Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Basic Kitchen Etiquette Ep. 62
Transcript
- 0:00Hello Chefs, This is Chefs PSA Podcast.
- 0:02I'm your host, Andre Natara. On today's episode, we're going
- 0:04to get into kitchen etiquette. Stay tuned.
- 0:19Before we get into it, let me tell you what I've been up to.
- 0:21So here are a couple of things that you need to know.
- 0:23First and foremost, I've been translating these books that
- 0:27I've written into Italian and the one that I'm currently
- 0:30working on, Bad Sue Good Chef, will be out within one week.
- 0:34So if you're looking for the Italian by Saturday, September
- 0:379th, it should be available in Italy.
- 0:39Actually, I think it's also available in the rest of the
- 0:41world, but specifically this is for the Italian market.
- 0:44I have a sale going on right now through September 8th at the
- 0:48Chef's PS:, a merchandise store. So the hoodies, the beanies, the
- 0:51caps. Can't get this hat, but I have
- 0:53another one that's happy Cook close.
- 0:56You can get that one. Everything on sale right now.
- 0:59You can take 10% off using the promo code Happy.
- 1:02I'll put a link in the show notes.
- 1:04Lastly, exclusive to YouTube, I just put out episode one of how
- 1:10to manage like an executive chef.
- 1:12So this is a series that I had recorded during the pandemic.
- 1:16It's in the style of master class and it's you've seen clips
- 1:19of it, most likely on social media, where it's me in a
- 1:21looking, looking debonair in a business suit, talking to the
- 1:25camera about food cost and leadership fundamentals and
- 1:27things like that. That class people always ask me,
- 1:30where is this from, where is this from?
- 1:31Well, I'll tell you what I've done is I'm going to put all
- 1:34those episodes from that class only on YouTube.
- 1:38The first one is out, so go to subscribe on the YouTube channel
- 1:41and you can see all the classes. I will release them as I Polish
- 1:45them up a little bit and get them ready for the platform.
- 1:47So episode one is available, go to YouTube, hit the subscribe
- 1:51button there and make sure you follow Chef's PS:.
- 1:54A last update, I started working on the Food Cost Companion to
- 1:59the three-part Food Cost series. So the guy that I said I would
- 2:02give away a free ebook, I just finished the content for it.
- 2:06Now I got to Polish it up and make it look pretty.
- 2:08So I mean realistically I could get it done in a couple of days,
- 2:11but I got a lot of other things going on.
- 2:12So let's say within two weeks or to one week it'll be out.
- 2:16Hopefully I'm announcing it that it's available by this time next
- 2:19week when you're listening to the next podcast.
- 2:21But anyway, regardless, yes, it's done.
- 2:23It's written, I just need to Polish it up.
- 2:25That'll be available on Gum Road, and I'll make sure I link
- 2:29it when it is available. I was in San Antonio this past
- 2:32week doing a leadership seminar and talking to a lot of chefs
- 2:35this week. So I've been talking to chefs
- 2:37all over Texas, the Illuminati chefs, right.
- 2:39So the movers and shakers, the people that make the decisions.
- 2:43And the question on my mind is Michelin coming to Texas.
- 2:46So I saw that Michelin's going to Atlanta.
- 2:48I think I saw that. I saw that they're going to
- 2:50Denver. But I live in Texas and yet no
- 2:53Michelin. There's a lot of rumors that
- 2:55Michelin is coming to Texas. And as I talk to some chefs,
- 2:58they're like, yeah, done deal. Other chefs are like, no,
- 3:00someone screwed it up and the deal's done.
- 3:02It's not going to happen. Other chefs are like, yeah, for
- 3:05sure. They're just waiting until the
- 3:06end of the year to announce it, but no one really knows.
- 3:09Everyone's kind of speculating right now.
- 3:10We're all, you know, you should see these Chef Group texts that
- 3:14I'm in. What's up with Michelin?
- 3:16I don't know. What do you know?
- 3:17It's all this back and forth. It's a lot of speculation, a lot
- 3:19of rumors, but I don't think any of us really know what's going
- 3:21on. I hope Michelin comes to Texas
- 3:24long overdue, right? I don't know who will get a
- 3:27Michelin star. I'm sure.
