Celebrating 40 Years in the Kitchen

     Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…

     1976, Regina, Saskatchewan; what a year! Joe Walsh joins The Eagles and they release their epic “Hotel California” album, other notable albums this same year from “Rush, “Led Zepplin”, “AC/DC”, “Aerosmith”, “Judas Priest”, “Kansas”, “Doobie Brothers”, “B.O.C.”, “Black Sabbath”, “Pink Floyd”, and many others. The “Ramones”, “Heart”, Tom Petty, “Boston”, “Runaways “all release their debut albums.

   As much as I’m reticent in the extreme to mention this Disco music was rising to its peak and was definitely a part of our social fabric. I was unquestionably a part of the counter culture “Disco Sucks!” movement and thankfully most people came to their senses quickly and it was a short-lived fad/trend. (There, I said it, equal and fair representation).

    The Apple Computer Company was established by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. A little known company, Microsoft, registers with the Secretary of the state of New Mexico, NASA launches the Viking program and successfully lands on Mars, the Concorde starts flying trans-Atlantic and cuts the flight time between London and New York down to 3 ½ hours,  pre-recorded cassette tape sales match sales of vinyl records for the first time, it’s the American bicentennial, Gerald Ford starts the year as the President but Jimmy Carter wins the election that year, Pierre Trudeau is the Prime Minister of Canada, (Yes, Pierre is the father of our newly elected P.M. here in Canada, Justin Trudeau) , the Toronto Blue Jays are created, the Montreal Canadiens win The Stanley Cup, the CN tower is built in Toronto, it is the tallest free standing structure in the world at that time, “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” wins 5 Oscars including Best actor, Jack Nicholson.

   I started driving, (my mother’s Volvo 242 GT 4 speed manual), and I walked into a commercial kitchen for the first time.

     I was 15 years old, going to high school, and some of my friends were working at a local restaurant, a steak house. They organized a job for me there as a dishwasher. I had worked a couple of other jobs before, painter, gas jockey, but nothing serious or long term.

    I showed up for work on my first day, nervous, excited, etc. I got my tacky polyester uniform, I’m shown around the BOH, and the dish pit, which became my domain, and within a few months I did become the master of it. After the orientation and the tour George, the manager, hands me a pair of hip waders and extra-long heavy duty rubber gloves and asks me to accompany him out the back of the restaurant to the far end of the parking lot, we have to clean the grease trap; I find out later that it hasn’t been cleaned in 2 years! The fry cook and broiler cook are there to help lift off the cement cover, (the trap is a large cement cistern about 5 feet long, 3 feet wide and 4 feet deep, reminiscent of a sarcophagus), we muscled the lid off and were immediately bombarded by the most invasive, pungent, putrid, foul, etc. (ad infinitum), smell that you can possibly imagine, like a physical, palpable fog that you could actually feel. The Cooks' faces were green at this point, they rushed back into the kitchen, the girl who stocked the salad bar was unlucky enough to be in the back area of the kitchen when they opened the door and she had to rush to the bathroom to relieve herself of her lunch.

    George the manager didn't even bat an eye, he instructed me to climb in, he passed me some buckets and scrapers and proceeded to instruct me to fill the pails with the excess grease and scrape the sides of all the crud as the level was lowered. Well I was in shock, my gag reflex was going out of control, my stomach and diaphragm were convulsing and cramping, it was absolutely brutal; but it was my first day, what was I going to do? Is this really what the restaurant business is all about??? I wanted to puke, I wanted to run, I was feeling overwhelmed but I didn’t want to disappoint my friends, who had organized the job for me, and I wanted to impress George. I think it was George's absolute nonchalant behavior that saved me. He had no reaction, showed no emotion; it was like he wasn't even aware of the circumstances, just business as usual. When I saw that I thought, "Well if he can do it so can I", so fighting all of my "gut instincts", literally, and with great trepidation, I climbed in and started cleaning the grease trap.

