eggbeater

london bakeries & bakers gossip.

i have to share some fun tidbits with you. shhhh, they're secrets. tee hee.
i used to work here, The Big Gun. the company was started in 1991 by the formidable She. now it is owned by two businessmen. it's a massive enterprise in Hendon with 3 factions/departments: The Cake Department, BMG (Viennoisserie) & Bread.

A number of years later She started an amazing food shop and ran these well known london bakeries too. She also has a small part of opening one of the most beautiful chocolate shops.

right after valentine's day of this year, her bakeries were bought by a company that should barely be allowed to call itself a bakery. that company fired just about everyone and still owes them months of back pay.
but i digress.

if you read the Tamasin Day-Lewis piece well, you'll notice that one of the chefs is now a main chef (and partner) at this other incredible london food shops/restaurants/pastry shops. yes, and the name of the business comes from someone else who worked for She.

one of the pastry chefs let go in the massive bakery take over in February started consulting for this bakery chain about 3 months ago.

this bakery chain was not begun by She, even though it's her name.
She has nothing to do with this bakery chain, even though the website might tell you different.
this bakery chain's products are produced in The Big Gun's Cake Department.
this bakery chain is just one of thousands of customers of The Big Gun and the Cake Department.
this bakery chain is owned by a He. yes, the same one of the two he's who own The Big Gun.
this bakery chain has just launched a new product line. you can eat it at 2 of their four stores. Clapham & Hampstead.

but massive product launches for one specific customer coming from a department producing 40,000 units a month (not an exaggeration) need extra pastry chefs.

and here's the clincher.
if it weren't full circle/incestuous/crazy small world enough yet.

The Big Gun, who owns the small bakery chain, named after She who started The Big Gun, the same She who went on to open the most gorgeous, delicious series of bakeries/food shops London had ever seen, and then hired two he's who would open (an eponymous) very similar businesses to Hers

are now the company whose pastry chefs are leaving it to help this bakery chain.

could you die? it's so amazingly ridiculous.

how could it be that a city as big as London is being baked for by a handful of pastry chefs/bakers?

one last thing. the people behind this shop will soon be opening a bakery. guess where the pastry chef/baker behind that venture worked last?

Royal Blenheim Apricots. buy & eat me now. Northern California & beyond.

Now is the time.
The time is Right Now.
If you live in California, USA or anywhere close by, and you love apricots

{photo by Anita Crotty of Married ...with Dinner}

The Royal Blenheim Apricot is in season right this minute.

AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THEM GO EXTINCT IN YOUR LIFE TIME

support the few farmers left growing them.

All this information just in from my favorite group, Bakers Dozen.

Dear Bakers Dozen Members:
The Blenheims are Here!  If you’d like to organize a carpool to pick some up, here are some sources:

 ♦Apricot King—Patty Gonzales’ orchard
Email:  info@apricotking.com
Phone:  831/637-1938

Visit their farm in Hollister, or check them out at these local farmer's markets:

Santa Cruz
2:30 to 6:30 Wednesdays – Lincoln & Cedar, one block off Pacific in downtown Santa Cruz
Los Altos
4 to 8 p.m. – Thursdays, downtown Los Altos
Palo Alto
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Sundays (California & El Camino)
Mountain View
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Sundays (Hope & Evelyn Streets)

 
♦Andy's Orchard
1615 Half Road
Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Store Hours:
10:00am - 5:00pm Weekdays
10:00am - 4:00pm Weekends
(408) 782-7600 and ask for Lorene

or
•    Sigonona's Market (Palo Alto)
•    Cosentino's (San Jose) carries Andy's fruit
•    Local Farmers Market @ Garden Accent
•    11155 Lena Ave, Gilroy, CA 408/846-4555 Thur  2-7 pm
or look on the local harvest website.