- 3:29I'm sure there's a lot of candidates in Austin and Dallas
- 3:32and Houston and San Antonio. But nonetheless, it's incentive
- 3:35for the chefs to work towards something and push themselves a
- 3:39little bit. For those chefs that want to
- 3:40play that game right. I'm hoping Michelin comes to
- 3:43Texas because they're in Atlanta, they're in Colorado,
- 3:46they're in Chicago, they're in California.
- 3:47They're in New York. They're in Miami.
- 3:50Texas seems like the obvious choice.
- 3:51The fact that they're not here, it's almost disrespectful to
- 3:55Texas. Like, who did you guys piss off?
- 3:58Right. Anyway, so why do I bring that
- 4:00up? Yeah, people don't know, but I
- 4:03do a lot of consulting work. And I was talking to someone the
- 4:06other day and we were talking about the potential of Michelin
- 4:08coming to Texas. And they said if Michelin comes
- 4:11to Texas and you're consulting for us, could you get us a
- 4:14Michelin star? And I said, I have no idea.
- 4:17And the reason I say that is because a lot of people
- 4:21speculate on, Oh yeah, of course I'd get a Michelin star.
- 4:24They think they'll get a Michelin star, but the truth of
- 4:26the matter is, until you've demonstrated that you could do
- 4:28that, it's just theory. This is something I talk about
- 4:32often. There's levels to this game and
- 4:37I've never gotten a Michelin star, so how can I sit here and
- 4:41say that I could get one right? It's in theory.
- 4:44I think I could, but I don't know if I could.
- 4:46I can't prove it. And anyone out there thinking
- 4:50that they could get one and it's just talk until they can prove
- 4:53it right? In theory, I think I could.
- 4:55I look at food on the one star level and no disrespect to these
- 4:58places, I mean this in a good way.
- 5:00I look at these places that have one star and I think I could do
- 5:03that food. Nothing that I see is out of my
- 5:06comfort zone of technique. It's in my vocabulary when I
- 5:09look at most one star places, like I look at that, I say OK,
- 5:12restaurants that I've run as a chef are performing at about
- 5:15that level. When you get to the two star
- 5:17level, I would say there's a lot that I don't understand.
- 5:22When I look at it, it's like I don't know how they did that.
- 5:25I have no idea what they did here and I have no idea what
- 5:27they did there. And I would have a hard time
- 5:29replicating certain things. I mean, for God's sake, look at
- 5:36Noma was like 2 Michelin stars for a long time.
- 5:38I'm not peeling pumpkin seeds and searching for reindeer
- 5:43penises. I'm not doing that.
- 5:44So clearly when you get to the two star level there's it's very
- 5:48advanced cooking. And when you get to the three
- 5:50star level, there's things that I don't even know.
- 5:54Like I was talking with one of my friends, the other day's
- 5:57three star chef and I was looking at some of the food that
- 5:59he did and I was like I have no idea how to reverse engineer
- 6:02that. Like I I have no idea how he
- 6:03did. I couldn't look at it.
- 6:04Like chefs a lot of times can look at dishes and say I see it,
- 6:07I can reverse engineer it, I can make it, I know how to cook, I
- 6:09know how to do this, that and the other.
- 6:11But every now and again you see things.
- 6:12It's like, I just don't understand.
- 6:14It's above my reading level, and I think that's what people don't
- 6:19understand. It's like there's so much detail
- 6:21the higher up you go that some of it is so advanced you don't
- 6:27even know that you're missing it, and that that's a weird
- 6:31thing to to think about. Like some of the techniques that
- 6:34they do are so subtle and so advanced that they're over your
- 6:38head that you don't even know what happened, right.
- 6:43We were talking about all the P's have to be the right size.
- 6:45What's the difference that P was smaller than this P?
- 6:48You know, maybe they put them through a grade or whatever to
- 6:51sort them out or whatever the case may be.
- 6:53The attention to detail, the further up you go, the ladder is
- 6:56tremendous. And I think sometimes people
- 6:59overestimate their abilities. So back to the person that I was
- 7:02talking to with consultancy. I said I don't know if I can get
- 7:04your Michelin start. I'd try.