    The first hour was absolutely horrible but I think I got numb to it after that. George stayed with me the whole time, hauling buckets away, bringing new ones, not saying a word except for instructions as to what had to be done. Finally after 3 hours George helped me climb out and with some more help we got the cover back on again. the rest of the staff were in shock and I know they felt sorry for me, "the new kid", my friends, who got me the job there, were apologetic in the extreme and were very worried about if I were to ever come back to work and that I would never trust them again. I was actually fine albeit in shock but very happy the ordeal was over. After hosing down the area and the back parking lot George said that was enough for one day and sent me home to clean up and that I should return the following day to work a regular shift in the dish pit. Although George had no more than 2 words to say to me all afternoon except for specific instructions, as I was leaving he looked me in the eye and said;

    "You're going to do very well in this business”.

    Greater prophetic words of such portent have yet to be spoken…

     Every journey begins with a single step and this was my very first step, of countless many since then, on this incredible pilgrimage that I’ve experienced through the kitchen. They say that Life is short; but it’s very very wide, and while this memory from 40 years ago is still fresh and vivid in my mind, like it happened only yesterday, the great expanse between that day and today is immeasurable.

   I have attained a unique perspective of that day and of every day throughout my whole career that can only be gained through 40 years of experience.

   Has this been a good, rewarding, gratifying, high energy, challenging career?

   Absolutely!

    Unfortunately I can’t answer that question for anyone else; ultimately we are all individually responsible for our own path, for our own fulfillment and happiness. I can only speak about my perspective and how I personally feel about this profession. It has been, and still is, an incredible experience and adventure; I can honestly say that it is my “Dharma”.

   So what have I learned? Are there any pearls of wisdom I can pass on here?

   I have written a few posts that talk about life in the kitchen; the philosophy/psychology of being a Cook, the adventure, and mentoring so I will just touch upon a few aspects here that have molded my perspectives throughout my career. Anyone wishing to read more detailed accounts and examples of the “Adventures in the Kitchen” feel free at the following link;

https://www.linkedin.com/today/author/0_3RV31cuTXJ74bxukkTqiFm?trk=prof-sm

  Here are a few basic premises that have guided me, unerringly, through the kitchen; hopefully they can be of some help to you. Again I will stress that it is one’s perspective that will ultimately determine success or failure.

      I talk a lot about Mentoring and I’ve been lucky to have had great Mentors throughout my career. I’ll begin with a few examples from Chef Jake Kirchner who I worked with when I was 18 at the Sheraton Hotel in Regina. Contrary to what we would think of as an ideal Mentor Jake was a man of few words, in fact his approach could be perceived as rude, callous, and short. There was no discussion with this guy and at the time I didn’t think that he even liked me much. Looking back I realize that he was one of the greatest Mentors I had, his deliberate and direct approach left no room for discussion or questions, and everything he said was/is absolutely true, (as simple as his conversations were). I call him a great Mentor because he pushed me beyond my boundaries, he opened my eyes to the fact that I had so much more potential than I realized. I think the easiest and most expedient way of conveying these points to you is to just relay them verbatim as he said them to me…

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    Chef – (spoken with a heavy Austrian accent), “How’s it going Randy?”

   Me – “Oh Chef, I’m too busy, I have too much work to do.”

   Chef – “You could have worse problems”

   Me – “Yes Chef”

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   Chef – (again, spoken with a heavy Austrian accent), “How are you doing today Randy?”

   Me – “I’m falling behind Chef; I don’t know if I’ll be ready on time.”

   Chef – “Then you better work faster.”

   Me – “Yes Chef”

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   Me – “Hi Chef. When will I be able to work the broiler?”

   Chef – “When you’re ready”.

   Me – “Yes Chef”

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   (This following quote was told to me as I was learning knife skills; initially I had the tendency to move my hand and knife across the cutting board, slicing carrots I would keep the carrot stationary and move myself down the length of the carrot as opposed to the correct way of staying in the center of the board and feeding the “work” through my knife. Chef Jake was a master with a knife and passed on these skills. This quote has carried with me throughout my career as it is very poignant in that I understood the deeper meaning that Chef was trying to tell me; the carrot is an analogy for any aspect of our “work”. Chef wasn’t just telling me how to slice a carrot properly; he helped me to shift my perspective for the right approach to the problem, the ability to shift one’s perspective for a different approach to any problem is priceless)

    Chef - “You control your work; you don’t let your work control you”.

