THE INTELLIGENCE KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL
Te Secret Chef picks up on our cover story theme, discovering that each day spent not learning or sharing knowledge makes it harder to find joy in the kitchen
Why (nearly) every day is a school day
O
nly when looking back on the last 18 months, did I realize that the kitchen has been understaffed for 15 of them. During that time, it was necessary to make changes to the menu – ones that would have been imperceptible to anyone in the dining room – that made the daily ritual of prep, set-up and service manageable for a tiny team. I ended up shouldering the lion’s share of the burden, digging in and pounding out the unglamorous prep jobs; peeling carrots after service; staying late to close down the dishwasher; dicing the mirepoix for tomorrow’s stock. Even with a simplified menu – or at least a menu that was prep heavy, easy to bulk and simple for service – there was precious little slack during (extended) work hours to allow for anything other than the absolute necessities required to run service and keep the restaurant afloat. Tis lack of personnel, I suppose, could have been resolved sooner, but as time went by there were two strong winds preventing me from expanding the team. Te first was a reluctance to upset the balance I’d finally managed to reach after a year or so of significant upheaval. To be honest it was a relief having only to concentrate on the
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task of cooking rather than hiring and firing and trying to wrestle the business into consistent profitability. Compared with having to subcontract external HR consultants to assist in disciplinary procedures and having to deal with workplace bullying, the task of peeling 50 lb. of potatoes may have been dull but was also blissfully mindless. Te prospect of bringing in somebody new and potentially upsetting the delicate equilibrium again was motivation enough to keep plugging away. Second, I’ve done enough close- quarters self-analysis to recognize that there is a stubborn, Sisyphean streak that runs through me like a vein through a lobe of foie gras: it might not be fun, it might not be enjoyable, but it is always do-able.
THE CREATIVE COST
But there was a cost to this downward focus. My peripheral vision rarely extended beyond the edges of my chopping board, and it became harder and harder to find joy in the kitchen, to relish my time at work and find the time to do any of the things that were the reasons I became a chef in the first place. I missed the creativity, the sharing of ideas and most of all, I would come to realize, the sharing of knowledge. Now, just a few short weeks into running with a full team, things have
I missed the
creativity, the sharing of ideas and the sharing of knowledge
markedly improved. Even though there is little more than a year’s experience between them, they possess an unmatched enthusiasm for what they do, are super smart and, most importantly of all, hungry for knowledge. It was hard to remember, while thrashing around in the weeds, the energy and joy it is possible to experience by teaching a skill, talking through a process or showing someone how to filet a fish for the very first time. Often, we take these things for granted: we have done them thousands of times and rarely stop to think about what it might be like to approach them with untrained hands and eager minds. Fingers need time and practice to become nimble. Skills need to be honed like the edge on a blunt knife. None of us become sharp in an instant. Revisiting our skillset by passing our knowledge onto the next generation benefits not just them but us as well. I feel energized once again. Long may it continue.
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