- 7:06But it's just theory. In Texas, we don't have
- 7:08Michelin. So I've never had the
- 7:09opportunity to get one gotten four stars from Forbes Travel
- 7:12Guide or as it got rating of 29 or you know local newspapers,
- 7:19the Dallas Morning News or whatever the case may be.
- 7:22But that's not Michelin and it's a different, it's a different
- 7:25level of expectation. Anyway, we're a long way off
- 7:28from kitchen etiquette. We'll we'll get to that in a
- 7:30second. The other thing that you all
- 7:32should be looking at. So assuming that you're
- 7:35listening to this when it's released, so Sunday, September
- 7:393rd, today is the day that the Bokus Dior USA qualifier is
- 7:44going on. I'm clearly not there.
- 7:46I'm recording a podcast working, but I'm excited about that.
- 7:51So for those of you that don't know, the Bokus Dior is a
- 7:54competition which takes place in Lyon, France.
- 7:56A bunch of countries start to compete right now.
- 7:59The USA qualifier is going on in Napa at Copia and there's three
- 8:03competitors right now that are competing to represent the USA.
- 8:07Angus McIntosh, He's competitor #1, Vincenzo Lozano, who's
- 8:11competitor #2 he's the CDC at Press Restaurant in Napa Valley,
- 8:16works with Philip Tessier. I believe Philip Tessier is his
- 8:18coach. Philip Tessier, For those of you
- 8:20that don't know, it's a silver silver medal winner at the
- 8:25Bogusti or the first American to ever get on the podium.
- 8:28Fantastic Chef. And then you have Stephanie De
- 8:30Palma, who was formerly the CDC at Addison in Southern
- 8:34California. 3 Michelin star restaurant, extremely talented
- 8:37chef. All three chefs are extremely
- 8:40talented. I have no idea who's going to
- 8:41win. I'm very curious.
- 8:42I'm excited to see the platters and hear about the competition.
- 8:46I have a couple of friends that are there this week.
- 8:50I'm sure it'll be all over social media anyway.
- 8:53It'll be pretty cool to see who wins that, so you should be
- 8:56checking that out. The highest level technique that
- 8:59you're going to see a lot of times happens at these Bo Custi
- 9:01or competitions. So if you're a technique geek or
- 9:04a technique junkie like I am, you want to check it out so you
- 9:07can see what's going on. They're always going to pull out
- 9:10some new stuff that you haven't seen before, so it's pretty
- 9:12cool. Most of these chefs that are
- 9:14competing are Michelin 3 star level, but they're the elite of
- 9:17the Michelin 3 star level. You're the they're the
- 9:20handpicked ones from those kitchens, so it's pretty high
- 9:24level. Go check it out.
- 9:26So I put together a list of 10 basic etiquette things that
- 9:30people need to know about kitchens and I want to.
- 9:33I might share a couple of stories along the way, but a lot
- 9:35of times new cooks come into the kitchen, they just don't know or
- 9:38servers or other people that are working in the kitchen.
- 9:40They just don't understand these basic things that us as chefs
- 9:43know. But if you're new to the
- 9:44industry, you you might make a big mistake.
- 9:48So listen to this episode. But maybe you need to share it
- 9:52with someone that's a little bit green that needs to hear some of
- 9:55the things that we're talking about.
- 9:56The first one is only cooks and chefs behind the line, right?
- 10:01It's busy. It's hot.
- 10:02Pots and pans tight space, knives, stress, chaos sometimes,
- 10:06depending on where you're working, sometimes the floor is
- 10:08slippery. There could be a grease spill.
- 10:11People could be moving with pots and pans and knives, Whatever.
- 10:16It's a dangerous place. Nothing is more dangerous or
- 10:20infuriating than when someone who doesn't work behind the line
- 10:23unknowingly goes behind the line in the middle of the rush.
- 10:29The the first time I ever saw that I was like right out of
- 10:32culinary school and I was working in a kitchen and the
- 10:35server walked behind the line and like the sous chef was like,
- 10:39don't ever come behind my line and just laid into them.
- 10:41And I just remember I was like, oh shit.
