Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line

by Gibney, Michael

  squab a young unfledged pigeon; also, the flesh of such a bird as food

  sub-primal (in butchery) secondary to or smaller than primal cuts

  sugo a thick sauce or gravy, usually incorporating sofrito, tomato, and meat juices

  suite a single unit of kitchen equipment (usually custom-built) containing multiple cooking apparatuses (e.g. ovens, salamanders, and a variety of individually controlled stove surfaces) for use by several people at once

  Sujihiki a long, thin Japanese knife used for slicing meat and fish

  sweat to draw the moisture out of a given food product (usually a vegetable) by cooking it gently in a pan until soft, at a temperature low enough to preclude caramelization and/or the Maillard reaction

  Taleggio a washed-rind cow’s milk cheese from Lombardy known for a pungent odor yet mild, salty flavor

  tamis a kitchen utensil shaped somewhat like a snare drum with a cylindrical edge made of metal or wood that supports a disc of fine metal, nylon, or horsehair mesh that acts as a strainer, grater, or food mill through which food is pushed or scraped

  tartare a dish in which the central component (usually meat or seafood) is finely chopped, seasoned, and served raw

  temper to slowly introduce (food) to heat or warmth without actually cooking: “to avoid scrambling the custard, you must first temper the eggs by slowly drizzling in the hot milk, whisking constantly”

  terrine a meat, seafood, or vegetable mixture that has been cooked or otherwise prepared in advance and allowed to cool or set in its container, typically served in slices; a container used for such a dish, typically of an oblong shape and made of earthenware

  there (colloquial) in a state of complete readiness

  thermal immersion circulator an electrically powered device that circulates and heats a warm fluid kept at a precise and stable temperature, used to maintain accuracy and control sous vide cookery

  third pan see hotel pan

  tilt skillet a large, vertically walled, plancha-like piece of cooking equipment used to sear and braise foods, uniquely outfitted with a gear and crank system that allows its user to angle the surface of the apparatus, so as to remove its contents more quickly

  toast point a toasted bias-cut piece of bread (usually baguette) on which various toppings can be placed or spread

  Tokyo turnip the root vegetable of a young turnip plant, preferred to its full-grown kin for its tender flavor and attractive size and shape

  tortuga (colloquial) Spanish for “tortoise”; any person or thing that is exceptionally slow-moving

  trail (as verb) to audition for a position in a kitchen by way of working a station for a night (for free), “trailing” the work of the cook currently employed there; (as noun) one who performs or the occasion of performing such an audition

  transglutaminase an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of a thermo-irreversible covalent bond between a free amine group (e.g. protein- or peptide-bound lysine) and the gammacarboxamide group of protein- or peptide-bound glutamine; aka meat glue

  trattoria a small restaurant serving simple food, often for takeout

  trim any usable material that results from, but will not be used in, a given prep project; a more refined term for scraps, leftovers

  turn (as noun) a stretch of business wherein every seat in the dining room is filled once; busy restaurants do multiple turns per meal period; (as verb) to shape a vegetable with a paring knife in such a way that it takes a rounded, football-like shape, traditionally with seven equal sides

  uni the gonad of a sea urchin (male or female), prized for its buttery texture and strong sea flavor

  verjus a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, crabapples, or other sour fruit

  violet mustard a condiment from the Brive-la-Gaillarde region of France, made with grape must, mustard seeds, wine, vinegar, salt, and spices. Its flavor is sweeter and milder than that of conventional Dijon

  waitstaff FOH employees who take orders from customers, communicate them to the kitchen, and serve the resultant food

  walk-in box the large cold storage facility in a restaurant, which can be walked into

  water bath in sous vide cookery, the temperature-regulated pool in which food is cooked and/or rethermalized

  whites (colloquial) the standard work attire for cooks and chefs, consisting primarily of coat, pants, and apron

  wine key the most common term for a corkscrew wine opener in the restaurant industry

