1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:02,600 Hello chefs. You're listening to chefs, PSA 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:04,800 podcast. I'm your host Andre natera. 3 00:00:04,900 --> 00:00:07,700 On today's episode, we're going to talk about what makes a chef. 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,800 So first, let's start with an update. 5 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:26,000 What have I been up to? I've had a busy week per usual. 6 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:29,600 I'm always hustling, but the culinary leadership 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:32,200 fundamentals, video courses done. 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,200 It's wrapped up its edited. It's ready to go. 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,500 The only problem I have with it is I need to find the right 10 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:40,200 platform where it's easy to download because it is quite a 11 00:00:40,208 --> 00:00:41,900 large file. So when people want to watch the 12 00:00:41,900 --> 00:00:44,800 video it's about I think it wrapped up being about an hour 13 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,400 and 20 minutes or so. But what I cover on that is you 14 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,700 know a lot of the same Same things that are in the book. 15 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:54,500 So food cost management cost mitigation building, a culture 16 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:56,700 dealing with difficult situations, social media 17 00:00:56,700 --> 00:00:59,700 marketing, Etc, anyway, that'll be available. 18 00:00:59,700 --> 00:01:04,200 As soon as I figure out what the right platform is to host it and 19 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:05,800 I'm still kind of working through some thoughts on that. 20 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,300 I'm not 100% sure. The other thing is the culinary 21 00:01:08,300 --> 00:01:10,800 leadership. Fundamentals, audiobook is 22 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,200 pretty much wrapped up doing some final edits. 23 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,500 I'm hoping that that will be out. 24 00:01:16,500 --> 00:01:19,200 I feel like I've been talking about this you know, for quite 25 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,100 some time but Open, that'll be up in a relatively short period 26 00:01:22,100 --> 00:01:25,000 of time. But after that, I've been 27 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,200 thinking about writing another book and I know I just wrote 28 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,500 three books this year and maybe I need to take a break but, you 29 00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:35,300 know, my mind moves rapidly. And if I had an idea for another 30 00:01:35,300 --> 00:01:40,000 book, it would be things that I learned from my chef so lessons. 31 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:43,300 When I was a cook things that my chef taught me and just kind of 32 00:01:43,308 --> 00:01:48,200 make a compendium of those thoughts and ideas and put them 33 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:52,400 into a book format, short short book, but more of a, more of a 34 00:01:52,408 --> 00:01:53,900 story format. So, I don't know, I don't know 35 00:01:53,908 --> 00:01:55,600 if I'll do that. I'm not announcing that. 36 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:57,600 I'm a start doing that because if I announced it then I have to 37 00:01:57,607 --> 00:01:59,200 do it. I'm giving myself the option to 38 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,200 not do it. But if that's a book that you 39 00:02:01,208 --> 00:02:05,300 guys would like to read, let me know and maybe they'll give me 40 00:02:05,300 --> 00:02:07,400 the motivation to write it. If you all feel that, that's 41 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:09,300 something that you all would like to read anyway. 42 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,500 One of the thing I forgot to mention is on last week's 43 00:02:14,500 --> 00:02:17,400 episode. I had mentioned that starting 44 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,600 this week. I would also do video on YouTube 45 00:02:21,700 --> 00:02:23,500 and Spotify, so you could watch this. 46 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:26,800 Well, that clearly didn't happen. 47 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,400 I had a, I still have a little bit of a learning curve, if I'm, 48 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,400 if I'm being honest, I haven't fully figured it out and I want 49 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,600 to do a back back up, I'm sorry. I want to do a black background 50 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:40,900 behind me. So you do everyone gets tired of 51 00:02:40,908 --> 00:02:44,300 seeing my Shelf anyway. So that's not ready yet. 52 00:02:44,300 --> 00:02:47,700 I lied I made a mistake. I spoke too soon. 53 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:51,400 I thought it was ready to start doing video and audio, turns out 54 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,600 I'm not