1 00:00:00,900 --> 00:00:03,400 Hello chefs, you're listening to chefs, PSA podcast. 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,400 I'm your host Entre natera. On today's episode we're going 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,800 to talk about recipes. So stay tuned. 4 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:24,300 So, I should probably start with an update. 5 00:00:24,300 --> 00:00:25,900 What have I been up to this past week? 6 00:00:26,500 --> 00:00:31,100 Well, I have some big news. I finally finished up the 7 00:00:31,300 --> 00:00:33,900 culinary leadership. Fundamentals ecourse. 8 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,800 That's live. I went to different directions 9 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,500 with it so you could rent it or you could buy it and I wanted to 10 00:00:39,508 --> 00:00:41,700 be able to reach a larger audience. 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,600 I know a lot of cooks out there or maybe Sous chefs out there, I 12 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,000 wanted to make it more accessible to them so you could 13 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,500 rent it for eight dollars or you could buy it for $48. 14 00:00:50,500 --> 00:00:52,800 So you rent it. You know, you could watch it, I 15 00:00:52,808 --> 00:00:55,200 think you have 72 hours before you got to complete the video. 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,400 But if you if you want to own it, you could buy it for $48. 17 00:00:58,400 --> 00:00:59,500 You can take it anywhere with you. 18 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,300 The link is in my bio. If that's something that you 19 00:01:04,307 --> 00:01:08,100 want to do on that video, I cover everything from food cost 20 00:01:08,500 --> 00:01:12,000 management. Basically basically, it's about 21 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,600 an hour and 15 minutes of everything you need to know to 22 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:16,600 be an executive chef crash course. 23 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,300 I also wrapped up the culinary leadership, fundamentals, 24 00:01:20,300 --> 00:01:23,900 audiobook, and that's been submitted, I submitted it on 25 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,700 December 13th. It could take up to 10 days for 26 00:01:27,700 --> 00:01:30,300 audible to approve. Assuming there's no glitches or 27 00:01:30,300 --> 00:01:33,500 errors in the audiobook should be out by next week. 28 00:01:33,500 --> 00:01:36,400 I'll announce it on all social platforms when it's live. 29 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,600 So for those of you that have been asking the audiobook is 30 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,800 done, it took me a while longer than I thought but the audio 31 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,200 book is done. Hopefully it'll be out next week 32 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,400 before Christmas but I You all will enjoy it. 33 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:53,300 I worked long and hard on that project with the narrator 34 00:01:53,300 --> 00:01:55,900 Gabriel, correct? So excited to bring you that and 35 00:01:55,900 --> 00:02:01,300 then starting in January we will be working on the audio book for 36 00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:05,100 the line, cook, survival manual, so that will be next and I'm 37 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:08,199 still unsure if I want to write an a fourth book and I talked 38 00:02:08,199 --> 00:02:11,900 about writing something, you know, to pay tribute to the 39 00:02:11,900 --> 00:02:14,800 chefs that I've worked for, but still unsure, let me know if 40 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:16,100 that's something that you want to read. 41 00:02:16,100 --> 00:02:19,300 If it is Maybe I'll start writing it anyway. 42 00:02:19,300 --> 00:02:22,500 Something funny happened this week and that was a chef friend 43 00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:26,400 of mine called me up and he had a catering gig and he couldn't 44 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:27,700 do it. He was he was busy and he was 45 00:02:27,700 --> 00:02:29,800 double-booked. And so he called me up and said, 46 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,100 hey do you want to you want to do a catering project for me? 47 00:02:32,500 --> 00:02:34,400 I thought about as I had. No let me see. 48 00:02:34,408 --> 00:02:38,900 If I know any chefs I don't feel like you know working a private 49 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:42,400 event but nonetheless I couldn't find any chefs. 50 00:02:42,700 --> 00:02:45,600 So I said well screw it. I haven't cooked in a long time. 51 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,500 I'll do it. So, you know what? 52 00:02:48,500 --> 00:02:52,600 I'm one of my former chefs and I we got together, we went cooked, 53 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:58,000 this five-course meal and boy, was I Rusty. 54 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,100 But anyway, the food came out good. 55 00:02:59,100 --> 00:03:02,000 I was sore the next day. I haven't haven't worked as a 56 00:03:02,008 --> 00:03:05,200 professional chef in a long time and Catering at someone's house, 57 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,600 is not something I typically enjoy doing, but it was fun. 58 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,000 I had fun doing it, it was fun to be back in the kitchen and it 59 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 does tie into this episode because as I was, Was going 60 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 through dishes that I wanted to make I needed recipes. 