Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / How to Survive as a Line Cook pt. 2 Ep. 16

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How to Survive as a Line Cook pt. 2 Ep. 16 · Chef's PSA Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello chefs, you're listening to Chef PSA podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host Andre de terre. This week's episode is part 2.
• 0:06
  Continuation of last week's episode how to survive as a line
• 0:08
  cook. We're going to get into some
• 0:10
  different terms that I use and give you a couple more tips on
• 0:13
  how I would approach a line cook today and maybe maybe change
• 0:17
  your mind on some things and help you think different
• 0:19
  attitude. So, what was I up to this week?
• 0:33
  Actually, I feel like I didn't do anything, but it will give
• 0:36
  you an update on some something. So, I I've redesigned the red
• 0:41
  book. So the original chefs, PSA how
• 0:43
  not to be the biggest idiot in the kitchen.
• 0:45
  I've had to shrink it a little bit.
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  I change the title, I added a couple of things at the end.
• 0:53
  So the book is, it's not the original book.
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  There's some slight modifications.
• 0:56
  I think it's a better version of the original book, so let's call
• 0:59
  it. The Addition.
• 1:01
  I also had to update the price. Unfortunately, the printing cost
• 1:04
  was too much due to inflation and it went from $10 to now it's
• 1:09
  $12 but it's still the same honestly.
• 1:12
  It's probably like a five thousand dollar book.
• 1:15
  I might have to raise the price because it's that good.
• 1:17
  You need it. Go Get It.
• 1:18
  Anyway, these are jokes. I also just put out a new chefs.
• 1:24
  PSA shirt merch. You could find it on the store.
• 1:29
  You go to Chef PSA. Dot-com and a link you to the,
• 1:31
  to the chef's, pass a store. You could also buy on my
• 1:35
  Instagram account, there's a link button there, you can also
• 1:38
  find it in my link train, all my social channels.
• 1:41
  However, I wouldn't buy it directly from Instagram because
• 1:43
  sometimes, it shows things that aren't there.
• 1:45
  Any way the shirt is, it's a very beautiful scenery with the
• 1:51
  words, truffle butter on it, and a big smiley face because
• 1:54
  truffle butter is everyone's favorite steak topping?
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  No other reason, state copying That's all I know is the steak
• 2:01
  topping. I don't know any other
• 2:02
  definition sport and the smiley face because you know who
• 2:05
  doesn't get happy with the with truffle butter.
• 2:07
  So if you want that shirt, that's where you'd find it.
• 2:10
  So I had that shirt will come out and I had said before that,
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  I was going to do a limited edition stuff, but I've decided
• 2:15
  against it because it's weird to just do one thing at a time, as
• 2:17
  more thought about it. So I changed my mind on it.
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  So I will over the next few weeks.
• 2:22
  I'll start putting out more stuff and things will remain.
• 2:24
  So you know it's it's all farm to table, that will stay there.
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  Truffle butter will stay there awake and ready?
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  Stay there. Line, cook water Magic, Chef
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  juice, Etc. It's going to remain on the
• 2:34
  store. Additionally, I just put out a
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  chef recipe Journal, so it's not a recipe book because a lot of
• 2:41
  people were dming me is like, oh, what recipes in there is
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  like none. You put the recipes in there to
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  blank Journal, there's different colors, you could buy them on
• 2:48
  Amazon. You could, you could hit my link
• 2:52
  in my social profile, and it'll take you to the black one.
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  But there's a red Journal blue journal black Journal, Etc.
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  Um, a couple of different colors.
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  But anyway, if you need a recipe journal and who doesn't you?
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  Work in a kitchen should go by that.
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  Now you need to write things down.
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  I said this in the last podcast, the worst pain is better than
• 3:15
  the best memory. So write shit down, use the
• 3:18
  journal, Chef PSA journals are better than every other Journal
• 3:22
  because they support chefs PSA anyway back to line cooking the
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  subject at hand. So I got a lot of feedback over
• 3:29
  the past. Week that subjects that may be
• 3:33
  guys wanted me to expand upon or I didn't touch on but also I'm
• 3:36
  throwing in a couple as I'm writing this book so line, cook
• 3:40
  survival manual. It's going to be a shorter book
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  similar to the first one but I'm already more than halfway done
• 3:46
  with it. Then it's you know last couple
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  of pages edit publish my goal is that I will hopefully have this
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  out for the holidays. So I really want to help chefs
• 3:57
  and cooks with. The more information I'm able to
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  share The better it is for everyone.
