Hello Team

Hello Team,

Welcome to our kitchen blog, I will try to send out information as I receive it and sometimes it could just be a recipe or a copy of our team schedule. I would like to include some guest chef items...from you, Roy Tam sent me a very cool article on Sous Vide cooking that was part of his research for Grappa and I will pass that along if he can help me find a internet copy....Oh did I mention that unlike you I am not a wiz on the computer so take it easy on me if I am not up on all my new technology lingo and I guess this isn't technically a blog but what the heck. If you have something that you would like to share please send it to me and I will add it to the mail out.

In this edition I have included a quick bit of info on my career we can call this "Chefs Resume Files" (I would love to see old cooking photo's of you or teams you have worked with in the past) I have included one of a dinner train I worked on in the late 90's. Also in a little something I will call "Dear Diary" a chance for me to tell some of the stories I have collected from 20+ years of burning and cutting myself. A collection of my top 5....food/cook bocks/restaurants etc.

The Kitchen Sink
Thanks to everyone for completing the Employee Opinion Survey, the results are in and I will be reviewing the data and comments with the sous chef team over the next week. Eric and I are very focused on making the kitchen a better place for us all to work, learn and grow.

Committees
At our last operations team meeting we discussed our employee committees and in the kitchen we are looking to replace Dan who held the role for a few years. Here is the deal, I would like anyone interested to talk to me about it and specifically here is what we are looking for from our representative.
A individual with vision for the hotel
Positive attitude that can bring solutions to problems to the table
Someone who would assist Dan -our GM in spreading messages and direction back to his/her fellow cooks
Enjoy building on positive energy and who would represent the hotel and our department at the highest level
I will be forwarding nominees to Dan on the 28th of November. Eric and I will be involved in your experience so we would like to speak with all that are interested.

Food Cost
Eric and I are looking at our cost of food and I want to challenge the whole team to do your part. If food cost in a hotel is 30% then that represents 1/3 of our cost right off the bat ...then turn on the lights buy some equipment and...oh yea hire some cooks and stewards...and servers. Then we need some gas to run the stoves, and replace them, buy plates, flatware and glassware. Hold on I am supposed to be talking about food cost right. Well all these factors contribute to our profitability, we are running a business and yes we have some control over all these expenses but the cost of food we as cooks have the most control over. Think about that cucumber that you put in your crisper at home....and forgot about it. 2 weeks later you go digging in the crisper looking for that last can of beer you were hiding from your roommate and you find the cucumber, your hard earned dollars, rotten. Crappy right?

Our opportunity here is simple, controls such as our daily cleaning schedule for the cooler is in place for us all to manage our inventory, rotate product and keep on top of rotation so we don't encounter these problems. Mistakes, when we are working on any task with food understand that these are dollars that you are dealing with, forecasting correctly the proper amount of food to prepare is what we were trained to do but often cooks can lose sight of the fact that it is one of our primary responsibility's. The other day I was thinking about how we are all over bio waste..we are almost too good and we need to think about the 3R's a little more, that cantaloupe that is not "Sexy enough" for the buffet is tossed in the bin when we could feature a great "Fresh squeezed" juice on the buffet...think about it....."Lorne recommends- Fresh pressed cantaloupe and carrot juice" we were trained to make these decisions and as a team we will look for opportunity's to capture every dollar we can.

Someone has my copy of Thomas Keller's French Laundry Cookbook, in one of the stories titled the "Importance of Rabbits" Keller explores why the first time he ordered rabbits from a small producer it helped shape his respect for food and waste. Keller explains that when he arrived at the farm he had to assist the farmer with the slaughter (this was a very tough experience dealing with a living thing). In our times we buy meats that are already dressed and ready for the plate, easy to lose sight of the fact that a great deal of respect has been shown to these animals prior to us placing them into an insert on line, getting an order for it, start to cook it and for that split second our concentration is broken and we overcook/over season/under season...etc. Well Keller tells a good story so if you have my copy (you know who you are...cause I do) drop in to the office and read it. Good Stuff.
I look forward to your ideas and suggestions on this matter.

Until next time, keep you knives sharp and your pans hot.
Chef