- 10:44I didn't know that was a rule because I was still green, but I
- 10:47learned pretty quick no one behind the line but cooks and
- 10:51chefs. Now everyone said what about
- 10:52dishwashers and porters? And yeah, obviously the
- 10:55occasional person coming behind to refill plates or pick up
- 10:59dirty pots and pans, which by the way, stack your pots, stack
- 11:01your pans, make it easy for the dish station.
- 11:05But yes, they are going to come back on occasion.
- 11:07But for the most part, during service, it should be cooks and
- 11:10chefs behind the line, and they should have a certain flow
- 11:12there. You're always wanting to work at
- 11:14a certain cadence with the other people on the team to make sure
- 11:17that things are running smoothly and someone coming behind the
- 11:20line. It's dangerous for the person
- 11:22coming behind the line, but it's also dangerous for the rest of
- 11:24the team. It just breaks the rhythm when
- 11:27people are working, so don't do it anyway.
- 11:28Only cooks and chefs behind the line number two never touch
- 11:32another chef's knives without asking.
- 11:35Now, a lot of places have community knives, and I get that
- 11:39right. A lot of times they have the
- 11:40community knives that they maybe they rent out or they purchase,
- 11:43and that's for people that don't have knives, that's a good
- 11:44thing. But a lot of times chefs go and
- 11:47collect knives and they collect very expensive knives and they
- 11:50take great care of their knives and it's like their samurai
- 11:53sword. Don't touch it, period.
- 11:56Don't even look at it, pretend it doesn't exist.
- 11:57You're going to see some shiny new knives over there.
- 12:00Don't look at it, don't touch it, don't even think about it.
- 12:03Never touch another chef's knives without asking and ask.
- 12:08Look, if someone came up to me and said, can I borrow your
- 12:09knife, I'd say I'd be like, don't you have a knife?
- 12:13Are you not ready for the job? This is a professional kitchen.
- 12:15You're going to show up without knives.
- 12:16Of course things happen. Maybe they don't have a knife,
- 12:18maybe they have maybe their new cook and they couldn't afford
- 12:20what, That's different. But if you're a professional
- 12:22cook and you've been in this industry for a while and you're
- 12:24showing up to a job where everyone has knives and you
- 12:26don't have knife, it's just a lack of preparation and common
- 12:30sense. Like, of course things happen,
- 12:31but don't be that cook because that cook does exist.
- 12:34They show up and they want to borrow everyone's knife.
- 12:36But the worst thing is they take it without asking and you don't
- 12:40even know. And then maybe you have this
- 12:43$1000 Japanese knife and they drop it and they give it back to
- 12:46you with a big old chip in it and you're like, you're ready to
- 12:50ring someone. Just talking about that, Just
- 12:55talking about that makes my blood blow.
- 12:58Don't be that person #3, Use your kitchen voice.
- 13:01So we're talking about no one else behind the line other than
- 13:03cooks and chefs. But the cooks and chefs, you
- 13:06need to know how to operate on the line or in the kitchen so
- 13:08it's hot. Corner, behind knife, things
- 13:11like that. Use your voice.
- 13:12Do not whisper. I used to go up to cooks because
- 13:15I would get so frustrated because they'd be like, behind,
- 13:17you know, just kind of whispering, like say it loud.
- 13:20I'd rather you say it loud and me move than me not move and you
- 13:23stab me or you spill something on me when you're coming around
- 13:28the corner, say corner, so we don't collide.
- 13:30Teach this to the service team as well, right?
- 13:31You're going to prevent a ton of accidents simply by using your
- 13:35voice. It's completely acceptable to
- 13:38raise your voice if you're coming around the corner or if
- 13:41you're walking with a hot pot behind someone rather than
- 13:45spilling it on them. This has happened to me before,
- 13:48like someone spilled hot boiling water on me once.
- 13:52Thank God I had an apron on, everything still works.
- 13:54But another time, me being careless, talking about knife
- 13:59etiquette and also talking about using your voice.
- 14:02I was butchering a piece of meat and I had a very thin, flexible,
- 14:08Bony knife. So razor sharp, super thin Bony
- 14:12knife. And I was sauteing at the same
- 14:14time that I was. I was multitasking, right?
- 14:16So I was butchering something and I was sauteed and I didn't
- 14:19leave the knife on my station. So I took the knife with me over
- 14:21to the Saute station and I was holding it carelessly.
