Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Chef Charlie Trotter Documentary and Line Cook Survival Ep.22

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Chef Charlie Trotter Documentary and Line Cook Survival Ep.22 · Chef's PSA Podcast

• 0:01
  Hello chefs. You're listening to chefs, PSA
• 0:03
  podcast. I'm your host Andre de terre.
• 0:05
  On today's episode we're going to talk about Charlie Trotter
• 0:08
  his legacy. I just recently saw the
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  documentary and I want to give you my thoughts and opinions and
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  how Chef Charlie Trotter affected my up.
• 0:16
  And coming years as a chef stay tuned.
• 0:31
  So before we get into Charlie Trotter and the documentary love
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  Charlie the rise and fall of Charlie Trotter.
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  Let me give you a brief update on some things that I've been up
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  to this past week. It's Thanksgiving.
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  So obviously I ate, maybe I probably too much.
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  I didn't I didn't eat a ton anyway.
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  Turkey stuffing. I like a traditional
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  Thanksgiving. I don't get crazy with it and
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  honestly sometimes I overdo it and this year I kind of pared
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  back a little bit, I only made a couple of items because I didn't
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  want to have a ton of leftovers. The reason is is because then
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  I'll eat like shit to many days afterwards.
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  So I cut the amount of items that I prepared had fewer
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  leftovers. And it actually worked out.
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  Well, I'm recording this on a Saturday after Thanksgiving and
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  I think the only thing I have left is a little bit of
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  stuffing, so that's good. Anyway, Finished up the line.
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  Cook survival manual that book is out.
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  You should go get it. It's a little bit different than
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  my other books. So culinary leadership
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  fundamentals is really geared towards chefs and Sous chefs and
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  people that are new and position line.
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  Cook survival manual. It's really geared towards all
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  Cooks. In the kitchen, whether you're a
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  prep cook, a line cook, a banquet and cook a room service
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  cook. It's just line, cook sounded
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  better right. I think people will get it a
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  little bit more. If they understand that, it's
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  really for Cooks, but it's basically the do's and don'ts
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  and some general practices that you could use as a line cook.
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  My first book, how not to be the biggest idiot in the kitchen.
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  I know I've talked about this before, I wrote that really as a
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  joke for the echo chamber of Chef friends that I have, it
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  wasn't intended to be for more than maybe 20 people.
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  And now when I go back and read that, I realized how there's a
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  lot of there's a lot of things in there that I don't
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  necessarily support Fort for a mass audience.
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  I support them. More for specific types of
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  kitchens with line cook survival manual.
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  I think these are more applicable to every single
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  kitchen that exists out there. I think there's some of the best
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  practices that I've accumulated over my career and one of the
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  things that I left out in the book is I was at an event and
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  really great chef was one of the panelists at the event that I
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  was at. I was the moderator he was a
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  panelist and Chef to bail Bristol Joe.
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  Joseph from, he's part of the Ameren where I grew up here in
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  Austin. But he was talking about why we
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  need to do better as chefs and in this industry.
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  And it really resonated with me and I wish I could remember the
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  stats that he shared, but it was something along the lines of of
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  the amount of people that go to culinary school.
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  I don't remember what the percent was that he said don't
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  finish culinary school and of the people that graduate, how
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  many people drop off and don't last more than a few years as a
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  cook in the in the kitchen and then of That remained, how much
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  even fewer of those make it to become a chef and that was
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  really a big part of the inspiration of why I decided to
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  write the book because I thought to myself, I need to do
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  something that I could. I need to do something that I
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  could support young cooks that are coming into the industry, to
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  give them a better chance at success, right?
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  Because it is a difficult industry and and I could go on
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  and on about all the difficulties that we face as
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  chefs as line Cooks, From you know, hard work to, you know,
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  difficult work environments to the heat to the physical stress
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  that we go through to the mental stress to the chaos that we deal
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  with. In the kitchen, we could talk
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  about, you know, the difficulties of the wage Gap in
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  kitchens, you know, from from entry-level Cooks, when you get
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  right out of school and you have all the student.
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  Anyway, there's a lot of difficulty that goes into being
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  a cook and if I could make it a little bit easier for you to
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  navigate through that, and shorten your learning, In curve.
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  Then that's what I'm going to try and do I really want to help
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  chefs at something that I know I've talked about this before.
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  It is my job chefs, PSA is what I do, but my real job is I work
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  with chefs and Cooks through mentoring programs and things
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  like that. That's, that's really how I make
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  my money. But anyway, that's neither here.
