Reseña del libro "Chef Omar Sagastume: Hands on (en Inglés)"
BEING A CHEF EN LA COSINA Cocky motherfuckers, yelling, screaming, working long hours, and having no life, that's the life of most Chef's. Perfection and consistency, it's what most Chef's strive for, just to know that any little mistake in your kitchen, will be the chef's fault. The dream of every Chef in the world is to have his name well recognized, perfection and consistency will be the only thing that will accomplish that goal, so when someone fucks up in our kitchen, we do not go easy on them. As a chef I can tell you we could be hard on our help, but at the same time they are our family, we spend more time with all these people then the time we spend with our real families.A good Chef has to be an inspiration to every cook in the kitchen, everyone looks up to you, everyone in your kitchen wants to be like you, most cooks are loyal to their Chef. The SOU Chef, is the second in command, a good SOUChef is the second version of you, he will make sure the Chef's orders would be fallow to a T.A Chef without a good SOUChef is nothing in his kitchen, the SOUChef is your other half in the kitchen, he is your best friend, your homeboy, your partner in crime.As a Chef, I am very picky on places I go out to eat, I have seen a lot of shit being done in kitchens, most of it by a bunch of clowns that get up one morning and decide to call themselves CHEFS. A lot of shit being done to the public and you have no idea when you go out to eat, dipping thin slices of pork overnight, with a little bit of vinegar, and sell it to you as Veal Parma on the next day is an old trick, you would pay four times the price and won't even know the difference, unless you are a trained Chef. Creating fake Filet Mignon, using leftover pieces of meat with a special glue from China, even butchers can't tell the difference, making you Chicken Croquettes with leftover Chicken fat and the guts of the chicken, the list can go on and on, so yes, I am extremely picky when I go out to eat. The first thing I do, if I go out to eat, is to go to the bathroom, if the hygiene is good, most likely the kitchen is clean, check out their uniforms, are they clean? Some of the nastiest shit happens at the bar, right when order your drink, most of the soda machines, or beer dispensers, are only cleaned once a year, they have mold and all kinds of nasty shit, if you break it apart, the hose, the dispenser etc., you will not consume they beverage you just ordered. I did a lot of consulting work as a chef, many different occasions I would find frozen food for up to a year, I found a frozen chicken over a year old in the freezer, when I asked the Chef if he would eat that, he said yes, I made him cook the chicken and made him eat it.If you spec for someone to pay for a chicken that has been frozen for over a year, not only pay you for it, but expect him to come back, you are out of your freaking mind. It's calls common sense.A lot of the rules in a good kitchen are simple and basic, don't cook anything you would not eat yourself, keep your kitchen clean, and cook fresh food. Being in the restaurant business, it's one of the hardest things anyone can ever do.It is kind of funny, when I see a couple talking about how romantic opening a restaurant would be. Trust me when I tell you, romance is the last thing on the list. . Nine out of 10 Chefs are divorced and there is a good reason for that.Your expectations when you open a restaurant should be, never to have a weekend off again, to never spend time with your loved ones in the days they are off, you may get a Monday off if you lucky enough. If your expecting to become rich after opening a restaurant, you are wrong, Chef's do make good money, but when you consider the amount of hours we put in, the money does not look that good after all, Chefs are not in-it for the money, it's the love and passion what drives us.
