A Boy Named Sous January 8, 2008

Johnny Cash sang that life ain’t easy for a boy named Sue. I for one believe that Johnny had it right in more ways then he initially intended. But here I am speaking on a tangent without even a platform to be launching from. Why is it that this song is so near and dear to me? Aside from it being a fantastic song, I am Sue. Sous Chef that is, of a truly tremendous establishment called Villa Creek where I work under an organic and sustainable conceptually dedicated Chef by the name of Tom Fundaro; a hero to the restaurant, community and the industry. But this not a tune to toot Tom’s horn.

Who is the Sous Chef? Most answer that he is the guy who makes sauces. Though wrong you are, for according to Escoffier this is the job of the Saucier. Augustus Escoffier created the Kitchen Brigade, which gave structure to the kitchen. He was a smart man who realized that there were several jobs in the kitchen, each that needed a team leader to instruct each department. Each of these echelons were maintained by the Sous Chef, the second in charge to the Chef. It is oh too funny that he used the word “Brigade,” a military word by definition; self-reliant unit that answers to no one and has its own independent mission and in this case would be to serve exceptional food. And not to mention if you have never visited or sat in on a Friday or Saturday night rush in any kitchen it is a war zone. Sharp objects, hot liquids and gas-powered burners are the weapons and arsenal used by the soldier like line cooks to thwart the seven o’clock, seven thirty and eight o’clock rushes.
So what does the Sous Chef do exactly? In short he is the jack of all trades but master of none; though expected to be master of all. Let’s face it the Chef is the Chef because he has been in the industry for some time. You can also bet that he doesn’t want to work on the line five nights a week from three in the afternoon until late at night. He did that coming up and then some before he was Chef. So it is up to the Sous Chef to ensure that the ideas, visions and quality of the Chef’s food are delivered up to his standards. This large task requires a vast amount of work, dedication and attention to detail. Employing and delegating each of the duties the Chef calls for with the staff that the Chef has put together is a whole ‘nother task on itself. Recognizing each of the individual’s talents without overloading or overlooking any is key everyone wants to be a part of a winning team.
It is here in the delegation process that being Sous is not so easy. The boys you used to hangout with after late nights and engage in debauchery are now your subordinates. Not all friends take orders very well or differentiate between hangout and work time. The hierarchy asks living and working daily with respectable conduct and furthermore to uphold these requirements amongst the staff, though this doesn’t always fair well or very easily. Ah, as well as if a mistake is made during the course of the night, or something is left out over night unwrapped or an item is burnt oh no the line cook does not feel the wrath of the Chef, the Sous Chef does. Answering all of his inquiries on why so and so is not performing or why the system is not working followed by the ultimate question, “Do I need to be there?” Now this question really doesn’t mean does he need to be there so much as it translates to you better do your job or I’ll find someone else who will. After sustaining a lashing, it’s time to suck it up and go about my business.

My daily routine starts with assessing the situation from cleanliness and organization of product to time management for executing the prep-list for the evening’s service. Each day of the week coincides with a particular delivery, whether it is from one of our many organic purveyors for produce, olive oil, local and imported cheeses and other stock dairy items, daily seafood requirements or our game and meat items. Finding a home for all of these newly arrived items is now the labor intensive and anal-retentive portion of my day. This shuffling of product in the dry storage, or either of the walk-in refrigerators allows me to have an up-to-date inventory of stock which in-turn allows me to know what I have to play with for when developing the daily additions to our seasonal menu such as the Soup of the Day, Market Catch or Cut. It is here that most of the thinking and conferencing is done with the Chef as well in the cool air of the walk-in perusing each shelf with its bountiful fruit and vegetable items and the quality check on the delivered fish. The aroma and humming of the fridge’s fan fill the air while we spitball ideas or catch up on the previous night’s business, lack their of how it was managed.
Now after an hour or so of cleaning and organizing, it’s time to do the real fun stuff. Let’s move into the kitchen and ready the ovens, the grill and French Flat Top. Now depending on the time of year this can be awesome or punishing. Obviously in the winter it’s great, but come summer time Paso Robles pumps out some above 100F days and with all of these machines up and running it gets mighty hot. But like the saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat, get your behind out the kitchen.

I’ve hit my knives on my steel and off to prep I am. It’s about ten minutes to one and I have a couple of hours before my line cooks show up and I’ve got plenty to do.