as tech savvy as I thought so. 55 00:02:53,700 --> 00:02:57,800 Still a work in progress. Anyway, subject at hand this 56 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,300 week is what makes a chef. This is a very interesting 57 00:03:01,300 --> 00:03:07,400 conversation for me because a lot of people Really throw the 58 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,500 term Chef around, pretty Loosely, and sometimes I throw 59 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:13,200 it around Loosely and I want to get into why throw it around 60 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,000 Loosely, but really, what makes a chef? 61 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,900 I'm going to start out with a story when I was in culinary 62 00:03:17,900 --> 00:03:20,500 school. I remember, they were going 63 00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:22,600 through lecture and I signed up for culinary school. 64 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,100 I honestly, I didn't even know what the word culinary meant. 65 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,900 I thought I was going to Chef school and some some guy. 66 00:03:28,900 --> 00:03:30,600 Some annoying guy. Said, no, you're going to 67 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:32,000 culinary school. I said what's calling her and he 68 00:03:32,008 --> 00:03:34,200 started laughing at me so you don't know what culinary is bro 69 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,400 your stupid anyway You know, what happened to that guy? 70 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,100 He was an idiot. Not me. 71 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,500 I was probably an idiot as well. I honestly didn't know what that 72 00:03:42,500 --> 00:03:44,500 word is a big word for me. I was only like 16. 73 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,900 Anyway, long story short. I'm in culinary school and the 74 00:03:48,900 --> 00:03:50,700 chef is up and he's giving lecture. 75 00:03:50,700 --> 00:03:54,400 And he's talking about when we graduate upon graduation, we can 76 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,300 become certified cooks. And I remember I raised my hand 77 00:03:59,300 --> 00:04:04,400 and I said Don't you made will be shops and he started laughing 78 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,900 and he said, absolutely not. Maybe in 10 years you'll be a 79 00:04:07,900 --> 00:04:10,400 chef, but when you graduate, you're just going to be a cook 80 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,400 and you got to work your way up. Starting from the bottom. 81 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,800 Now, when I heard that, I was devastated because I thought 82 00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:20,399 that graduating from culinary school made one a chef, I didn't 83 00:04:20,399 --> 00:04:22,800 realize that that's not the case. 84 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,500 You don't graduate from culinary school in most cases and go 85 00:04:25,500 --> 00:04:29,200 directly into becoming a chef But I didn't know that I was 86 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,800 just a kid. So being the young kid that I 87 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:34,300 was I was I was super bummed out. 88 00:04:34,300 --> 00:04:35,900 Anyway, fast forward a couple of years later. 89 00:04:36,700 --> 00:04:40,200 I'm working in this restaurant and one of my buddies leaves and 90 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,300 he goes to work at this golf club and he tells me, hey, there 91 00:04:44,300 --> 00:04:46,600 looking for a head chef and I think you'd be perfect. 92 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:50,100 So I was like really, you know, and at this point in time, I may 93 00:04:50,100 --> 00:04:52,400 be 18 years old. So I went to culinary school 94 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,300 when I was 17. So, I'm probably about 18 years 95 00:04:54,300 --> 00:04:56,900 old at this time, and I remember, I went and I 96 00:04:56,900 --> 00:05:00,900 interviewed for the job of executive chef, I'm only 18. 97 00:05:01,100 --> 00:05:03,800 And they For to be the job and I'm like, holy shit. 98 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,400 I'm going to be the executive chef and I'm only 18. 99 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,200 I'm such a badass and I remember going to speak to my chef that I 100 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,100 worked for at the time and thinking, like, we're going to 101 00:05:14,108 --> 00:05:16,500 be peers. We're equals because you're an 102 00:05:16,500 --> 00:05:18,200 executive chef. I'm going to be an executive 103 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,700 chef, but the fact of the matter was that there was only one 104 00:05:20,700 --> 00:05:23,100 other person in the kitchen. It would have been just me, and 105 00:05:23,100 --> 00:05:24,500 my friend, and I would have been his boss. 106 00:05:24,500 --> 00:05:27,900 So, that would have made me the executive chef and I went, and I 107 00:05:27,907 --> 00:05:31,500 spoke to my chef about it, and he said, do you think you're 108 00:05:31,500 --> 00:05:33,000 ready? Ready for a position like that 109 00:05:33,100 --> 00:05:36,500 and I said, yeah, I'll be a chef and he's like, but you're not 110 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:38,500 really a chef, you don't have a lot of experience you have less 111 00:05:38,500 --> 00:05:40,800 than one year out of culinary school. 