Daniel Martinez

Culina Regulas A Kitchen of We Daniel Martinez 2 Ingredients Manifesto p. 5 So Ya Wanna be a Chef... p. 6 Culina Regulas p. 14 Technique and Terminology p. 18 Regulas Explained (mostly) p. 31 General Restaurant Terminology General Cooking Terminology Know Your Equipment p. 18 p. 21 p. 28 Being an Assessment April’s Fool March Madness Breaking News p. 36 p. 44 p. 48 p. 52 3 4 Manifesto It is not YOUR Pasta It is not YOUR Party It is not YOUR Salmon It is not YOURS. There is no “I” in team, but there is a “me”. But we cannot be selfless if we are selfish: So turn that upside down because then “me” becomes WE: It is OUR Pasta It is OUR Party It is OUR Salmon It is OURS. If it is YOURS, then WE can all go home and YOU can handle it. But if it is OURS, then let’s do this thing. 5 So Ya Wanna Be a Chef… A chef is technically defined as someone who works in a professional kitchen. And fine, if that’s the way the word is defined, then I guess I can’t really argue. But the word “chef” means something to everyone who aspires to attain it, something much less blasé than “Chefs are professional cooks”. Certainly I cannot speak for any but myself, but for me, as I was growing up in the industry, so to speak, I was taught that a chef is a chief. Actually, that’s not really debatable, either, considering that chef translates as chief….Anyway, a chef is a chief and as a chief he is a leader of his kitchen; not only does he know how to make sauces and roast meats and prepare soups and pull off large parties, but he knows how to bake, too. And he knows how to keep food cost down, and he knows how to schedule. And he’s not necessarily unwilling to ask for help, although sometimes he may come across as so being. A chef is an angry little man with a tall hat, wearing an oversized coat. He’s probably French, he’s probably stuck up and he probably has been tasting everything all day long with that very same dadgum silver spoon sticking out of his coat pocket right now….A chef is a person who yells at his staff and belittles them, throws sauce pans and dumps whole pots of product into the drain…..A chef is a person who gets what he wants because he told someone to do it…. Indeed, there are so many definitions of chef it’s almost as if when two individuals speak of the position or title they could be using the same word to express two entirely different notions. So, let us define chef as well as we can, right here and now: In the culinary sense, he or she has got to have a general understanding, at the very least, of the culinary history and tradition of not only the food in which he or she specializes, but the cuisine of multiples of nations: Eastern, Southern, and Southwestern American; Traditional Parisian French, Country and Provençal French; North Italian versus South Italian and Sicily; Grecian, Mediterranean or Middle Eastern; Spanish, English, Polish, Mexican; Chinese versus Japanese versus Vietnamese versus Korean; Indian, African, Native American; the list could go on, to be sure. There are more than two hundred countries in the world, and there are thousands of diverse and individual cultures, and hundreds of thousands of family 6 traditions. There’s certainly no real way for any chef or cook to know everything there is to know about food; but it is possible for him or her to try to gain as much knowledge as possible. To know his or her craft, and not just “this is what food means to ​me”. When it comes to actually making stuff, a chef ought to be able to prepare any number of soups, but at the very least a cream soup, a bisque, and a broth soup. It’s a plus if he knows just what makes a chowder a chowder (the potatoes), and if he knows what is the difference between New England Clam Chowder (white) and Manhattan Clam Chowder (Red). A chef has got have an understanding of the five Mother Sauces of Escoffier, and he has got to have a pretty good and thorough understanding of French technique overall, including stock-making and blanching of vegetables. He should possess the ability to build his own signature spice blend, and he should know how to properly braise a joint of meat. He should know the difference between a roux and a slurry, and he should know the difference between a Creole roux and a Cajun roux. He should know how to fix a broken sauce, and he should be able to avoid that situation as often as possible. He should know how to cook his different meats, whether on the grill or roasted in the oven; he should know the purpose and use of starch as a thickener for his sauces and soups, and he should understand all of his starches thoroughly--pasta, rice, potatoes, beans, bread, what have you. A chef knows how to make bread and has an understanding of and ability to make the traditional viennoiserie. He should be able to produce a biscuit from scratch, and pancakes, and waffles, and sandwiches; he should know the difference between mayonnaise and aioli, he should know how to make a pesto and he should know how to make a vinaigrette. He should have an overall repertoire of recipes and techniques, which he can pull out of a hat or a notebook or his head, at any given time, in order to produce a fabulous meal. And he should be able to do all of it cleanly, in an organized fashion, with ample and proper planning. Chefs ​do tend to be temperamental. Chefs ​do often have strong relationships with food, sometimes with intricacies and nuances bordering on eccentric. Chefs do work long hours and strive for perfection even in spite of its unattainability in a true sense. Chefs also keep their kitchens clean, and keep their staff motivated. Chefs know how to get a schedule done, and they understand the importance of balancing the numbers and keeping in mind the average in all things. Chefs know how to babysit 7 adults, they know how to pass along their knowledge to the next generation. They know why they do food, and they know what food means to them; they understand their role in the kitchen and they embrace it. They don’t mind the long hours and they don’t mind the inappropriate commentaries. And for all that, chefs are hardly better than being some of the best of the worst lot. Coming up as a cook I was surrounded by cooks who did coke, cooks who drank excessively, cooks who smoked pot, cooks who did acid on their weekends; cooks who dealt drugs, cooks who’d been in jail or prison; cooks who cheated on their girlfriend every chance they got; cooks who wouldn’t hesitate to pull a prank on just about anyone. Cooks who would talk dirty about the servers, cooks who would try to get with the servers, if and when they could. Many of us have tattoos, many of us have multiple piercings, many of us have both. Many of us have partaken of the drugs and booze because it seemed like part of the lifestyle. To some extent, that is a large part of the motivational vein that keeps cookery so raw for every new generation. But chefs, or at least the successful ones, are the ones who’ve managed to move beyond that. Partying may have been fun in the heyday, but now it’s time to get down to business. And his or her past, whether it was going out with the crew and getting in on whatever antics they all settled on for that particular night, is the very thing which allows him to better-know, and better-understand, the crew of which he’ll be, or is, in charge. ​As a chef, you are going to find some ridiculous people. You are going to have to deal with mutinous staff and you’re going to have to deal with extreme staff--pathological liars are some of the worst. You are going to have to motivate your crew when business is slow, and you’re going to be able to best understand how to do that when you understand what motivates ​you, whether when business is slow or in general. You are going to have to train your staff, which means you’re going to have to define the needs of your kitchen, and recognize both their strengths and weaknesses. You’re going to need to know how to make a prep list, and you’re going to need to understand the importance that every role plays in the kitchen. You are going to have to foster a sense of camaraderie and promote teamwork, you are going to have to work the line when it’s slow, you are going to have to save on labor and you may have to find new products if the supply runs out. You are going to have to truly embrace adversity, and understand it for its diversity; and, as a chef, as a manager, you are going to have to manage not only yourself and your crew, but your managers--your 8 Sous Chefs or Junior Kitchen Managers, or whatever title you end up giving them relative to the structure that works best for your kitchen. For myself I have been working in a kitchen for the better part of two decades: As of the writing of this, it’s been seventeen years in the industry, the last ten years of which have been in kitchen management, as either Sous Chef or Executive Chef. I’ve worked in fine-dining Italian in Rochester, New York, I’ve worked with vegan food, a couple of Mexican restaurants, a number of retirement communities, a couple dives, a couple fast food joints, a couple guest ranches in Texas and in Arizona. I’ve been a dishwasher, a prep cook, a line cook, a breakfast cook, a saucier, a banquets captain, and a pastry chef. I’ve lived in my home state for most of my life but I’ve driven the whole length of Interstate 10 between numerous trips to California, Texas, and Florida. I’ve had beer on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and crawfish pie on the outskirts of Louisiana; I spent just shy of three years travelling the country, living in three states. I’ve worked, partied, and lived with the best and worst of them, and it hasn’t always been pretty. But through all of it I’ve learned about myself, and about the intrinsic value of food. I’ve learned to respect the profession, its prestige, its tradition, its adaptability, and its acceptance of any and all into its huge family. One thing to understand is that every situation is going to be slightly different. Not even two steaks from the same animal will necessarily cook the same way, no matter how hard you try--if only because you can’t cook both of them in the exact same spot at the same time, and if you do cook them in the same spot it simply cannot be at the same time. ​Every situation will be different, every day will be a new day, every shipment of tomatoes could be better or worse than the last. Prices will change, food supplies will be abundant or scarce; people will change, or they will come and go like the seasons. To some of them we may grow attached, but overall it’s a drifting profession, if only because most of us can’t afford school (not that any of us “believe” in that sort of thing) and the only way to get a widely-varied base knowledge is by working in numerous restaurants, with numerous chefs and brothers-in-combat. We still believe in apprenticeship but we also know the vast majority of those we meet are only passing through, even following an extended stay: The college student, for example, who doesn’t wish to wait tables, or the high school student who’s only working to save a car for when he leaves for college. 9 ...So ya wanna be a chef, you say? Well, think about what that word means to you; think about whether you could handle writing out a schedule and balancing the books and ordering and creating a menu with appropriate pricing. Then go through the following, and contemplate your own experiences and what you have seen done or done yourself; and consider that ​that is the hard part. Once you throw real, live people in the mix, all of a sudden the numbers and the health code seem pretty easy: A nice bit of structure to impose upon the barely-controlled chaos that is the surge of a restaurant’s life-blood. And so begins the relative nitpicking. Riding the staff for what they are worth and taking no excuses. Pushing them not exactly to the utmost of their limits, but further than perhaps they have been pushed before. It is a relatively unfortunate thing that the hourly employee, as an object of study, is so very tunnel-visioned. By this I do not mean to imply that they are incapable of viewing any wood for the trees, but only that, to some extent, it has apparently become the norm to focus on one station and one station only. When someone is asked to work two stations they begin to feel like they are being taken advantage of, at least to some extent. It stands to reason that with no motivation or gumption, necessarily, to improve one’s work ethic or attitude, neither should there come along any sort of due compensation. The notion that more money is “deserved” due to something like longevity is not without grounds, but if the only reason one’s pay might be increased is due to longevity, then of course the increase will be minimal. If, however, one is being paid (for example) eight dollars per hour, then they ought to be working like they are making at ​least eight and a quarter, if not eight and a half. Why? Because if the hourly individual ​does stay focussed on nothing but the task at hand, or allows him- or herself to fall into the mindset of “that’s not my job” or “I don’t get paid enough for this”, then the hourly individual is only hurting him- or herself by narrowing his or her vision down to the immediate and the instantly gratifying. Moreover, as one continues either with the same company or within the same field, then it is only in a lateral sense that one may do so, should one remain so focussed. Indeed: It is necessary, as one advances in both experience and professional responsibility, that one should begin to look at the bigger picture. When there is a station to be filled it is filled, ​regardless of whether or not it is your job. Your job, or one’s job, being that one works in a professional kitchen, is to be a team player and to 10 support one’s coworkers and fellow staff. Sabotage is not necessary and in fact may be hurtful to the saboteur; so too bullying or excessive fun-making. While that is not always an issue, yet it remains that this is what happens in lesser kitchens: Someone comes in and begins to set up a station. This someone may realize that no one is setting up another station. But rather than take the initiative and set everyone--including oneself--up for success, this someone decides to laze around and ponder (either quietly or out loud), ​Well who’s working ​that station? O ​ nly at the last minute will this someone realize that, quite possibly, no one is working that station and, holy cow, it needs to get set up for service! The someone who simply opens the station, has gumption. That someone works at fifty cents or more, more than what that someone is being paid. The someone who ponders, is only worth what that someone is already getting paid. That someone lacks gumption. So on Saturday night when the line is comprised of five men and there is no middle guy to set the plates and call out the orders, take the initiative and work those two stations: Grill, set their plates when saute is getting pummeled. Saute, set the plates when grill is getting pummeled. When orders come in and everything is over on pantry and we’ve got three guys standing around twiddling their thumbs, one of those three guys needs to hop over on pantry and help bust out those tickets. When saute or grill is getting slammed, and pantry has got nothing going on, there’s nothing wrong with pantry lending a hand (so long as they know what they’re doing, of course). The point being, that it ​is a team effort and, should each link of the chain let the