Real Cred VS Street Cred

I might as well tell y'all up front. I haven't had any schooling as a chef. I'm old school. I started as a dishwasher in a busy nightclub, where these hot 20 something waitresses walked around in the tightest and shortest mini-skirts imaginable. One night the cook walked out, and the manager came in chuckling with an order for me to make.
"I don't know how to make this!" I protested, a little terrified at the prospect.
"You're not going to let that stop you, are you? You're the cook now!" and with that I had my first cooking job at age 15. From there I worked my way up in the business, until eventually I took on my first Chef job in a hotel at about 27 years of age.
I've always been self conscious of the fact that I don't have any papers to back up my claims of being a chef, and have viewed myself as kind of a poser. Thiw has motivated me to go out and purchase Wayne Gisslen's Professional Cooking for Canadian Chefs, 6th Edition, the book that is the text book for those studying for their red seal.
I've been sort of redeemed to discover in the book, that there is no paper prerequisite to the title of Chef, other than running a professional kitchen. For the first time, I'm comfortable calling myself a Chef, having now run 4 different restaurants.
I still intend to challenge the exam for my red seal however. Reading through this book for instance, I've found that the knowledge I don't have concerning cooking is vastly greater than the knowledge I do have. I'm looking forward to picking up paper creds to back up what I've earned in the heat.

Uppity Dickheads

The reason for all of the recent posts on professionalism is this:
I have a cook that can handle a rush better than anyone, who gets everything I ask him to do done, and comes to work with a big, infectious smile and positive attitude...most of the time.
Some of the time, the guy is an absolute cancer. He swears and curses about every new bill that comes in, bitches at the waitresses about not running food, and is what could generally be called a sourpuss, negative nellie, whiner, bitch, etc.
Last night I went in to place my order as I do almost every Saturday night, and he was swearing up a storm. The staff that were working with him were terrified.
The Front of House manager told me that this is the kind of behaviour she sees from the guy every time he works.
So I pulled him aside after his shift, and explained to him that all of the things that he was pissed off about are constant factors in our business...being short staffed, getting a rush without notice, getting a run of sales on the most difficult item in the kitchen to make. I told him that I didn't believe he had what it takes to be a line cook, and I've busted him down to dishwasher.
I probably should have fired him. But there is a light somewhere in this kid, that I'd love to tap into. If he could be the good version of himself, he'd be the most accomplished guy in the company.
Here's the thing about being a Chef. There are a lot of reasons a person chooses this career. For me it's a combination of things...I'm an adrenaline junkie, I love food, I like being in charge, and the speed of the work keeps ennui at bay. One of the most fulfilling aspects of this job however, is having an effect on troubled young people. The people that tend to wind up in high volume kitchens have generally made some mistakes in life, and most of those mistakes have involved a lack of perspective and guidance. As a chef I have a tremendous opportunity to lift a lot of young kids above the statistical probabilities that their lives offer.
Sometimes it means I piss around too much with fuckballs like Adam. But when it comes together, and that fuckball turns into a dedicated and passionate chef or sous chef, there aren't many better feelings.

He's Got My Back

My Sous Chef that is. In an earlier post I had expressed some reservations about promoting one of my guys. I made the promotion anyway, and thus far he's proven himself more than capable, and quite trustworthy. Thought I'd update on that. More to come later.

Propz to da Chef.

I went in to work tonight to do my order, and see how things were running at the club.
I had to pass through the hotel to get there, and as I moved through the hall, I noticed three somewhat drunken hotel guests staggering towards me. They were young men, and pretty fired up and rowdy, and two of them had their shirts off. They had the look of young guys spoiling for a fight.
I tensed a bit as we drew towards each other, and then one of them piped up "Good evening Chef!" I said good evening right back, and I was a little stunned, because he said it quite respectfully. As they continued off behind me I heard one of them say "What the fuck did you call him?" with a bit of a chuckle, and the kid that had wished me a good evening replied rather angrily..."I called him Chef, didn't you notice the Chef jacket?" and then the other guy quit giggling.
Apparently Chefs are no laughing matter...well, all except this one. The Statler and Waldorf quotes at the end of this one are highly applicable as well :)

The Statler and Waldorf quotes in this one are highly applicable as well :)

Restauranteurs, You Can't Afford Not to Read This

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/entrepreneur/sales_marketing/article.jsp?content=20090201_30010_30010

