21.2022 Edition

Editor: Justin Khanna​

Hey Reader,

I was asked as part of an interview this week: What is the most difficult or stressful position in the kitchen? Is there a role that’s sought after?

My answer is pretty contextual from my personal experience on stations:

“Anything involving protein (roast or grill station) or expediting can both be incredibly challenging. There’s little margin for error, and both of those positions involve others looking to you for high-quality output.

Vegetables and sauces are often pre-prepped and can be done in advance, but on a busy roast station, if you've got 3 dishes on your menu, across 90 guests in a night, that's 270 "at-bats" that you gotta nail. On top of that, you're often working with really expensive product, which you also have to manage freshness of.

I’d say the “sought after” roles depend on what you’re looking for. If you’re motivated by money, a role that involves a bump in salary might be sought after for you. If you want to have more accountability (and secondarily, respect), it’s often a sous chef or lead chef-de-partie role.

Bonus: The Tournant (sometimes called Roundsman) role is also pretty awesome, because you have to have experience in the entire kitchen operations to do that role well.”

I’m super cognizant that not everyone reading this has tons of experience under their belt yet - if that’s the case and you’d like to see me expand on any of these positions, please do share a response with your question. I’ve got no desire to talk over people’s heads, I want this to be helpful 🙌

I’d be curious to hear your folks’ thoughts on this (reply to this email anytime, I read every response).

Top Highlights 💡

​Whose Dish is it Anyway?

“You work your whole life to create a catalog of things that are very stylistically tied to you, so the idea that you pass them up when you leave a job is absurd,”- says Butcher & Bee pastry chef Cynthia Wong. 

The restaurant owner Michael Shemtov had made noises that he would keep serving Cynthia's ideas even after she left, which is why Cynthia hired an attorney once she decided to build her own project around the ice cream treats.

However, not every chef agrees with that idea. For example, Chef Kevin Tien, owner of Emilie’s says that he is not going to ban employees from doing any of those components. As long as it’s not an exact replica of the dish.

Cynthia advises young chefs to discuss their intellectual property before taking the job and the best way to claim the ideas is to talk about them, and post the dishes on social media.

Our Take: There was a similar article that we covered in Ep. 110 of the podcast because this doesn't have a clear "binary" rule set. What's more difficult is that if you follow the "Flavor & Execution" framework, a successful idea or dish might not even be new flavors; the way you've assembled or presented them might be different. There might not ever be a clear "end" to this debate, just contextual cases that need to be examined one-by-one.

​This Restaurant’s Menu Shows It’s Not Just One Chef in Charge​

Transparency around dish development and creation has increased over the past few years. One of the examples is Chef Amanda Cohen’s industry-leading vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy, where diners found a line of attributions below three of the five dishes on the menu.

“I’ve always tried my best to give as much credit as possible to my staff, tagging them in Instagram and newsletters. This menu was a bit different because it’s the first time where I really felt like it was a true collaboration,” says Amanda.

How does the menu development change in this case? Amanda gave her sous chefs a general idea, told them a vegetable/idea and afterward they took over. The collaboration was 50-50, unlike the previous 95-5. According to Amanda, collaborating with others gives her a chance to escape the “vacuum” and learn from them.

Diners also enjoy this change and it allows them to understand what the back of the house is like, as most guests only see the front of the house staff.

Our Take: Don't underestimate how powerful recognition is. I always got excited when chefs I worked for allowed me to drive a new dish idea forward with the same framework that Chef Amanda presents here...that's literally how D.O.D. started. While owners might shy away from this philosophy ("what if my staff leaves?"), it also gives them the benefit of not having the spotlight 100% on them (you can not be at the restaurant on a Saturday night and have your Sous Chef claim praise and ensure a great guest experience).

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Quick Hits 💥

​Blotto in Seattle - it might be my new favorite pizza spot in the city (for the vibes, natural wine, and sunny back patio).

​Sushi (as we know it) might not survive - a fascinating deep dive on sustainability, supply chain, and culture.

​The Senate failed to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) - It would have granted $40 billion.

​Would eat brown soup forever? - Yusef asking me the hard hitting questions on TikTok 😛

ICYMI 🤳

​Total Station Domination | Cohort 2 - You've been waiting patiently, and I'm excited to share that enrollment for TSD is now open! If you didn’t know, Total Station Domination is my cohort-based course that I teach, live, over 3 weeks.

I’ll be with you to provide direct and personal stories to add context to the lessons from my experience.

You’ll get 6+ hours of content through all modules, with over 23+ tailored sections, and a private community to connect with other students. 

We heard that students want ready-to-use resources, and we listened.  You’ll get an Upgraded Prep List, Night-Before-Prep Worksheet, OOP Matrix (for tracking dietary/allergy substitutions), and a Reducing-Steps Tracker, on TOP of all the modules.

​TSD is all about skills and during the 3 modules we will go through skills, that will help you feel organized, communicate effectively and build lasting habits that you’ll use for years to come. 

Here’s what our previous students have to say ⬇️

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To Peep 👀

​Korin's New Line​

The Korin Kaguya (赫映) is made in the kurouchi forging style, where the blacksmith leaves a portion of the blade unpolished after the tempering process (yaki-ire). The kanji characters in Kaguya mean projection of flaes, and allude to the image of the blacksmith crafting this blade. The 50/50 symmetrical blade is constructed out of white #2 carbon steel, then adorned with a traditional Japanese magnolia handle with a unique buffalo horn bolster. Check out The Korin Kaguya here.

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​Are you a member of the Repertoire Pro Community?​

The Repertoire Pro Community is purpose-built for focused connection and positive accountability. I share bonus content, we have weekly group coaching and members can enjoy private messaging with other industry professionals & hospitality creators

This week we talked about knife geometry, repeated techniques & ingredients, Jenner Tomaska’s Quenelle Spoon, and more… Check out some of the topics below and join the community by clicking the link here.

​I Made the Perfect Prep List (for Total Station Domination)​

Prioritizing, Automating, and Expanding tasks, while also keeping track of what I call your prospective requests, and even keeping your order list all in one place.

You can start using this free template as soon as tomorrow.​​

Quote I'm Pondering 💭

Thanks for reading,

👊Justin​

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