other break before it, then who’s to blame when the broken link lets the others shatter as well? One may wish to point fingers. That is only natural. But the one who points the finger, more often than not, does so as a means of ignoring his or her involvement/role in the downfall. If the line is going down because it’s busy and you can’t handle a station and a half but that’s what you’re there to do, is it necessarily because there were too few cooks on the line, or is it because you simply are not as capable as you thought? And if the line is a little weak, because someone has a bit less experience, and the tickets start piling in, does it make sense to stand by and watch your less-experienced cook(s) go down ​before helping them out of a bind? Maybe in a selfish way, maybe in the moment of crisis; but no, ultimately it does not make any kind of 11 sense: Because when you’ve allowed your cooks to fall into the weeds, then you yourself will also be in the weeds. Certainly everyone has a recognized and recognizable role when it comes to working the line: When there is a middle guy, he does what the middle guy does; and when there is a saute guy and a grill guy alongside him, then they also do what they do. But just because the middle guy might not be there, doesn’t mean that the middle, as a ​station,​ “disappears”. Much more true to say is it, that the middle spot then becomes divided, between saute and grill, and whomever has enough time to make it happen. That, is what we, as professional cooks, do. We ​make things happen. Very rarely do we say no. Very rarely do we simply eighty-six something without trying to figure out some way to finagle a product in order to achieve some semblance of what it should be. Very rarely, because we are yes men. We are soldiers on one side of a war, and the customers are on the other side of it. We rely on the customers to bring in sales and we rely on sales to continue to promote people and give employees their raises. Without the sales, labor runs high and, with highly-paid labor, it runs ​really high--which means there are staff cuts. Because any chef, and any sous chef, also has a job to do: Any chef or sous chef must also ​make things happen. They may have a slightly different set of rules or motivations than the average-Joe line cook, but nevertheless as a line cook they did begin and it was by looking at the bigger picture, by making things happen when those things seemed impossible or hard to achieve, by saying yes even when they wanted to say no, by keeping their calm when they wanted to blow their lid;--by this and by these things did those line cooks work their way up the ladder. It is certainly possible to be a chef in just about any establishment that allows for a job position upon which is bestowed the title. But working for the same company for seven years and always improving, always getting promoted on an annual or semi-annual basis, unto the achievement of a management position, does not necessarily a chef make. A manager does this make, and a manager must make jive any number of differing opinions, personalities, and potential hostilities; he or she must balance the needs of his or her employees with those of the establishment with which he or she has been entrusted the running. Just the same as simplicity is the ultimate expression of refinement, one cannot simply begin one’s cooking career by serving salmon grilled and seasoned with nothing 12 but salt and pepper--this does not necessarily make for a true respect for and appreciation of the ingredient(s). This, makes for laziness. In addition to the managerial aspect of balancing personality and making compromise to keep the kitchen running smoothly, a true chef will understand the ingredients and not only how to prepare them, but also how to fix them when they are broken: As with a sauce, for example, or a quick way to get a well-done steak out the window. It’s the act of responding to a mis-ring by rinsing off the mussels that were plated in marinara sauce and dumping them into a white wine sauce so that everything continues to run smoothly and we don’t have to waste product. It’s the process of delegation and overall training, of nurturing in a fair but firm fashion--allowing the individual to shine even as the individual is also encouraged to bring to light some of his or her darker aspects (teaching someone to bake, for example, who has always been curious but never given the opportunity to explore it; or to take someone who has only worked a pantry station and move them up to something like grill or saute--force them, to some extent, to really pull something out of themselves that they feel is actually worthwhile--not only to their superiors but to themselves). A true chef will have burnt more salmon than properly prepared has he or she served; will have oversalted more dishes than he or she cares to ever admit; will have undercooked any number of items (though hopefully not chicken) but managed to finagle a way to get it done and out the window anyway if not faster. If all you settle for is the salted and peppered grilled salmon, and a microwave to quicken the cooking of your chicken breast, then all you are is a hack. But if you have prepared a blackened salmon and really ​blackened it to the point of being inedible, and if you have eaten old salmon and fresh salmon and grilled salmon and sauteed salmon and fried salmon, and thusly understand the various results of the application of different methods of cooking in order to understand ​why salted and peppered grilled salmon ​is so ideal, then using a few shortcuts every now and again becomes acceptable. Every failure is a only a later measure of greater success. Because at the end of the day it’s all about what you, the individual, take from it. Did you learn something? Did you get your adrenaline going? Are you high on the fact that you got slammed with ten steaks, seven fettuccini, five caesar salads, and ten pepperoni pizzas--while everyone was one break? Did you help your team to succeed? Did you fail in any way, whether in the eyes of your superiors or, more importantly, in your own view? If so, how can and will you do better, the next time that same failure is 13 a possibility? That’s what it’s about--don’t tuck tail and run, ​own that! ​Own your failures as well as your successes! Get through the bad so that you can enjoy the fruit of the good--all those things that are along the lines of “every rose has its thorn”. Because it’s not what you go through, it’s how you get through it. 14 Culina Regulas 1. This is a Kitchen of WE 2.. This is a Business, ​not​ an Art Class. And this is strictly business. 3. Be consistent; be organized. 4. Lead by Example: If you don’t do it, no one else will. 5. You can never do too much in a kitchen. 6. Do the things you ​don’t want to do, first: Never arbitrarily pass on responsibility of task completion to an employee--especially if you don’t want to complete that task yourself. 7. Embrace adversity: It builds character; recognize diversity in adversity. 8. Be humble: Admit mistakes, and take responsibility for them even when you don’t commit them. 9. Be honest ​with yourself. 10. Be honest ​with others. 11. Do your best to leave a lasting, positive impact. 15 12. Understand, or at least attempt to understand, the soldiers at your command; likewise, make yourself understood. 13. Smile, and say hello, or howdy, or how ya doin’, or some friendlier greeting along those lines. 14. Never let your staff know how stressed you are. 15. Delegate duties accordingly--but always delegate fairly: Be available to all hands at all times. 16. Never discuss pay, or rate of pay, with hourly employees. 17. Do not mess where you eat, and also do not sleep with staff. 18. Always uphold the company standard of honesty and integrity through informed decision-making. 19. Follow the Rules: Inspect what you expect. 20. Keep your head down, keep your hands busy, and keep your ears open. Observe and listen and absorb. Every failure is but a step toward success, and it is always easier to learn what not to do, than what to do. You don't always need to know what's right, so much as you need to know it's wrong. Then, do something about it. 21. Know your Craft. 22. ​A leader knows when to lead and when to follow; a​ s a leader, everything rolls downhill and you are at the bottom. 23. You can't control the chaos around you but you can control how you prep and organize your station, your tools, and your mise. 16 24. If you've got time to lean then you've got time to clean; and if we tell you to clean then that means clean: Do not leave anything dirty, meet the standard or go home. 25. Know what you seek. Know why you are here. You will be broken down physically, you will be broken down mentally. In the real world you're almost never on level ground. There are limits perceived, and then there is the realization that there are no limits. 26. The definition of insanity is using the same failed technique time and again in hopes of achieving different results. If you are giving your best and it's still not enough, take a step back to think outside the box and consider the situation differently. 27. The longer you take, the worse it gets. Similarly, procrastination is like masturbation: It’s fun at first but in the end you're only screwing yourself. 28. You are not going to make the rules here (unless you are the proprietor, or have the proprietor’s permission). And if you're going to do something you better do it right. Because this is not a pirate ship and you are not a pirate. This is a naval vessel of the United States of America: The biggest, the baddest, and the best. 29. It is not enough to have heart. It is not enough to have mind. You must have both, you must have all, and you must never quit. How will you make it happen, no matter what? 30. Be an advocate for self-awareness; communicate, understand, and listen. 17 Technique and Terminology As a cook and as a chef, you’re going to need to know a few basics when it comes to kitchen lingo and what of you will be expected as you fill each role in the kitchen--whether you start as a dishwasher and work your way up, or have to cover for one or more stations because someone’s called out. The following will not be all-inclusive, but focus mainly on the more common terms; then we’ll take a look at common job descriptions for the various BOH positions. Also, the follow is not listed in any particular order (least of all, alphabetical), including order of importance. It’s ALL important, in the end. General Restaurant Terminology. 86. ​Means we’ve run out of a product or ingredient, or will be running out of it very soon. If you have to eighty-six something, you’d better do it before service; if you’re doing it in the middle of service, you’re going to be asked, “Do we have enough to cover the board?” This means, do you have enough of the product or ingredient left to fulfill the orders that have already come in. Corner/Behind. ​Generally used when turning a blind corner or when literally behind (or soon to be behind) someone, carrying anything heavy, hot, or sharp. It must be enunciated clearly and voluminously, because restaurants can get pretty loud. Ex.: “Corner, hot!” ; “Behind, sharp!” ; “Behind, heavy load!” Ticket. ​The piece of paper, either printed or handwritten, which contains the details of the customer’s order, usually including any special instructions or unusual requests. Also, “dupe”. Fire. ​This could very well mean that someone was terminated, but in the bustle and flow of a busy kitchen, ​fire means start plating. Add the butter to the sauce, slice the rested steak, finish the dish with parsley and give it a little mix; then put 18 everything on the requisite plate, give the rim a little wipe, and send the plate to the pass. Sell. ​Means take it to the table. Also, Service, Hands, Runners. Pass. ​Also known as the window, also known as expo. This is the area where the final dishes are gathered, usually by table or party. A very important area of the kitchen, since the pass is the final (or first) barrier between the front of the house and the back of the house. The person who’s working at the pass is the final inspector of the dish, therefore it is his or her duty to add any final garnishes, or do one final wipe on the lip of the plate, or do a quick temp-check to ensure the food is hot. Expo. ​The person who’s working at the pass. The full word is expeditor, because your main task is to expedite the ebb and flow of the kitchen and how the food comes out. Traditionally a position held by the chef or his or her sous ​en absentia. Calls out tickets as they arrive when there is no middle guy, communicates with the line and with the servers; acts as the narrowest point of the bottleneck, filtering all communication from the font to the back of the house and vice versa. Middle or Wheel. ​The one at the center of the line on the kitchen side; calls out tickets to the line, sets plates, lends a hand as needed but generally helps to keep the line cooks focussed by working directly with the expo and keeping track of tickets. All Day. ​Refers to a total. Asking how much one has all day requires the one being asked (usually the middle guy) to look at the all the tickets and answer how many orders ​total. Hanging. ​Refers to tickets usually, since they are hung by clip or ball bearing or clothespin: What’ve we got hanging? Oh, just a rib-eye mid-rare and a chicken allemande. Board or Wheel. ​Refers to all the tickets that have come in, and are hanging, awaiting a sell or a fire. A full board means there are lots of orders. A clear board means there ​were a lot of orders, but now there are none; or, it means simply that there are no orders. Being able to cover the board, usually refers to when you have to eighty-six something in the middle of service: If you can cover the board, then you have enough of the product on hand to fulfill the orders that have already been turned in. 19 Working. ​Refers to dishes that are in the process of being cooked. Got a rib-eye mid-rare and chicken allemande hanging? Yeah, but I got ‘em working (as the cook gestures to his grille and a few saute pans with foodstuffs being cooked). Plating or In hand. ​Means you are in the process of plating. How long for that chicken piccata? In hand….Means generally less than five seconds. Heard. ​What we say (usually) when a ticket is called out. If you heard the order, Rib-eye mid-rare and chicken allemande, the appropriate response is, Heard. Other acceptable answers include A’ight, Right on, Word. This implies that you are aware an order has come through the system, and that you are taking the necessary steps to its being fulfilled. Walking in. ​Could refer to customers, could refer to tickets. When customers, obviously literally walking in; when tickets, it means “new ticket” or “new order”. For the cook it means gets ready to listen and respond with a “heard”. Off-line. ​Means you must vacate your position at your station, usually to run and grab more product in the middle of service. Service. ​The peak periods during which your customers tend to gather. Generally there are three services, breakfast, lunch, and dinner; happy hours do not usually fall into the category of service, since more often than not the happy hour is a means to get more people in seats during the slower points of the day. Being “between service” means the majority of those who are going to eat at that time for that day, have already come and gone; now all you’ve got are the stragglers or no one at all. Rush. ​The peak period of any service, when the restaurant is full and the servers are taking orders, the volume is like that of a concert (especially when you’ve got live music), tickets are printing with an insane continuity, the line cooks are dancing (if they’re in sync and fairly well-seasoned), and the dish-machine is running constantly. Line. ​The area where line cooks performs most of their duties. Also the area where food is generally prepared-to-order. Pit. ​Refers to the dishwashing area. Back Dock. ​Generally refers to the back area of the restaurant, where orders are usually received and trash is usually collected before transferring to the dumpster. Drop it. Means put the pasta in the water, or could be used to instruct someone to change-out the fryer oil. 20 Toe-Go.