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  Nor there line cook survival manual is out.
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  Go get it. Now on to love Charlie, which I
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  was reluctant to watch it because I don't know.
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  I don't really like watching a lot of food shows.
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  I watch, I really don't even watch that much TV to be honest
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  with you. I probably went before I'm going
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  to bed. I'll put on a little something
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  but maybe 30 minutes if that but love Charlie one of my friends
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  reached out to me and said you should watch it.
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  I said, okay, I'll I'll I'll give it a chance.
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  And I got to tell you, I don't want to spoil the documentary
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  for people that haven't seen it. So I won't talk about anything
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  that isn't public knowledge, right?
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  But the documentary is great, because it really showcases who
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  Charlie Trotter was. And it really illustrates a lot
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  of things that resonated with me as a chef and that I think a lot
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  of chefs should pay attention to as they are in their career
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  growing as chefs. When I was a cook.
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  I remember, you know, the big chefs back then.
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  This is mid-90s. I remember I went to my chefs
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  office and you know, I worked in this Italian restaurant and my
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  chef. I My chef to be like the guy
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  that walks on water. He worked in San Francisco, and
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  he, you know, and that era and he worked under all the cool
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  chefs back then. And I remember I walked into his
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  office and he said, Andre, do you know who the best chef in
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  the world is? And I said, Paul Prudhomme.
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  Because, honestly, that, that was like the conversations like
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  Wolfgang, Puck, Paul Prudhomme, maybe, Mark Miller, those were
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  the chef's of my era when I was coming up when I was just coming
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  into the industry. So my first answer was, when he
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  said 100, you know, who the best chef in the world is I said Paul
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  Prudhomme and he said No, there's a guy called Charlie
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  Trotter and he is the best chef in the country.
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  And I remember thinking, like, holy shit who is Charlie Trotter
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  and he, let me borrow one of Charlie Trotter's books.
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  I think it was the very first one that has like, a maroon
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  cover. It's called Charlie Trotter and
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  I remember, I saw that book and I was like, what the fuck is
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  this? Like my brain was just melting
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  out of my ears when I saw the food.
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  That was in the Charlie Trotter cookbook.
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  I had never seen food. So beautiful.
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  And for people that don't know like when you Cookbooks now with
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  the beautiful photography and all that, that didn't really
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  exist before the Charlie Trotter cookbook the food books, back
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  then we're not as beautiful. So when I saw this book and his
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  style of played in the colors in the style of Photography, it was
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  just like light years more advanced to than everything else
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  that existed on the market at the time.
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  And I just remember thinking, like, holy shit, who is this
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  guy? I need to know more, I need to,
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  I need to learn everything and I remember you know, his books
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  were expensive to me back then I was a I was A line cook.
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  You know, people tell me today, like it was line Cooks got paid
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  shit back that I think I was making like, five dollars an
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  hour like 525, it's not making any money.
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  I remember when I got my first paycheck as a line cook, it was
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  like like 175 bucks or something like that for the, for the
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  two-week period. And I remember thought I was so
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  cool and I went to the bank to go deposit, my check and I was
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  like, you know, the bank teller was cute girl and I was like,
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  I'm gonna Flex Because I got $175 she's going to be so
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  impressed with me. Anyway, that was that was my
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  Flex. I was flexing, my 175 dollar
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  paycheck as a line cook thinking that I was rich back.
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  Then anyway. Yeah, subject for another day
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  possibly Charlie Trotter, back to Charlie Trotter back to the
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  documentary. Charlie Trotter was huge.
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  He was instrumental in a lot of people's career and everyone
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  wanted to cook like him. Everyone was buying his books.
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  I had two of his books which I still have.
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  I have the maroon Charlie Trotter cookbook and then he had
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  another wasn't part of his Series.
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  So he had vegetables and meat and game Seafood.
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  Maybe he didn't have meat and game, he was called game.
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  But anyway, he had, he had the green book.
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  The Blue Book. The maroon book and then he put
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  out another book called kitchen sessions which was part of his
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  PBS show. And so I had that book because
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  it was a little less expensive and I could afford it and I
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  cooked out of that book when I was a line cook.
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  All the specials that I used to say where my original ideas were
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  just his. You know, I have a chef's PSA
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  where it says before you show your Chef, the amazing dish that
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  you just came up with, make sure they don't have the same
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  cookbook. The Did that PSA?
