For a long time I was under the impression that when someone becomes a sous chef, they also become an asshole. As if by some kind of bastardy witchcraft they just transform on the day that they got their promotion. This isn’t the way it works.
From what I gather, sous chefs get to become sous chefs because they have an inner ability to be completely unconcerned with what everyone else thinks about them. Everybody but the chef, that is. I used to take issue with this arrangement, but over time it began to make sense. Sous chef yelling at you? Stop doing whatever it is that’s making him yell at you. There’s usually a reason. In fact, if you don’t like the guy (or gal), it’s probably because he’s doing his job really well. The sous plays the role of bad cop to the chef’s slightly better than bad cop, occasionally threatening violence to reinforce criticism. The school of hard knocks approach to management spawns two kinds of cooks: those who can’t wait for their turn, and those who plan to take it easy on their pupils when their promotion comes their way. This realization means that if i have any plans of advancing in my field, I’m going to have to learn how to be a proper cunt (I’m sorry Mom, but it’s the right word).
You see, I was almost a sous chef a few years ago. It took two shifts in that role for me to realize that I didn’t have what it takes. I thought that knowing how to cook fairly well was enough to run a small crew, but it turns out that there’s a lot more to it. In those two days I bore witness to some serious cowboy cookery. Shortcuts were being made all over the place and I didn’t have the man balls to tell these guys to do it properly. When I took the job, I sort of imagined a situation where I’d float in and everyone would be behaving perfectly and cooking properly. Instead I dropped into a kitchen where the discussion revolved around whether or not it was still okay to jerk off to Britney Spears, even though she’s had some kids and is a bit of a disaster, and where it was okay to toss a veggie burger into the fryer because you needed it FAST. I answered a sous-chef ad on Craigslist and got the kind of sous-chef job that gets advertised on Craigslist (see: a shitty one). Knowing how to cook is one thing, and knowing how to get good product out of a bunch of renegades is another. I hastily returned to my old job with my tail between my legs, and thankfully they were glad to have me. Now, instead of running from a sous chef who is swinging a cleaver in my direction, I’m taking notes. Lots and lots of notes.
I’ve referred to my current sous as the Portuguese Minister of Delegation, to his face, and he didn’t flinch, because I’m sure he’d be proud to serve under that title if it was an option. He recently explained to me that early in his career he rapidly climbed the ladder because he was able to delegate like a mad man, and also able to keep the kitchen in check. Cooking is much easier to teach than both of these things, and it’s important to realize this. There’s a certain amount of emotion involved with the position, and by that I mean that I don’t really feel much when I’m cutting a carrot into bits, but I certainly feel something when I have to tell somebody to do something all over again. Sous chefs often play the role of the messenger, delivering shitty news from station to station. They’ll tell you that what you’ve done isn’t good enough, or that it simply isn’t enough. While shooting the messenger won’t solve anything (they’ll hire a new one, and you’ll go to jail), it’s okay to want to from time to time.
There you have it, a rough guide of what it takes to be a sous chef written by someone who has barely ever been one. I hope I am right in assuming that this article won’t result in physical harm.
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Line Cook,
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Being a sous-chef can be shitty because your Middle Managment, Chef above you telling you what to do people below you hating you for telling them how to do their job
Tho I must say the Sous-Chef comes off as a Jerk, is well because the Chef tells the Sous-Chef to tell the staff the bad news.
Its fun, I loved all stuff that wasn’t cooking ordering making sure not to run out of stuff that I enjoyed
Sometimes it is advised that when you have something unpleasant to say, that you hold onto that thought for a day before publishing. Whadya figure….thirty seconds, forty tops. Nice C bomb shakey.
Another fine installment Mr Galbraith.
I gotta say, being a “career sous”, I like the position. You get to have a certain amount of control but not the onerous final responsibility that being Chef requires.
It was strange at first. I’m not a demonstrative, in-your-face kinda guy, so being the “bad guy” didn’t come naturally. Fortunately the dummies and idiots made it easier.
Its not that hard to bitch out a dishwasher, when he’s been one the phone with his girlfriend for 10 minutes during dinner service, after you asked him for something 11 minutes ago. Making an example of someone who cant tell the difference between Red Wine and Red Wine Vinegar became a heartfelt duty. Schooling someone on how to peel a bloody carrot is one of the few middle management perks that give you satisfaction of making sure everything is done rightly, quickly and cleanly.
And then there’s the freedom to chop the dead wood. Every cook knows what I’m taking about: the prima-dona malcontents that move at 12 dollars and hour. Cooks who think they are the best thing since Escoffier and are therefore immune to correction or coaching and yet there they are, leaning back with their arms crossed and yakking; or cutting onions like a housewife (sorry, ladies…); or worst of all: endangering the lives of patrons with shipshod food handling.
Being a sous means you get to shit-can cooks like these and thus make your work environment more… harmonious. I used to draw inspiration for BC’s Jimmy Pattison. He’s not a chef he’s a billionaire. But he got his start selling cars. Every month he would gather his sales guys and whoever had the lowest in sales got his walking papers. No animosity or rancor, just “please clean out your desk”. Pattison’s theory was that if they were so bad at selling cars, clearly they wanted to be doing something else. He felt that chopping the dead wood was an opportunity for both parties.
But there is more to being a Sous Chef than just pit-bulling and bull-dogging. You get to be a pillar of support for the chef and an inspirational leader for his/her minions. You get to enforce correctness and learn about the subtle ways of achieving that aim. And you get to make less money than an Olympic athlete while doing it.
AC
Sounds like you’re ready to me.
i sat on that “c bomb” for a week.