Podcast Nine...

Podcast Nine is now published and ready to go.  The topic this week is all about passion... can it be taught... or is it that you either have it or you don't... 

Thanks for listening... 

Podcast Eight

Well Podcast Eight is up and ready to go... Thanks for listening and for your support... topics this week: Fine Dinning,  At home in a kitchen, SNL, Green Day and Sea Winch... enjoy.

New Challenges!

I'm off to Alaska and B.C. via Oregon... on a yacht.  The challenge... cooking breakfast lunch and dinner for 7 people.... for 3 months.... and not repeating... too much....

I'll let you know how it goes!

Podcast Seven

Well the podcast seven is up and ready.  This week was all over the place but we had a lot of fun and the topics include: Inspiration, Keeping a journal, Food Magazines, and some questions for the cast... all in all it was a good way to spend the afternoon... cooking, having a few ice cold brews and podcasting.... enjoy

Never Trust....

“Never trust a skinny chef, or one with a tan”  was the tag line of an add I once saw  in a industry  magazine.  I thought that it was a neat little catch phrase but lately I  have been thinking who should we trust more: a over weight, fish-belly white chef who has never seen the outdoors, much less a garden or a farm where animals are raised humanely?  Or one that cares about their health and fitness and the health of their patrons? One who cares about what they eat and cares about the food that they prepare?  A chef who visits farms, who goes to farmers markets, one who grows a garden and who spends time outside of the kitchen... 

The days of the chef spending every waking hour in the kitchen are a thing of the past.  Chefs need to be out there where the product is growing and talking to farmers.  A chef needs to know how and where the meat, poultry, fish, and any other proteins/produce that are being served his restaurant are raised/grown.  Don’t get me wrong a chef still needs to spend the hours in the kitchen, but the “modern” chef must be able to balance the time spent in and out of the kitchen...  

To truly understand what is fresh and in season the chef must spend time in the fields and have a relationship with the local framers, fishermen, cattlemen etc.  I know that being able to spend time with cattlemen and fishermen might be a very difficult task,  but chef’s need to know as much about the product they are serving as they can.  And that knowledge is not learned by spending every waking hour in the artificial lights of a kitchen... 

So who would you trust?

Podcast Six

Podcast Six is now published and ready to go.  This week topic's include Sara's Pass Over with her family,  Jeff's trip to KC.  There is a discussion on KC BBQ and importance of twitter and complacency in the kitchen and how to deal with that. We also talk about food blogs and you know just general kitchen life.

the catastrophe of complacency

I have found that as of late you are becoming more relaxed and, yes, even lazy in your duties at the restaurant. Anybody who knows you would most likely tell me that when it comes to work, you don’t like excuses; and its true, you really can’t stand them. And yet, I see that you are giving more and more of them to yourself and everyone else as the days of poor leadership and management at what could be a very, very good restaurant continue.

You work in an environment that breeds conformity to a very low set of standards. A very low set of standards that I try to break for myself and, more importantly, for you. For the longest time I have seen nothing but struggle in my kitchen. I am at a loss as to how in the world I can make things more manageable for my crew, but I have come to realize that, despite your abhorrent protests to management changes, procedures, and even product received, you are very content in staying right where you are. My wanting something cleaned more or more efficiently is always met with the ubiquitous rolling of the eyes, so common of a teenager being told that they need to clean their room before going to that movie. “Hey, lets keep the chatter down and focus our attention on making this food great” is countered by, “I’d rather keep my balls down and in your mouth.” I get it. Its good for a laugh. Hell, I even chuckle sometimes. But recently it occurs to me that I am starting to respond in the same way. And I can’t stand it. I hate to put the blame on my environment, but people really do take on the characteristics of those they hang out with–especially when they hang out with those people for 15 hours a day…

Is it really that shitty of an economy that you must be completely miserable where you work? I know that there might not be many cooking jobs out there and that cooking might be your only interest, but what about taking a job at the local butcher to learn how to better fabricate your meat since we can’t order primals anymore? What about going to the local salumi shop and learning the wonderful craft of charcuterie, since we are not able to “waste” any product on frivolous passings of time like education? Take a part-time at the bakery and learn what fresh bread looks, smells, and tastes like–learn how to make it! Work on a farm and find out what grows in summer and what tastes better in the fall. Like Gandhi said, “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Whether it is cleaning harder or faster, or reading more books, or staging, or moving to another fucking city to work under a better chef who can actually teach you something–who actually gives a shit about his employees–in order to succeed or to fail, first you have to actually try. You have to actually do something to fix your situation. 

If you can’t find a way to fix your situation, or at least to try and make it better, then shut the fuck up about your so-called professionalism because your attitude is wearing very thin.

But know this: I am not just speaking from the heart, but to mine, as well...