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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
Originally posted at http://olduvaireads.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/weekend-cooking-sous-chef-by-michael-gibney/
You are the opening sous chef. You make the rounds. You do the prep. You get ready for the the dinner rush. You organise, dole out the jobs, you cook cook cook.
The ‘you’ is thrown around often enough that you get used to it.
The intention is to immerse the reader in this kitchen life. And it works.
You feel the stress of the job. The passion for cooking. The tension in the kitchen as the orders come in. It is a tough rough 24 hours in the life of a sous chef and that second person narrative constantly drives it into the reader. This is your job. You’re not just reading about it!
And while I’ve always had an inkling that life in the restaurant world is far from a walk in the park, I guess I never quite realised just how far from a stroll it all is. Instead it’s like those one crazy endurance races. The kind that goes on for hours.
Just the specials alone are an enormous task. Reading the list of specials, as a foodie, I could only go mmmm but it never occurred to me how much work would go into it. And a lot of it is about prep and distribution of the work.
Take the garnishes for example.
“They are relatively simple but require a fair amount of work. The ‘carrot’ on the monkfish, for example, refers to a carrot puree. The process is less obvious than making baby food. You have to cook the carrots under a cartouche in bay-and-juniper-scented carrot juice, which means that someone has to juice some carrots and chop up others. The ‘endive’ in that dish refers to a classically braised endive, but someone needs to halve them before they can be cooked. The beluga lentils are cooked, but they need to be inspected for quality. The tarragon needs to be picked for the compound butter,and the mise for the sapori forte needs to be cut. The potatoes need to be peeled and dressed. The potato dressing needs to be made. The boquerones sauce needs to be made. Herbs need to be picked. The line needs to be set. The carrots need to be pureed – but they’re not even cooked yet. They’re not even cut yet. There is so much to do, too much to do.”
And this happens every single day.
Sure the specials may change and so will some of the tasks, but I cannot get over how all this happens every single day that the restaurant is open. And worse – on the weekends, there’s a brunch service! What a high stress job!
It’s a complete learning experience.
From what food glue is, to what each kitchen staffer’s role is, to how a professional kitchen is planned out and run. And what monkfish is (its skin is like mucus apparently and its meat is not flakey but, well, meaty). And how a dish goes from fridge to line cook to sous chef to chef to back waiter to front of house to diner. And that velvet foots are mushrooms. And that a sous chef (at least a good one) needs to know “everything about everything that’s in every dish” because of dietary restrictions, allergens and all that.
Sous Chef was a whirlwind of a read. A great read for any foodie.
You are the opening sous chef. You make the rounds. You do the prep. You get ready for the the dinner rush. You organise, dole out the jobs, you cook cook cook.
The ‘you’ is thrown around often enough that you get used to it.
The intention is to immerse the reader in this kitchen life. And it works.
You feel the stress of the job. The passion for cooking. The tension in the kitchen as the orders come in. It is a tough rough 24 hours in the life of a sous chef and that second person narrative constantly drives it into the reader. This is your job. You’re not just reading about it!
And while I’ve always had an inkling that life in the restaurant world is far from a walk in the park, I guess I never quite realised just how far from a stroll it all is. Instead it’s like those one crazy endurance races. The kind that goes on for hours.
Just the specials alone are an enormous task. Reading the list of specials, as a foodie, I could only go mmmm but it never occurred to me how much work would go into it. And a lot of it is about prep and distribution of the work.
Take the garnishes for example.
“They are relatively simple but require a fair amount of work. The ‘carrot’ on the monkfish, for example, refers to a carrot puree. The process is less obvious than making baby food. You have to cook the carrots under a cartouche in bay-and-juniper-scented carrot juice, which means that someone has to juice some carrots and chop up others. The ‘endive’ in that dish refers to a classically braised endive, but someone needs to halve them before they can be cooked. The beluga lentils are cooked, but they need to be inspected for quality. The tarragon needs to be picked for the compound butter,and the mise for the sapori forte needs to be cut. The potatoes need to be peeled and dressed. The potato dressing needs to be made. The boquerones sauce needs to be made. Herbs need to be picked. The line needs to be set. The carrots need to be pureed – but they’re not even cooked yet. They’re not even cut yet. There is so much to do, too much to do.”
And this happens every single day.
Sure the specials may change and so will some of the tasks, but I cannot get over how all this happens every single day that the restaurant is open. And worse – on the weekends, there’s a brunch service! What a high stress job!
It’s a complete learning experience.
From what food glue is, to what each kitchen staffer’s role is, to how a professional kitchen is planned out and run. And what monkfish is (its skin is like mucus apparently and its meat is not flakey but, well, meaty). And how a dish goes from fridge to line cook to sous chef to chef to back waiter to front of house to diner. And that velvet foots are mushrooms. And that a sous chef (at least a good one) needs to know “everything about everything that’s in every dish” because of dietary restrictions, allergens and all that.
Sous Chef was a whirlwind of a read. A great read for any foodie.
I'm a sucker for Anthony Bourdain, some cooking and chef shows (love The Taste), so I thought I would enjoy this. But I didn't. I guess "a day in the life" didn't really do it for me. I didn't feel connected with the author at all. It seemed just like a lengthy schedule to me which I found generally boring. I quit 1/2 way through.