​ Means “to go”. Offsite. Means the kitchen is preparing food that is meant to be served at a location other than the restaurant itself. B.E.O. ​Acronym for “banquet event order”; generally these are for larger parties with prix fixe menus, or off-site events. Can be a thing in an of itself (Did you get that BEO taken care of?), or it can be the piece of paper which outlines what the customer has ordered (Did you see the BEO for tomorrow?) F.I.F.O. ​Acronym for “first in, first out”. Refers to proper rotation of food and other product, whereby anything older gets used before anything new. Also refers to the proper order in which a chef or manager should cut his or her staff if business is slow: First in, first out, second in, second out. General Cooking Terminology. Sauté. ​Means “to jump”, and it is done in a pan specifically designed for sautéeing. Uses little to no oil; sides of the pan are shallow, which allows steam to escape and the possible “caramelization” of your various ingredients. Also, the station in a kitchen where various food items are prepared, the main process of which is through sauteeing. Sweat. ​A cooking process done usually in a pot or pan with taller sides, to encourage the return of steam to the ingredient. Not requiring of as high a heat as a sauté, and salt is introduced in the beginning so as to draw out moisture and prevent coloring. Once a vegetable has been sweated it is often referred to as “translucent” or “opaque”. Grille. ​Refers to cooking with direct heat, usually over a grate. Certain fish, skewered shellfish, vegetables, and many meats can be cooked on a grille. Also refers to the station at which the food prepared is prepared mostly using a grilling technique. Fire-Roasted. ​Refers to roasting an ingredient, traditionally a chile or other pepper, over direct heat, so as to char the outside skin for later removal. Once the skin is charred, generally the ingredient is transferred to a container and covered. When cooled, the ingredient may be peeled and de-seeded. May also refer to ingredients such as tomatoes, onions, or eggplant, which are either roasted directly in the flame or 21 grilled over a high heat and then later utilized in a sauce or a dip, such as salsa or baba ghanoush. Braise. ​A cooking process by which otherwise tougher cuts of meats are rendered fairly succulent and tender. It requires knowledge and mastery of many different techniques in order to execute successfully, and is, along with soups, among the best dishes in the chef’s repertoire. The main foodstuff is roasted, then cooked, while covered, with a combination of aromatics, herbs, spices, and liquid(s), at a fairly low temperature, for an extended time. Can also refer to any dish which is cooked with a quantity of liquid not exceeding the height of the ingredient being cooked, and which is cooked whilst covered. Indeed: One can braise on the range, or braise in the oven, and a cauliflower dish may be braised if it is covered, and if it is cooked with liquid but not enough liquid to immerse the ingredient completely. Boil. ​A cooking process which also involves liquid, but requires total immersion of the ingredient, and often requires stirring. Pasta is cooked in boiling, salted water; potatoes and various root vegetables can be boiled. A stock, on the other hand, should never boil or be boiled, as it is a relatively vigorous cooking process, and can negatively affect ingredients which require a more delicate treatment. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level, and there are generally large, rapid bubbles involved. Simmer. ​Cooking at a lower heat than is required for a boil. A gentler process, with bubbles smaller and less frequent. Depending on the liquid substrate, it could be very dangerous, however: Tomato sauces and thick bechamels are known for spattering droplets of their very hot selves all over the equipment and the cook or cooks preparing them. Ice Bath. ​A quantity of water and ice, generally used for either cooling hot foods quickly or for stopping the cooking of ingredients which have been ​blanched. Blanche. ​Cooking technique used mainly for vegetables, especially green vegetables. Brightens their color, ensures thorough cooking regardless of final treatment (roasted, sauteed, grilled, et cetera). Different than boiling because it is usually done for only a few seconds, in ​salted water, and then the ingredient is removed and transferred to an ice bath, to stop the cooking process. Roast. ​Cooking technique which requires a high, dry heat, as in an oven. No liquid is involved, but the ingredients are seasoned with spices, herbs, and/or oil. 22 Sear. ​A cooking technique which is used, it is often said, to “seal in the flavor”. In fact it provides another layer of flavor to the final dish. Requires high heat and little oil; usually browns the outside of the ingredient, while leaving the inside raw or just barely cooked. Often used in conjunction with another technique, such as braising or sauteeing. Barbecue. ​A low and slow cooking technique which cooks meat with ​indirect heat ​and smoke from hardwoods​. As opposed to a grill, where fire or heat comes from below, heating the grate or other surface for the cooking of the food, in barbecue the fire is set aside and its heat and smoke are channeled to the location of the ingredient, usually a tougher and larger cut of meat. A popular cooking method in the Southern United States, but often hotly contested as to “proper” preparation. Basic tenets include: Use hardwood for the fire and smoke; cook at a low temperature, usually after applying a ​rub. In Texas there is no sauce. In many states there are sauces which are molasses, brown sugar, and tomato-based; in other states the sauce is vinegar based (mostly associated with North Carolina barbecue). Also can refer to a gathering of individuals who are eating foods prepared in the style of barbecue, or the occasion of the food being barbecued in the first place. Also refers to the side dishes eaten at such a gathering. Rub. ​A combination of dried herbs and/or spices, often but not always those popular in barbecuing or blackening, which are mixed together and applied to a meat or vegetable prior to roasting, searing, grilling, or barbecuing. Poach. ​A gentle cooking method, usually used for fish, seafood, or chicken. Implies liquid such as water, stock, broth, or wine, usually seasoned with aromatics, herbs, and/or spices; the liquid is brought to a state of ​simmer and the ingredient is placed therein to cook slowly. Fry. ​A violent cooking method, requiring of oil capable of achieving high temperatures without breaking down at the molecular level. To deep fry is to immerse the ingredient, which has usually been breaded, completely in hot oil or animal fat, in order to attain a golden-brown exterior. To pan-fry is to cook with oil to achieve a golden brown exterior, but the amount of oil is substantially less than when deep-frying; the ingredient may be covered as little as a quarter of its height. Often used in conjunction with other cooking methods. 23 Dredge. ​To coat an ingredient with a starch such as flour or cornstarch, which has generally been seasoned. This is usually done before doing a sear or a fry. Batter. ​To coat an ingredient with a mixture of a starch and liquid which have been mixed together to form a sort of paste. Popular starches are flour, cornstarch, and rice flour; common liquid ingredients include water, buttermilk, beer, tonic water, and even champagne. Bread. ​Traditionally, to treat ​a l’anglaise. To perform this procedure, an ingredient is usually peeled or sliced and then dredged in seasoned flour. Thusly coated, the ingredient is then dipped into a wet ingredient, usually eggs or a combination of eggs and dairy, and sometimes dairy alone (such as buttermilk). Finally, the dredged and dipped ingredient is placed in a quantity of breadcrumbs, also generally seasoned, and the resultant product is usually treated with deep-frying or pan-frying, either for the majority of the cooking process or as part of a larger procedure. Temp. ​Refers to the temperature to which a particular meat (usually) has been cooked, or to which the customer has requested it to be cooked. A shortened version of “temperature”; also refers to hot-holding and cold-holding of foodstuffs, and the equipment used for their storage, as in, What’s the soup temp, or What’s the reach-in temp? Fabricate. Refers to the alteration of any ingredient but usually meats, from its original condition following arrival. Whole chickens which are de-boned and de-skinned are fabricated. Whole tenderloins which are cleaned of silverskin and then sliced into steaks are also fabricated. Temper. ​A process used to gently heat a delicate ingredient; usually used relative to pastry, but also really anything which contains eggs that are not fried or used solely for baking purposes. Bouquet Garnis. ​A combination of herbs and spices, traditionally bay leaf, parsley, thyme, black peppercorns, and clove. Satchet. ​A little packet, usually handmade for each dish, comprised of a bouquet garnis or other herbs and spices, enclosed and sealed in cheesecloth. Mirepois. ​A traditional combination of celery, carrot, and onion, in the following ratio: 25%/25%/50%. Essential to many braised dishes, soups, and sauces. 24 Holy Trinity. ​Traditional combination of celery, green bell pepper, and onion, in the same ratio as mirepois. Generally used in Southern, Creole, and Cajun cookery. Soffrito. ​Refers to any combination of aromatic vegetables, such as onions and garlic, which are sweated and used as a main flavoring component for sauces, soups, and other dishes. Aromatics. ​Any combination of vegetables, herbs, and spices, which lend a particular flavor to a dish but which may or may not be part of the final dish presentation. For example a braise utilizes aromatics in order to add more flavor and dimension, but those aromatics may be strained out before finalization of the sauce or the dish. Stock, Broth, and Stock versus Broth. ​The resultant liquid achieved after slowly cooking meat trimmings or bones or carcasses in water, usually in combination with wine, aromatics, and herbs and spices. Stock is prepared using bones; broth is prepared using meat or meat trimmings. The Mother Sauces ​(but not their recipes). Espagnole (a rich brown sauce), Béchamel (a thick white sauce), Velouté (most similar to a lighter gravy), Hollandaise (a hot combination of clarified butter and egg yolks, similar to mayonnaise), and Tomato Sauce ( a red sauce, the process of making which is quite similar to that of making a coulis). Coulis. ​A sauce prepared, usually with fruit but not always, by cooking the ingredient with spices (sometimes but not always) and liquids (such as juice, wine, or water) and sugar or salt for seasoning. The whole lot of it is pureed and strained, and should have a very fine and light texture. Coulis may be prepared from raspberries, blackberries, roasted peppers, and more. Court-Bouillon. ​The poaching liquid used traditionally for fish and shellfish. Generally includes water, mirepois, bouquet garnis, and wine and lemons. Rest. ​A necessary step to the serving of grilled meats. When a protein is cooked on a grille or roasted in an oven, it is essentially seared on the outside and moisture is kept from escaping. But the moisture in the ingredients still moves around, or expands, within the ingredient itself. If a meat is sliced immediately after removing from the grille, those juices are going to pool onto the cutting board. But if the meat is allowed to rest before slicing, the juices settle down and leak much less--which allows for the plating of a much more tender, and certainly less-dry, cut of meat. 25 Slice or cut on a bias. ​Usually used for cylindrical ingredients such as baguettes, cucumbers, and zucchini or carrots. Properly speaking, it is a cut performed at an angle of 45 degrees. Knife Cuts: ​Chop, Dice, Mince, Brunoise, Baton, Julienne. ​To ​chop ​is to cut something into approximately ½” squares or diamonds; to ​dice ​implies ¼”; to ​mince implies ⅛”, and to ​brunoise ​implies a 1/16” teeny-tiny square cut. A ​baton ​is usually ¼” thick and 1-2” in length. A ​julienne​ is a 1/16”-wide cut, usually 1-2” in length. Colander. ​A device used for removing solids from liquids. Usually shaped like a bowl, with handles and holes throughout its inner surface. Used for removing pasta from its cooking water, or vegetables from their blanche. V-Strainer, China Cap, Fine Mesh. ​All different types of strainers, referring to or referred to by their shape or the size of their mesh. Coarse or rough mesh implies larger holes; medium mesh is suitable for most purposes and implies smaller holes than a coarse mesh. Fine mesh is possessed of very small holes, and super-fine mesh is even smaller than that. Types of strainers utilized for different sauces, soups, or stocks are usually relative to the clarity and texture of the final product. Clarify. ​A process by which an ingredient is divulged of its particulate ingredients so as to achieve a very clear final product. A stock may be clarified but so may a butter. Generally only the purest of the liquid or other ingredient is salvaged, with all physical “contaminants” removed and discarded. Strain. ​The process of pouring a mixture of ingredients, hot or cold, in order to remove solids. Generally used relative to final product’s clarity or texture. Bake. ​The process of cooking in an oven at a moderate temperature, usually as applied to breads, cakes, and pastries. Some pastries are baked at temperatures similar to that at which a meat might be roasted, but pastries are not roasted. And meats are not baked, necessarily. Baked usually implies that the entirety, or at least the vast majority, of the cooking process is begun and finished in the oven; as opposed to roasting, which is usually used as a first step and in combination with other cooking techniques to produce a final dish. Cali. ​Shortened term for calamari. Riso.​ Shortened term for risotto. Flying or On the Fly.​ Implies something that is coming or is needed quickly. 