On Being A Sous Chef

First let me start by apologizing for such a long time between updates.  The reason for my extended lapse was due to a change in jobs.  For those of you not in the know I recently was hired on at the University of Houston as a sous chef.  This is a big deal for me as this is my first job as a sous chef.  I was very excited when I got my first chef coats with my name sowed in.  Well this happened back in mid August and it seems as things have finally settled down.  My schedule has been hammered down into a predictable pattern and I am finally starting to get a handle on all that I need to do as a sous chef.  I just want to share with you some thoughts as a first time sous chef.

The first challenge I had was getting used to my "boss legs".  What I mean by that is that when you come from a place that you are on equal footing with all of the other employees and you are suddenly put in a supervisory role it is a bit of an adjustment.  I was just not used to telling people, "hey you need to do this" or "no, don't do that" with the authority of being a supervisor.  It is not a role that I naturally take to.  But with this job comes some of that and I am still getting used to it.  I also know that I cannot lord that authority over people because no one response well to that.  My personal philosophy is to try to let everyone know that ultimately we are all on the same team and I am there to help them as much as possible.

Another aspect of being a sous chef I am noticing is that you have to pay attention to so many more things.  It is all about the bigger picture.  When I was just a cook all I had to worry about was my area, my station, and my food.  As a sous chef I have to over look everyone and make sure that all the cooks and stations have everything they need and if they don't then what can we do about that.  How are we going to fix the situation?  I once joked that the reason the sous chefs were given red coats was because we were more like fire men than chefs, putting out fires where ever they popped up.  When I was just a line cook I knew that the chef and sous chef were ultimately dealing with more than what I was, but it is a very different experience knowing that and actively dealing with it.

As a sous chef it is also important to know your crew.  Every person is different.  Every person has their strengths, weaknesses, good attributes and flaws.  As I get to know the people I work with better I am starting to differentiate what those qualities are.  I know which people on which nights will need some help and which can function on their own.  I am starting to learn that in some cases you might have to pay closer attention to someone less they wander off and leave their area unattended.  It is also important to make sure everyone is executing the menu correctly.  I have had one instance where the menu called for fajitas and my cooks were making quesadillas. 

I am also doing a lot more administrative tasks.  I am usually the one who is doing the produce order for our location.  That is a challenge in that you have to take into account what you have on hand, what you need to maintain par levels and what you need for the next day.  These values could vary greatly from day to day.  That is not even mentioning that you have to get a feel for what you actually need versus what is called for.  What I learned and mean by this is that even though your needs list may call for 200 lbs of beets, the fact of the matter is roasted beets as a side dish will probably not be very popular amongst college kids.  Therefore, you could probably get away with only half of that.  Besides ordering there is also the task of checking coolers, temperatures, making sure everyone has soap and sanitizer, and making sure everyone has all that they need to actually make the food.

This position has also forced me to keep thinking ahead.  Just because this meal period is running smoothly does not mean I can take it easy.  I have to start thinking about dinner during lunch or start thinking about tomorrow's service during dinner.  By thinking ahead we can do things like pulling frozen product out of the freezer to make sure it thaws out or if I know there is something that is labor intensive during the next meal period I can jump in and get a head start for the people who have to execute it.  I am also always looking in what we call the over production cooler where we keep all of our leftovers from previous meal periods to see what and where we can utilize some of that product.

Some of the challenges I have come across as a sous chef are just being on top of everything constantly and maintaining my skills.  When you are a cook and you have a bad day or you miss something it only really affects you.  Chances are you have someone else with you to give you a hand.  As a sous chef if you miss something or screw something up, it is affect others and their ability to do the job correctly.  Luckily we have a strong team and I am not the only sous chef.  But I would still rather not depend on others for my success or that of my team.  As far as maintaining my skills go...  Well, as they say practice makes perfect and when you stop practicing your skills degrade.  I don't want that to happen to me so I rather enjoy the opportunity to get back "in the trenches".  At my previous job I worked with a man who was being hired on as an executive chef for another location.  While I don't doubt his skills, his hustle and sense of urgency was gone.  It was a challenge to work with him that day.  That is the worst case scenario for me in the future.

Being a sous chef means you have to be as sharp as your knives and pay attention to fifteen different things all at once.  It means going to do one task and end up doing five before you are done.  It is demanding and stressful and exhilarating and aggravating and fulfilling all at once.  It is a job I hope to be doing well and I am ever grateful for the opportunity to do it!

Dinner Party from Hell

   First of all, let me apologize for my lone hiatus from this blog. You have to understand that when I started this blog my place of employment was slowly, but throughly sucking the life force out of me. So much that I had no energy or desire to do anything other than get home and sit in front of the TV and mindlessly watch anything that required little more than the IQ of a tree stump. Even my favorite shows like No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain were getting to cerebral for me. I had even started to doubt if I had chosen the correct direction in my professional life. But since then I have changed jobs and am feeling a resurgence in my passion for my profession. I now work at what is probably as close to an authentic Irish Pub here in Houston, TX. I work at McGonigel's Mucky Duck.

    Now, I started working here a little over a month ago. So I got here right before the holiday season. What the holiday season means for us is dinner parties. Lots and lots of dinner parties. Last week we had four dinner parties in the span of five days, including three back to back. Yeah, that was rough, but not as rough as the first dinner party and our latest dinner party.

    Our first dinner party was a complete mess. We were poorly organized and overwhelmed. The ticket system on which we rely to keep track of what goes where and how much of what we need completely broke down. We had no idea what went where or how much was done and how much needed to be done. I was so glad when that night was done. Luckily for the next party and each subsequent one after we were much better prepared.

    That was until last night. Last night was different for several reasons. First of all, my day started at 11 am. Then we changed the menu. For all the other parties we had soup, salad and a choice of three entees then dessert. For this one, it was all one menu. It was only going to be turkey, green beans, stuffing and gravy. At the last second the owner added soup and salad. And she wanted a new dressing for the salad. So I improvised a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. I also had to make crostinis for the soup. I had been making them all week, but that was not the problem. No, the problem was, since these were last minute changes, well, we had less that what were ideally needed.

    Another problem we had was that we only had four turkey breasts. Granted, they were freaking huge, but still. Chef Bonnie, the person in charge of the day shift only wanted to cook three, but I convinced her to cook all four. So we had all of our food ready. And the guests started to arrive. Everything was going alright until about half way through the evening. That is when it became apparent that we were going to run out of turkey and green beans. By that time, Bonnie had left.

    If you have ever worked in a kitchen then you know that nightmare. For the rest of you, there is nothing worse than running out of food right in the middle of service. Especially if it is a fixed menu. What do you do? You wing it. In our case we had smoked turkey breast. The kind you find in delis and slice really thin for sandwiches. Well, we threw that in the oven to warm it up, then cut it into pieces and served as the turkey breast we had before we ran out. The green beans we just substituted with asparagus.

    Yeah, it was a wild and crazy night. Especially considering that when it was all said and done I left work at 11 pm. A twelve hour day. I do not like working for twelve hours straight. It is what we in the industry call, not fun. But hey, at least it will make for a nice pay check.