We following our narrator's 24 hour whirlwind experience in an upscale restaurant. I learned it might be good to arrive ahead of the crush to receive optimal attention to your meal. I learned a lot of fancy french words like my new favorite soigne (swan-ya) from the verb Soigner meaning tended to, looked after, cared for. In the kitchen, basically the strive for perfection-first quality ingredients, prepared with the best technique and served beautifully... to every guest. I learned about the hierarchy in the kitchen and because of the brutal pace, the importance maintaining that order- working harmoniously together in confined space, understanding each other's roles and respecting authority "Yes Chef!" And I learned I wouldn't last 15 minutes in the restaurant business. I have a fascination with the food industry knowing the hard work and sacrifices required. It seems chefs must have a undeniable drive, even passion to cook. Four stars bien sur!
Author and former sous chef Michael Gibney takes us through a day in the life of a restaurant. No detail is too small to share; nothing is presented that isn't linked to the bigger world. Gibney begins at the arrival of the first workers at the restaurant and carries through the morning and afternoon of the earliest preparations, through the early evening and late evening of the mad rush that is the restaurant, and through the late night of the final tasks to close down the restaurant for the day. It's a long day, an exhausting day, a day of stresses and amazing creations, of working together, of contributing. It is a beautiful and true picture of a restaurant life.
This book is well-written and would probably appeal to someone who's in the restaurant business--or considering it. It definitely made me think about what's going on in the kitchen when I'm eating out!
But overall, it was simply too much detail about a day in the life of one chef and the small details of kitchen life.
But overall, it was simply too much detail about a day in the life of one chef and the small details of kitchen life.
*I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads giveaway*
I frequently consume food books and memoirs, but this wasn't quite like anything I'd read before. Using second person, Michael Gibney takes the reader through 24 hours in the life of a sous chef - down to the the names and appearances of knives used for the fish to the process of checking inventory. He creates an imaginary kitchen and cast of characters, combined from all his experiences in various roles and restaurants, and merges them into a simulation to give the reader an idea of what exactly it means to be a sous chef.
It's an incredibly nuanced, detailed description of life in the back of a kitchen. You might be tempted to read zSous Chef if you liked Julie and Julia, but if you don't also like learning how things work, this book won't be for you. If you do like understanding the ins-and-out of restaurants, you'll gobble this down in a day.
This book couldn't have worked in the hands of just any author. Even if his language does occasionally become too flowery, in general, Gibney shines at creating something that feels like a story, complete with characters, personalities, and plot, while still achieving the main goal of describing the work flow in upscale kitchen. A floorplan of the kitchen and a chart illustrating the chain of command is included at the front of the book and helps the reader visualize the action; including menus and inserting challenges for the main character (a cook gets sick in the middle of a shift; the restaurant gets behind right when the Times shows up) brings up situations that never occurred to me, someone who's only ever eaten out, not worked in the back.
Gibney excels at communicating the atmosphere of the kitchen at different times of day and showing the reader why, despite the crazy shifts, long-hours, and high-stress situations, the goal of making chef is still worth it. I could have used a little less about the girlfriend, and it would have been helpful to realize there was an extensive glossary in the back of the book (not realizing this, I wasted a lot of time looking things up), but overall, if you're interested in food, restaurants, logistics, assembly lines, or just a story told from an interesting viewpoint, this book is for you.
I frequently consume food books and memoirs, but this wasn't quite like anything I'd read before. Using second person, Michael Gibney takes the reader through 24 hours in the life of a sous chef - down to the the names and appearances of knives used for the fish to the process of checking inventory. He creates an imaginary kitchen and cast of characters, combined from all his experiences in various roles and restaurants, and merges them into a simulation to give the reader an idea of what exactly it means to be a sous chef.
It's an incredibly nuanced, detailed description of life in the back of a kitchen. You might be tempted to read zSous Chef if you liked Julie and Julia, but if you don't also like learning how things work, this book won't be for you. If you do like understanding the ins-and-out of restaurants, you'll gobble this down in a day.
This book couldn't have worked in the hands of just any author. Even if his language does occasionally become too flowery, in general, Gibney shines at creating something that feels like a story, complete with characters, personalities, and plot, while still achieving the main goal of describing the work flow in upscale kitchen. A floorplan of the kitchen and a chart illustrating the chain of command is included at the front of the book and helps the reader visualize the action; including menus and inserting challenges for the main character (a cook gets sick in the middle of a shift; the restaurant gets behind right when the Times shows up) brings up situations that never occurred to me, someone who's only ever eaten out, not worked in the back.
Gibney excels at communicating the atmosphere of the kitchen at different times of day and showing the reader why, despite the crazy shifts, long-hours, and high-stress situations, the goal of making chef is still worth it. I could have used a little less about the girlfriend, and it would have been helpful to realize there was an extensive glossary in the back of the book (not realizing this, I wasted a lot of time looking things up), but overall, if you're interested in food, restaurants, logistics, assembly lines, or just a story told from an interesting viewpoint, this book is for you.
Oh, this was fun! I gobbled it right up over the course of two bus rides. Gibney's got a lovely authorial voice, and conveys a real sense of immediacy. I felt like I was standing right in his kitchen. I liked the conceit of one single day's service, and I really, really felt for his girlfriend. I am glad I have a passing familiarity with the restaurant business, and just as glad that I'm out of it- though if anything is going to make me wistful, it's a book like this one. It was written in second person, though, and you're not sure why.
Useful and detailed description of what it's like to be a sous chef, told in the second person. If you're thinking of becoming a chef, definitely read it...and likely be deterred. It sounds like a really miserable life.
Sous Chef does what it promises on the tin. It shows the reader what 24 hours in the life of a line sous chef look like, but it does so in an extraordinary effective manner: "you" are the sous chef. In doing so, this book is not a memoir of Gibney as a person but rather a memoir of the craft, and a great one indeed. Full Review
honestly atrocious. condescending and cringey. don't read if you work in food service