112 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,100 And I thought to myself. Yeah, but I'll buy culinary 113 00:05:44,100 --> 00:05:45,500 school taught me, everything that I need to know. 114 00:05:45,500 --> 00:05:48,300 I'm ready, you know, I did, I didn't know better at the time 115 00:05:48,900 --> 00:05:50,400 and he says, how much are they going to pay you? 116 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:54,600 Now, keep in mind, this is think 1995, 96. 117 00:05:54,700 --> 00:05:57,400 I said you're there can pay me $7 an hour to be the executive 118 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,000 chef and he said, okay. Well maybe just wait a little 119 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:04,300 bit and I'll send you up to my friends restaurant. 120 00:06:04,300 --> 00:06:06,100 You can learn some more, maybe some different things there. 121 00:06:06,100 --> 00:06:10,200 Anyway, I didn't end up taking the job and in retrospect. 122 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:11,700 Thank God, I had no business calling. 123 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,900 Myself a chef when I was 18 years old but the reality is is 124 00:06:15,900 --> 00:06:18,100 that would have made me a chef technically. 125 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:20,500 Technically on paper, I would have been a chef. 126 00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:23,200 I would have been 18 years old. I would have had one other 127 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,300 employee and I would have been his boss and that would have 128 00:06:26,300 --> 00:06:29,300 made me the chef. So when you think about what 129 00:06:29,300 --> 00:06:31,700 really is a chef, it's the chief. 130 00:06:31,700 --> 00:06:32,900 Right? That's that's kind of where the 131 00:06:32,900 --> 00:06:34,400 word comes from. Its the head person, in the 132 00:06:34,407 --> 00:06:38,000 kitchen, the head person in the kitchen, is the chef usually. 133 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,400 Okay, so let's let's, let's take this more as a, as an extreme 134 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:42,800 example. Ample, there's one chef and 135 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,500 everyone else's not the chef. Now I know there's layers execs. 136 00:06:45,500 --> 00:06:48,700 Ooh, sous-chef Etc. But let's just use this as an 137 00:06:48,700 --> 00:06:50,700 example. The chef is the chef everyone 138 00:06:50,700 --> 00:06:54,200 else's not the chef and a lot of kitchens do run that way. 139 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:59,300 We're especially in the old days you only called the chef the 140 00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:00,600 chef. So you'd say, you know, Chef 141 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:05,600 whatever, and if you dared address another Chef in the same 142 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,400 room, that was, maybe the sous chef and call them Chef in front 143 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,700 of the head. Chef boy, I've seen some chefs. 144 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,800 Their mind saying I'm the chef dammit, don't call them the 145 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,100 chef. I am the chef you know, big egos 146 00:07:19,100 --> 00:07:23,300 in those days. So anyway I would not have been 147 00:07:23,300 --> 00:07:26,300 a chef of that was the case but in general let's just use a 148 00:07:26,300 --> 00:07:30,500 hypothetical situation. I've been an executive chef, I 149 00:07:30,508 --> 00:07:33,600 think nine times in my career. So restaurants hotels country 150 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,300 clubs Etc. And in those nine times, let's 151 00:07:37,300 --> 00:07:40,400 say, I did, you know, right now I'm not a chef I can't call 152 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:41,600 myself Chef, I don't run a brigade. 153 00:07:41,700 --> 00:07:44,600 Wade, I've been a chef but right now I would say I'm not a chef 154 00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:49,100 but maybe I'm your all's Chef, I'm a chef podcaster but let's 155 00:07:49,100 --> 00:07:53,100 say I got a job and in the next job that I got, I'm the fry 156 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:55,700 cook. I couldn't walk into that job 157 00:07:55,700 --> 00:08:00,200 right now and say call me Chef because everyone else would look 158 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:02,900 at me and be like you're not the chef, you're a fry cook. 159 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,600 So it doesn't really matter what I have done previously in my 160 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,700 career, if I start a job tomorrow and in that job, I am a 161 00:08:10,707 --> 00:08:13,600 fry cook. Then I can't sit here and say I 162 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,100 am a chef, the chef is the title. 163 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,800 So the chef is the title of the person who runs the kitchen. 