- 14:25And another cook came up behind me to see what I was doing.
- 14:29And as he walked up behind me to kind of peek over my shoulder,
- 14:33my knife slid right into his leg.
- 14:36I could feel the whole thing. And it was, it's all kind of
- 14:38gross. And he just made a face.
- 14:43I think he just stabbed my leg. So it was a thin, Bony knife,
- 14:45Like, I'm talking super thin. And he just pulled it out.
- 14:48It probably went in like literally like 2 inches in his
- 14:52leg. But the dude was a gangster.
- 14:53All he did was just, you know, that sucks.
- 14:56My fault. You wrapped it up with a, you
- 14:58know, bandano, tried to make a tourniquet or whatever, then
- 15:00just went back to work. That's it.
- 15:02Like, nothing. Like, no big deal, tough guys.
- 15:06It reminds me of another time, you know, Speaking of knife
- 15:09safety, digress for a second, I worked with this guy from El
- 15:12Salvador. He was a dishwasher.
- 15:16He was like a gorilla in El Salvador.
- 15:19And I don't mean like the, I mean the people with guns in the
- 15:22jungle, those types of gorillas, probably a literal killer.
- 15:27Like, I don't know, he was a scary dude.
- 15:29Anyway, one of the servers put a broken wine glass on the dish
- 15:34station and didn't say anything. So he was a gangster and he was
- 15:37hustling on the dish station working by himself.
- 15:39And he grabbed it and he sliced a big chunk of meat right
- 15:44through his palm and it was dangling and it was gross.
- 15:47And so they called me over to the dish station.
- 15:49This, the sous chef says, hey, you need to go check this guy
- 15:51out. He's bleeding really bad.
- 15:52And I see him back there wrapping it up.
- 15:54And I said, let me take a look. And it's, I mean, it's a big
- 15:57chunk of flesh, like a V cut out of his palm.
- 16:01And it looks bad. I said, you probably need to go
- 16:03to the ER. This guy had a lot of pride.
- 16:06Like I said he was. He was a soldier.
- 16:09He's like, no, no, I'm good. I'm good.
- 16:10Let me just wrap it up. Maybe I'll put some gorilla glue
- 16:12on. I was like, no, you should
- 16:13probably go to the ER. He's like, no, no, no, no, chef.
- 16:15I'm good. I'm good.
- 16:15I'll prove to you like he wanted to prove to me how tough he was.
- 16:17I was like, look, you need to take care of that.
- 16:19He's like, no, no, no, just get me some scissors.
- 16:21I'm gonna just cut this flesh out.
- 16:24And, yeah, that's what he wanted to do.
- 16:26He wanted to cut the You want to cut a big chunk of meat out of
- 16:28his hand with some joist chant? I wouldn't do that.
- 16:31I would have gone to the ER anyway.
- 16:34No unsolicited help. And what I mean by that is
- 16:38sometimes you're caught up on your work and maybe you're
- 16:42working the line or you're working a station.
- 16:43Then you just jump in and you try to take over someone's
- 16:47project or you try and start helping them cook.
- 16:50Don't do that because you could throw off their rhythm.
- 16:52They might have a certain way that they like to do things.
- 16:55They might have the tickets organized in their mind and you
- 16:58start messing with things on their station.
- 17:01Don't do that in the kitchen. You don't give help unsolicited.
- 17:05You ask 1st, and I'm not saying don't help people be unsolicited
- 17:08is one thing you have to ask. Do you want help?
- 17:11Because a lot of times they'll say no, I just need this, this,
- 17:13this. Or a lot of times they'll tell
- 17:15you exactly what they need help with.
- 17:17Because a lot of times people want to help with things that
- 17:19they don't need help with. They might tell you, yeah, I
- 17:21need help. All I need you to do is set my
- 17:24plates out. I got the rest.
- 17:25But you're like over there based in their fish messing up the
- 17:30rhythm. So when you need to give someone
- 17:32help because you see that they need help, it's important that
- 17:34you ask them first. Do you need help?
- 17:36And if they say yes, say what do you want me to do?
- 17:39But do not just jump in unsolicited because you can
- 17:41actually create a little bit more chaos than you were
- 17:44intending, so no good deed goes unpunished.