More lovely photos can be found on Flickr of Royal Blenheim Apricots on the branch, taken by Spidra Webster.

picnic at the westernmost point, isle of skye, scotland.

all you know is that you want to picnic.


you don't know the land
as it rolls out in front of the car.

you look at the map
of this place you've never been
and you pick up a few nibbles
carrots, flatbread, 'crowdie' a scottish cheese, dark chocolate digestives (he says he can eat too many), blueberries, tangerines, juice. salt & sweet.


all you know
is that you want to eat outside
sit away from the wind
but still in the glorious sun.
you get to the neist point lighthouse. park.
all you can see are cliffs and blue blue sea
land stretches out before you: sharp and steep, rocky and open.


so you walk towards the edge
even though it doesn't look like much
your heart is open
wide open


and what looks like a few boulders
under tufts of grasses
is the place.
and very very carefully,


because the sheer drop is obvious,

you both settle in
completely hidden
embraced by rocks
and unfurl your little picnic
right there
at the edge of scotland.

gorgeous.

summer fruit desserts, in London.

I'm back working in a restaurant after what feels like many years. Moving thousands of miles can do that-- separate you from what you know, and remove the ground from beneath your feet. What was a recent experience can feel far away in lieu of disorientation.

For the last 11 years, the ground beneath my chef feet has been seasonal, local, mostly organic fruit; and my moniker, 'fruit-inspired pastry chef,' has been my guiding force. I have picked fruit, worked for farmers at favorite farmer's markets and eaten my weight in citrus and stone fruit many times over. I said for years anad years that I stayed in California for its gratuitous fruit array.

But here in London, fruit is an afterthought. Besides apples and pears in autumn, and gooseberries, elderflowers and strawberries in summer, which few do better than Britain, fruit comes from very far away and few people know when to buy it at its peak. Most fruit and vegetables are here year round, but flown in from various countries and continents catchers-catch can style, making fruit buying confusing at best.

And because few fruits are grown in British soil, they arrive with a high price tag. Using fruit as a primary focus for a plated dessert, here in London, is a bad idea, cost-wise. But also flavour-wise, because seasonal fruit in South Africa or Spain, or even a country as close as France, is probably not picked and shipped as ripe as one would hope.

All this said, I have found trusted places to buy UK seasonal fruit. And the restaurant I work for is produce-centric and we use an amazing produce purveyor, so I feel infinitely grateful/lucky to have well-chosen product close by.

That said, what desserts are on the horizon?

I'm thinking about tahini, white chocolate, bananas, tamarind, black sesame seeds, grapefruit; Thai coconut soup sorbet; manouri, strawberries & pink peppercorns; gooseberries, mint, rosemary, elderflowers & corn; mango inspired gazpacho; buckwheat & chocolate; brown butter, raw sugar, frangipane & nectarines; young coconut, black rice, caramel. For our retail shop I'm contemplating sandwich cookies, chocolate bouchons, Lamingtons, real graham crackers, verbena profiteroles, tart lemon drizzle cakes, peanut financiers, and rich bread & butter puddings.

Moving to a new place means thinking different. Cooking and baking professionally for a new public means learning about their collective palates and historical connections to food, fruit, baked goods, salt. I can still bring me to the table, but I have to compromise too. I can't move forward: careerwise, dessertwise, bakingwise; if I do not take into consideration new soil, new people, new fruit, new seasons, new pace, new price-point, new retail environment, new attitudes about communication/confrontation, new communication styles, new everything, really.

I look forward to changing styles a bit. While I will always be a fruit-inspired pastry chef, I look forward to thinking differently, in a new way, to meet my new surroundings and continue to grow. One can get too comfortable/ too ghetto-ized/ too smug in one's niche/ geographical area/ style. Stuck.

If nothing else, it should be interesting.