26 Maillard reaction. A phenomena of cooking, describing what happens when a product is seared, baked, sauteed, or broiled or roasted. Refers to the specific reaction the proteins of an ingredient or combination of ingredients with dry heat. Often mistaken for caramelizing or bronzing; and although used interchangeably, they are not the same. Caramelization. The result of sugar’s being cooked to a specific temperature, which alters it consistency, color, and flavor. De-glaze. When an ingredient is seared or roasted and pieces thereof remain in the pan, stuck on or otherwise, and liquid is adding so as to “loosen them up” Fond. The foundation or base; technically, the little bits and pieces that remain in or on the pan, which are deglazed with such as wine, stock, broth, or other liquid. Jus. The resultant liquor which is achieved by deglazing the fond in or on a pan. Emulsion. The combination of two or more ingredients harmoniously, which do not usually combine, specifically two fats (as with butter and egg yolks for Hollandaise) or a fat and a liquid (as for a vinaigrette). Puree. The process of, or the final presentation of, an ingredient which has been cooked and blended into a smooth, and usually thicker-than-coulis, paste. Also implies a finer texture but not necessarily so fine as coulis. Turn. Also, ​tourne, referring to traditional French treatment of various ingredients. Common examples include mushrooms and potatoes.Often relative to achieving similar size and shape for consistency in cooking time. Concassé. Refers to a treatment, usually of tomatoes, which results in a peeled and seeded ingredient. Similar to fire-roasting as concerns end result, but water is used instead of fire. Cap it. Means something is covered, either with a saute pan or a bowl, which is meant to either cook food more quickly, or to keep hot food hot as it makes its way to the table. Throw it in. Means put it in the oven, or saute pan, or oven, or walk-in. Do not literally throw, nor even toss. Build. ​Common term for preparing something that requires multiple steps or processes. 27 Double-boiler, bain-marie, water-bath. ​Hollandaise is prepared in a double boiler, which means a bowl with the main ingredients is set on a pot which contains water at a simmer or boil, and this is the means by which the ingredient is cooked. Bain-marie refers to a larger vessel into which a smaller vessel, containing the main dish to be baked, may be placed. The bain-marie itself contains water, and the smaller vessel contains the ingredients to be cooked or kept hot; usually the smaller vessel just fits into the larger one. Water-bath refers to any ingredient cooked in a smaller vessel placed into a larger vessel which contains water. Usually cheesecake, créme brûlées, and other custard or custard-based dishes, are cooked by this method; as opposed to a lasagna or stuffed peppers, which may be “built” in a shallow pan, which is then placed into a deeper pan containing water, and the whole lot of it covered and cooked in an oven. Know Your Equipment. Hotel Pan. ​Refers to the usually rectangular vessels in which professional kitchens store prepared foods, whether hot or cold. Often referred to by number or fraction, the number implies the pan’s depth, while the fraction implies its overall size. A Full 400-Pan is the standard, being four inches in depth. A 200-Pan is two inches, a 600 is six inches, and so on. A half pan means two such pans can fit into one full pan. A third pan means three can fit; a six means six, and a ninth means nine can fit into one full-sized hotel pan. Chafer or Chafing Dish. A piece of equipment comprised of five parts: 1.) The framework; 2.) The pan, which usually has a wide lip with raised edges, holds water, and into which is placed 3.) The insert pan, which is usually of a shallower depth than the pan itself; 4.) The lid, which maybe he a single unit or comprised one piece connected to another by hinges or axles; and 5.) Chafing fuel, also commonly referred to as sterno even though that’s a brand name. Keeps food hot by heating the water in the first pan; the lid also keeps temperatures hot. A chafer is generally used for off-site events and buffets. 28 Sheet Pan, Half-Sheet, Quarter-Sheet. ​A metal pan of standard size, usually with slightly raised lip and rolled edges. Used for storing, transferring, baking, roasting, and covering. Speed Rack. ​A framework, usually set upon wheels, designed for the holding of sheet pans and half sheet pans. Saute pan. ​The pan which is used for saute, possessed of curved edges and a low rise of the sides. Crêpe pan. ​A pan with a flat bottom with very short sides, specifically used for making crêpes. Flat-top, French-top, or Griddle. ​A large, flat surface, generally of one solid piece of metal, which is set over a heating element or multiple heating elements. Usually used for eggs, pancakes, bacon, hashbrowns, and other such items. Range or Stove. ​At home we always say oven and stove. The oven is the part with a door that contains shelving and can be used for baking, roasting or what have you. The stove is, in the restaurant, referred to as the range, and is possessed of individual burners with metal or cast-iron grates, on which pots and pans are placed to receive heat from the burners for the performance of any number of cooking techniques. Reach-in. ​A cooling unit with doors, usually on wheels, in which ingredients may be stored for easy access. All that’s required is for the cook to literally reach in and grab them. Walk-in. ​A large cooling unit, with room for shelving, in which the majority of a restaurant’s raw ingredients may be stored. May refer to a cooling unit or a freezer. Alto-Shaam. ​Technically a brand name, but generally implies a unit which keeps food hot or which cooks food at a low and slow temperature. Combi-Oven. ​A combination oven, which generally takes the guesswork out of all cookery and puts it in the hands of a computer; can bake, steam, boil, roast, braise, or whatever have you--so long as it’s programmed correctly. Rationale Oven. ​Similar to a Combi-Oven, but usually somewhat smaller. Steam-kettle or Gumbo Pot. ​Large pot with water connections. Essentially a large, all-inclusive bain-marie: The inner vessel in which food is cooked is surrounded by a layer of very hot water, which itself is enclosed by the outer shell of the unit. Ideal for simmered, boiled, blanched, or stewed dishes, among others. 29 Tilt-Braiser or French Braiser. ​A large flat-top, essentially, with tall sides and a hand crank. Large batches of soup or sauce may be prepared with one of these devices, and the whole cooking vessel tilted by use of the hand-crank so as to transfer to an appropriate container for storage; or it may be tilted for cleaning purposes. May also be used for searing meats or vegetables, and sauteeing. Hoods. ​The ventilation system which pulls steam- and smoke-filled air out of the restaurant. Hood Vents. ​The filters through which the air flows as it makes its way out the hoods. Ansul System. ​The fire-safety system which is set to automatically trip when its sensors detect flames over a certain height and temperature. Knives ​(the main four you’ll ever need). A ​Chef’s knife ​or French knife is usually triangular in shape, ranging from 6” to 14” in length. Always use the largest-sized knife with which you are comfortable. A ​Paring knife ​is a short, 2-3” knife generally used for paring foods, or for traditional French tourne. ​Boning knives are usually slimmer blades, ranging from 4.5-6.5” in length; blades may be flexible, semi-flexible, or stiff; generally used for cleaning fabricating whole cuts of meat. A serrated knife ​is one which has an edge with many teeth, usually used for citrus fruits, tomatoes, and other ingredients which have an outer skin or other layer which resist traditional flat edges; may be regular or off-set, may be specifically termed a bread knife or deli-knife. 30 Culina Regulas Explained (mostly) Not all the rules necessarily need to be explained so much as all of them need to be understood. For those comprised of lesser content, I’ve expanded a bit in the following pages. 1. This is a Kitchen of WE A kitchen is made up of many components. In terms of strength, one could liken the kitchen to a chain: Where every staff member is a link, and the chain itself is only as strong as the weakest. In real-world terms, no one job is necessarily any more important than the other. Dishwashers deserve just as much respect as prep cooks, and prep cooks as much as line cooks, and line cooks as much as the Sous Chef or Chefs, and the Chef as much as the Sous. We can wash dishes, we can work the line. We can do the order, we can do the inventory. We can execute BEOs and we can do catering. We can do wedding rehearsal dinners and weddings proper; high school reunions and business gatherings. ​But we cannot do all of that, by ourselves. ​You must be able to rely on your team; and, likewise, your team must be able to rely on you. It is both unfair and nearly impossible to expect from your team, more than that which you provide. So, if consistency is what is needed, then ​you must be consistent. If cleanliness is the goal, then ​you must be clean. If professional appearance is the question or goal, then ​you must be professional in your appearance. If you want your team to work long hours and take on every challenge you throw at them, then ​you must work long hours and take on every challenge that is thrown at you. This is a team effort. It is not a dictatorship that we are promoting, maintaining, upholding or beginning. This is a democracy...of sorts. Perhaps more like a republic of appointed representatives, said representatives being appointed by the oligarchical family of owners….But that in the by and by, and nevertheless, the kitchen ​is 31 comprised of many parts, and every single one must be attended to from time to time. Coaching and counselling, training and mentoring are key aspects of your role as a leader and manager; b​ ut you will not have a willing student body if you do not first possess an humble authority. 2. This is a Business, ​not​ an Art Class. And this is strictly business. To some extent everyone who works in food is somehow emotionally attached to the product with which they work. And although with food self-expression and something nearing true art ​can be attained, yet the fact of the matter is that the art is only temporary and, once consumed, and once praised, and once the kitchen is cleaned at the end of the night and then being reopened the next morning--then truly all that we have accomplished is producing something which will, in a fairly short time, be no more than forgotten and left behind, unloaded by the consumers into whatever vessel or onto whatever roadside they happen upon in their continued lives. The less emotionally attached you are, to the food, or to the menu, or even to the staff (to some extent), the easier it is to proceed in a more business-minded state of operation. Because the food ​can be art--but it doesn’t matter if no one buys it. And then, it doesn’t matter if someone buys it, if what they pay for it does not match the amount of time, energy, and man-hours you’ve invested in the final product. And then still again, it doesn’t matter if someone buys it and it ​is priced correctly, because if it cannot be repeated, or if it is not presented in a professional manner, or if it’s flawed every other time, then a reputation will begin to build and, with it, a certain stigma; which will, in the end, affect business negatively (unless the inconsistencies are corrected and the product becomes, the majority of the time, that which is expected): And then there will be no one to buy it, and no one willing to try it, because word of mouth has it that the food isn’t really that good, anyway. One might say that we are overpriced as far as a restaurant goes. One may think we are money-hungry because we charge three dollars for a full side of pasta, which only costs us approximately one-tenth of that….But when we had the Pork Ossobucco on the menu, we didn’t charge thirty-four dollars for that dish, even though the pork shank itself cost us $3.49, aside from the various accoutrements. In that sense, the pricing of a menu is all about balance. Ten percent food cost on Item A, makes up for that forty percent food cost on Item J. But more than that, the fact of the 32 matter is that we are charging nearly ​twenty dollars for a plate of pasta. Would ​you pay that much for it? And, if you did or were willing to do so, then what would you expect? You’d probably expect a plate of pasta worthy of your almost-twenty dollars. So you’d expect relatively good service, you would expect that your hot food would be hot, and you would expect that it would be flavorful, balanced, and along the lines of what you’d expect based on the menu or server description. You would expect that your pasta would be al dente; that you would have just enough sauce to coat every piece of pasta but not overwhelm the dish. The three most important things when it comes to any kind of food are: Fresh, simple, and tradition. Technique distinguishes cooks and chefs, one from the other, but techniques are generally all the same no matter what kitchen you’re in. In fact, technique is all that you can bring to any new kitchen or kitchen environment; elsewise, even though the principles are the same and the rush is the same and the gay jokes and sexual references are all the same, every kitchen is different--with its own take on fresh, simple, and tradition. On that note, an over-complicated menu is entirely unnecessary and worth almost nobody’s while. If it takes the server longer to describe the dish than it takes the customer to eat it, then you’ve got a problem. With Italian food these three principles are paramount, along with a fourth, which is ​balance. In life and with all things, ​balance is key. Italian food requires, sometimes, merely four ingredients. Freshness has a lot to do with the “greatness” of Italian cuisine. But also it has to do with how that freshness is treated--seasoned simply, and with the various flavors and components accented by the other components and flavors, rather than overpowered. Working at any restaurant, we must maintain the standards of quality because we must maintain consistency; because we must be able to sell the dish, and we must be able to sell it to multiples of customers, who must then spread the word, who will then cause other customers to come in, who will of course be expecting to receive the same or better than that which they’ve heard from their friends, which if they receive the same or similar, will cause for a ​better reputation, and a ​good memory, and a ​good recommendation next time someone they know wants to know about a good restaurant around town. ​Even as we must try to remove the emotion from most things we do, in order to stay clear-headed, yet at the very base of all that we do is a huge wellspring of passion, artistry, philosophy, and adversity. 33 In the end it’s plain and simple. Leave home at home. When you come to work, come to ​work. To some extent, none of us care about your personal drama. Everyone’s got bills to pay, everyone’s got a messed-up family. Everyone has issues with the law, or family members with issues with the law. I could go on, but basically it boils down to that you are not unique, relative to the problems you are facing. Perhaps by how you deal with them (or, even, avoid dealing with them), but overall--every teenager goes through a phase or ten. Every eighteen year-old thinks he or she knows everything. Every driver is the best driver. Every pizza cook makes the best pizza. No one is necessarily more special than another. 