The Zen of Banquet Cooking

As I have talked about before, there needs to be a burning desire and passion to be a professional cook.  There needs be an innate calling for you to punish yourself to the hours and the stress and everything else that goes along with the job.  But, there is a unique set of people that are just a different breed to the rest of us.  The have a skill set that I have never fully developed; Banquet Cooks and Chefs.  These are the people that set up buffets for hundreds and plate weddings and the like.  They have different way of organizing themselves and the food they cook, they just have a different way of thinking about their cooking.  They know exactly how many people that they need to feed and exactly how much food they will need every night of the week.  The hardest part for me is the hurry up and wait aspect, hustle, hustle, hustle, get all your prep done and then stop, wait for the guests to be ready for the first course, second and so on.  I have never been good at standing around and waiting to get busy, I lose focus, I get antsy, I lose interest more then anything else.
This comes from what I have picked up from the people that I have worked with and the places I have worked.  My first job out of school was a crappy little cafe in a tiny little college town that had no real market.  It was too expensive for the kids but not nice enough and no table service so it didn't attract the adults in the town.  I worked more there then I have ever worked any other place, 8 weeks with out days off, minimum of 12 hours a day.  This is where I started to pick up the stamina needed for when I was at a much busier and more demanding restaurant.  I moved back home to Baltimore and started working for the Charleston Group.  I was originally at their flagship restaurant, Charleston.  It was was the kind of restaurant that I had thought that I had wanted to work at, the fine dining place in Baltimore, expensive ingredients, expensive bottles of wine, but in the end the more I worked there the more I realized it wasn't really for me; but I picked up one of the most important lessons, professionalism.  Working everyday at the highest level, demanding more out of yourself and the people you work with.  When I moved from Charleston to Louis, I was really down on the idea, I seriously considered moving somewhere else, but in the end I made a great decision to stay.  I was absolutely terrible when I started, I fought hard to get better and I have two people to really thank for this.  Jesse "Chica" and Brandon "Holmes".  They taught me how to be a line cook, really took me under their wings and showed me the way.  I learned that the adrenaline of getting your ass kicked on Saturday night is addictive, I also learned how to not manage people from some of the other people that I worked with there.  There is no place for passive-aggressiveness, jealousy and back biting in a successful kitchen.  I don't think that it is a coincidence that my enjoyment went way down hill once they left.  Where my management skills really came full circle was at my next job, slt in NYC.  With it being a union property with cooks that have been at that property for longer then I have been alive, it was a huge challenge just for me to get some of these cooks to take me seriously and really gain their respect as a chef. It took a big effort on my part to show them that I really did have their best interests at heart and really have a way to make the restaurant busy and successful.  Here the passive-aggressiveness from Louis was quickly eradicated.  In its place was an a policy of openness and collective-ness that allowed me to tackle the biggest challenge of them all at silverleaf, finances.  I had never before seen a Profit and Loss Statement, let alone knew how to read one and have an effect on it.  My second day of work I sat with the person who would become the Senior VP of all restaurant operations and read one with the rest of the management team from the property.  It was a steep learning curve.  It was atrocious, costs so far out of line that I was embarrassed for the people sitting around me that were responsible for it.  Things needed to change, and fast.  Things did change, not as fast as I was hoping for and not as all encompassing that needed, and still needs to.  I had never had to worry about invoices or budgets, I never had to think "Do I have enough money in my budget to order a case of  milk or can we skate by on what we have till the first?".  I loved it, too.  It was such a fresh challenge and one that I was totally enthralled with.  When I moved to Philly with the same company, I was working with someone who I had a ton of respect for and really showed me a new way to think about how to cook.  He exposed me to new ingredients and opened my eyes to more global ingredients and how they all fit together.  He pushed me to see a new level of cooking and enthusiasm for cooking.

None of this gave me the skill to be a banquet cook. I was talking about this with Jesse just the other night and she doesn't understand them either.  I spent the weekend back with my family in Baltimore and had the distinct pleasure of helping my mom put together a family barbecue.  All of the organizational skills that working in a busy place like Louis and the place in Philly came out, unintentionally at first.  Once we got organized, it came down to execution and keeping on task, two things that are the hardest to accomplish in a home setting, too many distractions and the lack of that natural motion and momentum that professional kitchens have.  There is a Zen to the the party prep, as much as setting a buffet up.  Peel and dice two canteloupe and one watermelon for fruit salad, dice mango for salsa, cook corn and black beans for the other salsa, calm down mother that, yes, four kinds of chips and crackers will be enough for 25 people, cut fruit for sangria, yes, mom, 2 gallons will be enough, slice tomato and onion for burgers, form burgers, cut rolls, julienne peppers and onions for sausages, julienne peppers for salad, cut carrots for salad, make salad dressing, all of this is done with cats around your feet, family calling, the TV on and substandard knives.  But, it was how I fell in love with cooking in the first place and what continues to bring me more happiness then any other skill that I have learned and will learn.