61 00:03:20,100 --> 00:03:22,300 And I couldn't remember how to make everything off the top of 62 00:03:22,300 --> 00:03:24,600 my head. So I did need to dig into my my 63 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:30,000 book of recipes and it's amazing how quickly skills a road. 64 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,700 And I know I've talked about this on, I think on the last 65 00:03:32,700 --> 00:03:34,500 podcast I talked about how, if you don't keep your skills 66 00:03:34,500 --> 00:03:40,300 sharp, you start to lose them pretty quick and I'll say that 67 00:03:40,500 --> 00:03:43,100 the last thing to go for a chef as their palate. 68 00:03:43,100 --> 00:03:45,900 Like everything. I made still tasted good like 69 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:48,100 the last thing. To go, when you've been out of 70 00:03:48,100 --> 00:03:49,900 the kitchen for a while, will be your palate. 71 00:03:49,900 --> 00:03:53,200 But the first thing to go is your back after after a couple 72 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:54,800 of hours standing up. I was like, holy shit. 73 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:56,300 My back hurts. My feet hurt. 74 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,800 Anyway, I knocked it out of the park. 75 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,400 It was a great catering but anyway, that's neither here. 76 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:02,400 Nor there. It was fun. 77 00:04:02,700 --> 00:04:06,400 I had a lot of fun, doing it and let's get into recipes. 78 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,900 So, I did a poll today on Instagram, and I said, what do 79 00:04:10,908 --> 00:04:13,300 you guys want me to talk about today? 80 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:19,600 Culinary, competitions recipes. Or Q&A so recipes. 81 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,000 It came, you know whose it was close. 82 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,300 It was culinary competition recipes with Q&A, just slightly 83 00:04:24,300 --> 00:04:29,000 behind it but recipes ultimately one and not you know you guys 84 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,300 were voting for us because I'm not even sure if you know what I 85 00:04:31,300 --> 00:04:35,800 was going to talk about with regards to recipes but I'll get 86 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:39,500 into it. So I want to be able to steal 87 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:43,400 man the the case on both sides for recipes and against recipes. 88 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,600 And I'll start with this. I have two friends that are 89 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:55,000 extremely successful chefs that run your restaurants that are 90 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,300 household names, two of the best restaurants in the world, but I 91 00:04:57,300 --> 00:05:00,600 don't want to use my chefs names without without their permission 92 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,100 anyway. Both of these chefs are amazing. 93 00:05:04,100 --> 00:05:07,200 Both of these chefs are highly successful and both of these 94 00:05:07,300 --> 00:05:09,100 Chef's, run. Some of the best restaurants in 95 00:05:09,100 --> 00:05:11,500 the world. One of these chefs is a big 96 00:05:11,500 --> 00:05:15,400 believer in recipes, everything is followed to the G and the 97 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,200 other Chef freestyles. It No recipes. 98 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:20,900 Everyone knows how to cook the kind of get the idea. 99 00:05:20,900 --> 00:05:24,100 They understand the system, they have guidelines, but no recipes. 100 00:05:24,300 --> 00:05:28,900 So it's interesting to note that you could have two very 101 00:05:28,900 --> 00:05:33,300 successful restaurants and chefs on both ends of the spectrum and 102 00:05:33,300 --> 00:05:36,100 there's a strong argument to be made on both sides. 103 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:42,400 Now, when I was a chef coming up in culinary school when I didn't 104 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,600 know how to cook, I followed recipes like yump and back, then 105 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,300 it was like cups and spoons. So So I followed recipes to the 106 00:05:50,300 --> 00:05:52,400 team, you know, someone could be a recipe, I would follow it. 107 00:05:52,700 --> 00:05:55,200 And if it wasn't in the recipe in my mind back then it wasn't 108 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:56,800 going to. I wasn't going to adjust it. 109 00:05:56,900 --> 00:05:59,700 Everything was pretty much measured with the exception of 110 00:05:59,700 --> 00:06:01,300 salt and pepper. If you all remember, everything 111 00:06:01,300 --> 00:06:03,600 said, salt and pepper TT, salt and pepper to taste. 112 00:06:03,900 --> 00:06:07,000 That was always the, the standard format and most recipes 113 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,500 that were written. But as I started to grow as a 114 00:06:11,500 --> 00:06:16,100 chef in my skills, progressed, I started to move into. 115 00:06:16,100 --> 00:06:17,800 I understand how to cook intuitively. 