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  My purposes, I've said before really is to help people.
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  Like I know I joke around, I am notorious if you know me in real
• 4:08
  life for goofing off and talking shit but it all comes from a
• 4:12
  good place. Like I my true Mission as I
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  really do want to help cook. So sometimes I say shit just
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  because I think it's funny and I realized other people don't
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  think it's funny but I'm just a mad shit talker.
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  I really it all comes from a good place.
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  My true passion is helping people and I I have really
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  stepped aside from kitchen so I could focus on that and help
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  make the work environment. A better place, help Cooks,
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  become chefs, faster, help chefs, become better chefs
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  faster, that's my purpose, right?
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  Anyway, knife etiquette let's start right there so if you're
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  new to the kitchen, which a lot of people know this, but I think
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  I should probably talk about it again and that is when it comes
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  to knives depending on where you work.
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  Because it's it's it's a thing where A lot of places will
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  provide you knives now and they have Community knives, right?
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  So you don't need to buy knives. Knives are expensive.
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  When you're a new cook, you go into a kitchen.
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  If that restaurant where you work and I don't know where you
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  work, some kitchens have Community knives and they stand
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  by that. Like everyone, you don't have to
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  buy your knives. We all share, knives, other
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  places. It's like, well, no.
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  Bring your own knives, but then there's that gray area, baby.
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  You bring your knives but they also offer Community knives.
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  Let's talk about specifically your knives.
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  Not other people's lives. Not Community knives, your
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  knives in particular. If you work at a place where you
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  Bring your knives or it's the combination.
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  You could use their knives or you could bring your own.
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  If you've spent a lot of money because knives are expensive,
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  right? Knives are not cheap.
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  And if you're you're getting up into the expensive Japanese
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  ones, you know, you're talking into the thousands of dollars
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  knives are expensive. So when someone touches your
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  knife or they drop it or they chip it or you know, they cut
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  the wrong thing with it and it starts to discolor That
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  infuriates a chef. The knife is like, the extension
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  of the chef. It's like their lightsabers,
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  their samurai sword. You should never touch another
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  chef's knife without asking you. And sometimes the shuffle Say,
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  No, don't touch my knife. The worst thing you could do is
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  like you could take their knife chip it put it back and be like,
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  oh no, it wasn't me. I didn't take your knife.
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  But anyway, do not touch. Another chef's knife knife,
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  etiquette 101. It's not your knife, don't touch
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  it, it's over there. Pretend it doesn't exist.
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  Don't mess with the chef's knife.
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  I mean it's it's Personal someone commented on my Tick,
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  Tock, I don't know, but if this was you shout out to you
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  touching, my knife is like touching my wife hands off.
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  I thought that was pretty funny. Anyways.
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  It was a good comparison but that's just that's just the the
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  stories like knife. Etiquette.
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  Don't touch someone's life and when we come, when we talk about
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  knives, I think. If you're just starting out as a
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  chef, I highly recommend that you start out with the German
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  knives or a little bit heavier, german-style knives, right to
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  heavier ones practiced or not they're sharp.
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  And your knife should be sharp, right?
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  You the expression is a sharp knife cuts and a Dull Knife
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  hurts you. So a sharp knife will cut you
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  and a Dull Knife will hurt you. I think I said that right, but
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  the Japanese knives, you know, the very beautiful knives, like
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  they're lighter, their sharper, they move quicker, you put less
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  force and it's it's a whole different ball game.
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  So if you don't know what you're doing it's like you know for
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  your first knife, don't go and get the 10,000 dollar knife or
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  you know the thousand-dollar knife or the 500 or life.
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  Go get something that's going to feel comfortable practice.
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  You know if you drop it it's a little bit more forgiving.
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  It's not going to chip, it's not going to break.
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  You know, it's not going to it's not going to Patina or anything
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  like that. Start their start with a less
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  expensive knife and then work your way up to a more expensive
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  knife at the other thing. Like again I'm assuming you're a
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  new line, cook, if you're an experienced cook, you're like no
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  shit. We all know this, but if you're
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  a new line cook, I'm going to break some news to you.