Underground Restaurant by @MsMarmitelover. Kilburn, London 13.06.09

you have been on twitter for a while
but when you move 8000 miles away twitter becomes something else, explodes
suddenly it's like when you first met the internet
everything new, you are innocent and trusting
and go to people's houses
you've never met, in Real Life, before.
Oneday
in the land of
nothingness that is neither working nor vacationing
you get a DM
'hey-- you wanna be a guest chef at my Underground Restaurant?' the person's name is @MsMarmitelover.
you say yes and head to her house
even though you have no idea what train you're on and how to get there.

you both talk about a lot of things.
but what catches your breath is that you speak of one of your most favoritest dishes to make and eat
EGGPLANT PARMESAN
you both agree:
when it's Done Right
it takes all day.
and an idea is born.


you know British strawberries will arrive just before June 13
and you don't know what you'll make for pudding/dessert
but you know it will be All About Those Amazing Strawberries.

while you've never been to or cheffed at an Underground Restaurant, you've done a fair amount of onsite catering and know you can handle it. you don't sweat the small stuff and you can pass on a few restaurant tricks. but it's not about any of that. it's about
COLLABORATION
COMRADERIE
COMMUNITY
ACCESS
REVOLUTION
HOME
HEART
GENEROSITY
delicious food.



to see the menu in it's entirety, photographed by the fabulous @MsMarmitelover, go to her blog The English Can Cook. The craziest thing you'll see is me in a dress in the kitchen !

My favourite lines from her inital post on our dinner:
"Shuna Fish Lydon is a specialist in patisserie and custards. What she doesn't know about eggs is not worth knowing."

*

For the photos I managed to catch between prep, plate-up, keeping tidy and generally taking in the whole scene with my heart and mind, check out my set on Flickr.

~

Underground Restaurants -
putting the u back in Guerilla.

underground restaurant above ground menu {ideas}

On Saturday June 13, Shuna fish Lydon is a guest chef at @MsMarmitelover's Underground Restaurant Extra Ordinaire!

Here are our ideas for what it will look like, although everything is subject to change because of availability

or whim.

bread
seeded crackers

starter
chunky gazpacho
goat yogurt granite + basil jelly
chilled fresh tomato soup, croutons

main
eggplant parmesan

salad
rocket + chicory + lemon + pinenuts

dessert
strawberry bavarois + strawberry & herb salad
rosemary shortbread, strawberry relish, ricotta mousse
strawberry granita, sheeps yogurt lebne, pistachio salad
carneroli-bay laurel pudding, strawberry salad, pistachio & rose petal shortbread

Menus are ideas, thoughts, musings, concepts, theory, themes, tradition, revolution, albums, one-offs, off the cuff, pre-meditated, conjecture, psychotic breaks, dreams, stolen kisses, drunk black outs, cock walks, demure courtship, powerplay, negotiation, vanilla lovely dovey rool arounds, theater, dance, Be Ins, walkouts, strikes, community efforts, and...

They grow in the ground, near the sea's edge, in our hearts.

I'll let you know via photos and musings how the day and night went once all is told, fed, washed, minced, chilled, forked, spooned, quenelled, poached, whisked, baked, tasted, nibbled, imbibed,

satiated.

Until next time.

/this is what i want to say about love.

what is the gift?
is the gift loving another or
just loving.
is love a gift at all
or is just
love.
you should ever put just before love
love is bigger than that.

i feel open
i feel broken
i feel naked
i feel am exposed

the gift of love is feeling love
starting from that place
filling you up
where pleasure starts
abdomen meets thighs
it melts me
melts you
light
it's all light
i can't feel my legs
i don't know where i am
but i'm traveling
rocketing -

you're taking me there
{but are you?}
/or is it me?

/this is what i want to say about love
don't be scared of it
sit inside it
even though
it's absolutely terrifying.

i've fallen in love with you and all you want to do is run away
run
get on a plane
disappear
run through the woods
get deep inside
when even a compass can't find your way out
bury you deep

i hold your face inside my hands
and kiss your eyelids
i tell you it will be alright
i place my hands, mouth between your legs
i pleasure you
i feed you delicious food
i take you to where the sky opens up
and swallows us whole
i pull heavy camera to my eye
and you say no.
i tell you your rules are not my rules
i tell you i will never tell.
secret
you are secret
i am your secret.

what is the gift of love.
i feel love
but i never say it
i know it scares you down to your toes
you said this wasn't real.

but you know what?
fuck you and your borders
my heart is mine
my love is mine
my body is mine

/this is what i want to say about love.
it's mine
and mine to give
and you can never forsake it
reject it
give it back
throw it down
break it

