le cochon de chef

truffles! like drugs only legal!

2012-01-10T07:34:00.000-10:00

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

2011-10-26T06:39:00.001-10:00

I posted a trailer about this a few months ago, but I hadn't been able to see it in Austin until last night. The Austin Film Festival is going on over the last weekend and JDoS was shown as a regional premier. It will be released in theaters on March 19th, 2012...assuming the world doesn't end...again.

Needless to say, It was one of the most beautiful and most inspiring food movies of any sort that I have seen.

Jiro is an 80 year old sushi chef in japan with three Michelin stars, who was kicked out/left home at 9 years old and has been making sushi since he was 15. He is the epitome of master craftsman and in the movie he talks a lot about being and becoming shokunin and the shokunin kishitsu. He also has at least two children one of who is 50 and works for him at his restaurant and the other is a little younger and has opened up a second location.

They filmed at both restaurants with some interviews of various people and also film a tuna auction at Tsukiji fish market and talk with various fish suppliers and purveyors.

Fascinating film with a beautiful score and beautiful HD filmography. Also to look forward to, extra bonus footage on the blueray when it hits dvd.

If it comes around you...make a journey.

a family tree

2011-10-13T07:20:00.000-10:00

so way back in the past I was interested in doing a family tree for Le Pyramide...

so here is one done for Le Cirque...illuminating...over on EaterNY

Le Cirque at 36: A Chef and Restaurateur Family Tree

how hipster

2011-09-29T06:45:00.002-10:00

our technique

2011-09-20T13:25:00.002-10:00

I have been searching for this for a few months, unsuccessfully, but now I have finally found it again after digging through Michael Laiskonis's blog.

I wanted to provide the young-chefs-to-be a list of the common techniques applied to foods. But I was having a hard time coming up with the list. Mr Laiskonis had a beautiful list he had prepared in the past...going back to 2008. So...if you look back at the post...

psshhh..Its time to start writing again..

... you'll see that I was trying to come up with the food from idea to plate.

Here is the link to his list... Download Index of Methods and Preparations.pdf

So right now, I am teaching introduction to foodservice which includes basic mise en place, knife skills, and introduction to cooking techniques.

We start with the basics...what happens to food when heat is applied.

WATER-EVAPORATES

SUGAR-CARAMELIZES

PROTEIN-COAGULATES

FAT-MELTS

STARCHES-GELATINIZE

And that's really it. So in order to make those things happen, we have thirteen specific cooking techniques. Some dry, some moist, and some combination (according to our textbook, that is).

These are:

DRY

saute

pan fry

deep fry

bake

roast

broil

grill

MOIST

poach

simmer

boil

steam

COMBINATION

braise

stew

In order, to determine which of the cooking methods is appropriate(when applied to meats), we need to take a look at the muscle fibers, fast and slow twitch.

To be continued....

Nick Kokonas=awesome

2011-08-17T11:28:00.000-10:00

This is taken from an eater interview...

Nick Kokonas on Informality, Exclusivity, and the Critics

I found it awesome as it relates to hospiatality...and yet it puts the diner in their place...

"And he also responded to someone who didn't enjoy the Thai menu on Twitter, offering to refund their meal.
That's good customer service, but at the same time, I get emails — oddly, from lots of doctors — saying that our system is patently unfair and that they just want to pick up a phone and call. That would be just as hard, but setting aside the logic, they're basically saying what one of them directly expressed to me in an email: "You must accommodate people like me." I wrote him back, highlighted that line, and just said, "No, I mustn't."
There are a lot of people that come into our restaurants and have a really good time and think it's a good value. If you're not, why would you want to subject yourself to it? We had a table during the Paris menu that came in and said, "We ordered the wine pairing but I only drink red wine. I'm allergic to white." And there was a whole string of requests after that. Our manager came to me at one point and said, "Nick, I'm really trying to make this work, but they're not having fun and they're starting to bum out the tables around them. Is there anything you can do?"
What did you do?
I walked over and said, "Will's really trying to make this work for you, but it doesn't seem to be your type of place. What I'd like to do is end the meal right now, refund your money, and make you a reservation at any other place in this city. And I will pay for it just to get you out of here." They were jaw-dropped. The table next to them basically spit their food out laughing. And they said they wanted to stay, which is amazing. They looked miserable — one of the things they said was that they didn't like French food, and this was the Paris menu. The woman also complained about the chicken, saying it was undercooked. There were several things on that menu that could have had some variations, but that chicken was cooked sous-vide. There was no way. And I told her. She insisted, and so did I. The customer isn't always right."

lets flash back...