Spring Dishes

Spring is such a great time to be a cook.  Such great quality produce, fruits, veggies, meats, everything.  Everything is fresh and available.  So many great things that you only see for a few weeks a year, enjoy them and then dream about them for the rest of the year.  Ramps, Rhubarb, Green Garlic, the first spring peas and English peas.  You want to make the most of all of these items but its hard to squeeze all of these great things into a menu that works well.  Its harder to do make the menu work then to actually cook the food and build the recipes.

Leg o' Lamb, Oven Ready

It doesn't take much to get me onto a good roll on writing tons of good menu items.  I have notebooks filled with menu ideas and recipes.  I got onto one of these rolls a few weeks ago and just had so many different things hit me all the same time.  I really shocked myself at how wide ranging of a menu I was able to write.  A ton of different flavor profiles and cuisines, Latin influences, French influences, Asian influences.  It was probably one of the best menus I have written; it was balanced and had a few curve balls thrown in there too. Items designed to be sold for two and served table side; that is one of the things that I love to do, its not done very much and not done well even less.  Its not just easier for the kitchen to put out but it creates a buzz in the dining room, creates conversations amongst the tables not just the guests at the table that ordered it.  Everyone turns to see, "OHH, whats that over there!"  When you have a good server who is able to execute it well, it makes it that much better.  Its a very old fashioned thing to do, very French, but there is definitely a way to do it with out it being so pretentious.  It puts a lot pressure on the server to it well and to take the pretense out of it, to continue to connect with the guest and to do it with their own personality.  I like a lot of the old fashioned things, whole roasted lamb legs, whole chickens or cotes de boeuf, dover sole, etc.  I'll have to come back to this again, I'm getting away from where I wanted to go with this post.

Smoked Shrimp with Watermelon, Feta, Mint
and Balsamic Syrup

So, onto the food.  One of my favorites out this past menu was Smoked Shrimp with Watermelon, Feta, Mint and a Balsamic Syrup.  This was one of the most simple but complex dishes that was on the menu.  It needed everything to be as close to perfect as possible.  I took the shrimp out of the shell and cleaned them, but left the tail on for presentation purposes. I used the feta from Mt. Vikos, a small producer from Cyprus, very creamy, sharp, salty feta; and a watermelon that was surprisingly ripe and sweet for being this early in the year.  The mint and balsamic syrup really played nicely to give both a bright, lighter component and a sweetness that really helped take the dish over the edge.  I smoked the shrimp over a combination of hickory hardwood and rosemary and thyme.  It was a little too smoky then I had originally wanted but in the end it came out perfect, any less and it would have been lost.  The smoke was great with the salt and bite of the feta, the sweetness and freshness of the watermelon and mint, with a syrupy sweet and sour note of the balsamic syrup.  I was super proud of this dish, great for the summer.  It is really easily replicated for the house as well, just grill the shrimp, stove top cast iron works for those in apartments.

Coq au Vin Blanc

The second dish I want to highlight is a little bit of a different, lighter take on a classic that I love when its done really well, Coq au Vin Blanc.  Originally this dish is done with an older male chicken; tough, full of connective tissue but crucially fat and flavor!  I have always seen this done with red wine and a heavy veal stock sauce.  Making really only good for the fall and winter.  I love the flavor of chicken when it has been cooked with a ton of white wine so I took this to cooking it with white wine and a white chicken stock.  The best coq au vins are made after the chicken had marinated in the mire poix and the red wine that you are going to braise the chicken in.  I didn't do this, I don't think that it diminished the final product, but I don't think that it would have hurt.  I rendered all most of the fat from the chicken skin in a warm pot, no color, then pulled the pieces out of the pan and sweat the mire poix, added the chicken back in with the veggies, deglazed with white wine. I used a terrible chardonnay out of a box; something with out a lot of oak and more a sweet citrus note would do nicely.  This is when I added in my white chicken stock, for those following along at home, use the Kitchen Basics No Sodium Chicken Broth for yours.  Enough to cover the chicken well, brought this to a boil and then reduced down to a very low simmer.  You are going to need more stock then if you were using a veal stock along with your chicken stock because the chicken just doesn't have the thickening power of the veal.  Cook until the chicken is soft, tender and almost falling off the bone.  I don't like to cook it so that it is falling off the bone completely because you need to finish the sauce and the garnish, if you take it too far in the beginning you lose all texture in the final product.  After you remove the chicken, strain the sauce, and return to the same pot you cooked the chicken in, and reduce until it almost coats the back of spoon, add a touch of cream for a little fat and creamyness.  Reheat the chicken in the sauce and serve!  I served this with pearl onions, baby carrots and fingerling potatoes, but this will go great with pretty much everything, from a very traditional mushroom, bacon, and onion garnish to snow peas, parsnips, spaghetti squash, etc.  