Hello love my old friend
Sure is good to see you again

what is the gift?
the gift is love
the gift is a heart
kept malleable
vulnerable, soft, permeable, punctureable
hand me a scalpel,
i'll show you
there
cut there
my heart's been bruised bloodied forgotten discarded dulled
i've sat in the deep waters of grief
i've held the hand of her dying
i've transformed
i've closed up my heart for years at a time
hidden it on a shelf
and smoothed over the door
shallow grave
walked away.

love.

she says the gift is the feeling of it
not the reciprocation
he says no one can ever love you the way you want to feel loved
i say you can't fall out of love
love ain't no fuckin' tree.

/this is what i want to say about love.
it is terrifying
it changes you
it changes everything
it carries you
aloft
from floating you see the land
color blocks and swirvy lines
deep blue water
flattened, like hammer to nail
and it could
float you down
        glide
wing ed
nothing but the wind in your ears and clouds in your hair
nothing but your whole body melting into ozone, hemisphere
but it can also drop you
baby bird
empty nest
what looks to be a parachute, ballast
all hopes
evaporate
eviscerated
a fish hook enters, sharp as a razor
pulled out the way it went in
stuck
barb
tearing
slow death, painful. jagged.

love.
so many costumes, guises.
a siren's call
kiss and a slap

/this is what i want to say about love.
be not afraid to speak it
be not afraid to tell it
whether it is taken from your hands, out of your mouth, from your sex
whether rejected, tied in knots
whether turned into lies
whether told
'no. this is not love. i don't love you. you don't know what love is. i've never loved you. you're not worthy of love. i haven't known you long enough. but i told you not to fall in love with me. you know i don't have love to give you.'

what is the gift?
is the gift loving another or
just loving.

/this is what i want to say about love.
love is delicious
inspiring, opening
it's nothing i want to be ashamed of
no matter the subject
no matter here nor there
no matter gender chosen or assigned
no matter
even if secret, unattainable, gone

love is at my door again
/this is what i want to say about love.

Neist Point, Isle of Skye - Scotland

My Isle of Skye photos are many, and varied. In only a few days we saw, and drove, the entire coast. I've tried to upload them in order of families--- geographical locations, so as to remember the days, the mood, the varied and foreign land.

The Westernmost Point of the Isle of Skye is Neist Point and there's a lighthouse there. It's a ravishing, steep view of desert like cliffs and sea to the horizon. We walked down the side of one cliff where there are hundreds of stairs, but instead of going all the way out to the lighthouse, we parked ourselves against an old drystone wall and watched the light shift from white to yellow to golden orange, feeling Scotland's late spring air shift from warm to cool.

This day was perfect. These photos show a glimpse of that day, and there's more that will be uploaded this week.

All my Isle of Skye photos thus far can be accessed through the Urquart Castle post. I can't say I did any of the land justice because it was well beyond my visual comprehension and I was humbled by it immensely as a photographer. Please take these photos as a document of my first visit to a land I hope to court in the future. I have still, as yet, to make my pilgrimmage to Shuna.

shuna. in a dress.

Tamarillo! my new favorite fruit.

TAMARILLO !

The Mystery Fruit is Solved.
Thank you to all who participated! Many of you were spot on. The rest of you were close or had great guesses.

The lovely Tamarillo is sweet & savoury
tomatoey & melony
elusive like a papaya,
enigmatic fruit like cucumber,
gorgeous to look at
deeply scented like a handsome farmer,
"rich in vitamin E but low in carbohydrates,"
photogenic
sexy



Tamarillo. Tamarillo. O Tamarillo!



Tamarillos are
edible
raw
or cooked



seedy, crunchy, jelly-like
voluptuous
strong
quirky
strange

Tamarillos straddle many fences.
Not everyone will like them.

Tamarillos will keep you on your toes.
And tease you
taunt
with their
je ne sais quoi
flavour.

What is the Tamarillo flavour?
Sun ripened tomato  melon  papaya  guava  red beet.



Tamarillos are the pride of New Zealand.
Yet another reason to go there.

