I know I know I said the next post would be about Urban Farming but I am so excited after the conversation I had with the young man I am mentoring that I wanted to write this post first. SO THERE!
I don’t know who said it but I have always believed it to be true; “Mentor: Someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.” I believe this to be true and consider it to be a great honour to mentor someone in my chosen field. It makes me feel amazing and all I am doing is helping someone else realize his or her dreams. I would like to send a big THANK YOU to L for thinking of me and pointing this young man in my direction.
This young man is 19 years old. Completed high school. Has some experience in the culinary field having worked for Swiss Chalet and The Outback. At the Outback he was a dishwasher and prep helper while at Swiss Chalet he was a “line cook.” He was at the Outback for about a year and Swiss Chalet for about two.
From our almost hour long conversation I was able to glean that he became interested in cooking while he was in high school where he took some classes related to cooking. He told me that it was mostly home style or family type cooking but that he really enjoyed it. I asked what his favourite dish that he learned was while he was there and without hesitating he said that it was a Parmesan Chicken. This gave me at least some insight into where he was coming from and actually made me feel pretty good because he didn’t hesitate and that I was able to find that he had some experience.
Naturally he was chalk full of questions. In my words he asked about the length of apprenticeship, how many hours he would have to work, whether he could expect to work on holidays, how long the training is and then he asked a lot of questions about how to start up your own restaurant with out actually saying that he would like to.
I explained to him that the Apprenticeship for Cooks (as far as I know) would amount to around 3000 hours. I also explained that because he had some experience at Swiss Chalet that those hours may count toward his apprenticeship which made him feel pretty good. I explained to him that during my apprenticeship I worked no less than ten hours a day and sometimes as many as seventeen or eighteen. I told him that I didn’t believe that that would be the case for everyone but that was my experience. He didn’t seem phased by the hour commitment which was a good sign to me because as this blog has demonstrated time and time again – it takes a different kind of person to work in a kitchen.
He asked about holidays and I explained to him that the kitchen doesn’t know what a holiday is. People are always going to need to eat and holidays are no exception. He then asked how you go about getting into a professional kitchen. I explained that there are several ways and that when I am a little more comfortable with him I would be happy to help him by not only pointing him in the right direction but by helping him find a good place to help him get to where he wants to go.
He asked a lot of questions about starting a restaurant. Which I was only too happy to answer. He asked about where to build a restaurant, how the interior is done, how you go about staffing it, etc. I explained that there are lots of things that you need to consider when opening a restaurant. The location, the demographics, the type of food you want to serve, what you want it to look and feel like, etc. I told him that when the time comes I would be happy to share my knowledge on the subject as well as all the books that I have read to date on the subject. He got genuinely excited that I was willing to share all this knowledge.
From what I can gather he really would like to own a restaurant but, like me, knows that he needs to get the right experiences first. I explained a bit about me and how I arrived in the culinary industry. How the industry chooses you and not the other way around ( Thanks Director of Operations… you know who you are.).
I asked him what made him want to be in this industry and he told me that eh has watched a lot of cooking shows. I explained right then that television glamorizes the industry and that the realities are not anything like what you see on television. He had mentioned Hells Kitchen (which I also watch) and again I asked him to make sure that he did not think that was ‘reality.’ He assured me that he knew that it was much different than how it is portrayed on television. I sighed a huge sigh of relief.
So as it stands now I have instructed him to go out and buy Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Kitchen Confidential.’ I explained to him that Bourdain is a no muss no fuss representation of what the cooking world is really like. The ups, the down and the in betweens. I also did this to see just how serious he is. By making him take an action and then having a conversation with me about it I will be able to tell a lot about him. I then told him that after we had met and discussed Bourdain that I would be happy, one book at a time, to loan him books from my extensive collection. That excited him. AND MYSELF AS WELL!