2011-08-14T02:34:00.000-10:00

shokunin kishitsu

2011-08-13T12:56:00.000-10:00

here it is. We talk about school and about hiring skilled cooks, and about looking for passion and drive and work ethic...

the japanese have it summed up

shokunin kishitsu

the craftsman spirit

“The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning. The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people. This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.” – Tasio Odate

cant wait

2011-08-09T09:30:00.001-10:00

Jiro Dreams of Sushi - Teaser from David Gelb on Vimeo.

its simple

2011-08-09T09:29:00.003-10:00

for cheezle...

2011-08-08T13:38:00.001-10:00

Austinite is Official Cheesemonger of American Cheese Society conference

did it ever go away?

2011-08-08T11:16:00.000-10:00

Bring on the meat jello, cause aspic is back

I mean really, how do these people ever say "something is back!' We have been doing the same food basically for decades. Sure we use local, farm raised, natural, blahdiblah, but we have been using the same techniques(with the exception of molecular gastronomists) for centuries.

I heart aspic...jelled consomme! Bring it on...

culinary school

2011-08-04T16:13:00.003-10:00

Should you or should you not go to culinary school...this has been a hot topic...not just recently but for years. But all of a sudden it has blown up...

Shuna has always had some good post about her opinion on culinary school, definitely check it out on eggbeater. But it seems like I have never written about this topic in depth. Although I have had this discussion many times with young cooks. This is not a be all end all by any means, it is my opinion...but seeing as I have a kind of unique perspective, well then...here goes.

I am a culinary school instructor. I graduated from a culinary school. I also graduated from a four year university with a bachelors in hospitality management before going to culinary school. I began by working my way through the ranks before I had graduated the university. I was apprenticed to a CEC while in college. I have taught at two different schools. I have, in the restaurant, trained cooks who had hardly ever been on the line to be bad ass line cooks. So...let me begin.

The only way that culinary school will be a benefit to you is if you put in the work and the effort and the passion! And it helps if you have some sort of experience in a kitchen somewhere before you go so you have some clue as to what you need to get out of it.

I do not advocate students going to culinary school straight out of high school or changing careers into our industry without first having worked in a professional kitchen at some point. Even if it is fast food. For all of us chefs bashing on Mcdonalds and Wendys...these places are successful because they have systems in place; systems to produce a consistent product, systems to work quickly, systems to clean well, systems to provide a product in a timely manner, systems that have made money. Without a knowledge of these systems, a cook is at a disadvantage. So is a student.

If you gain some experience, and then go to culinary school, you have the potential to be able to utilize the resources available to you far better than if you had to start from scratch and learn how to clean and what a walk in is. That being said...the Michelangelos among us can probably be successful without working before going to school, but I don't really know many Michelangelos. If any.

If you go work prior to school in a kitchen, what you can get out of culinary school is a very broad base of experiences. You will be exposed to almost every aspect of the culinary field, from food science and sanitation, to business management and butchery. You will get to cook a myriad of dishes, and you will most likely have a variety of instructors who will be able to instill their experiences and their philosophies on your education. You might also have access to a culinary library, minds to pick, and you should most likely be surrounded by students who are as passionate about food and cooking as you are. That passion can carry you into new fields and cuisines, far from what you knew when you entered. It might also carry right out of the kitchen and into other food related fields, such as writing, journalism, photography, research, etc, etc, etc...You will also be subjected to discipline, exams, homework, projects, brigade lineups, pop quizzes, demanding instructors, whining classmates, people who don't know if they belong, or who cannot cook their way out of a bag, and everything else that you would get at any other post secondary school.