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  Is because I did that, you know, stealing dishes out of Charlie
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  Trotter's, cookbook, back then, and then showing it to my chef
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  like, hey, look at this dish. I came up with and he knew full
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  well, like he had the book, he's like, you didn't come up with
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  this shit but, you know, so I was just a dumb kid back then,
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  but that's how much of an impact Charlie Trotter had on me.
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  Like I said, he were, he walked on water and one of the biggest
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  regrets I have is in one of my trips to Chicago during multiple
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  visits. I had an opportunity tunity to
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  eat at Charlie Trotter's on three different occasions and
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  all three times. I said, no, let's go somewhere
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  else. So I think one time I went to go
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  eat at Blackbird instead, another time I edit l20, which
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  you know, is referenced in the documentary, it was back.
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  Then one of the, only two, three Michelin star restaurants in
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  Chicago, when it was a Linnea and L200 and then Charlie
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  Trotter had two stars. So I was like, now, let's go to
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  the three-star place, we ended up eating at l20.
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  Which by the way, badass kitchen it's the only kitchen that I've
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  ever been in where they had silicon mats on the stainless
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  steel and it was a pristine kitchen was really really well.
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  Designed kitchen and Laurent Gras used to be the chef there
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  and I remember once or not, once I remember he had a Blog that
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  really detailed his thought processes and to how he designed
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  the kitchen and why he designed it that way.
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  It was really well written. And I used to love that blog
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  because I It inspired me so much and to running my own kitchen,
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  some of the things that he was doing.
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  But anyway, that's neither here, nor there.
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  L2o was a great restaurant. One of the best meals I've had
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  in my life, but back to Charlie Trotter, I didn't go eat at
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  Charlie Trotter's because I went to L200, or I went to
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  blackbirder, I went to another restaurant and, you know,
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  shortly after that, he closed the restaurant, and then he
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  passed away, and I was never able to try his food, but coming
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  up, he was such a legend an icon.
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  And, you know, this is back in the day when chefs like, Charlie
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  Trotter or Thomas Keller, you know, they walked on water.
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  Still think Thomas Keller, walks on water.
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  But back then, Charlie Trotter was like, you know, culinary
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  culinary, royalty is really what he was, and I had always wanted
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  to work in his kitchen, but I'd ever, you know, the opportunity
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  to move to Chicago. Just never presented itself and
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  I never really pursued it with enough intent to try and get in
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  his kitchen. But so many great chefs came
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  through that kitchen. You know, Grant Achatz went
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  through there, Graham Elliot a lot of really great A lot of
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  chefs that I know have gone through there and when I've
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  spoken to them, like, what was it like, what was it like to
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  work for Charlie Trotter? And the answer is cryptic.
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  They said, it's everything that you think it is and I'm not sure
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  what that means. Because, you know, Charlie
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  Trotter had a reputation of also, being a very hard Chef to
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  work for, and the day of hard chefs, he was considered the
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  hard Chef. So you know, we all know what
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  those days were like when we hear the stories and he was
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  like, the guy that was considered the hardest to work.
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  Or so I could only use my imagination of what that was
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  like, but the guy was a Legend and his food was on such a high
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  level that I don't think that people really understand how
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  much he liked. Gave crutches to the entire
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  culinary industry with his books.
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  They were just the way he played it.
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  The ingredients that he used, you know, he was the first one
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  really doing that vegetable Centric food before anyone was
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  even thinking about it. He was just way ahead of his
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  time, but like, a lot of chefs and this is This is something
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  that I've spoken about on other podcasts when especially, you
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  know, if you want to go back and listen to sacrifices of being a
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  chef, I touch on this a little bit more, is that, you know,
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  there's a life cycle for chefs. As you know, you you ascend, you
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  have your moment where you're on top and then there's kind of
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  this decline in your career, where you're on, you know, on
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  the bottom. And that's a tough place to be
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  and Charlie Trotter wasn't exempt from that, where he was,
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  you know, culinary royalty. And then towards the end of his
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  life, he was kind of the chef that was forgotten and not
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  really given to the respect that he deserved for.
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  How much he shaped the way that we cook as chefs good and bad,
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  right? So I'm not going to sit here and
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  say the guy's a saint, but I will say that having never
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  worked With him, he definitely inspired me and he was a big
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  part of my culinary development, aside tangent.
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  Is I remember, once I made a dish, I don't remember what the
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  dish was, but I used to make so many dishes out of his cookbook
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  in the restaurant where I worked and I would present him to my
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  chef and there was one that I think it was like a risotto is a
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  risotto. But it wasn't made with rice.