116 00:06:18,100 --> 00:06:21,500 I cook based off taste. I understand how something 117 00:06:21,500 --> 00:06:23,000 supposed to taste. I understand how to make it 118 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:24,500 taste. Good, I taste it. 119 00:06:24,500 --> 00:06:26,100 I seasoned it. I adjust, I taste it. 120 00:06:26,100 --> 00:06:28,800 I seasoned it, I adjust then, at the end of the day, boom, here's 121 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,100 something delicious for the guests to enjoy, and that worked 122 00:06:33,100 --> 00:06:34,900 out great for me. So, I went through a period in 123 00:06:34,907 --> 00:06:38,100 my career where there was no recipes, I would, you know, kind 124 00:06:38,100 --> 00:06:41,300 of designed the dish. And some of my, some of my chefs 125 00:06:41,300 --> 00:06:43,200 that used to work for me, would get so annoyed with me because 126 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:44,100 they're like, can you just give me a straight? 127 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,000 Right answers like, well, today, it needs this. 128 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,200 Like, but yesterday you said it needed. 129 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:48,700 That was like, well, yesterday, I did need that. 130 00:06:48,700 --> 00:06:51,700 But today, it needs this and I lived in this gray area of 131 00:06:51,700 --> 00:06:54,800 trying to teach them how to cook intuitively, you know, using 132 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,200 their, their senses. What I like to call the chef 133 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,900 for. So if you're familiar with Star 134 00:07:00,900 --> 00:07:05,000 Wars, you know, they use the the force like this, this Jedi 135 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,400 magical. Anyway, I call it the chef 136 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,100 Force. It's like your intuition to know 137 00:07:09,100 --> 00:07:13,100 how to do shit in the kitchen intuitively like, you know, the 138 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,500 chickens done. But you didn't take the temp, 139 00:07:15,500 --> 00:07:17,500 you didn't touch it. You just know like based on my 140 00:07:17,500 --> 00:07:19,800 intuition that tells me that chicken is done just by looking 141 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:21,500 at it. You know, you'd smell a pot. 142 00:07:21,500 --> 00:07:23,700 You're like this needs this. And like how do you know you 143 00:07:23,707 --> 00:07:26,100 didn't taste it. I said, trust me Chef Force. 144 00:07:26,100 --> 00:07:28,900 So I used to joke around and say I had the chef Force. 145 00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:32,300 So a lot of what I used to do, you know, probably for the 146 00:07:32,300 --> 00:07:36,500 middle part of my career was no recipes and then towards the end 147 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,700 I would say probably in about 2013, there was a moment where I 148 00:07:40,700 --> 00:07:44,000 had this one of my one of my chefs that used to work for me. 149 00:07:44,100 --> 00:07:47,400 He had also worked for Michael Mina and he showed me the system 150 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,600 that Michael Mina uses where they had all these recipes and 151 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:52,700 was documented. It was on this computer intranet 152 00:07:52,700 --> 00:07:55,200 that they had that they were able to share ideas and I 153 00:07:55,207 --> 00:07:57,000 thought it was brilliant. And if you've ever worked for 154 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:58,900 the Michael Mina group, you know, exactly what I'm talking 155 00:07:58,900 --> 00:08:01,500 about. I think they have probably the 156 00:08:01,500 --> 00:08:06,000 most brilliant recipe system categorized that I've ever seen. 157 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,500 So, after I saw this, you know, kind of my brain explode, I was 158 00:08:08,500 --> 00:08:10,800 like, I need to do that. That that seems to be the way. 159 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,800 And also at that time I had discovered This website, 160 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,300 chefsteps.com, if you're not familiar with it, it's really 161 00:08:17,300 --> 00:08:19,600 great website and they put up a video. 162 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:25,500 That was the difference between weight measure and cups and 163 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:27,000 spoons. And it's a really good break 164 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:28,500 down and you can watch the video. 165 00:08:28,500 --> 00:08:30,900 And, you know, obviously you start to understand, okay, 166 00:08:30,900 --> 00:08:33,700 everything needs to be done by the ground versus cups and Oz, 167 00:08:33,700 --> 00:08:36,700 it's just more practical and the way that they had all their 168 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:40,900 recipes always listed out by G. It made me recalibrate how I 169 00:08:40,900 --> 00:08:44,800 thought about recipes and moving more towards Everything having 170 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:49,300 an exact recipe. And so, I moved towards recipes 171 00:08:49,300 --> 00:08:53,000 in the latter half of my career, and I would say in my very last 172 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,200 job. Before I stepped away from being 173 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,800 a chef, it was the recipe is the recipe as the recipe, you did 174 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,100 not change it. You might need to adjust for 175 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:07,200 Taste and that would be, you know, salt acid heat, something 176 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,800 like that, but you don't adjust the recipe. 177 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,700 You try and keep it as true to the recipe as possible with some 178 00:09:12,700 --> 00:09:16,700 slight deviations. So Towards the latter half of my 179 00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:18,900 career. I was a firm believer in 180 00:09:18,900 --> 00:09:20,900 recipes, but anyway, let's steal. 