Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / Kitchen Street Cred Ep. 71

Transcript

Kitchen Street Cred Ep. 71 · Chef's PSA Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello chefs, This is Chefs PSA Podcast.
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  I'm your host Andrea Natera. On today's episode, we're gonna
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  talk about social currency in the kitchen.
• 0:07
  Stay tuned. This episode of Chef's PSA is
• 0:21
  sponsored by J&R Grills and Smokers.
• 0:23
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  them for over 5 years at one of the top restaurants in Austin.
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  They're beautiful. They gave me the control over
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  technique and the smoke infused flavors I wanted.
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  over 50 countries. J&R, they'll stand with you.
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  They've always stood with me. Go to jrmanufacturing.com to
• 0:54
  learn more. So before we get started, just a
• 0:56
  quick update, Last week I did the Q&A that I do on my
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  Instagram every Sunday, cigar Sunday Q&A, shout out to Escobar
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  cigars. And this week, well, this past
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  week I should say I had to type the answers because I couldn't
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  smoke my cigar because it was very cold outside.
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  So I I'm starting to have to rethink this a little bit as we
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  go into winter and it starts to get cold, but there's going to
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  be a lot of weather anomalies that don't make it ideal cigar
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  weather. So sometimes when it's too cold,
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  it might be just Q&A Sunday with no cigar.
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  Anyway, you know, early on I used to do the Q&A directly to
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  the podcast. There's, I want to say there's
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  four total episodes. Like I answer your most pondered
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  questions, part one and two, and then I think there was a fall
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  episode where I answer your questions as well.
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  Anyway, you can go back and listen to those.
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  The good thing about those Q&A S when I do them on the podcast is
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  I can answer them in a longer format where when I do them on
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  Instagram, it's very short. I think Instagram gives you like
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  30 seconds to a minute to answer them and sometimes they're deep
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  questions. I could some of them I could do
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  a whole podcast on, but the clock is ticking and I got to
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  get my most witty answer out while smoking a cigar, looking
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  at the clock and drinking that old fashioned.
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  So sometimes my answers are a bit brief and also some of the
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  questions are a bit vague. Anyway, if you want me to go
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  back to doing a long format Q&A session on the podcast, let me
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  know. I do get a lot of questions
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  regarding having guests on the podcast and honestly right now
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  that's not something that I intend on doing.
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  You listen to this podcast since episode one to now episode 71.
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  You'll note that I've had exactly 0 guests on the podcast
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  and if I ever do venture out to a guest centric podcast, I'd
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  love to do chef smoking cigars talking crap podcast.
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  But I need a cigar lounge for that.
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  So if someone wants to invest in getting me a cigar lounge, we
• 2:48
  could do chef smoking cigars podcast.
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  Anyway, if you want to support the show, go to chefspsa.com, go
• 2:53
  get the books Culinary Leadership Fundamentals, which
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  honestly is probably the most important book for all chefs.
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  Then Kitchen Art of War is, you know, advanced strategy for
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  chefs. Bad sue good chef is for the new
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  sous chefs. And you know, maybe sometimes
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  when you have all these questions that are going through
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  your mind and you don't know who to ask, that's the book that you
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  want. I based that off a lot of the
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  Q&A questions that I get and also questions that I would have
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  when I was a sous chef or that my sous chefs used to ask me.
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  Line cook survival manual, which I think is the book that line
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  cooks and new cooks need, as well as how not to be the
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  biggest idiot in the kitchen, which not everyone needs that
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  It's more of a joke book. There's some practical advice in
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  there too, but it's a lot of jokes.
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  Now the topic at hand, Social currency in the kitchen. 1st, we
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  should probably explain what social currency is.
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  Social currency is like money. Money is currency.
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  Social currency is your value that you bring to social
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  settings, The kitchen being the social setting that we're
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  discussing right now. Someone asked me the other day
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  if I could explain what it's like for new cooks to navigate
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  in the kitchen now. There's a lot that they don't
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  tell you on culinary school, and there's a lot that you figure
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  out once you get into the kitchen.