However, you will not be an expert at anything when you graduate. You will have been exposed to a broad base of subjects. Upon which you will have the rest of your career to build. And if you plan on becoming successful, I would suggest you make it a point to be a lifelong learner of new things regarding food. You WILL NOT be a chef, you WILL NOT be an executive chef, you WILL NOT be a sous chef, you MIGHT NOT even be a line cook...you MIGHT be a stage, or an intern, or a prep cook. You might be getting paid, you might not. You might be starting as an unpaid intern until you prove yourself. You might be opening your own restaurant with your fat trust fund...who knows...

You will most likely have incurred some debt along the way. Culinary school is expensive. You have to pay for the instructors, you pay for the ability to burn food over and over again until you get it right, you pay for everything else...including the high liability insurance to cover unskilled workers. Then there is all the administrative costs...librarians, financial aid officers, registrars, janitors, books, knives, uniforms, bandaids...well you get the point...it is expensive to run a school. Does that mean it is expensive to attend? Possibly...but you can get grants, and scholarships, and loans...yes those dreaded school loans. We all have them.

So do you need to spend 50, 60, 70, 80 thousand dollars? Do you need to go to Harvard to get an education? NO! You can get a great culinary education at many community colleges. Does having a degree from the CIA, or J&W, or NECI get you any farther along than if you went to went to Austin Community College, or Schoolcraft College? Not necessarily, especially since a lot of employers have a bad taste in their mouths form graduate from the 'big; schools. Not because the students didn't get a quality education, but because of the attitudes that because they went to one of the big three, they are Escoffier reborn...and don't want to work to prove it. But it is all relative.

What is your budget? Be realistic...you might at most make $10 an hour when you graduate...for a few years(the average long time line cook in Austin gets paid roughly $11.00, w/o benefits)...the culinary schools wont tell you that...because it is their job to enroll you and get your Title 4 funds. They don't care how you pay off your debt, as long as the school gets paid. So be ready to have up to $600 dollars a month of debt start needing to be paid off as soon as you graduate...no grace period. Can you afford that?

So...why should you go to school?

Once again, if you can budget it, and you put the effort in to milk the school for all it is worth, then it can give you a broad base of general skills really fast. It allows you the opportunity to experience more than one chefs training and perspective, more than one cuisines techniques and foods, more than one culture's ideas on eating and cooking. If...and only if...you go in wanting that, needing that, WORKING for that.

So the seedier side of our industry(the culinary education industry that is), is that the schools will tell you almost anything to get you enrolled. They will tell you that you will be a chef right when you get out, they will tell you that you will be making 50k in two years, they will tell you that you will have no problems finding a job, or that they have a 100% placement rate, or that you will have no problems paying off your loans. This, however, is BS.

Students file class-action lawsuit against California Culinary ...

California Culinary Academy Settles Lawsuit With Students for ...

The US government has just passed a slew of new educational reforms this year. Most of them aimed at the 'for profit' educational industry...this is not just culinary schools but a lot of trade schools etc. So, therefore most of these school no longer offer associates degrees like a lot of us culinary graduates have. Schools have begun to either go to a one year certificate program or a four year bachelors program. So either you get less of a program or more for more money. The bright side is that a lot of schools are now more reasonably priced...not cheap but more reasonably priced (for example ours is about 14 months and cost about 24K). Do we still have issues? Absolutely. Are we trying to fix them? Every day.

So ultimately it comes down to you...what do you want...what do you need?

watching a cow die

2011-08-04T12:18:00.000-10:00

A couple of days ago I went with the morning class to watch a slaughter and butcher at a local slaughterhouse/meat company. Nobody from my class went because they can't wake up in the mornings...but anyway.
I have been showing slaughter videos off and on for the last six months...pretty much anytime my class gets complacent, I throw in a slaughter video and talk about respect for the animal and foods. Here is a good one just in case you would like to check it out...CADE (Part 2): The Good Slaughter: A Proud Meat Cutter Shares His Processing Floor on Vimeo.