164 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,700 The job is cooking or running to kitchen, right? 165 00:08:24,300 --> 00:08:27,000 I think that's an interesting way to view it because a lot of 166 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:28,900 people just, you know, throughout the term Chef 167 00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:32,900 arbitrarily and I could say right now I have a hard time 168 00:08:33,100 --> 00:08:35,200 calling myself a chef. A lot of times I say I'm a 169 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,000 former Chef because I'm not running a kitchen in to me is 170 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:39,500 Chef is someone that's running the kitchen. 171 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:45,300 Now with that being said, in a A lot of kitchens the term Chef is 172 00:08:45,300 --> 00:08:48,600 used also as a sign of professionalism and respect 173 00:08:48,700 --> 00:08:53,800 amongst everyone on the team. So if you go work in a 174 00:08:53,808 --> 00:08:56,200 restaurant and let's just say it's a high-end restaurant and 175 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,000 everyone calls back and it's yes, chef. 176 00:08:59,100 --> 00:09:03,600 Well, you'll start to notice that if someone else is calling 177 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,300 out orders, they might not be a chef and people will say yes, 178 00:09:06,300 --> 00:09:09,000 chef. So maybe it's an expeditor who 179 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,500 has zero culinary experience and maybe there are front of the 180 00:09:11,500 --> 00:09:14,200 house person and they just threw on whites for the day and 181 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,800 they're calling out a ticket. You'll hear people say yes, chef 182 00:09:17,100 --> 00:09:18,400 now. Does that make them a chef? 183 00:09:18,500 --> 00:09:21,000 I don't know. They're running service. 184 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,800 So you could argue that they are the chef. 185 00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:28,800 A lot of times people will call themselves chefs and call. 186 00:09:28,900 --> 00:09:31,800 Our people shops like I said, as a sign of respect. 187 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,300 So let's just say your the fry cook going back to my fry cook 188 00:09:35,300 --> 00:09:38,500 example, they'll be times what they say. 189 00:09:38,500 --> 00:09:41,200 You know, they'll walk up to the fry cook and they'll say Chef 190 00:09:41,300 --> 00:09:43,000 even though I'm not, the chef will say, Chef this that and the 191 00:09:43,008 --> 00:09:48,100 other this is Chef so-and-so and everyone is Chef and kitchens 192 00:09:48,100 --> 00:09:49,000 like that. They do that. 193 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,000 Just out of a term of endearment, a term of respect. 194 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000 They want to bring some professionalism into what they 195 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,000 do. The chef title gets thrown 196 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:01,300 around as chef de partie Demi's. Chef chef Cole, me executive 197 00:10:01,300 --> 00:10:04,600 sous, chef etc, etc. And the reason people do that 198 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,400 is, it shows respect for the tradition and the heritage of 199 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,900 what we're doing. So again, what is a chef? 200 00:10:11,100 --> 00:10:13,100 Hmm. So it does get a little bit 201 00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:18,400 muddy. I think the rule of thumb would 202 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:23,400 be the proper thing is, whatever, is the proper thing in 203 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,500 the kitchen, where you work. So if you work in a place where 204 00:10:26,500 --> 00:10:28,200 there's only one Chef, then that's it. 205 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,200 If you work in a place where there's a sous chef and an 206 00:10:31,208 --> 00:10:34,200 executive sous-chef, maybe that's the rule or if you work 207 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,800 in a place where everyone is called, Chef, maybe that's the 208 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,500 rule there. But it still doesn't answer the 209 00:10:40,500 --> 00:10:43,600 question of what is a chef? And I'm going to tell you 210 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:45,700 another story. So I told you earlier. 211 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,500 How was 18 and I was going to be a chef now was I ready for that? 212 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,900 Probably not, but I could have done it fast forward, a few 213 00:10:54,900 --> 00:10:57,900 years. I take my first big executive 214 00:10:57,900 --> 00:11:00,300 chef job in California at a resort that had about. 215 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:03,600 I think about five restaurants big, beautiful 4-star Resort in 216 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,800 California and I was definitely punching above my weight. 