On Monday next I will give him a call again and set up a time to meet him. I’ll have a list of questions and I am certain so too will he. So again, L, thank you, for letting me share with someone else who seems genuinely interested and interesting. I promise I won’t let you or him down.
John Quincy Adams once wrote; “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Showing posts with label Kitchen Confidential. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kitchen Confidential. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
“Chef, I need Bail!” (File under Words that all Chefs hear at least once in their careers for 2000 please Alex)
So last Thursday I went into work to discover that we were a few men down at a time that we certainly could not afford to be a few men down. At first I thought that it was just a joke so I continued along my day. The first joke was on me as I ended up showing up for work three hours early. Though it ended up being a good thing.
As I walked in the door and went to get my coffee M was working the pans at our sister restaurant. I thought this is kind of strange and when he started telling me his tale I thought that it was a joke.
I then walked through the kitchen and asked what the hell was going on. Though I was hours early I was told that I should get into my whites and we would talk about what was going on. I was seriously concerned at this point that something was going on. Chef J pulled me outside and explained as best he could what was happening. He again told me to get into my whites.
Now my mind is racing as to what could possibly be going on. It would seem that J, R, W, A and Chef B were arrested on Wednesday night because they were drunk and disorderly. I thought to myself that it makes a little sense that cooks would be drunk. It also makes a little sense that cooks might be disorderly every once and a while. I mean we need to blow off steam too, right?
Well the plot thickened when I found out that they had been setting off some fireworks and this got an enormous police response as the fireworks sounded like gunshots. So, sure enough, J, R, W, A and Chef B found themselves in police custody. Chef B called Head Chef to explain what was going on and as I got to work Executive Chef was already at court trying to get his cooks out.
Naturally we all made little jokes to ourselves. Perhaps L could make a cake bomb and spring them. Perhaps the pastry Chef could make a cake with a file in it. Of course the humour was a way of masking both our concern for the work that had to get done and for the welfare of our cooks. We wondered about the food and whether they were bitching about it. Which one of them was going to become Bubba’s new wife. All in good nature of course.
Anyone that is familiar with my blog and some of the tales of say, I don’t know, Anthony Bourdain, among others, would know that every once and a while cooks can get a little rowdy. Naturally, it is a busy time of year for the courts, so it took another day to get our cooks out. But they did finally show up and we got to work on what was going to be a Herculean struggle to complete 23,000 canapés for the next day as we had an enormous function for charity that was taking over the whole site.
The clock was running and so were we…
A good omen was that the party for 81 people that we plated Thursday night was the absolute best party that we plated all year. It was fast and furious and with no mistakes. It truly made me proud to see us all step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. It was a sign of things to come.
In “Kitchen Confidential” Anthony Bourdain writes; “In mot kitchens, one’s freakish proclivities matter little if at all. Can you keep up? Are you ready for service? Can I count on you to show up for work tomorrow, to not let the side down? That’s what counts.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
As I walked in the door and went to get my coffee M was working the pans at our sister restaurant. I thought this is kind of strange and when he started telling me his tale I thought that it was a joke.
I then walked through the kitchen and asked what the hell was going on. Though I was hours early I was told that I should get into my whites and we would talk about what was going on. I was seriously concerned at this point that something was going on. Chef J pulled me outside and explained as best he could what was happening. He again told me to get into my whites.
Now my mind is racing as to what could possibly be going on. It would seem that J, R, W, A and Chef B were arrested on Wednesday night because they were drunk and disorderly. I thought to myself that it makes a little sense that cooks would be drunk. It also makes a little sense that cooks might be disorderly every once and a while. I mean we need to blow off steam too, right?
Well the plot thickened when I found out that they had been setting off some fireworks and this got an enormous police response as the fireworks sounded like gunshots. So, sure enough, J, R, W, A and Chef B found themselves in police custody. Chef B called Head Chef to explain what was going on and as I got to work Executive Chef was already at court trying to get his cooks out.