Two posts in less the 24 hrs! Crazy how in less the 3 months I can go from someone who has written anything other then an email or a prep list to someone typing until 1 am and not really wanting to stop.  I think that more then just my time off has been a long time coming, the dam has burst I guess.  Lets hope I can keep coming up with interesting things to talk about!

Home Cookin'

The last few weeks have been some of the hardest of my life.  I experienced an incredible loss and the person I care about the most experienced an unimaginable one.  It's really made me think about what is most important to me.  Do I really want to spend 12 to 14 hours a day at work, waking up next to a sleeping girlfriend only to get home and crash at 3 am and do it all over again?  Do I really want to miss out on what could possibly be the best times in my life?  I have sacrificed my life for my work ethic and its killed a lot of the passions that I had.  I want to be present in my life and the life of the people surrounding me.  I was lucky enough to have some time off scheduled for the weekend after the loss; for once I felt like I was gaining something of a more normal lifestyle.  Unfortunately, on my first day back to work, the truth smacked me in the face.  I walked into a place where no one gave a shit if the house burned down or not.  The mediocre had risen to the top and was doing its best to keep itself there and keep others who care not only about the job but about the people that work there and the doing good quality work.  So many people just care about being there when the bosses are around.  Like I like to say, "Its not who you know, its who you blow."

I have worked for 7 different restaurants, three in the hometown, one in Virgina (closed not long after I left), two in NYC and one in Philly.  And, I can only say that in two of those places did I see how to do things right.  I wanted to change some aspects and I have adopted the ones that I liked.  Truthfully, I'm still searching for my patron, my chef, my mentor.  I thought that I was going to get one in Philly but it didn't pan out.  I want to work for someone who inspires me and shows me how to do things right, but do I really need that?  These 5 other places have taught me so much about how not to conduct yourself professionally and as a leader of a kitchen, I doubt I'm ever going to need that person.  I need to be that person for myself.

In that vein, I'm making some changes in lifestyle both temporarily and permanently. More on that later

Seared Tuna with baby arugula, pickled red onion,
 and a ginger sesame vinaigrette

OK! Rant over on to the good stuff, food! No new restaurant reviews for this entry but a couple of things that I created and really like for the upcoming seasons.  First is a seared tuna loin with pickled red onion, baby arugula, and a ginger sesame vinaigrette.  The hardest part about this dish is the vinaigrette.  You need to balance the soy and ginger and sesame really well other wise it tastes like bad Chinese food.  I used part sesame oil, part blended oil, about a tablespoon of soy, rice wine vinegar, and brunoised ginger, shallots and garlic.  It was slightly sweet, salty, and definitely had that ginger bite to it.  To pickle the red onion I brought equal parts red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar and sugar to a boil and poured that over the thinly sliced onion and just let it sit for about an hour before serving it.  Tuna was just seared with some salt and pepper but had I had more time I would have possibly made a spice rub with some coriander, star anise and maybe some sesame seed. Either way this was a really nice dish that would work really well with out the tuna or bulked up as a larger salad for a light dinner/lunch option.

Stripped Bass with pea shoots, avocado, pancetta
 and a horseradish cream

The next one I got use one of my favorite fish, Stripped Bass, and an ingredient I am liking more and more, horseradish.  I love that delicate flavor and texture that Stripped Bass gets when its been cooked perfectly, its so sweet and fresh tasting, I can't get enough of it!  We can get really big fish here straight from Montauk, up to 40 pounders! With that comes big stubborn bones down the back, nothing like your typical salmon or trout, bass have huge collars that extend really far down the back and huge heads.  Hard to butcher, but make a great fish stock! On to the dish it self, Stripped Bass with pea shoots, avocado, and pancetta with a horseradish cream.  I made the cream with creme fraiche, lemon juice and prepared horseradish, it was good but didn't have that bite that fresh horseradish has.  Had I used that the cream would have been even better, simultaneously opening your sinuses with the heat from the horseradish and the cooling of the palate from the creme fraiche and the avocado would have been spot on.  I would have liked to incorporate the fat that I had rendered out of the pancetta, an Italian seasoned and rolled bacon, to incorporate that into the cream for a little fat but again just a note for the next time.  The pea shoots were great for crunch and a slight bitterness that played well with the richness and sweetness of the cream and fish.  All in all, one of my favorites for a long time.  I loved it, the guys liked cooking it, the servers sold it well and the guests loved it.