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  And I think the transition for some people can be shocking,
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  especially if you're coming right out of high school and
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  going into culinary school, or if you're skipping culinary
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  school and going straight from high school into a restaurant
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  job. And what you quickly find out is
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  no matter what your social status was in high school or if
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  you're a career changer in the previous job, it is completely
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  null and void when you step into a kitchen.
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  Now, I don't want people to misconstrue what I'm saying.
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  I think there should be a baseline of respect in all
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  kitchens. Everyone should be treated with
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  dignity and respect. I think kindness goes a long
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  way. I think chefs need to do a
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  better job at respecting people up and down the hierarchy and
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  not not. And when I say chefs, I'm, you
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  know, I'm, I'm painting a picture that all chefs don't do
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  that, but a lot of chefs do. I'm just saying in general, the
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  stigma that the industry has is that chefs are egotistical and
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  tyrannical. That's not the case with
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  everything. As I've said before, there's
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  good people and there's bad people, and some of those good
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  people and bad people happen to become chefs.
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  It doesn't mean that chefs attract bad people.
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  It's just there's just kind of a mix of people out there in the
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  world. So I want to establish that
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  first and foremost there should be a a baseline of respect
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  throughout all kitchens. But when we're talking about
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  social currency and you're new to the industry, you might
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  quickly discover that the social currency that you had in your
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  previous industry, school, college, whatever the case may
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  be, is null and void when you step into the kitchen.
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  And why is that? Because the only thing that
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  really matters when you're in the kitchen is can you cook and
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  how do you work the line? And are you responsible and do
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  you show up when I need you? Do you help out the team?
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  Do you clean? Do you work efficiently?
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  Do you cause me problems? Social currency in the kitchen
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  is how you work with others. The better you are in the
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  kitchen, the more social currency you have.
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  This is what gets people promoted.
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  When you're building a team, Someone that has a high social
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  currency meaning their high culinary ability, their ability
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  to work, that's someone that you call when you're a chef and
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  you're looking for someone if you know them, if you work with
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  them in the past. But a lot of new cooks sometimes
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  have a hard time adjusting to that, because in high school or
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  college or whatever the case may be, maybe you're coming from a
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  different industry. The social currency might be the
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  kind of car you drive, what neighborhood you came from, what
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  city you're from, how much money your parents have, who your
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  boyfriend is, who your girlfriend is, who your
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  significant other is, who your circle of friends are.
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  None of that matters in the kitchen because none of that can
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  help you when the line is busy. When the line is busy, it
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  doesn't matter what kind of car you drive and the person who's
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  in need of your help and needs you to perform could care less
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  what kind of car you drive. When the shit hits the fan, you
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  have to think about that like you're weeded, 1000 tickets, the
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  person next to you is going down and then you're like, boy, I
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  wish you had a better car and maybe we wouldn't be weeded.
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  No one, no one says that social currency is ability.
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  Now I'm recording this on Halloween 2023 and I have a
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  slang word that I use and I call it a Halloween ninja.
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  These are things that I throw around in the kitchen.
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  It's in the culinary dictionary by the way.
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  You can get at chefs psa.com. It is free, but the term
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  Halloween ninja means this. A Halloween ninja is someone in
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  the kitchen who looks the part but is just plain dress up much
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  like a little kid on Halloween. They dress up like a ninja.
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  They got the uniform. They got the plastic sword.
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  They got the fake throwing stars.
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  But they're a little kid. They're not real ninjas.
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  And it's a plastic sword and there's no threat.
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  Well, the same thing happens in kitchens.
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  We have Halloween ninjas, the type that look the part.
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  They get the most expensive apron, most expensive knives
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  that they don't know how to use. They could talk the talk, but
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  they cannot walk the walk. And the walk is much more
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  important than the talk in the kitchen.
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  Doesn't matter how many culinary terms you know.
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  Get the culinary dictionary. What matters more is can you
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  execute on those terms? I could care less if you have a
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  large vocabulary. If you can't make any of it, I'd
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  prefer the person that has zero culinary vocabulary but can
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  execute everything in the dictionary.
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  So it matters not what you look like what you're wearing, it
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  matters how you perform. Now, I'll be the first one to
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  say I'm a sucker for a nice apron.