Professionalism, from Professional Cooking, 6th Edition, Gisslen

STANDARDS OF
PROFESSIONALISM

What does it take to be a good food service worker?
The emphasis of a food service education is on learning a set of skills.But in many
ways, attitudes are more important than skills because a good attitude will help you
not only learn skills but also persevere and overcome the many difficulties you will face. The successful food service worker follows an unwritten code of behavior and set of attitudes we call professionalism.Let’s look at some of the qualities a professional
must have.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD THE JOB
In order to be a good professional cook,you have to like cooking and want to do it well. Being serious about your work doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. But the enjoyment comes from the satisfaction of doing your job well and making everything run smoothly.
Every experienced chef knows the stimulation of the rush. When it’s the busiest time of the evening,the orders are coming in so fast you can hardly keep track of them, and every split second counts—then, when everyone digs in and works together and everything clicks, there’s real excitement in the air. But this excitement comes only when you work for it.
A cook with a positive attitude works quickly, efficiently, neatly, and safely. Professionals have pride in their work and want to make sure it is something to be proud of. Pride in your work and in your profession is important, but humility is important too, especially when you are starting out. Sometimes new culinary school graduates arrive on the job thinking they know everything. Remember that learning to cook and learning to manage a kitchen is a lifelong process and that you are not yet qualified to be executive chef.
The importance of a professional attitude begins even before you start your first job. The standard advice for a successful job interview applies to cooks as well as to office professionals: Dress and behave not for the group you belong to but for the group you want to join. Arrive neat,clean,appropriately dressed,and on time.Get noticed for the right reasons. Carry this attitude through every day on the job.

STAYING POWER
Food service requires physical and mental stamina, good health, and a willingness to work hard. It is hard work. The pressure can be intense and the hours long and grueling.
You may be working evenings and weekends when everyone else is playing. And the work can be monotonous. You might think it’s drudgery to hand-shape two or three dozen dinner rolls for your baking class,but wait until you get that great job in the big hotel and are told to make 3,000 canapés for a party.
Overcoming these difficulties requires a sense of responsibility and a dedication to your profession, to your coworkers, and to your customers or clients. Dedication also means staying with a job and not hopping from kitchen to kitchen every few months. Sticking with a job at least a year or two shows prospective employers you are serious about your work and can be relied on.

ABILITY TO WORK WITH PEOPLE
Few of you will work in an establishment so small that you are the only person on the staff. Food service work is teamwork,and it’s essential to be able to work well on a team and to cooperate with your fellow workers. You can’t afford to let ego problems, petty jealousy, departmental rivalries, or feelings about other people get in the way of doing the job well. In the old days,many chefs were famous for their temper tantrums.
Fortunately,self-control is more valued today.

An Interview Unlike Any Other.

Interviewing for line cooks is unlike any other interview you're likely to encounter. The average interview for a line cook is fraught with expletives, occassional threats, jargon that's completely unfathomable to the outsider.
I had the pleasure of such an interview just this weekend.

Chef (me): You've got some pretty good experience here...

Guy: Yep.

Chef: There are some long gaps here...

Guy: Uh yeah...you know how it is...I started some jobs, but I was within my 3 months, and they were kind of bullshit jobs, so I just quit.

Chef: Tell me about this place (points at job on resume

Guy: That place was fucking crazy. We'd be in the shit from open til close, generally running short, doing everything on the fly, workin' 14 hour days minimum.

Chef: You lasted longer there than anywhere else.

Guy: What can I say? I love chaos.

Chef: I'm going to straight up with you. I know everybody in every restaurant in this town. I called around about you and what do you think people said?

Guy: (hesitates nervously) They probably told you I'm fast, put out good food, work hard, don't miss shifts...

Chef: Yeah, they told me that. And they told me something else too. They told me you like to deal drugs on the side.

Guy: (shoulders sink, heavy sigh). That was a rough time man. I was doing it to help out a friend at the time, and I've gotten rid of all those goddamn numbers from my phone, I even changed my own phone number. I don't want anything to do with that shit anymore.

Chef: Look. I don't care about that. Anthony Bourdain once likened running a kitchen to running a pirate ship. Most of the guys are borderline criminal underground types at some point in their lives, and that's normal. Half my team are ex-dealers, starting with me, all the way down the line. So I don't give a fuck about what you did with your life before, but I'll tell you this. I do care about what you do with your life in my kitchen, and if you peddle that shit here, I'll personally break both your fucking legs, understood.

Guy: (nodding emphatic agreement) Understood Chef.