THE CHRONICLER OF THE KITCHEN June 2010
Mike Campbell
KITCHEN BRIGADE
There is no I in team, but there are a few in Kitchen Brigade!
In the traditional French system a professional kitchen is organized as a “Kitchen Brigade”. The system was instituted in the late nineteenth century in order to avoid chaos, duplication of effort and to streamline the work in hotel kitchens.
DID I SAY, “AVOID CHAOS”? HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A BUSY KITCHEN? MOST AMERICANS DON’T UNDERSWTAND ENGLISH, LET ALONE SPANISH, FRENCH, CREOLE, SPANGLISH, OR ANY ASIAN LANGUAGE!
Brigade is a military term that seems to me was not chosen lightly. Military espirit de corp implies discipline and subjugation to authority. Just as in the military we even dress alike, dark non skid shoes, checked pants, white jacket, and paper toque. Thus the tone is set, you are to do what you are told!
Under this system, each position has a “station” and each station has an assigned set of tasks that must be completed. Therefore, all tasks are completed in a timely manner, and we all cook happily ever after!
The Brigade system was designed by “the kitchen god Escoffier” and therefore cannot be questioned.
But who makes up this Brigade? There is a standard cast of characters.
CHEF knows his feces doesn’t stink
SOUS CHEF is pretty sure his has a wonderful aroma, but just to make sure, keeps his nose between the Chef’s cheeks for comparison
CULINARY GRAD
knows, someday his feces will lose its pungent smell. But his is still better than any non-management personnel.
SELF TAUGHT COOK
has come to appreciate and understand all the smells of the kitchen. He loves to rub the nose of any one listed above, in his, just to prove he knows what is going on.
THE WHINER there IS ALWAYS something wrong
DISHWASHER stands in it all day and has become desensitized.
“THERE’S ONE IN EVERY KITCHEN”
Someone, usually, a dishwasher insists on getting in your face to talk about nonsense every day.
The kitchen is a testosterone filled environment and “The Brigade” mostly consists of loud, sweaty, cussing men. The only “touchy feely” moments occur when dealing with the plentiful supply of young females, whose main job is attending high school or college. These girls raise our minds to such heights that we can understand and spell debauchery.
There were two guys that referred to each other by the acronyms D.O.M and D.Y.M.
Dirty Old Man
Dirty Young Man
Can this group come together and work as a team to accomplish a common goal? Of course, but that is not the usual mindset. The Brigade system operates under the ancient adage: “divide and conquer”.
In my first cooking job, I was told that the morning crew ALWAYS fights with the night crew. It is now many years and kitchens later and this axiom is as true today as the day I heard it. You will usually hear comments like: my shift does all the work and the other guys have it easy, there are no bosses here early in the morning and those guys get to stand around for hours, they never put their stuff away, they always leave their trash for me to pick up, or I leave my station stocked and its empty when I come in the next day.
I once arrived for my dinner shift to find that the entire morning crew had walked off the job. This was the first time I had experienced the truth of the huge staff turnover rate that was taught in culinary school.
You will not see a group of cooks standing behind THE LINE with their blades together shouting “all for one and one for all” it is more like a bunch of rats fleeing a sinking ship, its every cook for himself!
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. People will look at “the big picture”, think of their co workers, anticipate, educate, be pro active, and think of others before themselves, but this is not the overriding vibe in a kitchen. When you get to work with a true teammate, cherish the experience.
I owe, I owe, its off to work I go.
Into THE CAULDRON!
Is tuisce deoch na sceal
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