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  I like the bragard blue aprons. I like fancy, expensive Japanese
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  knives. But I wouldn't advise someone
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  who's new in the industry to come in to a new kitchen and
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  think that just because you have expensive knives and fancy
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  aprons that that is going to give you social currency.
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  It's not what's going to give you that social credit is your
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  ability to perform on the line. How fast you work, how precise
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  are your knife cuts? Do you know how to braise
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  properly? Can you make stocks and sauces?
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  Do you show up on time? That's your social currency.
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  And in a lot of kitchens, there's always that one person
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  that is higher level than everyone else.
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  You know, they're they're just, they're just more swan.
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  Yeah. They have more finesse on what
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  they're doing. And everyone always looks up to
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  that person. And they want to be like them.
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  Like, I call that kitchen karate.
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  You know, the way that they move in the kitchen with precision
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  and they turn around and they have a pallet knife that just
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  puts the foie grat or shot on the plate, or they base the
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  scallops just perfectly. They don't tremble.
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  Their movements all seem calculated.
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  They're going to put a pan down and it goes directly on the
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  trivet without having to think. They don't even, they don't even
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  have to look. They just know where it goes.
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  I call that kitchen karate. Some people call it the dance,
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  but it's like you want your black belt in kitchen, karate.
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  To be precise, having a black belt in kitchen karate is high
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  level social currency. So now let's talk if you have
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  zero skills, let's say you are new to the kitchen, you're just
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  out of culinary school or it's your first job and everyone in
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  the kitchen is good and there are levels above you.
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  As I like to say, they speak three languages and you barely
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  speak one. What can you do to build that
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  social currency in the kitchen? Well, if you're lacking in the
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  culinary skills, there's other things that you could do that
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  would help you stand out in a positive way.
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  The first thing is to be respectful in the kitchen.
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  Be respectful to everybody. Let's start there.
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  Then I would say work at the same pace as everyone else in
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  the kitchen. There's a certain cadence that
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  every kitchen has. If everyone's hustling, you
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  hustle. If everyone's moving to a
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  certain beat, you move to that same beat.
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  It doesn't mean that you have to know the recipes, but you just
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  got to pay attention, use your eyes, and see how quickly people
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  are moving. You might not know the recipes,
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  but you can have sense of urgency in your movements.
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  The next thing I will say is work.
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  Clean cleanliness is appreciated in every single kitchen that I
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  know. There's not a chef out there
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  that I know that doesn't like clean cooks.
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  Everyone likes clean cook. No one ever is going to tell
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  you, hey, you need to work dirtier.
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  It's the exact opposite. Then it's being responsible.
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  That means showing up on time, being where you're supposed to
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  be when you're supposed to be there.
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  Responsible also means having a notebook and taking good notes
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  when you're given directions. If they're giving you a recipe,
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  write it down. The worst pen is better than the
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  best. Memory is the expression, and
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  it's just an expression. I don't want someone freaking
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  out and saying the worst pen doesn't work.
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  It's broken, OK, it's it's an expression.
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  Anyway, we digress. For the person that was going to
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  call me out on that expression, there you go.
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  You're right. But the lesson is write it down.
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  No chef likes to give you directions and then you come
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  back every 5 minutes and say what's next?
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  Chef, I forgot. Write it down.
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  It's one of the most important tools that you could have is a
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  pen and a notebook. The other thing is ask
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  questions, but know when to be quiet.
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  And this is a balancing act. You don't want to be the cook
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  that has 1000 questions at the wrong time, meaning there's a
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  rail of tickets. Everyone's head down, go, go go.
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  And you're trying to find out what's the recipe for this.
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  Can you tell me how to do that? And you want to have a
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  conversation with these cooks. It's like social awareness.
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  You see everyone's head down, quiet.
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  You also be quiet, put your head down and start working.
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  But when the time is right, ask questions and write down the
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  answers and try to avoid asking the same questions twice unless
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  you need someone to expand on it.
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  And the reason I bring that up is because when you ask the same
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  question over and over again, people will get tired of telling
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  you because they think you're not paying attention.