- 17:48This is one that I don't say often, but it's underlooked.
- 17:50I put a chef's PS:. A up on it once, and that is no
- 17:54hands on pockets. What do hands in pockets say?
- 17:56Right. So if you're new to a kitchen,
- 17:58you shouldn't. Or if you're working in
- 17:59hospitality, don't walk around with your hands in your pockets
- 18:02#1. That's gross.
- 18:04Like pockets are dirty. Lenty money, phone.
- 18:09Whatever is in your pocket. Whatever's in your pocket
- 18:11nonetheless is gross. Most likely it's not sanitary,
- 18:14but two, your hands should be working.
- 18:16And if you're walking around with your hands in your pockets,
- 18:19that means you're not working. Get to work.
- 18:22When other people see people with their hands in their
- 18:24pockets, all that screams is I'm not working right.
- 18:28Both hands out of your pockets doing something or keep them by
- 18:31your side if maybe you're standing or whatever, right?
- 18:34Just keeping your hands in your pockets is a bad habit,
- 18:36especially if you work in a hospitality.
- 18:38If you're working in the kitchen, no hands in pockets.
- 18:40Which leads to #6. Cell phones.
- 18:42Cell phones are now like a part of doing business in the
- 18:45kitchens. When I was coming up, like only
- 18:47the chef had a cell phone, Really had a BlackBerry?
- 18:49Maybe. But now everyone has cell
- 18:51phones, so it's a part of the culture.
- 18:54So I know a lot of people take notes with their cell phones.
- 18:57A lot of people are taking photos with their cell phones
- 18:59for station diagrams or whatever.
- 19:01So I understand that the cell phone is going to be a part of
- 19:03it. But number one, don't put your
- 19:06cell phone on your cutting board.
- 19:08Where do you use your cell phone?
- 19:10Where you scrolling on Instagram?
- 19:11Like in those chef's PS:. A posts, right?
- 19:13Are you sitting on the toilet looking at your phone?
- 19:18Don't be gross. Don't put your cell phone on
- 19:20your cutting board. Right.
- 19:22You'd be on the toilet and then put the cell phone in next to
- 19:24the onions and chop and say, oh, it's because I'm looking at the
- 19:26red. It's kind of gross.
- 19:29Don't put the cell phone on the cutting board.
- 19:31Wash your hands while we're at it.
- 19:32Don't put boxes on the cutting board.
- 19:35As a matter of fact, boxes shouldn't even be in the
- 19:38kitchen. So I get it.
- 19:40Not everyone's going to have the opportunity to transfer
- 19:41everything from a box to a camber on this, on the other,
- 19:43But in my opinion, boxes do not go in the kitchen or they
- 19:47definitely don't go on workplace surfaces.
- 19:50And the reason that is because people like why?
- 19:54Because boxes are stored in warehouses where there's rats
- 19:57and roaches and feces and rat shit and all sorts of other
- 20:01things like and then you're going to pick that box up where
- 20:04it's stored on the floor and then put that on top of your
- 20:06cutting board. Or you're going to put that on a
- 20:08workplace counter. Cutting boards are sacred.
- 20:11Workspace counters are sacred boxes.
- 20:14Don't go on work surfaces. Period.
- 20:17Don't be gross. So I had mentioned earlier that
- 20:19I did a leadership seminar in San Antonio, and one of the
- 20:22things that I always put in my seminars is Shaken and Shakeout.
- 20:25I haven't done a Chef's PS:. A on it.
- 20:27I've put it in the books. I've talked about it at length,
- 20:29but I haven't done a PS:. A on it, on social because I'm
- 20:32not sure necessarily how to word it.
- 20:33So it's somewhat so it's somewhat interesting.
- 20:39But let me tell you what I think.
- 20:41I think that every kitchen should shake in and shake out.
- 20:44You shake in when you arrive with the team and you shake out
- 20:46when you leave. A lot of the best kitchens.
- 20:48This is a normal practice. When you go to the high end
- 20:50kitchens, the more professional kitchens are always going to
- 20:53shake in and shake out. It's something I learned early
- 20:56on from one of my first chefs. He'd always come in whether it
- 20:59was handy, You know what those payday was shake your hand,
- 21:02thank you for the job and give you your paycheck.