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  It was like, I think it was made with butternut squash.
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  So I brunoise the butternut squash and cooked it in the
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  style of risotto using the risotto method.
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  And I remember I presented it to my chef because I wanted to run
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  it on the menu and he said, you know, what the fuck is this?
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  I said it's butternut squash risotto with curry oil because I
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  think Charlie Trotter was big back then with having the
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  multicolored oils I said with curry oil and chive oil or
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  whatever is was like, yellow and green and my chef looks at me
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  and he says, but it's not risotto, I said, but it's
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  butternut squash risotto. He's like, but there's no rice
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  in it and I said, but it's made in the style of risotto.
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  He says, well then call it butternut Wash cooked like
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  risotto but it's not risotto and I said, well, Charlie Trotter
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  calls a risotto. He says, you ain't fucking
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  Charlie Trotter and I remembered that argument because yesterday
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  like, like first of all, this is a Mediterranean restaurant.
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  We have no business serving this.
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  You know, I was trying to force things on the menu when I was
• 14:55
  young because you know, I wanted to cook that style of food.
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  I want to cook just like Charlie Trotter but I wasn't the only
• 15:00
  one like that. I mean so many people were doing
• 15:02
  that. There was no Instagram back then
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  there was no Facebook or you know YouTube or any of the
• 15:09
  social media platforms that we have today.
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  So you waited for the next cookbook to come out so you
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  everyone would rush to the to the bookstore to get the newest
• 15:17
  greatest celebrity chef cookbook so that you could steal ideas
• 15:22
  and hopefully get those dishes on your menu before someone else
• 15:24
  did. So you could, you know front and
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  claim it like you invented it yourself.
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  So it was just a different time like no one really knew and
• 15:32
  liked where were What where the food was coming from?
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  It wasn't like today, like everyone knows like, oh, you saw
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  this. Here, you saw that there, we all
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  follow the same steps on social media.
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  We all see the same food, we all get the same ideas, but back
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  then, it was like, there were no ideas and then boom.
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  New book, you got 60, new ideas, depending on how many recipes
• 15:50
  were in the book. It's just a different time.
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  I enjoyed coming up as a chef in that era because our I want to
• 15:57
  Sarah learning was just a little bit slower.
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  We weren't as overwhelmed as chefs are now with the amount of
• 16:04
  Trends and techniques that are just constantly bombarding you
• 16:07
  as a chef it was a little bit slower so you spent more time on
• 16:11
  what was in front of you at the moment.
• 16:13
  So a good example, I would say is if the food Trend was
• 16:17
  risotto, let's just say yeah and everyone was going all out on
• 16:20
  risotto and all things risotto for a number of years.
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  This like you learned how to make really good risotto because
• 16:26
  that's All you knew for the next, you know, for the next
• 16:29
  year until the next new trend came out in a new cookbook where
• 16:32
  today it's like, okay, we're going to saturate the internet
• 16:35
  with this technique of that technique and that technique.
• 16:37
  And you don't spend a lot of time on these techniques because
• 16:39
  you learn it really quick and you move on to the next one.
• 16:41
  You move on to the next one before.
• 16:42
  You've really fully mastered that specific technique Anyway,
• 16:48
  I would say if you have the opportunity to go watch, Love
• 16:51
  Charlie four chefs like me. He was a hero.
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  What he did in his career, it humanized him a lot, you know, I
• 16:59
  don't want to sit here and say that he was a bad man or that he
• 17:04
  was a good man. I think everyone could make
• 17:06
  their own judgments. I'm not, I'm not here to judge
• 17:09
  him. I'm just here to appreciate what
• 17:13
  he did for me. Appreciate what he did for so
• 17:15
  many other chefs. He was an inspiration.
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  And I never worked for him. So my opinion of him is always
• 17:20
  going to be a little bit skewed versus maybe people who did work
• 17:22
  for him. But I want to pay respect and
• 17:27
  for all the chef's that came before me and thank them for
• 17:31
  what they did and helping shape the industry that we have now
• 17:35
  and taught us and mentored us and inspired us to be like them,
• 17:40
  I guess? Who knows?
• 17:41
  Anyway. That's it for today.
• 17:45
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• 17:57
  biggest idiot in the kitchen and now the line cook survival
• 18:00
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• 18:01
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• 18:04
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  that out also on Chef space, a.com and thank you so much.
• 18:10
  See you next week and hit the porno music.