217 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,500 I was not ready to be the chef in this in this particular 218 00:11:09,500 --> 00:11:11,700 place, but I got the job. I was a very good cook at the 219 00:11:11,700 --> 00:11:15,200 time and I was pushing on the creativity side on things that 220 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:16,300 people hadn't really seen at that. 221 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,100 Point in time. So I knew how to cook but I 222 00:11:19,108 --> 00:11:22,600 didn't really know how to Chef and so here I was in this place 223 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,000 and I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. 224 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,000 I kept making mistake after mistake after mistake not in 225 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,500 cooking, but just in running the operation leadership decisions 226 00:11:30,500 --> 00:11:34,700 and things like that. So in retrospect When are you 227 00:11:34,700 --> 00:11:38,300 ready to become a chef? Well, I definitely wasn't ready 228 00:11:38,300 --> 00:11:42,100 for that job, but I was definitely ready for one. 229 00:11:42,100 --> 00:11:45,200 So when people ask me because I get asked this question often, 230 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:46,900 how do you know when you're ready to become a chef? 231 00:11:46,900 --> 00:11:51,000 Well, number one, you're probably ready and you're 232 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,100 probably not ready at the same time, so you're probably ready 233 00:11:54,100 --> 00:11:56,900 to be the chef at some places and you're probably nowhere 234 00:11:56,900 --> 00:11:59,100 close to being ready at other places. 235 00:11:59,500 --> 00:12:01,900 You could go into a place right now realistically, you could 236 00:12:01,900 --> 00:12:04,900 graduate culinary school and Into an easy place where there's 237 00:12:04,900 --> 00:12:07,500 one or two people and you could be the chef, but I doubt that 238 00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:09,500 you're going to be able to go to a place that's extremely 239 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:12,500 difficult, where you have 30 or 40 cooks and be able to be the 240 00:12:12,508 --> 00:12:16,500 chef there and I would caution you to take a chef job before 241 00:12:16,500 --> 00:12:18,600 you're ready. Because it's very hard to go 242 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,800 backwards in your career. Once you've taken the chef job, 243 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:23,600 you're not going to want to go back to being a sous chef or 244 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:28,700 cook one of the chef's PSAs that I put up is it's better to take 245 00:12:28,700 --> 00:12:31,900 your time and be a good sous-chef later versus 246 00:12:31,900 --> 00:12:34,800 impatiently becoming a bad. Sous chef today. 247 00:12:35,300 --> 00:12:39,600 And I think when we talk about what really makes a chef, when 248 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,000 we talk about good chefs because again, we throw the term around 249 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,200 arbitrarily, everyone's a chef, this is these days, they're on 250 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,400 Tick-Tock there, chef but what makes a good Chef a chef is 251 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:54,000 someone that has a high level of Competency in most skill sets in 252 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,600 the kitchen that includes vegetable work. 253 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:00,100 Knife work. Butchering and the basic cooking 254 00:13:00,100 --> 00:13:05,400 method, sought a braised Etc. So someone that's very In, you 255 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,200 know, the culinary, let's call it culinary Acumen. 256 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:13,000 They have a good understanding of how to cook, but they also 257 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,200 have a good understanding of how to lead, how schedules work, how 258 00:13:16,208 --> 00:13:19,200 to manage food, cause how to do inventory Etc. 259 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:23,400 So there is a managerial aspect of being a chef, how to run 260 00:13:23,500 --> 00:13:26,500 service, how to run the pass, how to organize themselves, how 261 00:13:26,500 --> 00:13:29,300 to hire people, how to lead people, these are these are 262 00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:30,900 things that you learn along the way. 263 00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:34,600 And I think that knowing all these I will make you a better 264 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,100 Chef. So, when are you ready? 265 00:13:37,100 --> 00:13:41,000 I don't know because an argument could be made that you'll learn 266 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:42,900 about the job when you're in the job. 267 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:46,100 And that's how you get better. But then the argument could also 268 00:13:46,100 --> 00:13:48,200 be made, that they're not going to give you the job until you're 269 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:50,200 ready for the job until you have experience. 270 00:13:51,700 --> 00:13:55,200 Sometimes in restaurants, shit happens. 