3. Be consistent; be organized. It is true that, to some extent, ​it doesn’t matter how it gets done, just so long as it gets done in a timely and consistent fashion; b​ ecause food is subjective. If you try to please everyone, you will fail. And if you have a 90% success rate but focus on the 10% that doesn’t like you, then you will lose that 90%. Consistency is certainly key in any successful kitchen. And, ideally, we would be able to come in every day and write out our lists; no one would ever call out, no one would ever complain, no one would ever be unhappy with their wage. But this ​is a business, and we won’t always have the staff on hand to lighten our load or make our lives easier. ​The best way to maintain consistency is to plan ahead. By being aware of that which is up-coming or likely to happen or not happen, we can then begin to accommodate and adapt and succeed. Through adequate planning and greater awareness we can factor in the proper amount of time it might take to complete a task to the best of our ability--rather than throwing something together on the fly because we weren’t paying attention. Consistency is key, but the key to consistency is organization. 4. Lead by Example: ​ Because if you don’t do it, no one else will. It’s easy to say that you lead by example, or that you, from the outside looking in (or the bottom looking up), believe that a leader should lead by example. ​But the only effective way to lead by example is to ​be aware of the example you are setting. If you don’t pick up after yourself, then eventually your staff will not pick up after themselves. If you continually ask your staff to stay late because you need to go home 34 to have some alone time with your wife, then resentment will begin to build in the employee’s heart, because such action is a blatant and unfair abuse of power. If you continually forget to order something, or continually run out of product, then your staff will begin to lose faith in you. If you continually have no plan of action, or are lacking of answers to your staffs questions, then eventually the team will devolve completely into an every-man-for-himself piracy. ​Be aware of the example you are setting. Lead by example, but be certain that the example ​you set, is an example that you yourself would follow. “​Inspect what you expect.” 6. Do the things you ​don’t want to do, first. Never arbitrarily pass on responsibility of task completion to an employee--especially if you don’t want to complete that task yourself. This goes in hand with leading by example. We will ask our staff to do things that seem extreme or bizarre or out of line. We will put them through, and expect them to survive, highly stressful situations on a regular basis. So it’s fine and dandy if you tell them that you’re not too keen on doing something; but you best make sure that if you do, you get it done, too. ​Show them not that you, too, must at times do things you don’t want to do. This goes with the notion of an appropriate use of power. We are not bullies. ​As a management team, it is our job to s​ upport our staff. ​If someone is having a bad day, talk to them--or leave them alone, whichever seems to fit the individual and/or situation at the moment. Or if someone needs help figuring something out, work together with them to figure it out. If there’s something someone can’t get to, get to it for them. If there’s something someone needs and you’re already heading that way, offer to grab it for them. If your team is drowning, pick up the slack and pull their heads above water. You don’t have to carry them to shore, you just have to show them the way. ​But no one on your team will follow your lead if you abuse your power. 8. Be humble. Admit mistakes, and take responsibility for them even when you don’t commit them. This is your kitchen. This is your naval vessel. I don’t care if, after I ask you to do something, you delegate accordingly and fairly and the person to whom you 35 assigned the task does not complete it; if, the next time I happen upon the subject, the task is not yet completed, ​you​ are the one who will get the blame. If an order doesn’t go out on time for delivery, that’s on you. If the pasta is burnt, or if the refrigerators are not holding at temp and food is expiring, that’s on you. If there are major maintenance issues that need dealing with, but you don’t get the ball rolling, that’s on you. If there are staff issues that need dealing with, but you either put them off or pretend they’re not there, those issues will fester and you will either lose your staff or face revolt. And that’s on you. So support the staff. The owners are the say-all be-all. I, as their representative, have also that relative privilege. I, as your direct supervisor, am the buffer between you and the owners. Likewise, you, as the staff’s direct supervisor(s), are the buffer between me and them. So I take the “berating” from the owners, and then you get a slightly watered-down version from me; and then you give your staff a slightly watered-down version of that. Maybe you did ask someone else to do it; and you can reprimand them or coach and counsel them as needed on your own time. But as far as the owners are concerned, this that or the other things is m ​ y responsibility; And so likewise, the other things or that or this is y​ our​ responsibility. I once made a mistake relative to managing management. I put forth all my ideas concerning his job performance on a relatively public platform, rather than doing the appropriate thing, which was to pull him aside and speak with him directly, one-on-one. As a result of this, I wrote the following, and offered it for anyone to see; now I offer it again. “Being an Assessment of Daniel Martinez” November 21, 20-Daniel Martinez was hired into the position of Executive Chef in late September of 2015. His first day of employment was September 30, a Wednesday. In the past approximately 60 days of his employment, he has not done a poor job of running the kitchen at his designated 36 location, but there are a number of issues which have arisen, which may or may not require further follow-up, and/or which may or may not have already been resolved. Fairly soon into Daniel’s tenure the kitchen ran out of wine. This is a problem that was resolved by sending the sous chef, or one of the line cooks to the supermarket to purchase boxes and/or bottles of wine using petty cash. This is something that could have been avoided, had Daniel been more on top of his duties and made immediate contact with all purveyors upon the start of his employment. Along the same lines, there were numerous issues regarding the availability of the gelato dessert offered: To the point, there was no gelato for up to seven days, due to Daniel’s failure to contact the purveyor. Later in the month the same thing happened, but Joe, the Sous Chef, placed an order with the purveyor so that the amount of time the restaurant was without gelato was only one or two days. Regarding general inventory, on a few occasions Daniel has ordered poorly so that, for instance, the restaurant did not have the appropriate to-go containers for salads and cold items. This resulted in said items being placed in the more expensive, microwaveable to-go containers, which is not cost effective. On another occasion, Daniel failed to order the proper toilet paper; he has forgotten to order toilet seat covers for the public restrooms; he has allowed the towels for said restrooms to almost completely run out. Other things that *were* ordered, such as the aluminum foil disposable pans and lids used for catering, were almost entirely unnecessary at the time, resulting in an exorbitant amount of said product on hand. On more than one occasion the restaurant has run out of heavy cream, which is used in many sauces; which resulted in that an employee was sent to the store to purchase said item at retail. On another occasion, due to poor inventorying practices the kitchen ran out of bistro steaks and salmon filets, as well as spring mix for salads. Had Daniel kept a keener eye on his product on-hand, this issue could have been avoided. The same can 37 be said of all these occasions and examples, none of which are cost effective in any way. When Daniel came on board the kitchen was understaffed, therefore he was given permission/direction, to put an ad on Craigslist hiring for both cooks and dishwashers. Before any new hires were made, there was at least one issue, on a Sunday night, during which the problem of understaffing became blatantly obvious. Daniel had poorly staffed his line for the night, believing apparently that it would be a slower night. Additionally, he placed himself in a position of relatively great responsibility, as he was working saute that night, *before* he was necessarily fully trained on the station, the menu, or the line in general. As a result of this when the tickets started piling in, Daniel’s lack of ability, as well as his understaffing, resulted in long ticket times, burnt sauces, scorched saute pans, and even a confrontation between Daniel and Thomas, who was working grill. Daniel confronted Thomas in the heat of the moment upon learning that Thomas had contacted one of the owners regarding the horrible state of the kitchen, but Thomas was not responsive; therefore Daniel kept pushing the issue, so that ultimately Thomas’s response was, “Do you *want* me to walk out?” Thankfully Thomas did not end his employment then and there, and by the end of the night Daniel and Thomas shook hands and parted ways cordially; but this is something that could been avoided, perhaps if Daniel had been more humble so as to admit—or, even, to realize in the first place—that he was *not* as familiar with the menu and the station as possibly he should have been. He should have scheduled someone who was knowledgeable to be there to coach him, should that kind of situation arise. In the end when the owner so contacted came in he spoke with Thomas and then spoke briefly with Daniel. By the time he arrived, the rush was fairly well over and, as before-mentioned, by the end of the night Thomas and Daniel managed to talk it out, shake hands, and part cordially. On numerous occasions Sundays have been an issue, since Daniel has come on. In one example, he scheduled a complete novice to the 38 pizza station on a Sunday morning day shift. Due to the new-hire’s overall ignorance of the menu and the restaurant, this scheduling resulted in long ticket times. Furthermore as regards that very same day, Daniel scheduled himself, who also was a novice on the pizza station, to work the pizza station. Again this resulted in long ticket times and contact of one of the owners, who came in to assess the situation and give Daniel direction. The following Sunday, Daniel again scheduled someone who was not entirely competent as regards the pizza station, to the pizza station. This particular employee has been with the company for many years, and has worked numerous firetruck events in that time, such that he is fairly familiar with that station; however he is not one hundred per cent up-to-par, and indeed a number of the pies he put out were substandard. During the course of the afternoon of that day, the employee cut himself fairly badly, which hindered his ability to spin the dough properly. As a result of this Daniel again assigned himself to the pizza station despite his novice-level mastery thereof, and again this resulted in misshapen, sub-par pies, long ticket times, and contact of one of the owners, who again came in and this time directly and thoroughly trained as regards the station, as well as reiterated the importance of the pizza as a signature product, and the names of those employees who are approved to work the pizza station. Finally the issue seems to have since been resolved, in that on Sundays is scheduled a veteran of the pizza station, who works it well and helps to ensure short ticket times and uphold the restaurant standards. Also on more than one occasion Daniel has scheduled an overlapping staff, which has resulted in a number of kitchen employees either with little or nothing to do, while running up the labor. When confronted as regarded the logic behind said staffing, Daniel clammed up and was unable to properly or appropriately respond. Just as with his lack of observancy as regards the inventory, this kind of overlapping scheduling is not cost-effective. While a certain leniency may be given due to the fact that he brought on many new hires in his first month, still it was excessive. 39 Speaking of which, labor for the month of October was really extremely high. The goal set for Daniel was ten per cent. While it was stated that eleven per cent could be understood in general, yet the overall labor came to something much closer to *thirteen per cent*, which is three whole points higher than the given goal. As above-mentioned Daniel was tasked with staffing the kitchen when fairly soon into his employment. He did place the advertisement as directed, and he did interview as directed. However there are now a total of thirteen hourly employees on his schedule, as well as his sous chef. Although it is certainly a good thing to have a goodly amount of staff on hand as we go into the busy season, it is also very true that thirteen people are not really necessary to *run* said kitchen. Hopefully Daniel is of a mind to keep an eye on their overall performance and, if necessary, eliminate those of the new-hires whose performance is, simply, substandard. The company does not need to be wasting money on employees who cannot pull their weight, and time in general should not be wasted in excessively long training, such that, six weeks down the line, the employee might still be asking questions about what goes with what, relative to this or that dish. The possibly excessive hiring could very well be a reason for the labor being so high in October, and is something on which should be kept an eye in the future. Especially as we come into season, there is no reason (necessarily) why labor should be over ten or eleven per cent. As regards food cost, overall for the month of October the percentage came down to twenty-nine or thirty. This is three to four points higher than the stated goal of twenty-six per cent food cost. This is an issue which is related to Daniel’s apparent lack of ability as regards inventory control/management, and it is something that, if it continues, needs to be directly and aggressively assessed. Relative to both this issue and that stated above, Daniel has begun to investigate the Aloha archives regarding sales for the previous year, from which he claims to have derived a budget by which to keep food cost at twenty-six and labor at ten or eleven per cent, but we will have to see how effective this measure will actually be in the future. 