*


This post is dedicated to Keith, who first introduced me to the Tamarillo with his poetic words about Tamarillo Jelly (jelly is something very different outside of the States) and then brought me to The Modern Pantry where I experienced poached tamarillo in Greek yogurt, garnished with New Zealand's famous Manuka honey. After that I was never the same. Obsessed.

So, thank you Anna Hansen for introducing London, and me, to this magnificent fruit!

This post is also dedicated to Bea Vo of her eponymous bakery, Bea's of Bloomsbury. Last week I had the honour of playing in her illustrious kitchen and she sent me home with a flat of raw tamarillos!

And you? Do you have a fondness for this fruit? What do you love about it? What do you do with it?

The Harwood Arms, Gastropub Extra Ordinaire. Fulham, London

Not all 'gastro-pubs' are created equal.
Some are just pubs with a big kitchen.
Some are superfancy fried food joints.
And then
there's pubs like Anchor & Hope or
The Harwood Arms
who blow you away.

Compared with food-centric American cities, London is not known for 'destination eating.' Meaning, unless for a Michelin rated experience, Londoners will rarely travel clear across the city for a meal, a drink, a baguette or a sweet thing. One has one's 'local,' and that about does it. For the food obsessed, though, there are of course exceptions.

I went to The Harwood Arms once, by happenstance. Close friends of mine were married in Fulham, and booked the gastro-pub for their meal and reception afterwords. It was one of the most seamless restaurant 'large party' experiences I was ever part of. The house decorated a long farmhouse table in clementines and rose petals, and when our pre-arranged meal came out, many of us were rendered speechless as the food was gorgeously presented, well-executed and stunningly delicious.
But every time I attempted to go there again, from late winter to early spring, they were booked to capacity and unable to seat me.



Until last Bank Holiday Monday.
San Franciscan friends were visiting and I wanted to introduce them to a piece of London they might not otherwise be in the know about.

Our entire meal, complete with an ending of every single dessert (or pudding, as it is named in Britain) is documented in a set on flickr.
I beg of you to make a booking here. Especially if you know you're on your way to London.
I dare say you will not be disappointed.

London, Walking the Thames.

MONTEREY MARKET NEEDS YOUR HELP!! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.
PLEASE go to Friends of Monterey Market and show your support/read about what you can do.
PLEASE WRITE A LETTER.
PLEASE DO NOT SHOP AT MONTEREY MARKET AFTER JUNE 3rd UNLESS BILL FUJIMOTO takes back his resignation.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD THAT MONTEREY MARKET NEEDS EVERY ONE'S HELP to make it clear that Bill Fujimoto IS Monterey Market and his resignation is not an option.
PLEASE MAKE IT CLEAR TO THE ENTIRE FUJIMOTO FAMILY that you will not support a market that places its bottom line before family.
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

If you have eaten ANYWHERE IN THE BAY AREA, you have supported Monterey Market.
If you have ever shopped at ANY FARMERS MARKET, you have supported Monterey Market.
If you have ever blogged about new fruit in season, new fruit available in the USA, climbed upon the great pumpkin interactive sculpture in North Berkeley, or made anything in any home kitchen or restaurant or catering kitchen with any fruit or vegetables, you have supported Monterey Market.
If you believe in farmers, chefs with integrity, great produce, eating seasonally, eating locally, supporting local business YOU BELIEVE IN SUPPORTING MONTEREY MARKET.
AND YOU WOULD CONSIDER SHOWING YOUR SUPPORT TO A MARKET, A TEMPLE, A STORE, AN INSTITUTION that was in need of help.

MONTEREY MARKET NEEDS YOUR HELP.
PLEASE BLOG ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW AND LET GOOGLE AND THE FUJIMOTOS KNOW WE WILL BE HEARD.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT BILL FUJIMOTO'S RESIGNATION.
WE WILL NOT SHOP AT THE STORE IF THE FAMILY ACCEPTS HIS RESIGNATION.
PLEASE TWEET ABOUT MONTEREY MARKET and the petition.
PLEASE TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING.

