Starting Over

How do you enter a new kitchen? Do you go in thinking you know how to do the job, that you have nothing left to learn or do you go in open minded, looking to learn everything you can, sidelining your ego and pretending (at least for a little time) that you need to relearn how to do everything? Do you think some tasks are beyond your skills or are you willing to do everything and anything just to learn and contribute? Coming into a new kitchen is a balance between using knowledge and experience and learning the thought process and procedures of the kitchen. Every kitchen has its own pace, its own standards and reasoning. The reasoning behind decisions is important to learn and asking questions is as important as keeping a sharp knife. Since starting in a new kitchen and returning to being a line cook I've had to try to navigate the personalities of the other cooks, the menu philosophy, the style, methods and reasons of my new home. I started in the best possible location, pantry. The cold station presents the best location to see how a kitchen operates and learn the expectations. I think that every cook starting in a new kitchen should start here. It is the station that all cooks first work, and the station that usually starts the meal. First impressions are made, expectations are set and the pace can all be influenced by the pantry cook. The acidity and seasoning level of cold items can also help to understand the tastes of the kitchen. Pantry also helps to teach plating philosophies. Portion size and plate layout are important things to learn. Not only can they help guide you as you move through the other stations, in keeping mental counts and in prep work but can also help in conceptualizing new dishes, and if you want to contribute to a kitchen all of this is important. The end question for me is what type of cook are you? Do you cook just to earn a pay check, doing just the bare minimum and enough to get by or are you part of the team, trying to learn as much as possible just so you can play your part, and play it well.

The Art v Craft Question

Whether or not what a chef does can be considered art has been a topic of great discussion. Books like Culinary Artistry, Rulman's trilogy, and Becoming a Chef (to name a few) deal with this issue (especially if not directly) and cooks and chefs can often be heard talking about it. Maybe the conversation is more about the difference between craft and art than about whether or not cooking is one or other, but for me all art begins with craft. Picasso first learned techniques, practiced point of view, perspective, scaling, lighting, and all the other elements and effects of visual art. For any artist, the craft of a chosen medium must be learned, practiced and struggled with. The difference between craft and art has nothing to do with medium. An artist can work with paint, metal, wood, clay, fabric, food, music, words and any other material; this doesn't make them an artist. In fact it seems certain forms (painting and sculpture particularly) are demanded less of, or maybe we don't understand enough to demand more. It is much harder to be called a literary artist than a visual artist and for some reason almost all musicians are considered artists?. With art education disappearing all across the country and the word art being debased left and right through phrases like the art of leadership, the art of law, etc.. It isn't surprising that there is some confusion about art, even the art world’s sometime declaration that art is what you make of it causes more problems than it solves. Art isn't just a technique, medium or thought process in the end art is a culmination and transcendence of many things from the techniques and craft to the process and ideas behind the concept. Art is a way of communicating a personal view point. It communicates a specific way of seeing the world. It is based in practice and study of techniques, processes and mediums. Trial and error is as inherent in art as it is in any creative act. I think what really marks the difference is through the act of creation an artist can transcend the craft to comment on some greater human condition, some human universal. The ability to connect with an audience, bring them into your world for a moment, showing the audience something strange and familiar. Can this be done with food? What some seem to think, that food and cooking is outside the realm of art, doesn't take into account the full scope of the profession. This doesn't mean that all chefs or cooks are artists, it just means that the possibility of artistry exists within the scope of the profession. There are some who are without a doubt artists. The chefs that invite us into a world, were service, décor, food and atmosphere come together to create a united experience, for that is all cooking is, providing an experience no matter how momentary that can touch a person in ways that can be remembered for ever. A chef can change a persons thoughts on what food is and can be, we can have a conversation with a person by serving them well prepared and thoughtful food in a well prepared and thoughtful setting with well prepared and thoughtful service that suggests another way of thinking about eating and cooking and the importance and impact of these acts on our lives and society, and this culmination is artistry. It begins with craft and technique. Being able to properly cook and serve food is a feat all it's own that should be applauded (it takes years of practice and study to do such a simple thing). The transcendence into something other should be celebrated. In the end I think it wise not only to recognize craft but to recognize and applauded artistry within any endeavor. Artistry comes from hard work and practice, it comes from failure and success, and in the end it is an experience all its own. This doesn't mean that all cooks and chefs should strive for artistry, craftsmanship is hard enough, but it does mean that when we experience artistry in any form it should be applauded and recognized as such.

Trying out

The stagè is an important part of joining a kitchen. Getting to see how the restaurant operates, how service flows, skill of the cooks, chefs and standards applied are important. It is also important to go show that you can handle yourself, that standing around isn't what you're about, that you want to learn and can take direction and work with others. Myself, I can't get this from one night, I want to go in for three days, spend 10 hours each day with everyone, and get the feeling of the kitchen while giving everyone a chance to get to know me. Then there's the trial meal. Planning and making the meal for owners and chefs, sourcing the product and cooking says a lot about the cook. Not only if the person can cook (which is kind of important) but the thought process behind the meal. The flow of the meal, is it consistent and follows a continuous arc? Do the components fit together and make sense? Where was the product sourced? It all says something about a cook and where he/she stands in their career. In the past two weeks I have done one lunch and one dinner. Both have taught me about myself and my skill level. I had fun and was successful with both meals. I can't stress enough the importance of doing this as often as possible, especially when looking for a job. Just going into an unfamiliar kitchen and hanging out for a night or two, getting to know people and learn new techniques, asking questions and finding out why a chef does something like flour a piece of meat to be seared can all expand knowledge and that can only be good. This doesn't mean that all experiences will be good, but even from the bad (or even more so) we learn. Another aspect of the learning process (for me anyway) is cooking at home. I bake bread, make pasta, make stock and cook at least two meals a week. I take the skills I’ve learned professionally and find a way to apply it to home cooking, further developing my skill and my palate. The scale of home cooking is smaller by far, sometimes making it harder to coax the full flavor or texture out of a technique but I develop techniques suitable only for the home kitchen and a way of thinking about flavors and processes. It is the though process that's important. The thought process most easily translates between the two different cooking environments. Trying something at home to see how it works then taking that idea and translating it into the professional kitchen can be hard but rewarding, and trying in reverse can be even more so. The most important thing is to learn and find ways that make cooking not only a physical act but a cerebral and emotional one as well. Only when you understand why a technique is used can you fully exploit it. This understanding and learning is what this profession is about and what drives me forward, this is why I cook.