For the Chefs Who Want to Be Cooks: An Interview
There once was a time when fine French technique reined and food came white gloved, carved tableside over many hours. Oh, how the dining landscape has changed. And yet, even then, we were often served large pieces of meat, cut and plated by skilled waiters; the dishes were simple and left little room for chef’s error. And now, with billions of restaurants doing everything from gourmet banh mi takeout to molecular gastronomy wizardry, a landscape where more important culinary voices come from untrained backgrounds than ever, where does the classically trained chef fit in?
These thoughts came to me over dinner with some friends at another “we have the best wood fired oven pizza in King West” dinner. The kitchen in this venue is open, and I could see the line cooks clearly. There were few smiles, little chatter. I decided to try and talk to one of the cooks – the first one who would exchange eye contact with me – and find out if his passion for food was being fulfilled by his work. I slipped a note over the open pass asking him to chat. He shrugged with the nonchalance I had witnessed all night and then replied, “Sure.” Thus, two days later, an enlightening conversation with a complete stranger ensued. Turns out, he actually had a lot to say.
His name was Justin Kiff and he was quite an experienced chef. Having spent ten years working at various establishments around the world along his travels, he has worked as a sous chef at a famous 5-star hotel which, he said, was the place to educate him on the “fine dining scene and the standards and work ethic required for a top dining establishment.” However, Kiff was adamant that he not be categorized a fine dining chef. After all his culinary training, would this not be a considered a coup?
No.
“I certainly have the capability of being a fine dining chef, but that’s not the road I want to go down. Lots of fine dining nowadays is turning more to techniques like molecular experimentation… there isn’t enough substance in the food itself.” The word substance is an interesting one. It quite literally means “substantial or solid character or quality.” As he put it, “It’s one thing to put… a puree and a few dots of a gel and foam and a jelly with a protein on a plate. It’s another to take a product, break it down and use all parts of it, whether to create a stock or a strong dish. I mean substance in a hearty way. Technique is theatrical but it the size and taste doesn’t justify the dollar value.”
There is validity in this point. I have had as many delicious single-bite amuse bouches in my time as perfectly cooked 16oz steaks. But what I heard was a young chef, one who could be technical but really, at the end of the day, wants to cook. He wants to cook food that tastes good. He wants to be creative with the animal he is provided. He wanted to be challenged as much as he was initially in his training.
While one may think chefs strive to work in the finest hotels, Kiff was happiest during an experience at a small bistro. “It was some of the best cooking I've ever done. I had multiple things on the go, multiple pans working to my taste as a professional.” He set the scene vividly. “You taste, dive into the fridge, grab a handful of herbs, drop some butter into whatever you’re doing, listening to your pans and the sizzle and knowing what’s going on just by the sound of your food. On the other hand, a lot of fine dining is just in the mise en place! Most of it is already done and it’s ready to go on to the plate after a few seconds in the pan.”
Kiff has to go to his shift, so we begin to wrap up. “I don’t mind where I work now,” he explains as he gathers his things. “I just don’t love it. I make simple, good food with real ingredients and I am proud of that aspect. The monotony is the problem. At the end of the day, I want what every chef wants really – to cook.” And with that, he goes off like so many others to work the line for the night.