This week, Turkey Chili from home and Coq au Vin Blanc from work!

FIRST!

After literally minutes of debating about this in my head, I've decided to take this on as a way to get some of my thoughts out there.  I'm going to be taking on a bunch of different subjects but mostly about my thoughts on food, cooking, restaurants and how my work effects more then I ever thought.  I first got into cooking when I was 20, hated college and didn't have a ton of direction in my life.  I was taken on as a low risk employee with a French restaurant in my hometown of Ellicott City, MD.  When I first started, I got addicted to the social aspects of the kitchen life; lots of laughs, hard work, that feeling of being part of a team.  I went to culinary school and moved around a little, when I resettled in Baltimore, what I was addicted to changed.  I realized that as much as I loved and still love the social-ness, I love the work; I love the challenge; I love the reward.  And they are all linked in with each other, the work is a challenge and the challenge is a reward.  I have always had a tough time with motivation, I've learned over time that the more challenging something is the more motivation to get the task done and to get it done right, well, and quickly.  This profession has done nothing but throw more and more challenges at me.  It keeps me coming back day in and day out.  It takes a very special personality to be a chef, let alone a cook.

When I was first promoted to sous chef in Baltimore, I was very naive in my approach to being a manager.  I thought that I needed to be something other then myself.  I thought that I needed to be a hard ass and a yeller.  I lost my center very quickly.  I forgot what got me to where I was and what is going to get me where I want to be.  I lost connection with friends that meant the world to me, I lost my family.  Its taken a long time for me to work to get any of that back.  I still feel like I'm a stranger to people who I used to be so close with.  I haven't seen or spoken to one of my best friends in 6 years.  These are the things that you go through when you are in the restaurant world 24 hrs a day 7 days a week.  Now as I work to get my center back and more balance in my life, my career is taking a different turn.  I will continue to be a dedicated chef with a solitary focus on being the best one that I can.  But, my personal life and my life outside of work is going to be more of a focus then it has been.  I have so many great things going for me in my personal life right now.  I am getting reconnected with my LFCNY friends that I almost lost in my last move, Philly, and I am living a wonderful home life with Christina in a great homey apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn; our two kittens, Funny and Missy, are an unending source of entertainment, joy and laughs.

I guess this is where we get started.  And now that we have, I want to talk about Buttermilk Channel.  We went last night for a late dinner.  I got there a little before Christina and walked in to a great space.  The bar was full and so was the wait list.  I was quoted an hour and gave them my number and we went to go find a bar to get a drink in.  A couple of doors down was a place called Palo Cortado.  We walked in and immediately I was a little put off by the lighting, the amount of staff vs. the amount of guests.  There was one bartender, three servers, a runner and one cook working a small cold station that was open to the dinning room; there were three tables and a couple of people at the bar.  Not a good start... The room was so dark that I had to use the votive candle to read the very confusing wine list.  The way that the list was structured was incredibly frustrating and confusing.  All of the wines, whether by the bottle or by the glass were listed together and in no real order.  The glass offerings were interspersed through out and it wasn't clear what wines were by the glass because the prices were placed so far way that your eye couldn't follow all the way across.  Thankfully we only had to sit there for about 20 mins.  The host from Buttermilk Channel called and said they were ready for us.  We were sat at a table that was approximately 6 inches away from the next.  It felt a little like we were thrown in with them to create a 4 top.  That was quickly forgotten as we got into the menu and the meal.  I have been looking at the menu for a while and have heard nothing but great things about  the fried chicken and it didn't disappoint.  Christina had the Squash and Sweet Potato Soup that was very good.  Nice spice to it in the background, the croutons on the top were great for crunch, overall very good.  For her main course she had the Lamb and Romaine Salad with roasted cauliflower and more of the croutons from the soup, I didn't try this as I was too into my Chicken and Waffles.  I had the Delicata Squash Tart with homemade buttermilk ricotta cheese, nice crust, the ricotta was really good, a very subtle sour note.  We shared the Maple and Bacon Almonds and the Pickle Pot.  This was the only mis-step in the evening; the almonds were too maple-y and you couldn't taste the bacon at all, and the pickle pot was just that, pickles, I would have liked a couple of different veg in there, some carrots, cauliflower, beets, etc.  We didn't have any room left for dessert, so no comments on that; although a couple of the items looked really good.  Just a little more motivation to go back and check the place out again.  We had a great time, good food, the cocktail list looked great, and its really easy to get to and from; G and F trains are only two blocks away.  I am definitely looking forward to going back.

Thanks for reading the first post.  I know that its kind of all over the place but, I think that its a good start.