I love Monterey Market.
I always have.
I always will.
I support Monterey Market from accross the USA and into the United Kingdom.
BUY EAT AT BILLS AND WATCH IT WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW PILED INTO THE LIVINGROOM if you don't believe me when I say this is a place that must be saved!!!!!!

**If you have time to leave a comment here, you have time to write a letter to the Fujimoto's.

Baking Classes in London. Bea's of Bloomsbury 2009 {POSTPONED}

You heard it right !



SHUNA LYDON
LONDON BAKING CLASSES
!
AT BEA'S OF BLOOMSBURY
Cake Shop Extra Ordinaire
44 Theobald's Road
London WC1X 8NW




Premiering Class ~

Meringue etc.: A Myriad of Egg White Possibilities
Egg whites are the backbone of dozens of recipes both sweet and savoury. Egg whites help cakes rise, make souffles turn into clouds of flavour, and play the leading role in meringues. Knowing how to work with egg whites well can lead to endless possibilities in the kitchen, including countless wheat & gluten-free desserts.

But egg whites are tricky. Come to this class and you could leave confident in ways you never imagined! Learn the 'Hows' and 'Whys' of egg whites and their mysterious ways from me, Shuna Lydon, student of the egg & consummate pastry chef, in the sweet kitchen laboratory of Bea's of Bloomsbury cake shop.

29/05/09 ~ THIS CLASS HAS BEEN POSTPONED!
SORRY FOR THE LATE NOTICE
JUNE DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY...

Sunday May 31, 2009
4:30 - 7:30 pm
£115*

*This price is negotiable.
As we are just starting out, please do not be afraid of emailing me to negotiate.

1 spot reserved at discounted price for 'assistant' position
----> email me directly if you think this should be you

Shuna Lydon has been teaching baking & knife skills classes for the last 5 years in North America.
Classes link documenting all of these.


Photo by Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes
from my last Egg Whites class.

See you soon?

come one, come all, come hungry to learn!

Urquhart Castle, Scotland {Loch Ness}

No, I did not see the monster.
Yes, of course I looked.
No, I was not driving.
Yes, I spent the whole time looking out the window, spotting castles and new little lambs and sheepy sheep and fuzzy cows.

But the castles. That was it for me. I loves me some Castle. Big ones, hidden ones, ones in ruins, ones still inhabited, forest castles, cliff castles, sequestered castles. O castle, I heart ye.

Urquhart Castle was perhaps the first we saw. I recognized it from having seen a number of amazing shots through kayaking sites. Those people get the best views, I must say.

For the full walk-through of Urquhart Castle, feel free to check out what I've placed on Flickr.

This castle has the best location. It sits right at the edge of Loch Ness, has an amazing view of a body of water as far as the eye can focus, and, as you can see, I saw Scotland in full sun for four days! For which I am most grateful. If you have an in with the Scottish Gods be sure to thank them for me.

The other Scotland photo sets thus far ~
Isle of Skye: Northeast, North, Northwest
Portree, Isle of Skye. Harbor Boats
Faerie Pools, Isle of Skye - Scotland
Scotland, North West
Duisdale House Hotel Isle of Skye, Scotland
Dun Telve Broch, Glenelg near Kyle of Lochalsh
Westernmost Point of Skye, Scotland

How Do I Get a Professional Cooking/Baking Job in a Restaurant?

As you know, I get a lot of questions from cooks or future cooks from all over the world. When I started eggbeater I didn't really understand the internet, and I didn't know people from everywhere would be reading it, or even that they would get to it from someplace other than the exact location I was writing it from. You could say I was naive. You'd be correct, and diplomatic.

People want to know how they can become a chef, pastry chef, or even start cooking professionally. People want to know what to do when the kitchens they work in suck. Female cooks want to know exactly how much harassment they should take. Everyone wants me to tell them which is the best culinary school. A lot of people want to know what the pay scale is. Many people ask Google how many hours they should expect to work as a chef/cook.

But the question I get most is how to land the very first job, stagiere, apprenticeship.

How do I get my first cooking job?
What will the interview be like?
How long does it take to become a pastry chef?
Can I work for you?