Naturally we all made little jokes to ourselves. Perhaps L could make a cake bomb and spring them. Perhaps the pastry Chef could make a cake with a file in it. Of course the humour was a way of masking both our concern for the work that had to get done and for the welfare of our cooks. We wondered about the food and whether they were bitching about it. Which one of them was going to become Bubba’s new wife. All in good nature of course.
Anyone that is familiar with my blog and some of the tales of say, I don’t know, Anthony Bourdain, among others, would know that every once and a while cooks can get a little rowdy. Naturally, it is a busy time of year for the courts, so it took another day to get our cooks out. But they did finally show up and we got to work on what was going to be a Herculean struggle to complete 23,000 canapés for the next day as we had an enormous function for charity that was taking over the whole site.
The clock was running and so were we…
A good omen was that the party for 81 people that we plated Thursday night was the absolute best party that we plated all year. It was fast and furious and with no mistakes. It truly made me proud to see us all step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. It was a sign of things to come.
In “Kitchen Confidential” Anthony Bourdain writes; “In mot kitchens, one’s freakish proclivities matter little if at all. Can you keep up? Are you ready for service? Can I count on you to show up for work tomorrow, to not let the side down? That’s what counts.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Kitchen Confidential (file under Kitchen Truisms for 2000 please Alex)
Anthony Bourdain. The name itself conjures surrealistic images of wild orgies tempered by ounces of Cocaine and Heroin delight. Cerebrums of coked out models, the ivory tower captains of industry and glorious food.
What can I say about the man that he hasn’t already said. I became a big fan of Anthony Bourdain when I found out that despite his prep school upbringing (similar to a fault of my own) he found that he didn’t belong in the hallowed halls of some ivory league dream. Instead he was, perhaps by some unclear default, driven to where all of us who don’t belong elsewhere end up, the hallowed and narrow halls of an inferno that rages not just in the kitchen but also in our souls.
Sure I had read Bourdain before. I had seen him on TV. But now, as I regal you with my tales from the kitchen and I am rereading his irreverent classic “Kitchen Confidential” I can see my own experience coming to life.
It is hard not to like a guy who decides that he is going to be a lifer in the kitchen. Perhaps at times a dreaming dilettante but time has shown that Bourdain is a survivor. A rare bread akin to those that Hunter S. Thompson speaks about when referring to his good fried and lawyer Lazlo. They broke the mould with Tony. A CIA (the other one that is… The Culinary Institute of America) trained, foul mouthed, chain smoking, unabashed drinker who made sense of his own life the same way that I am, with food. And not just any food.
Tony, like any good cook can quote from Larousse, stole from some of the best Chefs in the world and has the same problem with the European Chefs that most North American gourmands do. That is to say that just because we were not (or in my case currently are not) being trained in Europe that we are somehow less valuable or good than they are.
I strongly urge anyone who is truly interested in understanding the kitchen, its nuances and subtle truths, to pick up Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” and treat it like it is a confessional because that is what it is.
The people he describes, the experiences, the food, are all things that I am currently going through. Rereading with fresh eyes and perspective this book has made me laugh out loud hysterically in a crowded subway car and streetcar. It has made me cringe when I think back to my own injuries, burns and events of getting chewed out by my Chefs. It is an accurate, if not detailed account which is eerily reminiscent for anyone that has aspired to greatness in a kitchen.
I will give you two quotes that I think best represent the kitchen as expressed by Bourdain;
“Are they young, ambitious culinary school grads, putting in their time on the line until they get their shot at the Big Job? Probably not. If the chef is anything like me, the cooks are dysfunctional, mercenary lot, fringe-dwellers motivated by money, the peculiar lifestyle of cooking and a grim pride… Line cooking done well is a beautiful thing to watch. It’s a high speed collaboration resembling at its best, ballet or modern dance… The job requires character – and endurance. A good line cook never shows up late, never calls in sick, and works through pain and injury.”