- 21:05Or whenever he'd arrived, he'd walk around and shake everyone's
- 21:08hand. It was just professional
- 21:10courtesy and commonplace. But here's why I think it's
- 21:12important, because a lot of times people have been in those
- 21:14awkward situations where someone lower on the totem pole is in a
- 21:20room with someone a little bit higher and they don't talk and
- 21:23there's this awkward silence. Maybe it's on the elevator,
- 21:25they're walking down the hall together, and they don't even
- 21:27acknowledge each other. And a lot of places, believe it
- 21:29or not, you spend all day with people, but you don't even greet
- 21:33and acknowledge people. That culture then bleeds out
- 21:35into the service team, which then bleeds into the guest.
- 21:38And if you have a culture based on dignity and respect, the
- 21:43foundation is built with the common courtesy of
- 21:47acknowledgement and shaking hands and greeting one another.
- 21:51Now that doesn't mean you need to get caught up with COVID and
- 21:55I don't want to shake hands, okay, then fist bump or wave or
- 21:57something, but acknowledge each other.
- 22:00Acknowledge everyone. When you arrive to work,
- 22:02Acknowledge everyone. When you leave to work,
- 22:04acknowledge everyone. You're leaving the line, pet
- 22:06peeve. If you're leaving the line, say
- 22:08offline, right? Don't just disappear.
- 22:11You might be new to line cooking.
- 22:13You never just vanish in the middle of service to go to the
- 22:16bathroom. You say offline and you ask
- 22:18permission or say chef, may I may I go offline?
- 22:21Whatever the case may be, you don't just vanish, but anyway,
- 22:23acknowledge and acknowledge out. And the reason I say that is
- 22:25because you begin the day as a professional.
- 22:27You close the day as a professional regardless of what
- 22:30happens in between, and a lot of shit happens in between.
- 22:32During service. You might fight over whatever,
- 22:34right? But at least you know that you
- 22:36have a daily reset. And for that moment where you're
- 22:40acknowledging people, so you're shaking and shaking out, it
- 22:44establishes equality amongst whoever is doing the shaking and
- 22:48shaking out, whether it's the chef and the steward or the
- 22:52general manager and the server, it doesn't matter.
- 22:55In that moment. You're establishing equality,
- 22:58and establishing equality is very important.
- 23:00To have a good workplace culture.
- 23:02In kitchens that I've run and people have left and they go to
- 23:06a place where there is no shaken and shakeout culture.
- 23:09The one thing that they always tell me that they miss the most
- 23:12is that they're like no one shakes in here and it bothers
- 23:14them. When you've worked in that
- 23:16environment, you start to become more courteous and more
- 23:19professional. What's the downside of being a
- 23:22nicer person and being more professional and courteous and
- 23:25hospitable and having a better culture?
- 23:26There's no downside. There's only upside anyway.
- 23:30Shaken and shake out another one.
- 23:32No sitting on workplace counters.
- 23:34So counters are for glasses, not for asses, right?
- 23:40Nothing's more annoying than after service and then you see
- 23:43the culinary team or the service team.
- 23:44Just jump on workspace counters and just sit there and chit,
- 23:48chat and talk. Get your ass off the table.
- 23:54I remember the first time I did that, it was the end of service
- 23:58and I I was sitting up there and my chef came around the corner.
- 24:02He's get your ass off the table. I was very embarrassed, but I
- 24:06never did it again and obviously explained to me why asses are
- 24:11not sanitary, Don't sit on the counter.
- 24:14It reminds me of an old Iron Chef episode where Bobby Flay
- 24:19jumped on the counter and stood on the cutting board.
- 24:21And then Morimoto was really pissed off.
- 24:24He's saying, no, he's not a chef.
- 24:25I don't remember how it went down, but I remember I was like,
- 24:27oh, more Emoto's pissed. You don't disrespect the cutting
- 24:30board, you don't disrespect worse workplace surfaces, right?
- 24:35Keep it professional. So wrapped up your shift, don't
- 24:39sit on the counter #9. No whistling in the kitchen.