I write, and have written, the same email response over and over and over. You'd think by now I'd have a form-letter, but I'm still a little naive, so I don't.

And because I have recently started pounding the pavement again, I can say that my own advice, after 17 years, still works.

Here are my standard tips for getting into your first kitchen, and maybe some more, if you so choose to make kitchens your life, love and home.

1. Eat out as much as you can afford. Bring a little notebook and pen with you wherever you go. Take notes. When you find a menu you love, ask your waiter for the full name of the chef and pastry chef. Ask what the hours of said restaurant are.
2. Print out your resume/CV and bring it, in person, to this restaurant and ask for the chef/pastry chef by full name. Only go to a restaurant before services. If a place is open for lunch and dinner it's best to show up between 3-4 pm. Never ever ever ever call or go to a restaurant and ask for anyone managerial while service is going on.
3. Flattery will get you everywhere. Tell said chef you loved her/his food when you ate there and that you would love to work in their kitchen. Questions to come out of your mouth sound something like this: 'Are there any entry level positions open?' 'Do you have room for a stagiere?' 'Can I come in for a stagiere?' You are humble. You will take any position. You know little. But you are firm and have conviction. You go to that back door every day and ask for the person you need to speak with if it's the place you want to work.
4. Do not wait for a phone call back.
5. Do not email your resume/CV as an attachment.
6. Do not take rejection as such until you have exhausted all your options.
7. Do not take rejection personally. Do not take acceptance personally either. Most chefs love free labour and if you land an entry level position, you will still have to work hard to earn respect in the kitchen.
8. Read as much as you can about said chef/restaurant. If you make it into the kitchen spend all your waking hours reading local papers, food magazines, blogs, and cookbooks covering said cuisine.
9. IMMERSE YOURSELF. In all things food, cooking, baking, ingredients, agriculture, butchery.
10. Take notes.
11. Buy these things for every job and never go to work without them:
12. Thick Sharpie, A little notebook that fits in your back pocket and 1 indelible pen that is not a thick sharpie.
13. Always leave a little time before you enter the kitchen for Mental Mis en Place. This is as important as your physical tools like knives, off-set spatulas and shoes you can stand for 16 hours in.
14. When you are in the kitchen, learn everyone's {full} names and histories. Get their information and keep in touch with them long after you leave said job. It is from my relationships to other cooks that I have gotten 98% of my jobs.
15. Your knives should always be sharp. You do not need a lot of them.
16. Get to work early and stay late. Watch and learn from the best people in the kitchen. Fellow cooks don't talk or give advice a lot in the kitchen but their movements, set-up, and how they fare during service will tell you more than they could.
17. Stay humble. People who have been cooking for decades and decades will die knowing less than most people think they know in their first few years cooking/baking. Cooking is a craft, not an acquisition.
18. Stay in every kitchen for at least 1 year in your first 5 years.

No matter your age, gender, sexual preference, religion, and class, when you are at the bottom of the brigade/totem pole, you are truly at the bottom. Learn how to wash dishes even if it's not your job title. Be available for anything.

Even if you are a stagiere, act like the job is a job. If all the chef has available is a stage, make a serious intentional arrangement about time. Just going in when it suits you will not build enough of a rhythm to learn from, at least not in the beginning.

If you really want to cook professionally, and all the restaurants in your area are chains or run by Shoemakers, you will have to move.

People keep writing to me about their horrible kitchens. Chefs with little to no integrity. Dirty disgusting kitchens. Kitchens putting their workers and diners at risk with food and safety issues.

If you work in a kitchen that is not safe for anyone working or dining there, leave. If you want to make a difference, access your local authorities. You can not make an anonymous claim, though. If you're going to advocate, you have to be brave.

I took Whole Foods to the National Labor Relations Board {NLRB} and filed a claim with OSHA when I was about 22, so I don't want to hear you're too young or scared of your job or whatever when it comes to reporting the kitchen you show up every day to.