“The ability to ‘work well with others’ is a must… So who the hell, exactly, are these guys, the boys and girls in the trenches? You might get the impression from the specifics of my less than stellar career that all line cooks are whacked out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts and psychopaths. You wouldn’t be too far off base.”
I admire Bourdain. His strength. His conviction. His courage in the face of crippling addiction and his perseverance. Most of all I admire his consistency. His showing up for work. His getting the job done. His putting his truth on every plate that he puts out to the pass with a little bit of English. It is something that I aspire to and know will get to in the next seven years before opening my own building. Maybe sooner. But that’s another post.
One of my favorite quotes from Bourdain is this; “Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life.” I hope to be able to play upon and master the art of both for my patrons.
Dream big and inspired.
A la prochaine
SDM
What can I say about the man that he hasn’t already said. I became a big fan of Anthony Bourdain when I found out that despite his prep school upbringing (similar to a fault of my own) he found that he didn’t belong in the hallowed halls of some ivory league dream. Instead he was, perhaps by some unclear default, driven to where all of us who don’t belong elsewhere end up, the hallowed and narrow halls of an inferno that rages not just in the kitchen but also in our souls.
Sure I had read Bourdain before. I had seen him on TV. But now, as I regal you with my tales from the kitchen and I am rereading his irreverent classic “Kitchen Confidential” I can see my own experience coming to life.
It is hard not to like a guy who decides that he is going to be a lifer in the kitchen. Perhaps at times a dreaming dilettante but time has shown that Bourdain is a survivor. A rare bread akin to those that Hunter S. Thompson speaks about when referring to his good fried and lawyer Lazlo. They broke the mould with Tony. A CIA (the other one that is… The Culinary Institute of America) trained, foul mouthed, chain smoking, unabashed drinker who made sense of his own life the same way that I am, with food. And not just any food.
Tony, like any good cook can quote from Larousse, stole from some of the best Chefs in the world and has the same problem with the European Chefs that most North American gourmands do. That is to say that just because we were not (or in my case currently are not) being trained in Europe that we are somehow less valuable or good than they are.
I strongly urge anyone who is truly interested in understanding the kitchen, its nuances and subtle truths, to pick up Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” and treat it like it is a confessional because that is what it is.
The people he describes, the experiences, the food, are all things that I am currently going through. Rereading with fresh eyes and perspective this book has made me laugh out loud hysterically in a crowded subway car and streetcar. It has made me cringe when I think back to my own injuries, burns and events of getting chewed out by my Chefs. It is an accurate, if not detailed account which is eerily reminiscent for anyone that has aspired to greatness in a kitchen.
I will give you two quotes that I think best represent the kitchen as expressed by Bourdain;
“Are they young, ambitious culinary school grads, putting in their time on the line until they get their shot at the Big Job? Probably not. If the chef is anything like me, the cooks are dysfunctional, mercenary lot, fringe-dwellers motivated by money, the peculiar lifestyle of cooking and a grim pride… Line cooking done well is a beautiful thing to watch. It’s a high speed collaboration resembling at its best, ballet or modern dance… The job requires character – and endurance. A good line cook never shows up late, never calls in sick, and works through pain and injury.”
“The ability to ‘work well with others’ is a must… So who the hell, exactly, are these guys, the boys and girls in the trenches? You might get the impression from the specifics of my less than stellar career that all line cooks are whacked out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks, sneak thieves, sluts and psychopaths. You wouldn’t be too far off base.”
I admire Bourdain. His strength. His conviction. His courage in the face of crippling addiction and his perseverance. Most of all I admire his consistency. His showing up for work. His getting the job done. His putting his truth on every plate that he puts out to the pass with a little bit of English. It is something that I aspire to and know will get to in the next seven years before opening my own building. Maybe sooner. But that’s another post.
One of my favorite quotes from Bourdain is this; “Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life.” I hope to be able to play upon and master the art of both for my patrons.
Dream big and inspired.
A la prochaine
SDM
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