So it wasn't a real surprise. But, with the exception of a chicken when I was a small child, I have never in person seen an animal killed. It was something I felt like I needed to do. I am not squeamish, and the thought of killing something really doesn't affect me much, but I felt that in order to get a better understanding of the process and in order to better respect the meats that we use, I needed to see the actual killing.

When we arrived, they had a cow hanging with the head off. The head was being inspected by the USDA inspector to check the lymph nodes for disease. After that they removed the tongue and further processed it. The rest of the cow was then skinned by hand, gutted, reinspected, split with a huge hanging band saw, sprayed with surface disinfectant, washed, sprayed again with a salt solution and then rolled into a large cooler. All pretty much as we had been watching on video.

Then they brought in a new cow. The cow came in a door, into what was basically a large metal box. You could see its feet, and then occasionally a very puppy dog looking nose sniff around under the edge, but you couldn't really see more of the cow from where we were. Then the butcher loaded his 'stunner', which is basically a large hammer looking device that uses a 22cal blank to fire a metal rod into the cows head to kill it. He then climbed onto the walk way around the box and tried to get a good angle to kill. The cow, sensing this or just normally cow skittishness, bucked a little and ended up turning around in the box, but then was finally 'stunned' and crashed to the floor. The butchers hoisted the side of the box up and the cow rolled onto the floor. They then wrapped a chain around its ankles to hoist it up to bleed it out. The funny thing about being 'stunned' to death though is that there is still muscle energy in the dead cow. The first time they wrapped the chains around it's ankles, the cow kicked them off and they flew across the room...lucky for us, not into anybody. So the butchers let the cow kick itself out for about 20-30 seconds. Pretty sad. And then they hoisted it up, the butcher made a long incision in its jugular, and the blood drained from the body in about a minute.From here the butcher skinned the head, removed it and gave it the inspector, and then the rest proceed as before.

We were shown the rest of the operation which is one of a handful of operations in the US that slaughters, fabricates, processes sausages, distributes, and has a retail operation all under one roof.

It was all interesting, but also somewhat emotional. Its hard to see an animal killed, particularly if it looks like a large dog. (my lab looks like a small black calf). And so then I had to go home and pet my pooch for a while.

All in all, if you are a chef or cook who has not seen or participated in slaughter and butchery, then you are doing yourself and your products a disservice.

breaking up is hard to do....

2011-08-02T17:36:00.000-10:00

A month ago my class needed intervention, they were going through interpersonal issues, and I as the instructor, and they as the students were butting heads. Since then it has mellowed down, but we still have a very dysfunctional relationship compared to my past classes...due in part to some learning disabilities, some attitudes, some psychosis, and well...its complicated.

During the bad times, I had brought up to my boss how I wanted to move to days when my night tour ended. And lo and behold it is happening sooner than later. I start mids later this month...with a fairly new class...as we are struggling to find instructors. I hadn't told my class, because most of the time lately they have been jerks...and in the past, during interventions, I have asked them if they wanted some other teacher...and they have always said no.

But now it has been taken out of our hands...and they are sad.

I did drop the bomb on them like an asshole...when they were all grumpy today and griping about our difficult meat fabrication test...I told them they would never have to worry about a hard test again...because I was leaving. They got real quiet...and real sad...

I'm sad too...but only a little...I am excited about a new batch of minds...and a chance to get settled newly now that I know what mistakes not to make at this school.

Win Win for me...
maybe not so much for them...

El Bulli

2011-08-02T16:50:00.000-10:00

If you were a long time reader you would know that I bash molecular gastronomy all the time. Maybe its just because I am old skool, or maybe its just that I don't get it. Maybe its because I think it will suck. See....awesome...

But, then again, maybe it is that I have never been exposed to the pure form...the pinnacle of the movement. Last night I finally watched Decoding Ferran Adria with Tony Bourdain. And it clicked...when a master performs, then it can be mind changing. It was a good episode, worth youtubing...and then conveniently it was on HD when I got home. The current episode was also showing last night, maybe you caught it...I will have to hit the DVR later in the week.

It all comes down to his philosophy. Every ingredient is the same...a peach or foie gras. Carrots or bluefin tuna. Its how you treat them, how you respect them, and how you serve them.