181 00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:24,200 Man, the case on both sides. Let's first, let's start out 182 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:28,400 with why you need recipes. Well, I'll tell you this, that 183 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,000 the end of the day, you guys need to decide, it's your 184 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,900 kitchen. I'm going to present both sides 185 00:09:31,900 --> 00:09:34,800 of the argument as to why you need recipes or why you don't 186 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,500 need recipes. But let me start out with why I 187 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:39,300 believe that you do need recipes. 188 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:46,600 And as a head, chef If you want to build a consistent restaurant 189 00:09:47,100 --> 00:09:50,000 and you want guests to come back and experience the same thing 190 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,300 over and over again based on your vision, then you need to 191 00:09:53,300 --> 00:09:56,300 have that documented somewhere. So people understand how to 192 00:09:56,300 --> 00:09:59,100 prepare it, the argument could be made that something needs to 193 00:09:59,100 --> 00:10:07,800 be made per taste and the cooks taste should be the metric on 194 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,600 which recipes are measured on. But the problem with that 195 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:14,300 becomes that Your palate as a chef. 196 00:10:14,300 --> 00:10:16,800 That's been doing it for x amount of time versus an 197 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,200 entry-level Cooks palette, who's fresh out of culinary school? 198 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,600 Or maybe it's their first job are completely different, right? 199 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,100 I'll cook hasn't fully developed their palate yet in there in the 200 00:10:29,100 --> 00:10:32,200 beginning of their career as much as amateur chef and I'll 201 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,800 give you some examples of things that when I say this, you'll 202 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:37,800 know if you've been cooking long enough, you'll know these these 203 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,700 taste and one is the flavor of a scorched pot. 204 00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:45,300 When you're cooking something over the Heat and it was too hot 205 00:10:45,300 --> 00:10:48,000 and you forgot to stir it and it Scorch the bottom and then you 206 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,300 taste in your like, what's that taste? 207 00:10:49,300 --> 00:10:53,900 Oh, it's scorched pot, like that flavor is Unforgettable or 208 00:10:53,900 --> 00:10:57,400 another one is rancid nuts. When nuts, go rancid. 209 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,400 They have a an off flavor rancid oil or fryer oil, that's too 210 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,400 old, right? All these things have a very 211 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:09,400 unique specific flavor that you know, you could, you could taste 212 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:11,600 any like oh this went wrong in the, in the process. 213 00:11:13,100 --> 00:11:16,000 And the reason I bring that up is because many times throughout 214 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,500 my career, I've had people bring me things and say taste this and 215 00:11:20,500 --> 00:11:24,000 I'll taste it. I'll say you scorched, the pot 216 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:25,000 and the black. What are you talking about? 217 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:26,500 Tastes fine. Is like, nope, you scorched, the 218 00:11:26,508 --> 00:11:28,400 pot and then they check the like, oh, I did Scorch. 219 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:29,400 The pot. How did you know? 220 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:30,800 It was like? Well, because I know what Scorch 221 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:34,300 pot taste, like, I've Scorch pots or I'll taste something 222 00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:36,300 made with nuts and I'll say, the nuts are rancid, and there would 223 00:11:36,300 --> 00:11:37,500 be like, really, I didn't noticeably. 224 00:11:37,500 --> 00:11:38,700 Yep. Your nuts are rancid. 225 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,300 Now, that is because I've developed my palate, so, and 226 00:11:42,300 --> 00:11:45,500 again, I'm speaking about ingredients, but this should 227 00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:48,900 reinforce the fact that just assuming you're leaving it up to 228 00:11:48,900 --> 00:11:51,500 someone's taste. You really can't do that. 229 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:54,900 You have to have some Guidelines for people to follow when it 230 00:11:54,900 --> 00:11:57,600 comes to recipes. Now from a business standpoint 231 00:11:58,300 --> 00:12:02,100 recipes are good business practices because everything 232 00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:05,200 will be costed on the recipe. Everything is measured and 233 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:08,000 assuming that you're costing your recipes and measuring them 234 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,900 correctly, it gives you a better understanding of what your food 235 00:12:11,900 --> 00:12:14,000 cost is what your