271 00:13:55,500 --> 00:13:58,700 And a lot of times, you know, a lot of times an independent 272 00:13:58,700 --> 00:14:01,800 restaurants chefs gets get fired or they don't come in or 273 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,900 whatever. And you know, the places, you 274 00:14:04,900 --> 00:14:08,000 know, in a chaotic mess and you know, the owner will look at 275 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,800 someone and say, hey, you're the sous chef, guess what? 276 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:11,900 Now you're the executive chef, you're like, oh shit. 277 00:14:11,900 --> 00:14:15,600 Okay, what do I do? And we'll figure it out and 278 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,000 that's not uncommon. So sometimes you get your first 279 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,900 at-bat when that happens. That's how that's how you get 280 00:14:20,900 --> 00:14:22,700 your. First, chef job that makes you a 281 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:24,800 chef as you just kind of get thrown into the fire and you 282 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,500 figure that you've kind of figure it out other times. 283 00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:32,600 Maybe in this was my case, this is how I got my first chef job, 284 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:37,900 my mentor, my executive chef, he got promoted and while he was 285 00:14:37,900 --> 00:14:40,100 moving up he decided to pull me up to. 286 00:14:40,100 --> 00:14:42,800 So he moved into the next position that was the boss of 287 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:45,400 the chef and he put me in the position as the head chef. 288 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:48,000 So sometimes that happens, the persons in the building and they 289 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,400 bring you up other times you and of punch below your weight. 290 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,600 So what I mean by that is maybe you're the number two in a 291 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,900 really high-end restaurant but it's going to be very difficult 292 00:14:59,900 --> 00:15:01,600 to go. Be the number one in a very 293 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,500 similar establishment. So you go be the number one in 294 00:15:04,500 --> 00:15:09,000 something that's just below that level to kind of get your sea 295 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,600 legs about you. That's also very common But 296 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,000 here's what I could tell you is that a certain point, you have 297 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,100 to make the decision that it's time to be a chef, you can't 298 00:15:18,100 --> 00:15:21,300 just sit around forever and say I'll be I don't know what I'm 299 00:15:21,300 --> 00:15:22,600 going to be ready. I don't know what I'm going to 300 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:24,300 be ready like at a certain point. 301 00:15:24,300 --> 00:15:27,700 You look no one's ever ready just just you got to go for it. 302 00:15:28,300 --> 00:15:31,400 You got to make the decision and say it's time now and I got to 303 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:33,200 go for it. Now, if you failed, maybe you're 304 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,700 going to find out that you definitely weren't even close to 305 00:15:35,700 --> 00:15:39,200 being ready, and it's time to go back a few Paces, or, and you 306 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:40,900 may find out. Hey, I was more ready than I 307 00:15:40,908 --> 00:15:42,900 thought. And this was actually, You know, 308 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:45,800 I'm pretty good at it. Some people transition very well 309 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,800 into the head, chef role and other people struggle a little 310 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,600 bit now. But I can tell you in my 311 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:52,800 experience and I do touch on this, in the culinary leadership 312 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,300 fundamentals book is that there's obviously different 313 00:15:56,300 --> 00:15:58,900 levels of chefs and there's obviously different types of 314 00:15:58,900 --> 00:16:02,600 chefs. So you know, a chef like Joan 315 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,900 Roca from Celler de can Roca. So I did a dinner with him, you 316 00:16:05,900 --> 00:16:08,800 know, I want to say a couple of years back and when he came into 317 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:11,700 the kitchen, even though is my kitchen, he's the chef. 318 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,100 Yes, chef Jeff Wright said his cutting board up, I'm going to 319 00:16:15,108 --> 00:16:18,300 be his go for whatever. So he's the chef even though 320 00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:19,700 it's my restaurant. He is Chef. 321 00:16:20,100 --> 00:16:24,700 I respect the fact that he is my senior and I'm going to treat 322 00:16:24,700 --> 00:16:27,500 him as the chef. There's other times when I would 323 00:16:27,500 --> 00:16:30,900 walk into people's kitchens and maybe these people were people 324 00:16:30,900 --> 00:16:33,400 that had worked for me in the past and when I would walk into 325 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:35,200 their kitchen, they would call me Chef. 326 00:16:35,500 --> 00:16:39,100 So all of a sudden they are like, passing passing the 327 00:16:39,100 --> 00:16:41,100 respect of them and their team on to me. 328 00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:44,200 So, Like I said, there's different levels of chefs. 