   Me – “Yes Chef”

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(This picture from The Sheraton, Regina, with fellow Cook Kyle Mohr, I'm the tall one, 1979)

As you can see from these few examples there was not much dialogue with Chef Jake but he was instrumental in developing my initial “knowledge base”. Yes there was the daily recipes, cooking, knife techniques, etc. but it was his ability to change my perspective and expand my concept of my personal paradigm that allowed me to advance and progress, he helped set me in the proper “mood” for the kitchen; a hard feat for any Mentor to accomplish, especially with a numbskull like me. I’m stressing the importance of perspective; it is a personal and individual “hinge” as to how we deal with “reality’.

   I will continue with a few more that I’ve learned or that have developed over the years

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   “Mise en Place is the ethos of the kitchen”, (Thank You Chef David Buchanan)

   This concept can be discussed at great length which I have done in another article, (“Mise en Place; A State of Mind”)

    https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mise-en-place-state-mind-randy-burns?trk=mp-reader-card

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       “We have so much more potential within us than we realize”.

         "The only way to determine and recognize the boundaries of the possible, is to go beyond them into the realm of the impossible"

         (“Argue for your limitations, and they will be yours”)

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     “The older I get the more I realize what I don’t know”

    As Confucius says so eloquently;

   “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”

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           "A Chef looks for the freshest most wholesome product that can be had, treats it with respect, humility and finesse, and prepares it with impeccable technique and taste"

   Chef Tony Gorbestroff told me that this was our foremost duty as Cooks and Chefs, (another great Mentor who seriously kicked my ass, I write about him in “The Paddle Incident”. Another of Chef Tony’s credos was, “There’s no excuse for bad food or bad service”)

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paddle-incident-randy-burns?trk=mp-reader-card

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      “There is no such thing as “perfection”

      Understanding and accepting this fact while still trying to achieve it on a daily basis, without frustration, is what we do.

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     “You’re only as good as your last dinner service”

      We’ve all achieved incredible goals, accomplished great things, pushed ourselves or have been pushed beyond our perceived limitations but that’s no excuse to relax your effort to achieve excellence, to attain ‘perfection” constantly. People won’t remember the Gold Medal that you won 20 years ago; they’ll remember the steak that you served them last night.

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      “Concentrate on and tackle your weaknesses”

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   “Battle your Ego daily!”

   This is one of the biggest battles that we all have and it is a life long struggle; but I ask you; is there a better fight worth fighting?

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     "Karma Rules!"

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   Perspective is the key; the onus is on us individually to decide how we live our lives and what we do with our lives. I can’t tell you the hows and whys of why we are here, what our purpose is, no one can tell you that, (this conundrum is the fuel for never-ending philosophical discussions). I can only relay to you my personal perspective as an alternative to yours. I’ve spent the last 40 years of my life working in kitchens; never a dull moment, a constant challenge and learning experience with no end in sight; I don’t want it to end. Alas it will end at some point but I’ll be too busy enjoying it to notice it when it happens; and then I’ll just move on to that “Big kitchen in the sky”. This life has been neither good nor bad, it is my choice to perceive it in a positive way; my perspective dictates that there is nothing else I’d rather do and nowhere else I’d rather be. Maybe Disco music was actually really cool, that’s fine and everyone can tell me that’s true but my perspective tells me otherwise for that is the “bent of my nature”, my "preference".

   As I said initially, while that memory of my very first day of working in the kitchen is fresh in my mind, the accumulated experiences over the past 40 years have removed me so far away, worlds away, from that day that my perspective tells me that it is indeed, “a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away”… (Opening line from the original “Star Wars” movie, released early 1977)

      In closing I would like to leave you with a final thought;

     “We live in a perfect world”

      It is our Perspective that makes us think that we do not…

      Happy Cooking Everyone!

   (originally published on LinkedIn, Feb. 25, 2016)