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  People still knives. I've had my knife set stolen at
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  least three times completely in my career and I mean the entire
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  set like I've had to replace knife knife sets at least three
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  times. One time I left my knife set out
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  And it was my fault but other times people who were in my
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  stuff and and taking it so do not spend so much money early on
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  in your career when you haven't really mastered The Knife yet
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  and waste your money, like, get good at the, the less except
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  good at knife skills with less expensive knives.
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  And then, as you get better, progressing to more expensive
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  knives, that there's a lot of chefs out there that like knife
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  collecting is a big thing, chub-o knives, shout out.
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  I like, I like those guys. I like, what they're doing.
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  Anyway, you can sponsor the show.
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  Also, I also want to talk about, Out controlling temperatures.
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  And when I say controlling temperatures we could, we could
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  really get into this. And it was actually a chapter
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  that I wrote In the book right now.
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  So it's at the top of my mind, if you want to be a better cook,
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  understanding how to control temperature is going to make you
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  a better cook. So, you know, resting your meat
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  at room temp. So that, when you cut into it,
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  the juice doesn't go everywhere. That's controlling the
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  temperature. When you're cooking eggs, the
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  difference between a fried egg, like a crispy Asian style fried
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  egg, or a very soft. Easy egg is controlling the
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  temperature. When you're making an omelet,
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  whether you know, we call the American style omelet, where
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  they're folded in half and the Kurds are a little larger and
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  they're more browned versus what we call the French omelet, where
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  the Kurds are, super creamy and there is no coloration.
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  It's nice and pale. That's temperature control.
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  The greatest trick that a cook can learn is that little this
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  little weird thing that's on the stove where you adjust the
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  temperatures like a dial And you turn things down or you turn
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  things up. It's a magical thing, learn how
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  to use that thing. Learn how to control
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  temperature. When you're tempting, your
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  steaks, or your seafood, or whatever, your protein is,
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  before you cook it, you know, it's it Cooks differently than
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  if you're cooking it from ice cold, right?
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  So all these things matter, the better Cooks, know how to
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  control temperature better. So I do think that's something
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  for line Cooks. You know, when you're busy,
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  learn how to control temperatures, make sure your
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  cold food is cold. Meaning, not just your salad is
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  nice and crisp in the Sure, but your bowls are in the cooler,
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  right? If you know assuming that you
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  could do that if you're serving shrimp, you serve at a nice
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  because you wanted to be cold oysters and same thing.
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  So understanding how to control temperature is the sign of a
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  high-level cook. So keep that in mind, I also
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  want to talk about so I want to share some slang with you all
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  that. I like slang that I use.
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  So a word that I throw around often is called a Halloween
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  ninja and I did a video on this but I'll I'll make it less
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  dramatic for social media, you know, on social media.
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  You know it's more dramatic podcast.
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  Long format conversation could be less traumatic.
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  So a Halloween ninja, when kids dress up on Halloween, they
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  dress up. Like a ninja, they have plastic
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  or wooden swords. They look like ninjas.
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  They have the uniform. But they're not real ninjas,
• 10:52
  their Halloween ninjas Halloween superheroes, right?
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  So you understand the analogy, it's like, oh my God, a ninja
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  and you pretend, but it's like, oh no, that's just, oh no, it's
• 11:00
  me. Dad or whatever, right?
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  I'm just a five-year-old dressed like a ninja.
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  I'm not a real ninja. Well, no shit.
• 11:05
  Your Halloween ninja, the same thing applies in the kitchen.
• 11:08
  So sometimes Cooks will come in with the most expensive knives
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  getting back to my earlier point or like the most expensive
• 11:17
  coolest aprons and they stand out because it doesn't match the
• 11:20
  uniform but they were I want to they want to make a little noise
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  and be the exception to the rule and I'm not saying I don't like
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  fancy things because I do. I like nice aprons.
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  I like nice knives. But the problem is with these
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  Halloween ninjas, is they go out and they buy the most expensive
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  apron and the most expensive knives but they don't have any
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  experience yet. Like they don't they don't fully
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  understand like hey you shouldn't you shouldn't go by a
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  thousand dollar knife for reasons that I said earlier or
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  hey you should wear the same uniform that the rest of us are
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  wearing and not To look like the coolest person in the kitchen
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  when you're trying to look like the coolest person in the
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  kitchen, but you don't know how to cook.
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  It's a bad. Look, I have no better way to
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  explain it than that, when you're trying really hard to
• 12:04
  look good but you don't know how to cook.
• 12:06
  It is a bad look and that's a Halloween injure.