329 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,300 And, you know, sometimes when they come in your kitchen, it's 330 00:16:47,300 --> 00:16:48,500 yes. Chef set up your cutting board. 331 00:16:48,500 --> 00:16:51,600 Here's here's your towels. Nice and folded, Chef, let me 332 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,800 know if you need anything. So keep that in mind. 333 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,400 There's different levels of chefs. 334 00:16:57,300 --> 00:17:01,500 But additionally, there's also a big difference in the type of 335 00:17:01,500 --> 00:17:03,100 environment you're going to be a chef. 336 00:17:03,100 --> 00:17:06,400 So, let's say you're in a hotel and there's levels and hotels, 337 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:09,400 there's a 100-room hotel, there's a thousand room Hotel. 338 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:11,300 There's a luxury hotel on the beach. 339 00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:13,900 They all All require different skill sets and knowledge. 340 00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:17,000 As a chef, there is the diner down the street where you're 341 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,900 going to be the chef. And there's also the 342 00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:22,000 three-michelin-star place where you going to be a chef, and they 343 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,200 all are going to require a different level of skill, set, 344 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:26,700 and culinary knowledge, and Leadership, and, and business 345 00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:31,700 Acumen etcetera. So developing yourself as a chef 346 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,700 in all facets is never a bad thing, right? 347 00:17:34,700 --> 00:17:39,600 Become a really good cook first, and I say that with a little bit 348 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:44,500 of caution as as you, Up. Sometimes you're really going to 349 00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:47,400 miss the kitchen because a lot of times, you don't have as much 350 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,300 time to spend in the kitchen due, to all the other things 351 00:17:50,300 --> 00:17:51,900 that are going on, in the restaurant, you're putting out 352 00:17:51,900 --> 00:17:54,100 fires, you're dealing with issues, you're ordering 353 00:17:54,100 --> 00:17:55,300 etcetera, right? Schedules. 354 00:17:55,500 --> 00:17:57,200 All the other things take up your time and you're gonna be 355 00:17:57,200 --> 00:17:59,400 like, damn. I really miss cooking, and rust 356 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:02,000 is a real thing, right? The the board time you take 357 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,700 outside of the kitchen, the harder it's going to be to get 358 00:18:04,700 --> 00:18:06,300 back in the kitchen. I'll tell you all the story. 359 00:18:06,300 --> 00:18:09,000 Now, I haven't been a professional chef and almost a 360 00:18:09,008 --> 00:18:13,600 year now, and I've made. Gnocchi my entire career right 361 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,500 ever. Since I was like 18, I can I 362 00:18:15,500 --> 00:18:18,400 know how to make gnocchi. And the other day I was making 363 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,200 gnocchi from for my house and I couldn't remember how to make it 364 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:23,200 now. Hold on. 365 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,000 I should probably clarify that statement. 366 00:18:25,100 --> 00:18:28,100 I knew how to make it, but as I was, I had to like stop and 367 00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:30,000 think like, okay, what's next, how do I do this? 368 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,100 Okay. Yeah, that's right. 369 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,400 And then I was always rolling it like it's automatic memory but I 370 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:39,000 had to pause and think it was no longer just automatic and that's 371 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,300 because I'm not in a kitchen every day seeing food and You 372 00:18:42,300 --> 00:18:46,500 start to get a little bit Rusty, I had to brunoise some, some 373 00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:49,000 things the other day because I was making a pie for the pie 374 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:50,900 hole project. It was a donated pie. 375 00:18:50,900 --> 00:18:53,700 So inside my pie, I had brunoise vegetables. 