  Wondra flour brand name of a finely ground flour ideal for making roux and dredging items to be fried because of its anti-clumping properties, which has been adopted in the common vernacular to refer to any flour of this sort

  xanthan gum a polysaccharide secreted by the plant-based bacterium Xanthomonas campestris during fermentation, which, when isolated, is used as a food additive to increase a liquid’s viscosity and promote emulsion

  Y peeler a vegetable peeler in the shape of the letter Y, whose peeling edge spans the gap between the two arms

  Yo-Deba a heavy Japanese knife used in animal butchery for cutting through bones

  zest (as verb) to remove the essential-oil-rich skin (of a citrus fruit) without cutting into the rind; (as noun) the product of this process

  Z report the financial report issued by a POS system when all sales on a given day or meal period are finalized

  For my family

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  IT WOULD BE EASY FOR ME TO GO ON AT LENGTH THANKING the many people who have contributed to the production of this book. There is my agent, Kris, my professional teammate, whose faith in me is the reason this story isn’t buried on a flash drive somewhere in Brooklyn right now. The support she has shown me since the day I met her is something I’ll treasure until I’m gray and stooped. There is my editor, Pamela, without whose guidance and motivation I might still be trying to figure out my first revisions. Firmly but gently, she has ushered me through this quite foreign and often onerous publication process with a grace and patience I daresay only she possesses. There are the tremendous production and design teams at Ballantine/Random House, whose collective energy in creating a fabulous package for this book is something I stand humbly beside in awe. And then there are all the friends and family and classmates and college professors whose encouragement throughout the years has allowed me to believe that I not only have a story worth telling, but that I also have the equipment to tell it right. I could consume reams of paper expressing my gratitude for these folks.

  But what I’d really like to use this space for is to acknowledge the ones who initially lit the pilot—that mighty population of cooks and chefs for whom this book is a daily reality. They are my inspiration. Their dedication to feeding others is what gets me out of bed in the morning, and the example they set for us every day is what keeps me going into the night. Of this great lot, dearest to me of course are the ones I’ve been fortunate enough to see in action; the ones I’ve had the opportunity to work with, work for, stand beside, or otherwise help out in that sacred space around the stove; and the ones whose work, in one way or another, continues to inform my own. They are, in regretfully incomplete form: Duce Inthalassy, Gary Moran, Johannes Sanzin, Sean Gray, Steven Davis, Brian Young, Rory O’Farrell, Joe Barraco, Johnny Lewis, Calvert Rose, Wolfgang Stoiber, Jason Neroni, Nick Grosz, Alex Sze, Jaime Young, Matthew Burdi, Marcello De Andrade, Julie Farias, Nicholas Morgenstern, Warren Baird, Gabriel Cruz, Steve Peterson, Brad McDonald, Jonathan Black, Greg Kuzia-Carmel, Chloé Lasseron, Monique Bourgea, Kelly White, Stephen Hernandez, Jonathan Park, Morgan Schofield, Giles Clark, Jordan Kahn, Will Aghajanian, Francis Derby, Mathias Dahlgren, Alex Stupak, Michael Coté, and Isabel Coss. And of course, my most cherished friend and favorite person to cook beside, Michelle Nicole Merlo.

  It is because of all these remarkable people, and many others like them, that I was able to write this book.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  MICHAEL GIBNEY began working in restaurants at the age of sixteen an
d assumed his first sous chef position at twenty-two. He ascended to executive sous chef while at Tavern on the Green, where he managed an eighty-person staff. He’s worked in the kitchens of Morgans Hotel Group, 10 Downing in Manhattan, and Governor in Brooklyn’s DUMBO, among many others. Over the course of his career, he has had the opportunity to work alongside cooks and chefs from many of the nation’s best restaurants, including Alinea, Per Se, Eleven Madison Park, Daniel, Jean-Georges, Le Bernardin, Bouley, Ducasse, Corton, wd~50, and Momofuku. In addition to his experience in the food service industry, Gibney also holds a BFA in painting from Pratt Institute and an MFA in non-fiction writing from Columbia University. He lives in Brooklyn.