theoretical food cost us. 236 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:18,200 So it's it's it's a good business practice to have 237 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:20,700 recipes. And it's a good business 238 00:12:20,700 --> 00:12:24,300 practice to also have to have those recipes cost. 239 00:12:24,300 --> 00:12:28,500 It on top of that, again, we're talking about Cooks developing 240 00:12:28,500 --> 00:12:31,400 their palate when you give them recipes, then you say, okay, 241 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:34,100 make the recipe now taste it. Okay, now, make the recipe 242 00:12:34,100 --> 00:12:34,900 again. Now taste it. 243 00:12:34,900 --> 00:12:36,800 And after they've done that multiple times, they'll 244 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:40,300 understand okay, I've made the recipe exactly multiple times 245 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:43,900 but there's some there's some Nuance within the recipe. 246 00:12:43,900 --> 00:12:46,200 What changed? Well, what changed is, you know, 247 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,400 what type of oil were using what type of produce? 248 00:12:49,500 --> 00:12:51,000 We're using, was it in season? Was it not? 249 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,900 Was it fresh was, it was the product rancid. 250 00:12:53,900 --> 00:12:57,300 So a lot of these things, then you start to understand the 251 00:12:57,300 --> 00:13:00,900 subtle variance between the recipe over the course of time. 252 00:13:00,900 --> 00:13:06,200 So having recipes in place also, helps train the cook on how to 253 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,400 build something when ever I'm writing recipes. 254 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:14,500 Now, my recommendation is, I always go and kilos and G. 255 00:13:14,500 --> 00:13:17,500 It's much more specific. So, all the cooks that work for 256 00:13:17,500 --> 00:13:20,800 me, part of their uniform. Merc toolkit was to always bring 257 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,300 a digital scale because all our recipes were written in grams. 258 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:27,600 And then, the kitchen also had heavy duty digital scales. 259 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,400 If you need to make something in bulk, we'd have digital skills 260 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,400 for that, but I recommend doing that getting out of cups. 261 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:35,800 Announces like I said, go watch the chefsteps video, they do a 262 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,400 great job of breaking down. Why you should use ounces, I'm 263 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:41,900 sorry. Why you should use grams and 264 00:13:41,900 --> 00:13:44,800 kilos versus ounces and cups and spoons and things like that. 265 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,800 I don't use that and I haven't used it for more than almost 15 266 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:49,800 years. I don't I've used that. 267 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:55,900 So now you have a firm understanding of parameters. 268 00:13:55,900 --> 00:13:58,300 You're able to hold people accountable when something's 269 00:13:58,300 --> 00:14:01,500 wrong, I've made recipes throughout my career dozens of 270 00:14:01,500 --> 00:14:03,600 times. And then someone will present 271 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,200 that recipe to me. And I'll say it's wrong. 272 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,000 I'm just looking at it like that recipes wrong. 273 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:08,800 They're like, how do you know? It's like I fucking know, 274 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:10,700 because I've made it a hundred times, that's how I know because 275 00:14:10,700 --> 00:14:12,600 I it's my recipe. I know it's wrong. 276 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:15,300 I could look at it and know that something's different about it. 277 00:14:15,300 --> 00:14:19,000 So recipes do allow you to have accountability and then the last 278 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:24,100 point I'll make Ache when it comes to recipes is that if 279 00:14:24,100 --> 00:14:27,300 someone doesn't understand the type of Cuisine, and in my case, 280 00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:31,100 I've worked with a lot of culinarians that have come from 281 00:14:31,100 --> 00:14:33,900 International. And so they may be from India or 282 00:14:33,900 --> 00:14:36,200 they're from the Philippines or they're from wherever. 283 00:14:37,100 --> 00:14:39,700 And so I'm introducing them to flavors that are completely 284 00:14:39,700 --> 00:14:43,400 foreign to them and if I say just make it taste good, I don't 285 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,900 know if their frame of reference is what it's supposed to be 286 00:14:46,900 --> 00:14:48,500 like. That would be like, you know, if 287 00:14:48,500 --> 00:14:50,900 I went to a foreign country And they said make this, you know, 288 00:14:50,900 --> 00:14:53,200 kind of is like this. Like I have no frame of 289 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:55,000 reference of how that's supposed to taste. 290 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:56,400 I don't understand the heat levels. 291 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,100 I don't understand the acid levels, Etc. 292 00:14:59,100 --> 00:15:01,400 So I could be making something completely wrong and then they 293 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,400 come up to me and say it's completely wrong. 