376 00:18:53,700 --> 00:18:58,700 Mirepoix so celery, root onions. Carrots and everything was, you 377 00:18:58,700 --> 00:19:01,600 know, a strict brunoise how I expected by Cooks to do it. 378 00:19:01,900 --> 00:19:05,100 Remember I was doing it. I was like, holy shit. 379 00:19:05,100 --> 00:19:06,500 I can't believe I used to make my Cooks. 380 00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:07,700 Do this just takes a long-ass time. 381 00:19:08,100 --> 00:19:09,900 Sorry. If you're all are listening to 382 00:19:09,900 --> 00:19:11,100 this, I'm sorry. I made you do that. 383 00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:13,500 It took me a long time. Time to brunoise everything. 384 00:19:13,500 --> 00:19:16,600 Perfect. And I was like, this is a, I'm 385 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:17,800 Rusty. I couldn't get this done as 386 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:19,400 quick as I could. You know, my team could probably 387 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,800 do it in half the time that it took me because I was definitely 388 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,300 out of practice. But long story, short is, as you 389 00:19:26,300 --> 00:19:29,700 move up into your Chef rolls your skills, do get rusty so 390 00:19:29,700 --> 00:19:32,900 it's important to learn as much as you can spend as much time as 391 00:19:32,900 --> 00:19:36,700 you can and those positions because the longer you take in 392 00:19:36,700 --> 00:19:38,900 those positions, the better you'll be when you're in the 393 00:19:38,900 --> 00:19:40,900 next position. And one of the things that's 394 00:19:40,900 --> 00:19:41,900 very important when you're a chef. 395 00:19:42,500 --> 00:19:44,600 Is people are going to ask you how to do something and you need 396 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,700 to be able to show them right. Because if you can't show them 397 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,500 and it's your kitchen, it becomes a little bit of a 398 00:19:51,508 --> 00:19:53,300 problem, right? People want to respect the chef, 399 00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:55,500 they admire the chef and they want to know that, okay? 400 00:19:55,500 --> 00:19:58,300 You're, you're competent in the things that you're asking us to 401 00:19:58,300 --> 00:20:02,400 do. So, anyway, food for thought, 402 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,500 I'm not even sure if I answered the question. 403 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:07,400 What is a chef? Well, there's some ambiguity 404 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:10,000 there. I would close it by saying the 405 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,600 chef is the person that is in Charge of the kitchen to me. 406 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,700 That's what the chef is. However, what is it in your 407 00:20:16,700 --> 00:20:19,500 kitchen? Because obviously, every single 408 00:20:19,500 --> 00:20:21,000 kitchen is different. And everyone has a different 409 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,200 opinion on this. If you ask me the chef or under 410 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,100 stripes, and work your way to the top and and earned it. 411 00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:30,200 The title is bestowed upon you. It's not just frivolously given. 412 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:35,600 So at some point you have to earn your stripes if you get 413 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:37,900 there and it's a something for nothing, meaning you got there 414 00:20:37,900 --> 00:20:39,200 and you didn't turn the position. 415 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,400 You have to earn it at some point, if you, if you don't 416 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:45,600 learn it, now you're gonna have to earn it later, right? 417 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:48,200 You'll get discovered and found out that you're incapable of 418 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,100 doing the job. So make sure that you're doing 419 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:56,000 everything you can to better yourself better your team and 420 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,900 constantly be pushing forward to become a better Chef anyway, 421 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,800 that basically wraps it up for this week's chefs PSA, if you 422 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,300 want to support the show, please follow us on all social 423 00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:09,900 platforms. So Instagram tick talked. 424 00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:12,600 No one's on Twitter, right? Chef Twitter is the most boring 425 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:14,700 place. So we need some chefs on 426 00:21:14,700 --> 00:21:19,900 Twitter, Youtube, if you haven't left the five star review, make 427 00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:21,400 sure you do. So, if you're going to leave 428 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,200 anything other than a five star review, shame on you go put that 429 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,100 on someone else's podcast. This is a five-star podcast. 430 00:21:27,300 --> 00:21:30,300 Anyway, thank you all see you next week, hit the porno music.