I am not going to be using calcium chloride anytime soon, but I respect the man and his mission.

awesome...

2011-07-26T11:16:00.000-10:00

All respect to Ferran Adria cuz he is the master at what he does...but this via eaterNational is awesome and sums up completely how I feel about 'molecular gastronomy'...

"Those foams, spuming grimly at the side of the plate, the pointless cappucino'd soups, the aforementioned rubbery caviars and foul savoury ice creams, they all lead back to you, Ferran. More bad food has been cooked in your name than any other chef. For a man of your passion and meticulousness, that must be pretty depressing. Maybe that is why you are closing the restaurant and opening a school."

elBulli: Inspiration For 'A Thousand Restaurant Disasters'

following up with the whys of our lives

2011-07-25T11:57:00.003-10:00

Chefs Weigh In: How Hard Is it to Find Good Young Cooks?

Eater National: "How Hard Is it to Find Good Young Cooks?" via eggbeater...we are all talking about this right now...here are my comments

grrr...i have been posting about this for a few weeks, as it relates to our school needing qualified instructors. It stinks...but then I turn around and look at the students that I am teaching...and I think...its true that the food network has ruined us...I have one potential good cook...and 7 students who in reality need to work in another profession.
But, I in turn have a responsibility to train them and mentor them and mold them into future culinarians. And who am I to crush their dreams? If I was a boss, then yes, I could say 'you suck and might never amount to being able to cook your way out of a paper bag!', but I am employed by said students to give them a shot at potential.
So where does that put me...part of the problem or part of the solution?
And where does that put the people who complain about not having qualified peeps? Do we develop and deal?

the reality

2011-07-25T11:52:00.000-10:00

So, I was really apprehensive about calling for favors and getting some of my students internships at places I have hook ups and history. Not because I don't think they can hack it...because most of them can't. But because I don't want to burn bridges by sending them someone who will fuck them over.

So...eventually I did. I sent my whole class on two different nights to do a stage and see what a 'real' restaurant is like during a busy service. The restaurant picked up two students to do morning prep...and not even a week into it, one of them no calls no shows...and then lies to the chef about it.

Now admittedly, this is not my best student. He likes to think he is...and he likes to have an attitude like he is. But it would have been a good place for him to get his act in gear and get his ass kicked at the same time...but alas.

And so now I have burned a favor and a friend. Not that he was expecting much from his free labor. But because I got him to take this bozo on. It sucks. And now I get to deal with the student in class.

Yay!

a sign of success

2011-07-25T11:44:00.000-10:00

“One of the biggest compliments we’ve had is seeing a whole table full of chefs and staff from other restaurants enjoying food and drinks. You can’t get a better pat on the back than that.”

Edgerton says the greatest compliment the restaurant has received

via eateraustin and an interview on CultureMap Austin

I have always felt that in terms of success, its not how much money or fame you rack up, but it is how many other chefs think your place is the best place to go get there noms on. If you have tables full of chefs and cooks every night, then you are successful.

Danny Meyer

2011-07-20T18:26:00.000-10:00

"But even as some chefs are dreaming of a McDain's-inspired revolution, Danny Meyer, who is looked to as a kind of guru in the hospitality business, is totally against banning kids. However, he says, it's on the parents to do the right thing: "If a child misbehaves or is a distraction, it's the parents' responsibility to remove them; if they don't, they are the ones with bad manners, not the kids. And if an adult misbehaves or drinks too much or annoys the other diners, it's the manager's job or the owner's job to address it. The issue isn't kids, it's behavior."

This is from a Josh Ozersky article in Time. Talking about the recent ban of children from a restauarant in the north east.

But that is not what this is about. That just seems like common sense...kids, puppies, cats, and idiots do what they want...when they want. Its the people in charge of said personalities that need to step up and discipline.

Danny Meyer on the other hand is a very inspirational speaker. I recently got to listen to him speak at the TRA convention in Dallas. His talk was mainly focused on the air conditioning. As in we all have AC so it is not a big deal that brings people in as it used to be. If we all are doing our jobs, like cooking, and serving, and hosting, and bartending, and cleaning, and etc...you know...doing our daily jobs; then what is it that brings people in? Its how we make them feel.

