Kitchen Life: Shoemakers

October 24, 2010 at 4:52 pm (Kitchen Life, Uncategorized) (blind baking, brigade, chef, kitchen life, kitchen politics, Michael Reuhlman, pastry, pastry chef, shoemaker)

You heard all the hype in culinary school — “passion, commitment, dedication, obsession” — that’s the stuff you must have to become a chef.

Then you get into the kitchen and find that, with few exceptions, it’s full of shoemakers. 

Here’s part of that section in Michael Reuhlman’s blog:

To call a fellow cook a shoemaker is a not-uncommon put down in kitchens.  But talent or no talent was not the point, Cruz said.  Shoemaker indicated someone who didn’t care, who, in the heat of service, simply slapped food on a plate, wanting only to get the night over with, to get the food out the door and go home.

Don’t think for a minute that this is by accident: It’s typical for a kitchen to have maybe one or two people who really care about the food, and the rest of them get it done as fast as possible and call it a day.

It’s a Culinary Calf Roping.

They seem to take pride only in how quickly they can do a job, not in how quickly they can do it well.

I’ve seen this in every kitchen. I suppose the reason is that it would be too chaotic if everybody cared about the food; if everybody had an opinion about what was good and what wasn’t, if everybody had an ego. Nothing would get done.

So the Exec Chef is likely to want maybe one or two people in the kitchen who have some culinary knowledge, who will offer honest opinions when asked. The rest of the crew is just there to show up on time (more or less), peel mountains of potatoes, and to work cheap.* They have no knowledge of food, no interest in food, and no desire to learn anything other than what the Chef tells them they need to learn. It’s just a job: They might as well be working at a quick-oil change place.

Add to that the language issue, and the fact that literacy is not a requirement for a job in the kitchen, and you’ve got the makings of a head-on collision into reality. 

For you.

Not for them. They all know what’s going on, including the Chef. You’re the one who’s living in a fantasy land. The sooner you wake up and smell the veal stock, the better.  

A recent example: The Sous Chef came to the bakery and asked me to find an “Asian Chicken” recipe for him for the lunch entree that was on the menu. I did a search on the internet and got a list of possibilities. We looked at a few and I tried to give him the one that had bok choy, garlic, scallions, ginger, etc., but he insisted on the “Asian Chicken Salad” with radishes and ginger dressing. I told him that it wasn’t the right recipe for a hot entree and he said he wanted it anyway because it had fewer ingredients. 

Shoe Chef.

*Read Fast Food Nation if you want to understand why kitchens are staffed this way.