Balance is the Secret to a Happy Life and Great Food
Presented by Weldwerks Brewing Co
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By Jesse Albertini
Balance is an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady. For years now, I have been saying that balance is the secret to a happy life and great food. When asked why food tastes better at a restaurant, I have heard the response that there is more salt, fat, and acid. While that is true, it is also the understanding of the balance that makes a perfect bite. If any of these components are out of balance, it will overtake your palate and ruin the experience.
It seems like such a simple idea, but as I watched Simone Biles pause in her Olympic competition because of mental health issues, it got me thinking about it again. The pressure and wild expectations she was facing as the whole world watches is something I can never understand, but I can draw on my own experiences to understand a small fraction of what she was feeling. I have always drawn a parallel between being an athlete and being a chef or line cook. The same is true in life; I spent the last twenty years trying to find balance. When I have felt unbalanced, either personally or at work, and continued to push, it has never turned out well. It has mainly led to public humiliations and challenging lessons. I wish I had the strength Simone had to say no to the opportunities that were not right for me.
I grew up playing team sports, and while there is a lot of good, there is also the attitude always to keep pushing. Leave your problems at the door and get to work. Whether on the field or in the kitchen, you are expected to perform no matter what is going on with you personally. And if you can't, you are not asked why; you are benched, judged, and even fired.
As a chef, you are expected to balance so many aspects of a diner's experience while at the same time keeping your line cooks and ownership happy. While the job description for a chef may be different from one place to the next, it is all a balancing act. It is a constant dance on a tightrope, usually lit on fire on at least one end with no safety net at the bottom.
To start, you need to hire a professional, passionate, and reliable team of line cooks at an hourly rate that is a joke. You tell them that they are paid in experience and that in time the money will come. (Spoiler alert-it won't) You will always be understaffed; one hire away from finally getting to take a day off. The staff that you end up with is a motley crew of misfits, outcasts, and criminals. This is your family now, and you love them for all of their flaws; you too are flawed. If you are lucky and treat them right, they will follow you through the rest of your career.
Now you are told you can have no overtime even though there is no way around it. There are not enough of you to work every station for every service as your team gets sick, burnt out, and often arrested. On occasion, you bail someone out of jail with your own money because you love them, but also, you can't imagine trying to work so understaffed yet another shift in a row. You hope you will get paid back, but you know you won't. (It doesn't really matter as long as you have them for dinner service.)
Next, you have to balance your menu. Balance the food cost, the number of starters you have, a salad for everyone, a variety of entrees, and super delicious desserts (even though you have no budget for a pastry chef.) You need to cross utilize your products, but no one wants to see the same thing repeated on a menu too many times. You also must balance how the menu is coming off the line. Keep an even number of items coming off each station so that no line cook gets buried while another is leisurely sending out one plate for every six the other is.
Now balance the flow of service. You are the conductor, work with the front of the house to make sure seating is correct and that the poor hostess you hired yesterday understands how important she is. Make sure tickets are coming in and going out seamlessly. Be ahead of the issues. Send out a bite of food or a glass of wine as soon as your sauté cook realizes they cooked six halibuts but needed seven. Touch tables and talk to your guests, make them feel valued, and listen to their feedback even though in the back of your mind, you see that your sous chef is not pulling tickets correctly.
Finish service as strong as you started, then clean, inventory, order, and plan mise en place for the next service. Check your phone finally and find out that your friends are mad because they still don't understand you work weekends. Yes, you usually have Mondays off, but you still have to work on holidays when they are off. Let your significant other know you will be home late and just found out that your am cook is not coming in, so you have to be back early.
If you are lucky, you may be able to go home now. Your nervous system has been on fire for the last six hours, and you need to balance it before you go to sleep. You check the end of the evening email and the front of the house complaining that your kitchen staff was wearing a dirty shirt. You know they were; you also know they live on someone's couch, and it is one of their only shirts.
You have a drink, maybe three, wash one of your shirts for your line cook, get ready to do it all again tomorrow, and hope for a balance.
Established in 2015, WeldWerks Brewing Co. is an award-winning craft brewery located in Greeley, Colorado recognized for brewing an array of beer styles including Juicy Bits, one of the most highly regarded IPAs in the country. WeldWerks has garnered numerous medals and acclaim on the way, including being named the best new brewery in the country by USA Today in 2016 and multiple medals at both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup. The brewery’s charitable arm, the WeldWerks Community Foundation, is a 501c3 nonprofit that supports local nonprofits through events like The WeldWerks Invitational.
Jesse Albertini, a native New Yorker, moved to Colorado in 2004 after graduating college. She came for a winter, decided to stay for a summer, and sixteen years later, is still in love with this State. Dedicating herself to the hospitality industry, Jesse has worked her way through the kitchen ranks of many well known and respected Denver restaurants. She learned how to command a kitchen from Chef Elise Wiggens, how to run a line from Chef Kate Horton. Finally, she grew a sense of craftsmanship from Chef Steve Redzikowski, to name a few. Along the way, Chef Jesse helmed the wheel and honed her craft as executive chef at Cafe|bar, the Hive Bistro, and Gaijin. She also was part of the opening team at Jovanina's Broken Italian, where she was able to help develop the pasta program. Jesse is also extremely passionate about responsibly sourcing seasonal produce and humanely raised animals. Reducing waste and being mindful of the environment will continue to be a focal point in Jesse's career and the driving forces behind Sfoglina Denver Pasta
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