• 12:09
  Someone that dressed up looks the part but you know, doesn't
• 12:13
  know what they're doing Halloween in just that some
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  slang for line cooks and for Cooks in general, like I'm
• 12:20
  warning you On this, do it at your own risk.
• 12:22
  If you want to do it, do it, if it makes you feel good to wear a
• 12:26
  cool apron and get the expensive knife do it.
• 12:29
  I'm just saying from my standpoint you shouldn't do it.
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  You should focus on the skills first because it makes you stand
• 12:35
  out for the wrong reasons as I alluded to earlier.
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  Anyway let's talk about counting things.
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  I put a PSA up and said three rules and Catering count.
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  Everything rule. Number one, count, everything
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  rule number to count, everything rule.
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  Number three, As a cook, you should count absolutely
• 12:54
  everything. Everything, if you're working in
• 12:57
  a banqueting department, how many asparagus are on the tray?
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  How many steaks are on the tray? How many are on the rack comedy,
• 13:01
  plates are in the box. Everything gets counted.
• 13:04
  How many lives do we have? How many salads got plated?
• 13:07
  How many pieces of tomato? Do we have everything get
• 13:09
  scouted in a catering kitchen? How many boxes of gloves did you
• 13:12
  bring? How many plate wipes?
• 13:14
  Did you make all of that matters on the line?
• 13:16
  Same thing. If you have a pan of, I'm just
• 13:19
  using Stakes as an example and let's say, Your pan can fit 10
• 13:23
  steaks on the line. You should always know one pan
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  has 10 Stakes just using this. As an example, don't get caught
• 13:28
  up on the number 10. One pan has 10 Stakes, the
• 13:32
  backup that you have in the fridge also has 10 Stakes.
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  So you know, you have a total of 20.
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  So when you sell the first pan and you're out, you know I have
• 13:39
  10 left, right? So that way you can tell your
• 13:41
  Chef for whoever's, on the Passover is running service.
• 13:44
  Chef, I have 10 Stakes left, Because, you know, you have 10,
• 13:47
  everything is always the same. Everything's exactly the same,
• 13:49
  all the time, count everything, you know what you have, you
• 13:52
  know, if you're running low on something exactly, how many
• 13:56
  pieces you had at the beginning of service, right?
• 13:59
  You know that there's backup or, you know, that there is no
• 14:01
  backup when everything is counted, it's the sign of a very
• 14:05
  thoughtful cook. You know, how to, you know, how
• 14:08
  to work, right? It's a sign of someone that
• 14:10
  knows how to work. So, like I said, count
• 14:13
  everything. And for those of you that as
• 14:15
  well, what about this? Yes, count it everything.
• 14:17
  Everything means everything everything's important.
• 14:19
  So, count, everything someone asked me.
• 14:22
  Well, then, should I count the peas in the pan?
• 14:24
  And I said, yes, count the peas. If you're going to ask stupid
• 14:26
  questions like that, then count the piece, right?
• 14:28
  So count everything. Everything means everything.
• 14:30
  Some other things to know your new in the kitchen, you're
• 14:34
  really fast on the line and you pride yourself on.
• 14:37
  I could pump food out. I could cook this, I could cook
• 14:40
  this chicken faster. I could make this this this veg,
• 14:43
  entree, whatever. And then it goes with something
• 14:47
  else. Right?
• 14:48
  So there's there's usually multiple components on the plate
• 14:50
  and not everyone in many places. Does everything for the plate.
• 14:55
  So maybe you're cooking the, the protein but someone else is
• 14:57
  cooking, the vegetables in the starches and the sauce is right
• 15:00
  and then they all meet up and then they play together.
• 15:03
  Also, sometimes you're cooking. It's like your partner is
• 15:06
  selling a fish and you're selling a stake and they both
• 15:09
  need to come at the same time because they're going to the
• 15:11
  same table, a good cook times his food with everyone.
• 15:15
  Else on the team. They don't put it up too early
• 15:17
  and they don't put it up too early because, you know,
• 15:20
  they're, they're trying to make a point and improve how fast
• 15:23
  they are, which a lot of cooks do that, you know, they just
• 15:25
  want to be jerks. I'll tell you a story.
• 15:27
  This is side tangent. When I was a young line cook, I
• 15:30
  worked the sauté station in this Italian restaurant and I was
• 15:33
  super young. Everyone that worked in that
• 15:35
  restaurant was at least 10 to 15 years older than me.