That is what hospitality is about. If we are doing our jobs, then that is the AC...but in order to get guests and keep guests, then it all comes down to how we make them feel while they are with us.

So how do you feel?

the whys

2011-07-14T12:16:00.001-10:00

Just having a conversation with a coworker regarding new hires for instructors. Our school is growing, but we don't seem to have many qualified skilled applicants.

Why not?

Here is our deal. We are a small school, looking to blow up on the scene. Recently under new ownership and a new name affiliated with one of the most famous french chefs, we are a small boutique, affordable culinary school. I as a staff member, have a 4 day work week, get paid extremely well on an hourly basis, have weekends off, all major holidays off(and paid), work 8 hours a day +/-, have three break weeks throughout the year, have vacation paid, sick days paid, full medical, vision, and I work with a really great bunch of chefs.

So, when I ask other chefs I know, who I respect, 'why don't you come teach', why do I get the WTF look, and the 'why would I want to do that question'?

The applicants we have been getting are definitely not the cream of the crop...its true. There is a stigmata with culinary school instructors, that it is the place to go when you are burned out, or a has been, or lazy. But that is not what we need! We need younger talented chefs who can relate and instill the passion for food into a new round of minds. It is important to be able to handle the stress of teaching, and still be able to talk about food and your passion for cooking every single minute of the day; to understand that no two minds learn the same way and that no student reacts to situations in the kitchen the way that seasoned cooks would.

But it can be fun, and when the light bulb turns on and you see the comprehension in their faces, it is all worth it. Maybe even more than if you watched a diner eat your meal with enlightened joy on their face. You can know that you are forever influencing this person and their cooking; that you will forever be influencing thousands of diners by influencing just one young cook.

So where are you?

work the plan

2011-07-07T16:43:00.000-10:00

I have come to the feeling that students and new cooks have this idea that everything will come out ok. No matter how you go about it. If you have the idea...then however it comes out will be fine.

But that is a load of crap.

Professionals, and this is what sets professional cooks apart from home cooks...who may actually be the better cooks, plan the work...and then work the plan.

If you look at the ideas from the previous post, you will see that yes there is the idea...and ultimately you end up eating said idea, but somewhere in between is the working the plan type stuff. You know...writing your prep list, writing your menu, preparation, production, plating, service. All those things don't just magically happen like creating green bean casserole by opening up a can and a bag and a box.

A professional cook will take the idea, whether it is his or her boss's, and create the plan that executes the dish. And it starts with the mise en place. And then the preperation...and if you had a good plan, then the picture of the outcome is already in your plan.

I have said before that recipes are like road maps. It is important to know where you are going...and you should know that ahead of time; but it is the journey and the way you go that ultimately gets you to that destination. So you could take the scenic route or the interstate...as long as you know that BEFORE YOU START!

That is called planning the work, and then working the plan.

A new cook, or student, or even a home cook will take off on the journey, without looking at the map to see if there are detours, or traffic, or scenic overlooks, or roadblocks. They just try to deal with those as they arise. A good home cook will generally have no problems with this...not having an instructor and a deadline breathing down their neck. But a student and young cook does and this throws all kinds of stress into the drive. And without that plan...they quickly become lost. And drive themselves into the weeds.

I just read a quote and it seems applicable...'If you don't have time to do it right the first time, when are you going to have time to do it over?"

psshhh..Its time to start writing again...

2011-07-05T11:56:00.001-10:00

So, in class we have been discussing plating and presentation. So, I think I have distilled the whole process down to the bare essentials...so here it is:

You start with the idea for the dish.

IDEA

and then you develop that idea by determining preperation.