- 24:41Now you do what you want. But I'm telling you, like
- 24:44there's a lot of chefs that are very superstitious, No whistling
- 24:48in the kitchen. It's considered bad luck.
- 24:50So if they if you see the chef whistling, other people
- 24:54whistling, do it. But don't be the first one to
- 24:56try it out. If you're new in the kitchen,
- 24:58say I'm just going to whistle me a Cardi B song over here.
- 25:02Whatever. I don't know if Cardi B songs
- 25:04are whistle ready. Anyway, you get the point.
- 25:07Don't whistle in the kitchen or do find out.
- 25:10Last one is clean as you go, right?
- 25:12Don't wipe things directly on the floor.
- 25:15Wipe it into a little container and then put it in the trash.
- 25:18If you see a piece of trash on the floor, don't walk past it
- 25:20without picking it up. Maybe keep a little sanitizer
- 25:25towel on the piano of your stove and you wipe it down on
- 25:27occasion. In between uses, wipe your
- 25:31board, Wipe your knife. As I say, happy knife, happy
- 25:38life. Keep it clean.
- 25:39Clean as you go is a very important skill, right?
- 25:43One of the things that I've noticed, like for me, when I see
- 25:47someone that's fast in the kitchen and clean, you know
- 25:50they're a good cook. Like they're high level.
- 25:53That to me is the sign of a high level cook.
- 25:55Someone that's fast, someone that's clean, and someone that's
- 25:58precise. But that clean part is very
- 26:00important. So you could be precise but not
- 26:03fast and not clean, but if you have all three, unstoppable.
- 26:09Those are the top of the food chain cooks, the ones that could
- 26:11work fast, work clean, and be very efficient.
- 26:15Working clean is just being smart about how you organize
- 26:17your station, right? Minimizing the amount of steps
- 26:19that you have to pick up a dish. Organizing things so that all
- 26:22the like things are together. Not putting the wet ingredients
- 26:27in the ninth pan behind the dry ingredients.
- 26:30Every time you take it out, you're getting all the dry
- 26:32ingredients wet like you do, right?
- 26:34Makes no sense. You got to be smart about how
- 26:37you organize yourself. Work clean, wipe down.
- 26:41Anyway, y'all get the point. I had some other ones that I was
- 26:46going to talk about, but I didn't.
- 26:47One was this is like bonus bonus #11.
- 26:52A lot of places I didn't talk about this because I don't
- 26:54necessarily believe it, and I haven't worked in a place in a
- 26:56long time that has talked about this.
- 26:57I don't even know if it's relevant, but a lot of places
- 26:59would say don't kill lobsters prior to service starting
- 27:03because it's bad luck, you know? Anyway, I don't know if that's
- 27:06still a thing, but that used to be a thing back in the old days,
- 27:10but I haven't heard in a while since.
- 27:12I'm not even going to talk about that.
- 27:13But anyway, I would have said no radios in the kitchen, but I
- 27:17didn't want everyone coming at me saying how dare you not have
- 27:20radios in the kitchen. And I've changed my stance on
- 27:23that because before I would be like no radios in the kitchen,
- 27:26but now if you're listening to Chef's PSA podcast in the
- 27:29kitchen, that's acceptable in my opinion.
- 27:31Like you get a pass radios in the kitchen if you listen to
- 27:33this podcast. If you want to support the show,
- 27:36you know what to do. Make sure you leave five stars.
- 27:38If you listen on Spotify, hit the subscribe button.
- 27:41If you're on YouTube, hit the like button, hit the subscribe
- 27:44button. There's a donation button if you
- 27:46want to support the show. There's different tiers.
- 27:48I appreciate the support. It goes a long way to bring you
- 27:52this wonderful information, of course.
- 27:54Go to chefspsa.com, you get all the books, there you go to the
- 27:58merch, as I mentioned 10% off right now at the Chef's PSA
- 28:00Merch store and be on the lookout for the managed Like an
- 28:04Executive Chef episodes as they come out.
- 28:06I'll be releasing them kind of sporadically as I get them done,
- 28:10as I'm working on the translation and the food cost
- 28:13guide, so I got a lot of things that I'm working on.
- 28:16Stay tuned. Anyway, thank you all very much.
- 28:18See you next week. Hit the porno music.