• 15:39
  Some, even older than that. I mean, there were there were
• 15:41
  grown ass man and I was just a young, I was just a young pup.
• 15:46
  And I thought I was like a good line cook.
• 15:49
  At the time, I was like, I'm a good line cook.
• 15:51
  I know what to do. I'm a hustler, like, I could
• 15:53
  handle x amount of tickets on my own, and I remember, I was
• 15:56
  working the sauté station and the guy that was next to me.
• 15:59
  He was on the pasta station. Well, anyway, no orders of pasta
• 16:02
  came in. It was just all sought a and I
• 16:05
  probably have the sake of conversation, had 30 orders, and
• 16:08
  I had pans everywhere, and I had like Octopus arms and I'm doing
• 16:11
  everything. And the guy looks at me.
• 16:14
  And I remember, Him just sitting there with his arms crossed
• 16:17
  watching me and I'm thinking this motherfucker, I'm not going
• 16:21
  to ask you for help. Like I refuse, I refuse to ask
• 16:25
  you for help and in retrospect the right thing to do for the
• 16:27
  success of the restaurant is ask for help but it, you know, and
• 16:29
  that this particular case I was like I'm not asking them for
• 16:32
  help. I want to prove to you that I
• 16:34
  could knock out all these orders right and he was just watching
• 16:36
  me. I'm cooking.
• 16:37
  Cooking cooking. Anyway, the rush is done and he
• 16:40
  says, you didn't ask me for help?
• 16:42
  I said, no, I didn't. I didn't need your help.
• 16:44
  He's like, I just want to So if you could cook, that's all I
• 16:46
  just want to know if you got it or not because I need to know
• 16:48
  who's with me on the team. I was like, really you could
• 16:51
  have, you could have jumped into any moment because you had no
• 16:54
  orders, but you just wanted to see if I had what it takes to be
• 16:57
  a line cook next to this guy because, you know, he was 15,
• 17:00
  20-year vet. Anyway, We digress, let's talk
• 17:04
  about recipes where you work, assuming that there's recipes
• 17:08
  because a lot of places like just make this, you know, how to
• 17:10
  make this, you have to make it. But let's assume where you work
• 17:12
  for the sake of context, there's recipes where you work,
• 17:15
  depending on, if you're working in cups and spoons, and all
• 17:18
  that, which by the way, I don't work in cups and spoons.
• 17:21
  I work in in weight measure, so, G and kilos.
• 17:26
  It's much more efficient. By the way, if you're listening,
• 17:28
  if you haven't switched over to that, you should just buy some
• 17:31
  Little scales way, everything. Your recipes are accurate
• 17:33
  faster. Chefsteps has a really good
• 17:36
  video. Chefsteps.com as a really good
• 17:38
  video demonstrating, how much more efficient it is to use a
• 17:44
  digital scale, and make your recipes according to weight
• 17:48
  versus spoons, cups fluid ounces at cetera.
• 17:51
  So if you get a chance, go to chefsteps.com.
• 17:54
  And look at that video. It's pretty cool.
• 17:57
  Anyway, recipes, don't change recipes as a chef if you're the,
• 18:00
  if you're the head, chef and you're walking around, And you
• 18:02
  see something. If it's your recipe and you've
• 18:04
  had it with you for years and you've made it hundreds of times
• 18:07
  and you go to someone's, like, did you change the recipe?
• 18:09
  Like no, I followed the recipe and it's like, no, you did it.
• 18:12
  It's wrong. And they're like, how do you
• 18:13
  know it's wrong? Is like, because it's my recipe.
• 18:15
  I've made it a thousand times, follow the recipe and never
• 18:18
  ever, ever. It's like a cardinal sin.
• 18:20
  Do not change recipes. Do not change a recipe.
• 18:22
  That's not yours. Always ask if you have a better
• 18:25
  way to do it and this is an argument that I get an online
• 18:28
  often because I'll say, you know, never change your chefs
• 18:30
  recipes. And people will be like, well,
• 18:32
  you know, I work in kitchens, where we collaborate.
• 18:34
  It's like, that's not what I'm saying.
• 18:36
  That's a different that's a different issue.
• 18:37
  What I'm saying is you're there, you're not talking to anybody.
• 18:42
  You just take it upon yourself to change the recipe, that's an
• 18:46
  issue. You should not do that because
• 18:48
  the guests are coming back for a specific dishes.