40 All managers are required to make an entry in the logbook available on HotSchedules. Daniel does not do this daily as required, and at times his entries are excessive. Recently he has utilized the logbook as a forum for discussion of matters regarding the management team, which may be an issue in the future. On many occasions, possibly ten to twelve, Daniel has either ignored or forgotten the rule about employee meals, i.e., that they are available at a discount only if the employee eats the meal on-site. Specifically one of the dishwashers has walked out of the restaurant with to-go food, which constituted his shift meal, and one of the new-hire cooks. Daniel has been perceived to take an excessive number of cigarette breaks with one employee in particular. This is not beneficial to team morale as it creates among some of the other hourly employees a sense of clique if not favoritism. This issue has apparently been addressed, and anymore Daniel might be seen to be smoking with any one employee just as often as another. Daniel has taken it upon himself to review his staff, which overall is a good thing, but also to push for their annual raises. Considering the newness of his experience in this particular restaurant, it is perhaps questionable that Daniel can accurately assess the prowess of any given veteran employee; at least, whether he can do so to such an extent as to appropriately suggest an increase in pay. Moreover, it could possibly be perceived as somewhat audacious, especially when one considers that he has gotten neither his labor nor his food cost under control—and now he wants to spend *more* money? Certainly incentive is good for staff but again, due to his newness in the position, it may be something to address as time wears on. Also, in the course of conducting those performance reviews Daniel openly stated how much an employee’s wage might potentially increase, which overall is poor management behavior. There were some maintenance issues in the dish pit which it took quite some time to fix. Possibly Daniel did not do as much as he could or should have done, in order to more promptly fix the issue. 41 There are some issues of cleanliness. Daniel’s predecessor kept the kitchen near to spotless, but often there are things to clean, which should be cleaned regularly anyway. It is very possible that Daniel may not hold as high of a standard of cleanliness as his predecessor; therefore it is something on which, again, an eye should to be kept. Not necessarily as regards cleanliness per se, but nevertheless health in general: The restaurant received its health inspection a few weeks after Daniel arrived on the scene. Whether due to his poor cleaning practices, or the fact that he had not been keeping temperature logs, or a little bit of both, it was discovered that foods at a certain cold station were not being held at the proper temperature, resulting in a critical violation. Due to this the only score to be had was a “Good”. Moreover Daniel did not seem to be entirely well-versed in the word of the health code, so that in his conversation with the inspector he was possibly not as thorough or forthcoming as he should have been. This is an issue easily addressed and/or fixed, by simply requiring Daniel to obtain his food handler’s card for Pima County, and/or his ServSafe certification. Since the health inspection the kitchen has been seen to be keeping temperature logs and maintenance records. Finally, it seems that Daniel may or may not fully realize that he is the executive chef in an Italian restaurant. A chef’s special for the week or weekend, usually consisting of a pizza special and an entrée special, is a common occurrence. However, any number of Daniel’s specialties have been French in nature, including Bouef Bourgignon and Salmon en Papillote; and recently he went a completely different direction by preparing Mexican-style food (Beef Carnitas). While versatility is good to have all around, Daniel needs to remember that he *is* the chef at an *Italian* restaurant; therefore his specials ought to reflect that. 9. Be honest ​with yourself. If you cannot admit your mistakes then you cannot learn from them. If you cannot learn from your mistakes then you cannot grow, cannot progress, and will become stagnate. 42 If you cannot be honest with yourself then you cannot be honest with others. 10. Be honest ​with others. If you are honest with others then only good things will come. No matter how hard it is, take that dadgum bull by the horns and wrassle that sumbitch to tha GROUND! We are ​men. We are ​soldiers. We command the one of the best fleets in this-here two-horse town, and we better be supremely proud of it. We do not live in ​fear. We do not operate based on fear. We operate based on courage; we are motivated by pride; we are forged by adversity. We are not, perhaps, hardened criminals; but we are not nine-to-fivers, either. ​And no man of integrity will respect the honest man more than he will the dishonest man. 12 & 13. Understand, or at least attempt to understand, the soldiers at your command; likewise, make yourself understood; smile, and say hello, or howdy, or how ya doin’, or some friendlier greeting along those lines. This differs, somewhat, from mere communication. It is one thing to tell someone to do something; it is another to show them. It is one thing to talk at someone, and another to talk to them. It is one thing to dictate a solution, and it is another to come to a solution together. The biggest factor is communication: Because without that you certainly can’t get much of anything done. However, “communication” has as much to do with what you say, as ​how you say it. Every individual is just that: Individual. You cannot have a blanket response for all matters pertaining to any given situation. Some people are more sensitive than others. Some have a greater ego. Some are simply ignorant. Some are super smart, and some are super block-headed. It is essential to your success as a manager, that you take the time to learn the characteristics of each of your staff members, so that you can deal with them and work with them well and productively in any and all endeavors. If all you ever do is talk about wood, or beer, or women, or sports, then you come off as somewhat narrow-minded. Sure, you may know how to cook, but what else is going on in that brain of yours? The only way for your staff to know, is for you to talk to them. You do not need to explain yourself as a means of seeking approval for your decisions/actions/comments; but you will want to explain yourself so that they understand from whence you’re coming. If you make evident the logic behind your 43 latest action or endeavor, then they can either sympathize, gain understanding, or even offer assistance. But it’s not enough to just tell your staff that you’re having a bad day and that’s why you’re not talking. If you’re having a bad day and you’re not talking to everyone, then one of two things happens: Either everyone starts having a bad day with you, or you get left in the dust, sequestered of your own accord from the very staff you are charged with commanding. If you’re having a bad day and not talking to anyone, how much less likely is it that when you ask them to do something they will do it, as opposed to your asking them on a different day, when your mood is better? To put it briefly, you don’t have any more bad days. You ​smile. You ​say hello. You ​make conversation. ​You do it, ​no matter what mood you’re in. Whatever is going on inside your head, that’s ​your ​movie. It is completely unfair to pass off your bad energy onto your staff. Unfair, and poisonous. Even if only for the day, if you have enough days full of poison and moodiness, then eventually the scales will tip out of your favor, and you will ​lose​ favor. Communication begins with a greeting. So smile, say hello, and then get down to business. If you want to talk with your staff, do so ​while working. But bear in mind that there’s a time to listen, and there’s a time to hear. And, keep in mind, that listening and hearing are two different things. You want your staff to listen to you. Your staff, wants you to hear them. One particular day in relatively recent memory stands out. Here is what I wrote for the day, which so happened to be the day following my posting of the “Breaking News” letter: April 1, 20--And so beginneth a new month! With Raymond coming on fully on board April 16, and Steve moving up to the line (pantry) over the next couple of weeks, hopefully we have mostly smooth sailing to which to look forward, henceforth. Fortunate or not the March Madness did not give pause simply because yesterday was the last day of the month. Regarding staff, 1. Anna has been issued a verbal warning relative to the manner in which she left the dish pit last weekend. 44 2. Timothy has been issued a written warning relative to the debacle that was Monday, March 28. Initially he was fairly receptive and understanding; but as the day wore on he tried fighting the write-up, claiming that he should not be written up, because he’d messaged me the night before. I explained that the write-up is relative to what happened then: To the fact that when I told him to get his shift covered, he failed to do so; and, when I tried reaching him numerous times, he failed to respond. I explained that, in the moment, it seemed very much like he was a no-call no-show; and that car troubles are not a valid excuse for not showing up to work. I told him that *now* we understand that his car was in the shop in California, and *that’s* why he could not get to work via bus or cab, and that *now* we understand that there was little-to-no cell phone reception, which is why he could not respond at the time; but that regardless of what we later learned, yet it still seemed very close to a no-call no-show. 3. I sat down and spoke with John regarding his recent discontent, and presented a solution, which he found to be agreeable. When asked he stated that in fact he has not started looking for another job, and that the only real issue was relative to compensation and that he is fully on board/not leaving anytime soon. 4. I also sat down with Thomas, regarding his recent lack of motivation/work ethic. It was a fairly productive conversation, in which we discussed a number of issues. Ultimately, Thomas is also not looking for a job and, if he did find one, he said is not so discontent at present, that he would up and leave without notice. He readily admitted to recently doing hardly more than the bare minimum, and expressed that he felt the team itself had begun a backslide from which he saw little hope of return. Not for the first time he referenced “the way things used to be”, especially as related to James formerly being Sous Chef, the period when Miguel was Sous Chef, and the period during which my predecessor was Executive. I turned around a number of responses: When he wanted to point to James and Brady and Timothy and *their* less-than-stellar performance(s), I asked what, necessarily, made him 45 any better than him, when he chose not to clean something because he “wasn’t on that station”. More than once Thomas said he wanted to see the “team” turn around. So I asked him to imagine that the team was comprised wholly of a bunch of Thomas-es and what if each one saw that everyone was giving only 75-80 per cent? The result: That then the “team” only puts in the same. “Change comes from within” was a recurring theme throughout the conversation. As regarded motivation I told him that certainly I do what I can to keep people motivated, by getting people their due compensation, or making sure any one person gets the day or days off they requested, or by keeping a good attitude in general; but that, overall, it is up to the individual to really find what his or her job/career/life choices mean to them, and how they affect an individual. “You’re *not* the best.” This is something Thomas said relative to an open letter/newsletter I penned for the kitchen staff just yesterday. In it I stated that I needed to be the best dishwasher, best saute cook, best pizza guy, et cetera, *on top* of being an exemplary manager. I ceded his point, that perhaps I am not the “best” at each station, because I do not work the same station day in and day out, but I also pointed out that, more often than not, I’ve been working two or three stations while everyone else is working only one or one-and-a-half; and that, more often than not, this whole month has been filled with call-outs and no-shows and a short staff overall--which means that no one has been able to perform at their peak, necessarily. “We look to our chef for an example.” This seemed to imply to me that BOH staff feel they cannot look to me for an example. I asked what he meant. He told me that they (BOH staff) wanted a chef who led by example; a chef who worked the line; a chef up to whom they might be able to look. So I asked what kind of example it is that I set when I work the line, and do the dishes, and perform extra cleaning duties; I asked if he wanted me to be here more than the 80 hours a week that I’ve been putting in; I asked, point-blank, if I set a bad example. Thus pressed he said that no, he respected me, but “sometimes I just get so focussed on 46 my station that I just don’t pay attention to what everyone else is doing.” This, of course, prompted another turn-around: “So, is it really that you, or you guys, don’t have a chef to look up to, or that you’ve become so narrow-minded, and tunnel-visioned, that you don’t even look up to take notice?” 5. Throughout the day I spoke with each staff member on duty. In the course of all these conversations, Brady’s name kept coming up. I explained to pretty much everyone that I’m not a psychic, and that although I keep hearing Brady’s name in a bad way, yet *no one* has been able to tell me what he’s doing wrong; and that, without knowing what he’s been doing wrong when I’m not looking. And *finally*, I got some feedback: a.) Supposedly Brady burnt two lasagnas on Monday; b.) Supposedly when Brady got the fire going on Monday he put too many logs in the oven and the flames were huge, licking the air outside the oven the door; c.) Apparently it is thought that, overall, Brady does a good job--he just forgets things, such that the dinner rolls are often burnt, or the crostinis, or that the saute pans used for making the various dishes with cream-based sauces are much more difficult to clean; d.) Although at first Anna didn’t mind, the jokes that Brady makes to her (which, to be sure, are needling jests, not inappropriate jokes) are starting to get old and wear on Anna’s nerves; and e.) In my absence, Brady has somewhat overstepped his bounds with the rest of the BOH staff, in that he assumes a power position and takes it upon himself to delegate/assign duties to others. I will speak with Brady today regarding all of these issues, and record it appropriately. 14. Never let your staff know how stressed you are. They may be able to see it, but that doesn’t mean you need to confirm it. One of your main tasks, is to maintain the stability and predictability of the kitchen. Keep an eye on all things; look at the bigger picture; be aware of how much product you have one hand and what you may be low on. Be aware of what events are coming up, and when. Be aware of the staff you will have available to help you, and delegate accordingly--but also fairly. 47 There have been times that I’ve been without a sous chef, or been the only chef in the kitchen--whether that was here in Tucson or the guest ranch in Texas, it does happen. But you’ve got to do your best to ensure that you don’t let your staff know just ​how stressed you are. Your job is, to their view, simply to steer the boat. So don’t show them how hard it is to hold that wheel when the storm gets rough. Following re two days I wrote about, which were around a week apart. As you’ll see, we had call-outs and dissatisfied staff, and we were short-staffed on top of the call-outs. I was without a second manager, and all I could do was do my best to get through it by the end of the day. And you know what? Not only did I get through it, but we all got through it, together. March 6, 20--Oh, but where to begin? Last Tuesday I showed up to drop off the limes. Last Wednesday I showed up to get James's shift covered because he had some kind of "episode" (either panic attack, or a mild heart attack, or something anyway) on his way in to work, which landed him in the ER and rendered us short one man for the whole week. It is said that he will be back on Tuesday. Mariah has not been here all week, due to some apparent scare with DES. So we've been down a line cook, and we've been down a prep cook. Oh, and of course Monday was Joe's last day so we're down a Sous Chef as well. Oh, and Maryanne's last day will be *this* Monday, due to mitigating circumstances. So now we're going to lose a pretty dang good dishwasher. Oh, and the BEO for the Firetruck this Saturday was incorrect: Reading it, one would think that everything needed to be ready by 1415. But in fact everything needed to be *there* by 1415. So we ran late on that. Oh, and John has an eye infection, presumably not contagious anymore and not affecting his work. Oh, and Timothy is going to be late today, not able to come in until one o'clock. So again, we are short-staffed. Go figure. 