294 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,100 So recipes provide good structure. 295 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:08,900 Well anyway, that's my Steel, Man case for recipes. 296 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,900 Now, what I want to do is I want to steal, man the case for no 297 00:15:11,900 --> 00:15:18,400 recipes If you work in a place where creativity is Paramount 298 00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:21,300 and there's a lot of restaurants out there that their menu 299 00:15:21,300 --> 00:15:23,800 evolves right? The chef is free-style in their 300 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,100 creative their cooking on the Fly today at the end of the day, 301 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,400 we look at what we have and we create a new menu Tomorrow. 302 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:31,700 Based on the ingredients that we have. 303 00:15:31,700 --> 00:15:35,200 Everyone's cooking at a very high level, everyone understands 304 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,400 how to cook and you start to develop a certain level of 305 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,200 confidence in the system. For those places. 306 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,400 I'm not sure if you truly I need recipes because you might have 307 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:47,500 some systems in place that we know here. 308 00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:49,900 This is how we do it. So if I say do this, this and 309 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:52,200 this you know, exactly what I'm talking about because we've 310 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,300 worked together for years and we're all developing the same 311 00:15:56,300 --> 00:15:58,900 flavors because we have the same frame of reference because we 312 00:15:58,900 --> 00:16:01,700 have a good team that's been working together. 313 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:09,100 Also, when you're working in places that the the skill level 314 00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:14,800 is very high and people could cook in - Lee, you know, they 315 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,400 could just taste something like notepad this at that. 316 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,000 And I've talked about this before, at least, maybe not on 317 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,300 the podcast. But I know I've talked about 318 00:16:21,300 --> 00:16:25,400 this maybe on social media, is the way I look at flavor and 319 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,300 salt and acid is, whenever I would do a tasting with chefs, I 320 00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:35,600 would say think about seasoning as the dial on a radio. 321 00:16:35,700 --> 00:16:40,100 So the volume dial and it would be if it's too loud, you can't 322 00:16:40,100 --> 00:16:44,100 hear the song, it's almost, you know, obnoxious It's so loud, 323 00:16:44,100 --> 00:16:47,600 it's obnoxious you can't hear. And if it's too low you can't 324 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,600 you can't hear it so you can't even enjoy it. 325 00:16:49,700 --> 00:16:53,100 And there's a sweet spot on the volume where you're going to 326 00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:55,100 enjoy it. And I would teach Cooks, like, 327 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,900 there's flavor enhancers so it'd be like, salt is like the, the 328 00:16:59,900 --> 00:17:02,600 dial. So you adjust the seasoning, 329 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,599 you're turning up the music if it's too salty, that's like, 330 00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:06,599 having the volume all the way up. 331 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:09,000 If there's no salt. It's like having the volume all 332 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:10,800 the way down. So finding that sweet spot of 333 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:16,400 salt of acid, Of heat, Etc. So learning how to balance those 334 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:20,200 flavors and when chefs would bring me dishes to taste, it's a 335 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:21,500 chef. What do you think about this? 336 00:17:21,500 --> 00:17:24,300 I'd say, okay, the salts like a seven, turn it down to a six or 337 00:17:24,300 --> 00:17:26,800 lets punch up the acid. It's right outside of six. 338 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:30,000 Let's take it up to an eight, whatever the case may be and you 339 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,300 start to develop your palate and developed palette. 340 00:17:34,300 --> 00:17:36,700 I will say might be one of the most important things you know I 341 00:17:36,700 --> 00:17:39,200 kind of joked around at the last thing to go for a chef is their 342 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,800 palette and a developed palette might be one of the most 343 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,700 Important things to Chef, can can develop on their own because 344 00:17:45,700 --> 00:17:48,200 you know, all the skills that you get, you know, bracelet a 345 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:49,800 etcetera etcetera. Like, you can have all the 346 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:51,700 skills, but it doesn't mean your food is going to taste good, 347 00:17:52,300 --> 00:17:53,900 right? You could, you could, you could 348 00:17:53,900 --> 00:17:57,200 know how to cut very well and you could know how to braise 349 