PREPARATION

-ingredients
why, how, what, when, where?
Using the Flavor Bible by Dornenburg and Page really helps with this...I think it has now become one of the most important culinary books since On Food and Cooking. Definitely is a better resource since the update from Culinary Artistry.
-technique
dry cooking methods
moist cooking methods
combination cooking methods
sous vide
molecular gastronomy
Whatever technique is appropriate for your establishment...its not that we really have that many...cooking is by definition, appying heat to an item to convert it from raw to 'cooked'.
-timing
Can you do it in the time needed...and will you be able to prepare it in the time allowed?
-taste profiles
Salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami...how do these work with or against each other?
-aroma
How will this affect the flavor profiles? Use your wine wheel.
-mise en place
Will it fit in with your other mise en place? What do you need to adjust, and what needs to be done? Cross-utilization?
-color
Will the colors of your idea go well together? Is it all brown? Is it seasonal? Have you been to Home Depot to check the color palettes lately?
-sound
How will your dish sound? Crunchy? Smooth? Smooshy? Gushy? How will this affect your overall sense of taste and flavor?
-design
This includes the categories of shape, texture of the component, and size.
-recipe
Write the standardized recipe. Test it. Adjust it. Finish it.

After determining all of that you will write the menu description.

MENU DESCRIPTION

How you word your menu description will determine how well your dish will sell. It can also determine the size of your portion and it will definitely determine the price.

After that, you have to produce the item.

PRODUCTION

Cook it! Will it be ready in the time allowed? Will the customer wait as long as it takes? Aps in less than 10 minutes, entrees in less than 15? Is the wait appropriate to your establishment? Will the preparation bog down the rest of service? How long will it take?

After you cook it, you have to plate it...

PLATING

-timing
You have to be able to do this fast...hot food hot, cold food cold, luke warm food...etc. You should also follow the general guidelines for plating.
-k.i.s.s. it...
It's cheesy but, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID, is the most basic rule of presentation. Why do people insist on making it so complicated? The simpler the presentation, the easier to eat, the faster the pick up, the more seamless the service.
-b.u.f.f.
Balance. Unity. Flow. Focal Point. These are the golden rules of presentation. Your dish should be balanced...whether symmetrically or asymmetrically. There should be unity. Even scattered presentation should look like it goes together...don't deconstruct and send me a plate of mire poix...send me a dish that looks like it needs to be eaten. There should be some flow. Where do you start to eat the dish? Those obnoxious 'stacked' high altitude 'wow' presentations (commonly refereed to as wtf? presentations), you have no sense of where to start...or what goes with what. And there needs to be a focal point. Generally this is your money item...but it doesn't have to be. It could be the tallest item, the most colorful, the largest, etc...all things should flow, and balance, and unify to this point.

After the dish is plated, it has to be served...

SERVICE

All of your hard work comes down to this...if it can't be served properly, it is all for nothing. So think about these things:
orientation of the dish...is there a definable point on the plate to put immediately in front of the guest?
utensils...do you need a specific utnesil to eat it? Soup spoon, steak knife, chopsticks, jack hammer? Then it needs to be there when it is needed.
temperature...once again, hot food hot, cold food cold, etc etc etc.
drama...does the presentation give the guest a sense of drama? Is there steam/smoke trapped under a cloche? Is there a sizzle when the fajitas are served? Does everyone in the dining room look jealous when the plate is delivered to the guest? If so, then you have created the 'drama'.
Can your servers carry the dish to the table without effing it up? Have you stacked it all up so that it falls over when they pick it up? Is the plate so effing hot they drop it? Is there powder BAMMED all over the rim of the plate that smudges when they put their grubby little fingers in it? Think about it...

So...in the end...it concludes with the guest eating the food.

EAT IT!

The guest is going to start by eating it with their eyes...how does it look?
Is it going to be easy to eat? Do they have to figure it out? Then you have failed...if they dive right in...that is success.
How is it? Does it have Taste? Texture? Aroma? Sound? Sight? Does it engage all of the guest's senses?

Did it fulfill their expectations? Did what you give them match with the menu description? Did what you serve give them a sense of value with what you charged them? Will they recommend you? Will they be back?

So...it all is summed up to me. Let me know.

goals...a new style

2010-06-19T19:53:00.002-10:00

New goals for the new gig...

food cost at 30%
labor cost <10%

new menu within two weeks
new dessert menu within two weeks

settle the natives
develop trust

execute
consistency

what is the theme?

how do we do it?

how do we make money at it?