• 18:50
  Maybe that recipe is in place due to cost or a variety of
• 18:55
  reasons. You don't know what the reason
• 18:56
  is. Maybe the chef just likes it.
• 18:57
  Maybe he's like you know what? I hate bell pepper.
• 18:58
  So this is the way we're making it no bell peppers in it.
• 19:01
  The case may be, it's not your place to change the recipe, if
• 19:05
  you have a better way, which you make, and you may have a better
• 19:07
  recipe, that's okay. Take it to your shop or take it
• 19:10
  to the person that's in charge that designed the recipe and has
• 19:14
  the authority to change it, but as a new cook, it's it's a
• 19:18
  frustrating thing. When you find out, someone has
• 19:20
  changed your recipes because they think that, they know
• 19:22
  better. And they might not understand
• 19:24
  the full story as to why the recipe is that way.
• 19:27
  Maybe it's made a certain way because there's no allergens in
• 19:29
  it. Because, whatever reason,
• 19:31
  anyway, Do not change recipes. It's a huge thing and it seems
• 19:35
  to be a huge thing with young Cooks.
• 19:37
  Now, again, I'm not saying that you shouldn't give feedback or
• 19:40
  offer your opinion or collaborate.
• 19:42
  That's not what I'm saying. I'm talking about in the
• 19:44
  situation. As I discussed earlier.
• 19:47
  Anyway, I'm ranting back to the subject at hand.
• 19:51
  There's things that the chef will do off-site.
• 19:55
  They're going to do the Local Food and Wine Festival.
• 19:59
  They're going to go to an off-site catering, they're going
• 20:00
  to cook at someone's house. Whatever the case may be.
• 20:04
  Sometimes you get to go with the chef, take that opportunity.
• 20:08
  Go with them. Go with the chef cook with them,
• 20:12
  be their helper, learn something, spend some quality
• 20:15
  time bonding pick their brain have questions, get to know
• 20:18
  them, find out that they're normal people and they're not
• 20:21
  the cause of all the problems in the world.
• 20:23
  There chefs are just normal people.
• 20:25
  At the end of the day, they were Cooks, just like everyone else.
• 20:27
  But going to the off-site event is good for a variety of
• 20:30
  reasons, and you might not know this.
• 20:31
  If you got invited, they like you Right?
• 20:34
  They think you're responsible enough to go with them.
• 20:36
  So getting invited as a privilege, right?
• 20:39
  You get that one-on-one time, you get the FaceTime and you're
• 20:42
  the person that they think is someone that they want to spend
• 20:45
  x amount of hours with talking right because it might just be
• 20:48
  you and them and in a car ride and on the way back and, you
• 20:52
  know, serving dishes or whatever.
• 20:53
  So, getting invited as a good thing, it's good for your
• 20:55
  career. The person that says, yes is
• 20:58
  usually the person that in the future gets promoted by the
• 21:01
  chef, right there looked upon as like I like working with so it's
• 21:05
  in your benefit to go to these things.
• 21:07
  However, the price that you pay is that you got to clean up and
• 21:12
  you're going to be pissed during be like, why do I have to clean
• 21:15
  all this mess up? Why did you know the chef's over
• 21:17
  there, you know, mangly and talking, you know, having a
• 21:20
  cocktail whatever they're doing and you're like why do I have to
• 21:23
  clean all this up? And I got left here and it's
• 21:24
  just me and the other helper whatever.
• 21:25
  And I'm with the culinary student, what the price you pay
• 21:28
  is you clean up? It just is you got to go on this
• 21:32
  adventure. Don't say no because You don't
• 21:34
  want to clean her up, it's just part of it.
• 21:36
  Like to take the opportunity go with, go with your Chef learn.
• 21:40
  Something spend some quality time whenever these off-site
• 21:43
  events pop up, go to them, have a good time.
• 21:46
  Mingle meet other meet other chefs, and, and cooks that are
• 21:51
  there. You'll have fun.
• 21:53
  You'll be outside, you'll be listening to music.
• 21:55
  You might, you might have been, you know, sneak a drink when no
• 21:58
  one's looking or whatever may be your chefs, like your?
• 21:59
  Here's a beer. Have a drink.