48 Oh, and I am/we are doing my/our best but we were completely slammed this past Friday and Saturday. I suppose that, having been here for roundabout 45 of the last 72 hours, and having slept maybe 13 hours in the last three days, and that I am looking at another pair of 15 hour shifts ahead of me today and tomorrow, this will be my 2nd or 3rd 75-80 hour work week in a row. And I suppose that, having *been* here so much of the past three days, come Saturday night dinner service I was just about spent from the get. Now I just hope I don't get sick again, hahaha… But: Steve has been excellent as far as the prep is concerned, and being there for us when we were busy on Friday and Saturday night. But: Brady has been working extra hours, and extra-hard, to help keep everything running smoothly; so have Bill and Henry. But: We hired a new dishwasher, Anna Smith. So at least we won't be short a dishwasher when Maryanne leaves. She has picked things up nicely, seems to be a hard worker, and we'll just have to see how it goes from there. But: Maria has been/will be helpful, as far as prep is concerned: I showed her the pizza dough the other day and she seemed to grasp that pretty quickly. But: We do not have anymore large parties or other events until next Tuesday (Firetruck). And but: We had a 10-top for breakfast this morning, and now there's a 3-top that just sat down. So, adieu. March 20, 20-1. As regards Anna, she is getting better with time. However for a number of reasons I am altering her schedule, so there shouldn’t be any more supremely late nights like the one Tiffany had to recently endure 2. Moving Steve out of the dish pit permanently, as soon as possible. He has done very well with the prep, and in the next few weeks/month he will be picking up some pantry shifts. He and I are both eager to get him up to the line. 49 3. There are many recent staff issues, starting with James. Yet again he was not here this Friday and Saturday, which means that, yet again, we were duly short-staffed. This is the second time he has been unavailable/unable to work, for the same reason, in the past six months. Also in the past six months he has called out at least seven times; has inconsistently performed the various tasks with which he has been entrusted (kitchen walkthroughs, training); has asked for more hours so as to make more money but, when shifts open up, has become suddenly unavailable and-or busy; has agreed to cover other shifts, and then either called out himself, or shown up late. Only recently has he begun to adhere to the employee dress code. He has not maintained a reliable means of contact, which makes it a bit of a guessing game when we have to relay important information to him. When I first assumed this position James was touted as my “third” right-hand man; but in the past six months he has proven to be, or otherwise become, pretty much the worst employee on my staff. 4. Thomas’ performance has certainly gone downhill. He really *does* do no more than the bare minimum. Last night he offered no assistance in closing the line, choosing instead to dilly-dally on his phone and stand around at the pizza station. Many times as well I have seen him come in for his shift but spend the first 20-30 minutes standing around and talking. 5. John has recently expressed a relative sense of displeasure. Regarding this, the issues is in the works/being resolved. While I have recently been informed that only since I came on has John taken on “more responsibility”, in fact he has done the same thing all along. I think it a travesty that his hard work was not conveyed to upper management by my predecessors; but, even despite my prompting him to go for the Sous Chef position on more than one occasion, John has declined every time. Which, of course, shows me that he really is *not* willing to take on more responsibility. 6. The pain caused by the infection of inflammation in Bill’s left arm has become a hindrance. Last Thursday he had to call out 50 because of it, and this Thursday (St. Patty’s Day) he tried calling out again; he only came in, because I told him that Thomas had already called out due to strep throat. Moreover, the pain seems to shorten Bill’s fuse so that, when he starts getting busy on a Friday or Saturday night, he starts cursing up a storm and slamming equipment. There have been customer complaints regarding this, and I have spoken with him about it. Overall he seems to be improving but this Friday was another bad night. 7. Kyle Khyler, one of the Sous Chef candidates, came in Friday night for his stage. He worked with me on grille. He had a good attitude, seemed eager and willing to work and to please, but by the end of the shift he seemed a bit disgruntled: “I’ve never had to stage for this long before” ; “So am I going to get paid for this?” ; “Well, I don’t usually work for free”… 15. Delegate duties accordingly--but always delegate fairly: Be available to all hands, at all times. Every job, task, and position, is essential to the continuation of this kitchen’s smooth-running. So, plan ahead, think ahead, and delegate accordingly. Do not commit yourself to any one thing for any undue length of time, lest you find yourself with your hands tied and three other tasks to complete at the same time. As a chef I’ve had to prove myself to my various staff, especially when coming into a kitchen with an established crew, with a loyalty already established to itself, watching every move and questioning every decision I make. It’s not necessarily fun, but you’ve got to be able to roll with the punches and swing right back. The following is something I typed up when I was dealing with a relatively restless and close-to-mutinous staff: We’d been without a Sous Chef for a full month by this time, and although I’d been conducting interviews and involving the hourly staff with the decision making, yet I was being pushed to my limits, between trying to work the line, do the prep, do the order, and keep track of all the administrative stuff. The ​last thing I needed was my crew to walk out on me, and I needed them to understand why I was doing that which I was doing; and that I was doing more than even they, individually, could see. 51 BREAKING NEWS (or, Dealing with Mutinous Staff) MARCH 31, 20-Q.: When we run low on product should you: a.)​ Try to fix the problem yourself, or tell someone about it who can; b.) ​Offer to run to the store for cigarettes and beer; c.) ​Tell no one and wait to run out of the product before bringing it to anyone’s attention? “Where’s my Chef?” Well he had the day off but he has constantly said and reiterated that he is only a phone call away: “Let me know if you need anything!” “Just let me know if you need anything else!” Where’s chef? Well, he’s just down the road; and if you called him he would be right here to save the day, pick up the product, or any other thing necessary to running this operation. “Chef and Brady this” and “Chef and Brady that” Chef is chef and Brady is Brady. No ifs ands or buts. Just because I see so and so leaving together with such and such, that does not mean that all of a sudden everything is “so and so and such and such this” or “so and so and such and such that”. People live near each other, people with regular vehicular transport offer rides to those without. I may not have ever offered a ride to anyone else but that’s partially because no one else has asked. If ANYONE ever needed a ride, I would offer one. To at least TWO employees I have offered my own home as a place to stay. To at least EVERY employee I have given some kind of counsel. And I have gotten little to nothing in return. 52 Q.: When you see something dirty and choose not to clean it because “someone else will get to it”, who do you really expect will clean it up? a.) ​Your mother b.) ​The Arizona Department of Corrections road crew c.) ​No one d.) ​Cleaning is unnecessary: Dirty things simply become clean by magic. “Chef doesn’t clean so why should we?” This observation is relative to what? Of all, I work probably the cleanest and most efficient. I wipe down my station every day, and I clean as I go so that at the end of the night things go that much more quickly. I do sweep and I do mop. I also do prep. I also work the line. I also work expo. I also do the scheduling, the ordering, the inventory, the write-ups, the hiring and the firing, the special menus, the specials, the soups, and the numbers; at all times I am required to be the best dishwasher, the best pizza cook, the best saute cook, the best pantry cook, the best grill cook, and the best prep cook--as well as a stellar example of what management should be. When does the fryer oil get changed? Only when I tell someone to do it, because no one has any kind of initiative. When do the hoods get done? Only when I tell someone to do it, because no one has any kind of initiative. When does the line get cleaned behind the equipment? Generally speaking, only when I tell someone to do it--except on a blue moon Sunday, when suddenly the staff wants to clean. When we run out of product, who makes sure it gets to the restaurant? I do. When you need time off, who makes sure you get that time off? I do. 53 When you ask what sales are like and what we can expect for the day, who has the answers? I do. When it comes to large parties and banquet events, who passes out the BEOs so that everyone is well-informed and the information is easily accessible? I do. So when we run out of product on my day off, who tells me? No one. When I’m not here, who does the cleaning? No one. When I’m not looking, who’s making themselves food and not paying for it? Everyone. Where’s my chef? Covering shifts and working 75-80 hours a week because he doesn’t have a Sous Chef and ​every single person on his staff has called out at least once this month​. Where’s my Chef, you say? Well where are ​my cooks? When you call out, who comes in or otherwise gets your shift covered? Me, even though getting your shift covered, is technically your responsibility. When somebody else calls out and ​I ​need a bit of a favor, where are ​you? “​ I’m moving”; “I can’t come in” “I’m out of town” “I don’t want to”. So, based on this, ​I am supposed to be there for you all the time, but you are allowed to choose whether or not you’re going to be there for me? Where’s my chef? Well I apologize for being stretched a little thin lately, but perhaps it has not been noticed that for the entire month we have been without a sous chef, therefore I am doing two management jobs ​in addition to being the lead line cook. Where’s my chef and why did we run out of this, that, or the other thing? Because. We are transitioning into a new field of finances as the business continues to grow. This means that we have new sales reps and we have new pars and we have new product catalogs, and new methods of ordering. During this transitional phase, more than once I have asked for your assistance: Let me know which chemicals are low; let me know what product is running 54 low; let me know what you need me to order/write it up on the whiteboard. But ​no one has been telling me anything! I am not a psychic; I cannot read minds; I cannot by osmosis cause for product to somehow magically appear. You “need” me to talk to you; but I NEED YOU TO TALK TO ME! Just the same as you cannot do your job without adequate information, neither can I. And no, it does not make only me look bad. I write my entries in the manager logbook on a regular basis; so there are notes, regarding who called out or who showed up late, or who said they can’t work this shift, or who requested time off without proper notice. I also admit my own mistakes in the log, especially when we run out of something or are late with the execution of an order. And finally, I am not a line cook. I am not an hourly employee. I am the Executive Chef of this restaurant, and ultimately it is not I who must accommodate for your scheduling conflicts; it is not I who must always cover for you when you’re gone; it is not I who must do all this that and the other cleaning. Fortunate or not, you work under me; which means that you need to accommodate your schedule to mine; and you need to get your own shifts covered; and you need to do the cleaning; and you need to communicate with me even more than I do with you. I do my best with what I have been given, and what I have been given is all y’all. I appreciate each and every one of you, for your own individual reasons. 16. Never discuss pay, or rate of pay, with hourly employees. Discussing rate of pay with employees is serving a devastating blow to your team. If ​you talk about it then ​they will talk about it. If ​they talk about, they will start to wonder why they’re getting paid less than Dude A, even though they have more responsibility than Dude A. They will begin slacking more; cleaning less; being happy less often. Moreover, if ​you complain about ​your rate of pay, even if you don’t discuss how much you’re actually making, in comparison, yet it puts in the hourly employees’ head 55 the notion that “moving up isn’t worth it”. Slowly but surely they will lose interest in the current job, or begin to half-ass their various tasks, rather than perform at 100% as they did before. And that’s on you. 17. Do not mess where you eat, and also do not sleep with, nor sexually harass, staff. This goes without saying, and yet it is necessary to say it. This is one of my biggest rules. Sexual harassment will absolutely not be tolerated. 18. Always uphold the company standards of honesty and integrity through informed decision-making. And if you don’t know, ​ASK!!! Guests, employees, and the business are the three facets of which to be aware and to keep at the forefront of the mind, in all endeavors. We want the guest happy, we want the employee happy, we want the business to be successful. Making the customer happy falls in line with maintaining consistency, and with cross-training your staff so that, no matter how busy we might be, everything leaves the kitchen and hits the tables in a timely fashion. Making the employee happy falls under being able to lead them, by example, and by action, through the worst and best days. It has to do with not abusing your sense of power, and ensuring that the staff is as supported as you can cause them to be. It is making sure that they get enough hours, and acknowledging the hard work they do in those given hours. And making the business successful has to do with maintaining the reputation--for fast service, for quality food, for professional appearance...But it has also to do with finding that balance between keeping a staff member or two on the clock because you “think” you might get a rush, and letting that member or those members leave once their sidework is done, as a means of saving on labor. But it’s not just the labor. It’s maintaining the product on hand--ordering enough so that we don’t run out, but not so much that product starts going bad and we have to throw it away. That is literally money in the garbage. It is also maintaining the building: If the building is falling apart, how can we pass our inspections? If our equipment is faulty, how can we expect to execute our dishes as needed, in a timely and consistent fashion? 