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  The next is don't be afraid of the hard work.
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  The hard work is going to come in every kitchen that you go to.
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  There, there's hard work in terms of you're on your feet all
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  day, it's stressful. Or there's also hard work in
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  terms of someone has to clean the cooler or the freezer or
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  someone has to work the grill station.
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  If you're new in the kitchen, you might not be prepared to
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  work the harder stations, but you are prepared to organize a
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  cooler. And again, if you're trying to
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  get social currency and social credit in the kitchen, the
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  person who cleans the cooler is beloved in everyone's eyes.
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  And then the last thing I'll say is, and only if you're working
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  in the type of place that serves a family meal, be the person
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  that brings the cooks and the team water that goes a long way.
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  I think that's very underrated. Everyone's hot, they just got
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  slammed. They're thirsty, they're on
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  their feet all day. It's a kitchen and here you come
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  with waters for all the cooks. That goes a long way.
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  Social credit, right? Some people call it the
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  emotional bank account. You're depositing money in, the
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  emotional bank account with others, and then of course,
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  family meal cook for people. I think what's interesting about
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  family meal in a lot of places is it doesn't necessarily have
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  to be like super high end food. A lot of times, family meal is
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  they just want something comforting.
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  And depending on where you're from, you might want to make
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  something from your home, something that you grew up
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  eating, something from your town, a regional dish.
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  This goes a long way 'cause you know what it is, It's
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  nourishing, it's comforting, and people could taste when food is
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  cooked with love, as they say. So if you don't have the
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  culinary skills, those are some things that you could do to
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  start to get the social credit in your kitchen.
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  But with all that being said, the fastest way to get social
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  credit in the kitchen is to be good.
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  Be fucking good on the line, be good with a knife.
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  The person who knows how to cook walks on water a lot of times,
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  assuming that they're not a big jerk now in the chef community.
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  This is something else that I think people think about it.
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  I've touched on this. A lot of people talk about the
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  operation, and in the operation, the social credit might not be
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  where you're at the way that you cook because maybe you work in a
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  place that's very management driven, maybe where you're at.
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  It's all about the paperwork and making sure the food cost is in
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  line and turning an inventory and answering emails and showing
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  up to meetings. And so where you're at, the
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  social currency with other departments and other people
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  that work with you is managerial and administrative.
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  It's important that you recognize that.
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  But it's also important to recognize that in the culinary
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  community, you can't be standing around a group of chefs and
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  think that you're going to be invited to the food and the
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  winemaker dinners and the private Chef Illuminati meetings
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  because you run a good food cost and you answer your emails.
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  That's where your social currency comes in as you need to
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  be a good cook because outside of your four walls, they might
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  not give a shit what your food cost is.
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  As I often say, no one remembers the person who answered all
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  their emails and ran a great food cost.
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  Reputation is made with the food that you create, the people that
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  you help mentor, how you impact how people eat, and how you
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  impact food systems in your community.
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  That's where the legacy is. So anyway, start developing your
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  social currency in your own kitchen and you'll see how many
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  more doors open for you. For the person that's
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  questioning why they haven't been promoted or why you keep
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  getting passed over. Ask yourself that question.
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  Are you doing those things that we talked about and still
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  getting passed over? Now?
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  If you are, then you probably need to leave, but chances are
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  you're not doing everything that you can do to get promoted.
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  So anyway, if you want to support the show, you know what
• 15:01
  to do. Go to chefspsa.com.
• 15:03
  You can get all the books Culinary Leadership,
• 15:05
  Fundamentals, Bad Sue, Good Chef Kitchen, Art of War, Line Cook
• 15:09
  Survival Manual, How Not To Be The Biggest Idiot in the
• 15:11
  Kitchen, as well as The Free Ebooks, Food Cost Mastery,
• 15:14
  Critical Path to Opening Up A Restaurant, Culinary Terms
• 15:17
  Dictionary, 100 Basic Recipes You Got Merch, Happy Cook Hat,
• 15:22
  Sucker Free Kitchens, Hoodie. We'll see you next week.
• 15:24
  Hit the Porno Music.