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,700 very well, but it does not mean that the food is going to taste 350 00:17:59,700 --> 00:18:01,300 good. But if you have a good palate, 351 00:18:01,300 --> 00:18:03,800 you understand, add a little of this, take this away. 352 00:18:04,300 --> 00:18:06,900 You understand how to combine flavors and you understand the 353 00:18:06,900 --> 00:18:09,900 Nuance of adding this will lift that up. 354 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,700 You start to also build flavor memory Is in your mind if you 355 00:18:14,700 --> 00:18:17,500 try a lot of food and you have a lot of experience tasting things 356 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,400 when you have this, like this database, this data Bank, of 357 00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:23,600 flavor memories in your mind when your start to create 358 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,000 dishes. You start say oh this will taste 359 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,200 good with that. And have you tried it before? 360 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,300 No, I have not, but I know intuitively that this will taste 361 00:18:31,300 --> 00:18:37,300 good together. An argument can be made that a 362 00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:41,000 chef doesn't need to be the best cook in the kitchen, but they 363 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,900 need to be the best taster and have the most Find palette 364 00:18:43,900 --> 00:18:46,200 because they should be able to taste things especially you 365 00:18:46,208 --> 00:18:49,100 know, in a larger operation. You know, if you think of a chef 366 00:18:49,100 --> 00:18:51,100 that might have four or five restaurants, the truth is, 367 00:18:51,100 --> 00:18:53,500 they're not behind the line probably ever, but they're 368 00:18:53,500 --> 00:18:55,000 meeting with their chef de cuisine and they're saying, 369 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:56,800 okay, let me taste this, let me taste that, you know, adjust 370 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:00,900 this, that the other, they're able to adjust the, the dishes 371 00:19:00,900 --> 00:19:04,900 that are being put forward based on their experience and their 372 00:19:04,900 --> 00:19:09,000 refined palate and the fact that they're exposed to so much where 373 00:19:09,100 --> 00:19:11,900 you maybe those Chef De Cuisine, is of those restaurants are so 374 00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:14,300 hyper focused just on. What they're doing, you know, 375 00:19:14,308 --> 00:19:16,500 they can't see the forest through the through the trees. 376 00:19:16,500 --> 00:19:20,300 So having a very refined palate is very important for Chef in 377 00:19:20,300 --> 00:19:22,500 the only way that you're gonna be able to do that is by tasting 378 00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:25,100 everything. So a case can be made that you 379 00:19:25,100 --> 00:19:26,900 don't need recipes. If you're working in the 380 00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:29,700 environment where you're constantly developing and 381 00:19:29,700 --> 00:19:34,000 refining your palate, And you have a strong team around you 382 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,200 where there's minimal mistakes. Of course, there's always going 383 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,700 to steaks. Even if you do have recipes, but 384 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:42,300 if you have a strong team around, you might not need as 385 00:19:42,300 --> 00:19:45,200 many recipes because everyone understands what the other 386 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,700 person is thinking when they say do this, you know, if I go to 387 00:19:48,700 --> 00:19:51,700 like, I did, like, I said, it did this catering with one of my 388 00:19:51,700 --> 00:19:55,200 chefs that I've known for, over 13, 14 years. 389 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,000 And if I said, hey do this. He knows exactly what I mean. 390 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,100 I don't need to explain it to him. 391 00:20:00,100 --> 00:20:02,600 I said, hey, can you make a call if Our puree and he's like, yep, 392 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,100 I got it. Because we've made it together 393 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:05,700 so many times. I don't need to hand him a 394 00:20:05,700 --> 00:20:10,300 recipe, but as I was saying, I was doing this catering event 395 00:20:10,500 --> 00:20:11,600 and I couldn't remember something. 396 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:13,600 I was like, I want to make this recipe and I couldn't remember 397 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:17,000 exactly what it was and I was like, okay let me let me stop 398 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,300 and let me look up my old recipe database because I want to make 399 00:20:20,300 --> 00:20:21,900 sure it was accurate and it tasted good. 400 00:20:21,900 --> 00:20:25,500 So like I said an argument could be made either way. 401 00:20:26,100 --> 00:20:30,300 But if I had to choose, I would say I would err on the side of 402 00:20:30,300 --> 00:20:32,400 recipes. I do think These are important 403 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:35,300 and I think, like I said, if you want to have a kitchen that is 404 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,600 responsible in terms of profit margins and cost you need to 405 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,200 know what your recipes are in. You understand how much they 406 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,500 cost and if you want to minimize