chefs is to educate the staff members who work with us and the guests who choose to grace us with their presence. Of course, I am fully aware of the fiduciary responsibilities that go along with taking the helm of a restaurant and the fragile nature of restaurant economics. It is also our responsibility, however, to grow our business, attract new customers, and most importantly: exceed guest expectations with a food experience that is far greater than the sum of its parts.

To quote a culinary friend of mine from the past: “There is little talent in cooking a steak. Certainly there is a skill that goes along with timing and organization of a char-grill, but the talent is in preparing a chicken leg or inexpensive cut of meat in such a way, and presented with such unique grace, that its value far exceeds that of even the best steak.”

Please do not misinterpret what I am saying: I love classic Italian, French, Asian, German, Polish, Irish, Norwegian and every other traditional ethnic food. I sometimes salivate just thinking about that perfectly cooked steak, but how often is it that a restaurant experience truly excites and builds unforgettable memories?

Creativity is not exclusive to high-end restaurants. Starbucks was a real “wow” when they first began. The quality, the variety, the atmosphere were game changers. When was the last time that this type of change has taken our breath away in the coffee business? I would dare say that there is little difference between the Starbucks of 1990 and the one of today. Remember the first time you experienced an Au Bon Pain or Panera Bread and how it was fun to take it all in? Where is the next game changer hiding?

Playing it safe has a price. The price is complacency and transition of unique concepts into commodity restaurants. I am waiting for the next Steve Jobs in the restaurant business to catch everyone else off guard. Every once and a while we need to paint outside the lines.

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The Importance of the Neighborhood Restaurant

30 Thursday May 2013

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The Importance of the Neighborhood Restaurant

I have waited some time before writing this post – I needed to let the significance of the event sink in. Anyone who ever spent time in Saranac Lake over the past 30 years knows Casa del Sol. “Casa” as it was known, was the consummate neighborhood restaurant. It was a staple in everyone’s diet and an important memory for those who moved on from the Adirondacks at some point. This past year, “Casa” closed its doors. Maybe its time had come. Quite possibly it was a victim of the economic downturn. It could be a result of too much competition in a small town or maybe a changing population demographic. Whatever the reason, an important part of our community culture is gone. I felt it was important to talk about the role of the neighborhood restaurant in American society along with some history of this landmark restaurant.

I remember moving back to the Adirondacks in 1976 and starting work at the Mirror Lake Inn as a chef/manager. Like most chefs, I still had a gnawing desire to run my own place (thank God I never followed through) and always had an eye open for the right opportunity.

At the entrance to Saranac Lake stood a French Restaurant/Motel combination called Le Petite Francaise. The couple who owned and operated the establishment were ready to retire and the shop was up for sale. My mind was spinning with ideas. Of course, I would make it a classic French Brasserie with all of the classic dishes that I was trained to prepare. People would flock to try my food (that’s what I kept telling myself and my wife Sharon). Fortunately, I didn’t have any money and the restaurant would require more funds than I had access to.

Harry Tucker bought the building and took a year to renovate it. Harry was going to build a Mexican restaurant in Saranac Lake, how absurd. He opened a year later and the place was packed from that day forward. He had the right concept, in the right location, at the right time. Whether it was genius or luck, I will never know, but it worked. Over the years Harry added many pieces of original Mexican art from his trips South of the Border, but rarely changed the formula: great margaritas, simple but tasty food, and most importantly: a place where everybody knew your name.

The neighborhood restaurant serves many roles, but most important is a gathering place for friends and soon-to-be friends. In most small towns, it is the role of the restaurant to provide a forum for people to talk, argue, laugh, clink glasses and enjoy the reality of where they live. Restaurants with great food come and go, it is the neighborhood restaurant that typically survives swings in the economy and changes in customer tastes.

It is quite disheartening to see certain very important community focal points call it quits and put that closed sign on the front door. Bookstores, Movie Theaters, Newsstands, Groceries, Restaurants and even Churches are falling victim to a disturbing trend. Sometimes it is the convenience of the chains, the pricing that can’t be beat, or the ease of clicking on amazon.com (I am just as guilty as most) to get what we need, but in the process we destroy the soul of our towns.

As we collectively adopt the need for supporting farmers and local producers of raw materials we must also look at the sustainability of our communities. We need to protect the core of what made America great: the small business, and in this case, the neighborhood restaurant.

After 25 years in business, Harry Tucker threw a party for the community to celebrate his restaurant and thank his neighbors. Traffic was stopped, whole goats were being roasted outside, a mariachi band played, and EVERYONE in Saranac Lake came out to toast its important landmark.

A few years later Harry passed away leaving the operation of Casa to his wife and seasoned employees. They did a great job for a few years but as is the case with many restaurant folks, grew tired of the relentless work schedules. Casa was sold to Bryan Morgan, son of Saranac Lake’s most infamous restaurateur: Dew Drop Morgan. Bryan is a seasoned restaurateur in his own right and took his role as operator of a Saranac Lake icon very seriously. Casa was back! Unfortunately, in a few years, the restaurant just could not sustain and closed its doors in 2012.

Saranac Lake is not void of other neighborhood restaurants, nor is it lacking new ones opening up, but Casa was special.

Saranac Lake still has The Blue Moon, Left Bank Cafe, The Belvedere and even the Red Foxx to lean on. Bryan Morgan even reopened a family restaurant called Morgan’s Grill just a few months ago. We wish all of these restaurants well and implore the residents of our community and those passing through to support the small businesses that work so hard to maintain a sense of community.

All across America people must rally around the idea of the neighborhood restaurant. This is, after all, the center of the community, the place where we meet our friends, toast to their good health, break bread and relish the places where we live.

Small business is the backbone of our country and the heart of free-enterprise. Think small!

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It is Time for Reform – Your Health is the Top Priority

28 Tuesday May 2013

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The Elephant in the Closet:

So here is the reality: I praise the president for making an attempt at healthcare reform and unlike some I do not necessarily oppose what has been labeled as Obamacare. I think the greatest nation in the world should be able to make quality healthcare affordable for everyone. The real issue is that nothing has been done to address the sinful pricing structure of hospitals (some of which is driven by extraordinary cost associated with liability, bureaucratic processes, and fund distribution), the immoral pricing imposed by drug companies, and the lack of support for preventative medicine (nutrition, exercise, healthy choices).

Two cases in point: I recently had to spend a few hours in a Philadelphia Emergency room where they drew blood, had a doctor see me for less than two minutes and scheduled a CATScan that took about 5 minutes. I received a bill for $13,800 of which $75 is out of pocket for me and the balance was billed to my insurance company. The bill was not even itemized! This is immoral and should be considered illegal billing.

Another case is a friend of mine who has to take a medication every day for the rest of his life. Each pill cost $150. Fortunately for him, the majority is covered by insurance, however in both cases it is this sinful billing that continues to cause an absurd increase in healthcare costs, fraudulent misuse of funds, and healthcare costs that without government support would be out of reach for most Americans.

We should stop blaming the president and put pressure on our representatives to investigate the drug companies and immoral pricing expenses from many health care providers. Additionally, isn’t it time for another national wellness and physical fitness campaign similar to what John F. Kennedy did in his administration? We can reduce the cost of healthcare by simply addressing the need to take better care of ourselves in the first place.

As chefs and restaurateurs we have a role to play in this. I would support a national campaign for healthier menus, smaller portions, reduced use of sodium, fresh always before processed, and calorie, fat and sodium counts that are required on all menus. As a nation we are killing our people one fork full at a time and restaurants should be the voice of reason rather than the nail in the coffin.

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