56 Now, it is true that at times one or the other facet will be more important. Sometimes you’re going to have to make judgment calls--relative to staff, and ordering, and sending food out the window. ​Good judgment is key to success in your role as a manager. 19. Follow the Rules: Inspect what you expect. As managers and as cooks we cannot expect things to happen just because they’re supposed to happen. As a cook, don’t always assume the pantry guy is going to get the order when he comes back, whether he’s out for a smoke or going to the bathroom or off-line getting some product: If an order comes in and you know how to make whatever got ordered, take a look at pantry and consider whether the guy will be back in the next thirty seconds or not; consider that he’s not, then the order will take longer, which increases the risk of a potentially angry customer. How would ​you feel if you went to a restaurant and had to wait twenty minutes for your appetizer because the grill guy couldn’t make the pantry station dishes? You’d probably be wondering why the staff wasn’t better-trained and, if you knew the staff actually ​did know better, you’d probably not be very happy about it. Similarly, as a manager it’s fine and dandy to have rules and pars and your schedule all written out; but you’ve got to double check your Sous or KMs, to make sure they’re not over-ordering. You may have them as a means to help you achieve your goals, but you’ve got to make sure they’re doing things the right way, because otherwise you’ll have to backtrack: And then instead of all the stress, shared by many, you get double the stress, all to yourself. 21. Know your Craft. Know the history of the restaurant industry, and who are Escoffier and Henri Soule. Understand the role meant to be played by every actor on this stage. Know your own restaurant history, know the history of your own specialized cuisine, know the history and methods around and for producing cuisine of other cultures. Know everything it is possible for you to know: Just the same as you can never do too much in a kitchen, neither can you ever know too much about food, or food safety, or the business of the restaurant industry. 57 30. Be an advocate for Self-Awareness. Common sense is not that uncommon. Just as 100% of the population says 50% of all people are stupid, so say 100% of the population that, although one is oneself possessed of common sense, yet it is “not that common”. In face it is self-awareness that is more uncommon. One must be self-aware in order to understand. One must as least attempt to understand, if one is going to take the time to listen….So: Communication is key, but it means nothing if no one’s listening; and still less if no one understands to what one is listening. However it is not as possible, to understand, if and when one is lacking of self-awareness. Question everything, and never become complacent: There is no perfection in food, if only for the subjective nature thereof. ​Yet is is perfection for which we should always strive. ...Bill had a good way of putting it. No, people will not be fired for stupidity, but if one is placed in a position of power, and one knows not how to use that power, and not abuse it or ignore it, then ​that is a bad thing. ​That, is an inability to do the job for which one was hired; which, of course, ​is something for which one could, and ought to be, fired. ...That all aside, the question then seems to be still multi-faceted, but easier to ask: What do we want from Ray, ​as the Sous, and what is he doing, or doing still, which either meets, exceeds, or falls below those standards? We want him not to be a hindrance. So, let the guys do their job. This, of course, is something that’s come up before and, upon his return, we’ll see how all that goes--i.e., really establishing and maintaining boundaries, protocols, and consistency. We want him to be a manager and a leader. In his resume Ray said he likes to lead by example. So what example has he thus far set? Hmmm….But what example has he set?...Well, he’s a doer. He does the temp logs. But he’s also a not-doer: Rather than get something himself, he makes someone else do it; which ​is a form of delegation, but not exactly an appropriate one. So, to some extent, there’s an example of inconsistency. This is also true (and possibly more true), relative to working the line: Sometime/somewhat more often than should be the case, he calls for hands, or a ticket fire, either unnecessarily or out of order; also, he jumps around a lot--pizza, then middle, then pantry, then pizza again, then over onto saute grille pizza pantry expo host stand. Many times this popcorn action seems, or simply is, fairly unnecessary. 58 In order to ​lead the line, one must be an apex. One must be fairly solid. Solid means, to a fair extent, staying in one place; providing and maintaining a sense of predictability; being aware of one’s surroundings. This includes having a solid understanding ​of par levels, as well as product-on-hand: I can understand when a line cook asks if we have any more bistros in the back, but the Sous and the Executive both need to be aware of the answer to that question; which means, at the base of it, that in general there should be no question from the Sous to the Executive, in the middle of dinner service, regarding whether or not there are more bistros, or garlic bread, or Alfredo sauce, or crostinis, or whatever. As the Sous, and as a manager, one must know one’s inventory. “Aware of surroundings” does not mean just seeing that something needs cleaning or a ticket needs firing: It is also a matter of thinking about the “little things” that line cooks, prep guys, and dish dogs generally do not think about. Taking a look at the whole picture; operating from more of a bird’s-eye view, even if not from a seat of dictatorship or sense of arrogance. “Helpful” is not making the pantry guy go get lettuce while you make and/or plate his apps and salads. “Helpful” is letting the pantry guy plate his apps and salads, while ​you go get the lettuce. Helpful is calling tickets and setting plates; not dropping/firing pans and having the guys set plates. Helpful is moving into the flow, rather than becoming the flow. If your main concern is getting the food out quickly, then the means to attaining that goal is by offering solid training, coaching, and counselling, so that the ​staff is able to do that in a timely, consistent, and high-quality manner. If the means utilized, is that you just fire it for them, then all you are is a glorified line cook. A manager’s success if measured not solely by how his or her own actions cause for the meeting of The Standard, but much more-so by his or her ​team’s ability to meet, and exceed, The Standard….When you’re prepping and a server asks for rolls, don’t stop what you’re doing to go grab some rolls and throw them in the oven, ask the pantry guy to do it “when they have the chance” or “once you get that cleared”. And if pantry guy is slammed, ask if he wants you to fire them for him; or, go grab the rolls and put them on or near his station so that ​he can fire them on ​his time, in ​his​ flow. ​That​ is moving into the flow, rather than becoming it. ​That,​ is helpful. Similarly, just because you see pantry is low on crostinis, doesn’t mean make crostinis: Just see it, and be aware of it. They can, and will, make their own dadgum crostinis. They can, and will, do their job. They also can and will learn--but by doing; 59 by having their asses handed to them; by figuring out their own limits, and feeling comfortable and consistent enough to push themselves beyond their limits. They can and will, but not if you do it for them. Then you are, even if inconsistently, defining these things for them, which is sure to retard any greater sense of capability or room to grow. So much of being a leader is listening and having faith and creating/maintaining a sense of validity and worth of self. Being a leader is not telling someone what or how to think, but listening to their thoughts and observing what they do. So much of coaching is more to do with constructive criticism and open conversation, than to do with critique and demand. Being a leader is not going around telling everyone you’re the best: It is being aware of your ​own limitations, and being able to admit you were wrong or made a wrong decision...So much is being humble; which, like crying and kindness, are ​not signs of weakness. And, humility is, truly, the basis of the “we” kitchen. You will be seen as so much more approachable if you quit being so dadgum possessive, and really force yourself to “we” and “our” everything. ...Being a manager, as opposed to a leader, is a numbers game, that is true. But, as with labor, it is important to balance the ideal/goal with the reality. So labor is high for the day. That means: What day is it? If it’s Friday or Saturday, high lunchand midday-labor don’t really matter, because the sales ​will come in with dinner service. Labor is not by lunch or midday alone, it is by ​all day. And then it’s not about all day, because Friday and Saturday ​will be lower, while the Sunday-Monday-Tuesday labor ​will be higher. That is to be expected. Similarly, although we a goal of 26% food cost, a large number of our menu items are priced at 28-40% food cost; but because pizza and salad work out to around 14.5% and 20-odd%, this brings a balance and average. “Food cost” is not food cost, period: It is “food cost average”. It is a balance between actual cost and customer cost, and sales. Obviously if the most popular items are sold at a higher food cost average, then overall the food cost will be higher: In which case you either raise the price charged to the customer, or you offer more menu items with a lower food cost, or you start using less expensive product….And, as food cost is really a food cost average, so too is labor an average. We can afford three or four months of 11-12% labor because for the rest of the year we’re in season and the labor will probably be less than 10%; so, at the end of the year, labor will ​be in that 10-15% range; in short, the goal will be met. And this, is 60 also “being aware of your surroundings”. This, is thinking about the “little things” the line guys don’t think about. ...People, do not in general merely obey command. Rules are made to be broken. Guidelines are only guidelines. People, follow leaders. People, support America and the Constitution. We may not agree on the President’s politics but we have faith in the American Dream, and confidence that even though they ​are politicians, they too love and support America and, even if for only selfish purposes, will not run her to the ground. And, as we all support America, we all tend to support whatever company or team we work for or with: Staff, is not necessarily loyal because the “food is good”; neither simply because the company offers benefits. Staff, is loyal to its wallet, its happiness, and its management team or manager. The manager is loyal to the company. Because everything rolls downhill, when management respects the company, staff respects the company. Now, respect is surely not the same as loyalty, but respect can certainly foster loyalty; and then those folks become the new lead cooks, or lead servers, or heads of training, or even management proper. So, although so much has to do with humility, so much has also to do with respect. The respect one has for one’s staff will, by one’s staff, be reflected onto one, and onto one’s product: So that, often, the problem is not so much that staff “doesn’t listen” or is “disrespectful”, as that management probably doesn’t listen to or respect the staff. All things are a reflection of Self...And a truth perceived is a truth believed, which is a powerful thing indeed. Communication is key, but ​understanding is absolutely essential Communication is not talking ​at, but talking ​to. Yelling is a form of communication, but very rarely does one yell “to”; generally, one yells “at” someone. So too, calling out tickets and demanding a callback is so much more an “at” communication than a “to”....Communicating “with” or “to” is always going to be better than communicating “at”. Communication is not saying the same thing over and over, even though it’s fairly obvious the communicatee is not understanding. That’s like speaking slowly and/or loudly to an individual who doesn’t speak the same language: Plenty of communication, but certainly no understanding whatsoever. Communication, then, or at least good communication, is being aware that what you’re saying is not getting through, and thusly altering not ​what you are saying or asking, but ​how you are saying it or asking it. 61 On the other side of the coin, it is also sometimes necessary to adjust the manner in which you are ​listening. Listening, means you are hearing what the other person is saying, plus taking the time to process and understand the message. As it is one thing to talk “at” rather than “with” or “to”, so it is one thing to listen, rather than merely to “hear”. And listening is a large part of what lends to one’s sense of overall validity and self-worth. Listening means that you understand that the speaker has an issue, idea, or complaint; and that you are not so busy with your own issues, as to negate the speaker’s emotion, opinion, or values. Listening is itself humble, ​and respectful, ​and the basis for good communication. Listening, is acknowledging to the speaker that you understand or are aware of the speaker’s placement of ​faith in you ​as a leader. And listening is not, hearing what the speaker has to say and then offering arbitrary or unwanted advice. Listening means you are able and willing to validate the speaker’s voice, by assessing the speaker’s motive ​in communicating: Is he or she just “venting”, or is he or she actually looking for advice? Or, is he or she making an attempt to either get you to know them better or, as is more often the case, to get to know ​you better? Listening is not the same as understanding, but to be sure, there cannot be ​any​ understanding, if not first is there “listening”. And if you listen close enough, the kitchen really is like a braise: It is a beautiful, symphonic thing. Restaurants really are businesses and the people who run them must wear many hats. The people who people them--cook customer, dishwasher, and server alike--are hungry: To prove themselves, to get their tips, to get out the door so they can party, to get through the day so they can go back to school, to fill their bellies so they’re full. There really is something about the roar of the hoods and the clanging of saute pans, the sound of metal on metal; and there really is something about the glisten and gleam of a beautiful stainless steel kitchen. There is beauty in the food, there is beauty in the dance, there is beauty in the end of the day. So keep your eyes and your ears open, keep your hands moving, and pay attention to everything. 62