HOW DO PROFESSIONAL KITCHENS WORK?

OK... Finally we made it to the cooking part. Cooking professionally is very different than cooking socially. I used to be a social cook in my previous life. Cooking socially was fun end to end - I used to spend days planning the menu, shopping, preparing for the event, and finally cooking for most of the day of the event. Of course there was always a bottle of wine at hand (some for the food but most of it for me). So by the time of serving everybody is in a very good mood and very hungry. Last minute mistakes are often overlooked or covered up with some more wine. In a summary: fun, fun, fun and not a lot of pressure.

Professional cooking is a WHOLE different thing. It is a very physical activity and, instead of wine, the main motivator is pure adrenaline.

I thought of documenting our cooking at Mezzanotte and Capriccio but came across a great set of videos that give a fantastic view of what cooking in a professional kitchen is all about.

There are 5 parts in this video and I bet that you won't be able to only watch part 1. But this week I will comment only on Part 1.

The 5 part video is actually a whole episode of the No Reservations show in the Travel Channel. No Reservations is hosted by celebrity chef Anthony (Tony) Bourdain. Tony cooked and was Executive Chef of the Brasserie Les Halles in New York City for 28 years!! Then he became a celebrity chef thanks to the success of the several books he authored (including Kitchen Confidential). Then he went on to TV and the rest is history.

So Tony hasn't cooked professionally in 8 years! He is now 51 years old (my age) and not fast or confident as he used to be. Despite this he came up with this idea of cooking on the line at Les Halles and documenting it for the show! Among the things you will notice in this episode:

Kitchens are hot (Les Halles kitchen is probably as hot as our kitchens at Mezzanotte and Capriccio. Despite air conditioning units dedicated for the kitchen the amount of heat generated by grills, stoves, ovens, etc. is sometimes unbearable).
The Les Halles restaurant is huge. They served 657 covers one day that week! One cover equates to one person - that person may only eat one dish or may eat 4 or 5 dishes (salad, appetizer, pasta, main course, dessert). So you can imagine the huge volume that it is to cook for 657 covers in one night! To give you some perspective I don't think we have ever served more than 250 covers at either restaurant in one night.
Les Halles actually has a separate team of prep cooks that take care of getting everything ready for the cooking crew. At our restaurants we don't have that luxury and the cooking crew is also the prep crew!
Les Halles has many people on the line (as you can see them all buzzing around in the video). At Mezzanotte we have a maximum of 3 people on the line (manning the sautee, grill, pasta and frying stations). Additionally we have a person taking care of salads and desserts. The numbers are similar at Capriccio with the exception that we have one more station: Pizza oven.
You will also notice towels - lots of them. Towels are critical as they are used to grab hot pans, to wipe counters, clean knives, etc. We go through towels at great speed. If you consider that every single towel costs $0.16 to wash then you can figure out that it becomes one more recurring expense (along with napkins, table cloths, etc.)
A major concept that is extremely important in restaurants is that of the "Mise en Place". Mise en Place is a french term that basically means "everything in its place". In practice, it means detailed preparation. Everything must be ready and in its place by the time the restaurant opens for service. All vegetables, cheeses, meats, etc. need to be cut to the appropriate size and in their place so that during service there is no wasting time looking for the ingredients. Everything must be near by and the number of movements to cook a simple dish must be reduced to a minimum. Pastas should be in their place, milks, creams, garnishes, sauces, herbs, spices, etc., etc.
Kitchen dynamics are also very important. Cooks get to know each other very well and could even anticipate each other moves. A simple dish may require something fried in the deep fryer, something grilled in the grill, a vegetable sauteed and/or a pasta cooked. All pieces must come to that single plate at the same time so that they all are hot and ready to send to the dining room. But wait... this is only one dish. If the table has 4 people that means that there are 4 dishes going out at the same time! So in the video you can see that some of the cooks at Les Halles are concerned that Tony is there because he is basically the new guy on the line!!
All of the cooks at Les Halles (except for Tony) are Spanish speaking! That is not uncommon in restaurant kitchens across the US. Even our Mezzanotte chef Andreas (who is Greek) speaks kitchen Spanish!!

OK... enough commenting. Here is the link to the 1st episode. Hope you enjoy it:

Into the Fire - Part 1 of 5