If you want to cook professionally you may want to stop watching kitchen reality shows.
If you want to cook professionally you should have money in the bank or very cheap rent or a spouse to support you.
If you want to cook professionally you immediately give up having a 'normal' life with 'normal' working hours.
If you want to cook professionally you will have to really want it. Above all else.
If you want to cook professionally go after it like nothing else. Stop at nothing.
If you want to cook professionally you will, if it's all you can think about. If you can afford to do so. If you set your mind to it.

When will you be a chef?

That I can't say. For that there is no bullet point list, no advice, no recipe.

I didn't start cooking profdessionally to become a chef or be a chef or arrive as a chef. I started cooking professionally because it was all I wanted to do at a very particular time in my life. I didn't go to culinary school, I did not own a single knife, I did not know what an 'all-day' was.

I learned everything on the job. And so can you. Or you can go to school. Or take all that money you would sign over to a school, put it in the bank, and go work for someone whose food you love for free and live on that bank account.

I'm here to say that flattery is the best way to get your foot in a seemingly solid steel door. I recently took a CV to a restaurant I like a lot. I said these words,

"Hello. I've only been here to eat a few times but I love it. I'm in the industry-- I'm a cook, and I happen to have my CV with me. But I want you to know this: even if you never call me, I am going to come back. I have recommended __________ to many people and I will continue to do so. Just in case the chef needs any help, I'm available for any position."

And I got a phone call. And a trail/day stage.

While I have no idea what will happen, a lot has happened already because I was able to work for 12 hours inside one of the most inspirational kitchens I have ever had the priveledge to be in.

When the chef asked me why I had given the restaurant my CV even though no position was being advertised, I said, "Where I come from, if a resume comes to me and I can not utilize said person, I pass it along to someone I respect who can. If I gave you my CV, and I love your food, and you did the same, I would trust that my name would be passed along to someone else I would want to work for."

Rule of thumb: the more people who see your resume/CV, the more likelihood of getting a job. And if you never burn any bridges it's great because the cooking world is small. I recently traveled 8,000 miles only to work with a pastry chef who had gone to school with and worked for some of the very same people I had, in the exact same kitchens!

And now I'm in a completely foreign city, connecting with cooks and bakers, following the same advice I'm giving you.

Be brave. Be bold.

This industry isn't for the faint of heart. It's for the passionate, the crazy, the driven, the competitive.
This industry is a knitted series of networks of people who are like tiny cities/families unto themselves.
This industry is my home, my heart, my love, my people, brethren.

But it's not a part time job. And it's not impossible to enter.

Perhaps I have now finally created my form-letter response...
I do hope this helps.

Fellow cooks/chefs/bakers/pastry chefs-- any more advice to add to the list?
People entering the industry-- what has worked for you? What hasn't?

Portree Harbor, Isle of Skye. Scotland

if you know me, you know i have always had a thing for the sea.
anything maritime is a friend of mine.
whether it be fish or sailors, the navy or coast guard, whales & sea birds, octopi or coral; it's all my love.
like kitchens, i can never get enough of photographing water, and all its related themes.

in fact, i hope you'll join me in seeing and spreading the word about The End of the Line, a brutally honest film about overfishing the world's oceans and waterways. while i agree it won't be pleasant to see and learn about this devastatingly sad subject, i know it's immeasurably important to be fully aware. we make choices all the time, both intentional and passive, with our money & voices, as it concerns the food we are eating now and the food we are planning to eat in the future.

but until then, feel free to see a tiny sampling of photos i took at Portree's harbor just a few days ago. i took a lot of photographs all around the Isle of Skye, but I am gathering them into specific sets on flickr. for ease-- less of a chance to overwhelm.
thank you for going on the journey with me.
it was an amazing one.

Scotland, Isle of Skye. The Fairy Pools.

i have no words yet.
there are too many, and yet none of them work.
so i've begun with the photos. in groups. by place.
it's the best way i know how.
to give it all the room.
it deserves, needs, requires.
i was humbled and awed
opened and touched
nourished and inspired.

Isle of Skye, Scotland.
The Fairy Pools in Glen Brittle, The Cuillin Hills.
about 20 photos here, including a few of me dipping my face in very cold and absolutely delicious water!