the amount of mistakes and if 407 00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:49,300 you have a large operation in the last kitchen, I had was 408 00:20:49,300 --> 00:20:52,600 like, 120 employees. So I couldn't just trust 409 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:55,100 everyone to just make everything to my palate because they were 410 00:20:55,108 --> 00:20:57,600 from all over the world and they had all different levels of 411 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,200 cooking experience. So having recipes established 412 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,700 guidelines and parameters. Is to minimize the amount of 413 00:21:05,100 --> 00:21:08,600 error. And deviation away from what I 414 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,800 wanted. So an argument could be made of 415 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,600 either way the larger the operation, I think, the more 416 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,200 important, the recipes, the smaller, the operation smaller 417 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:16,900 at the team. Maybe it's not as important. 418 00:21:17,100 --> 00:21:20,000 In like, also in a lot of catering operations, you know, 419 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,200 the menu changes so much yo day-to-day, maybe you don't need 420 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,900 recipes. But again, fact of the matter 421 00:21:26,900 --> 00:21:29,800 is, it's not my kitchen. It's your kitchen and whatever 422 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,600 your chef says is Right. Assuming that you're not the 423 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:34,200 chef, if you are the chef, whatever you say is right? 424 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:35,800 It doesn't matter what I say. It's what you think. 425 00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:38,900 I'm just My case. And I'm I want to make sure I'm 426 00:21:38,900 --> 00:21:41,800 able to steal man both sides of the argument but it was 427 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,800 interesting. So I put up a poll and I asked 428 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:45,500 the question. I said, chefs, do you all use 429 00:21:45,500 --> 00:21:46,800 recipes? And this was a couple of weeks 430 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,500 back, and it was interesting because I didn't realize that 431 00:21:50,500 --> 00:21:52,500 people were so passionate one side or the other, and that's 432 00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:55,700 actually why I put up the poll because, you know, sometimes in 433 00:21:55,700 --> 00:21:57,600 my world I live in an echo chamber. 434 00:21:57,900 --> 00:22:02,000 Meaning that everyone that I talk to always has the same 435 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:03,600 ideas and kind of thinks the same. 436 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,300 We all will have the same beliefs when it comes to how 437 00:22:06,300 --> 00:22:07,600 kitchen should be. Be run. 438 00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:11,600 And it's interesting for me to hear other perspectives that I 439 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,200 don't hear every day because they're not in my general circle 440 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,600 of influence. So, anyway, That's basically 441 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,400 going to wrap up the show next week. 442 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,500 We will talk culinary competitions. 443 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,300 I'm excited about that one. I'm actually, and I'll save this 444 00:22:25,300 --> 00:22:27,900 for the next episode, but I'm tomorrow. 445 00:22:27,900 --> 00:22:29,900 I'm going to go talk to two people. 446 00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:33,900 That are very much involved in competitions to pick their brain 447 00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:36,100 before I record next week's podcast. 448 00:22:36,100 --> 00:22:37,900 So come back next week. You'll enjoy that one. 449 00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:43,700 If you want to support the show, go subscribe on Spotify or apple 450 00:22:43,700 --> 00:22:45,200 or whatever. You're listening to this on. 451 00:22:45,300 --> 00:22:48,800 Make sure you leave five stars. This is a five-star podcast, go, 452 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:50,100 get the books culinary leadership. 453 00:22:50,100 --> 00:22:53,600 Fundamentals line, cook survival manual and how not to be the 454 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,000 biggest idiot in the kitchen if you want continuing education. 455 00:22:57,500 --> 00:23:00,500 Look for The Culinary leadership fundamentals video. 456 00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:02,700 You can find all of this on Chefs PSA.com. 457 00:23:02,900 --> 00:23:04,200 You can also look at the merch on there. 458 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:05,900 There's a, there's a shirt that I put up. 459 00:23:05,900 --> 00:23:07,700 That's Happy, Chef. It's honest. 460 00:23:07,700 --> 00:23:09,900 It's one of my favorite shirts that I've made. 461 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:12,100 It's simple but I think it's funny. 462 00:23:12,300 --> 00:23:16,100 Anyway, go do that. Thank you all for listening. 463 00:23:16,700 --> 00:23:19,100 If there's something that you want me to touch on next week, 464 00:23:19,100 --> 00:23:22,800 please drop me a DM or in the comments and hit the porno 465 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:23,900 music, see you next week.