• 22:00
  I don't know. Hopefully, you're over drinking
• 22:03
  age limit. No, we let go to the event, we
• 22:06
  talked about Halloween ninjas. That's a term that I use, here's
• 22:10
  something else. This is a term that I use its
• 22:13
  called kitchen karate and kitchen karate.
• 22:17
  By the way is it's like a, it's a certain level of finesse.
• 22:23
  It's like a martial art, it's not a technique.
• 22:26
  Kitchen karate is like the mindset, the black belt
• 22:28
  mindsets, like the discipline, the the showing up doing things
• 22:33
  the right way. Even when the right way is
• 22:35
  harder, right? It's, it's folding your towels,
• 22:38
  it's cutting the tape straight, it's taking off the tape before
• 22:41
  you send something back to the dish station.
• 22:44
  It's stacking your pans neatly for the stewarding team so that
• 22:47
  they don't got to deal with the jumbled mess of just pans.
• 22:49
  Thrown it everywhere. It's kitchen.
• 22:52
  Karate is like Closing the oven. So subtly that no one sees it
• 22:57
  and moving the pan right before it burns.
• 22:59
  And just it's that dance that people talk about.
• 23:02
  It's the smoothness in which you work, you cut through something
• 23:06
  and there's no serrations. It's just smooth, right?
• 23:10
  It's like butter, it's kitchen karate and you see it in
• 23:13
  high-level chefs when you watch them work, they just like, how
• 23:16
  do they do that? Like they're just so refined in
• 23:19
  their movements it's you know finesse right.
• 23:21
  That's what you need to get good at Someone in your kitchen.
• 23:24
  I guarantee you. If you work in a kitchen with
• 23:27
  enough with enough people, someone in there's like a
• 23:30
  kitchen karate, black belt right there, bad motherfucker, right?
• 23:34
  They move. They move like no one else moves
• 23:36
  they depend on where you work. Are they the are they the
• 23:40
  kitchen karate black belt that like can saute all these things?
• 23:43
  And, you know, flip State pans of eggs with two hands and when
• 23:48
  no one's looking to kick the door with her back leg, I'm not
• 23:51
  condoning that. But, you know, sometimes that's
• 23:52
  your kitchen karate black. Either is, or is he the chef de
• 23:55
  cuisine of the Michelin three-star, restaurant that has
• 23:58
  the palette knife. That's like putting the foie,
• 24:00
  gras and smoothly and, you know, the Seer is just perfect and
• 24:04
  makes no mistakes. That's kitchen karate, right?
• 24:07
  It's how fluid you move in the kitchen.
• 24:09
  So as a line cook, that's the goal.
• 24:13
  Like, you want to be so smooth and efficient with your moves
• 24:17
  that they look effortless, right?
• 24:18
  And that takes time. It's, it's when you set your
• 24:20
  station and everything's always in the same place at the same
• 24:23
  time. It's snowing with muscle memory,
• 24:26
  you turn around, and it's going to be there, right?
• 24:28
  You're going to go grab for this ingredient and boom, it's there.
• 24:31
  That's kitchen karate. So, anyway, don't be Halloween
• 24:35
  ninjas, be kitchen, karate, black belts, long story short.
• 24:39
  That's going to wrap it up for today.
• 24:41
  If you want to support the show, follow chefs, PSA on all social
• 24:45
  platforms. Give us five stars on whatever
• 24:48
  you're listening. So if you listen on Spotify five
• 24:50
  stars and Spotify for listen on Spotify, there's a link to
• 24:52
  support the show in the show notes.
• 24:54
  Notes. We appreciate it.
• 24:55
  Go get some merch. Go.
• 24:57
  Get the chef's. PSA book.
• 24:58
  Culinary leadership fundamentals, how not to be the
• 25:01
  biggest in the kitchen or The Chef's Kitchen Journal.
• 25:06
  It's a blank book. There's no recipes in there.
• 25:07
  Go get it by a truffle butter t-shirt.
• 25:10
  Anyway, see y'all next week at the point of music.
• 24:54
  Notes. We appreciate it.
• 24:55
  Go get some merch. Go.
• 24:57
  Get the chef's. PSA book.
• 24:58
  Culinary leadership fundamentals, how not to be the
• 25:01
  biggest in the kitchen or The Chef's Kitchen Journal.
• 25:06
  It's a blank book. There's no recipes in there.
• 25:07
  Go get it by a truffle butter t-shirt.
• 25:10
  Anyway, see y'all next week at the point of music.