The Roaring Fork Club’s Executive Sous Chef wants to learn more about this culinary process as it produces some of his favorite flavors.
Chef’s Thoughts is sponsored by barillafs.com.
Mike Stetka, CEC, is Executive Sous Chef of The Roaring Fork Club, Basalt, Colo. He is honing his craft under Executive Chef David Kellaway, CMC. Originally from Baltimore, Stetka has been cooking professionally for over a decade.
- You’d be surprised to learn that I am an outdoor junkie.
- If I could trade places with one chef it would be Enrico Crippa.
- One of my most memorable meals was at Commander’s Palace while at Chef to Chef a couple of years ago.
- My go-to drink is either a nice Nebbiolo with dinner or a crisp Saison.
- My last meal would be King Crab broiler claws with drawn butter, a caesar salad, a dry-aged cowboy ribeye, and a chocolate soufflé.
- My worst culinary creation was a foie gras torchon on an otherwise hot plate for a banquet. It turned into a soft foie custard.
- If I could change one thing about my club it would be the amount and efficiency of the culinary space we have.
- My favorite junk food is Taylor Ham.
- If I wasn’t a chef, I’d love to be the owner/operator of a lodge in the mountains.
- I knew I wanted to be a chef when I realized it gave me a chance to combine one of my passions with my strengths and creativity.
- You’ll never see steamed blue crabs on the menu at my club because it isn’t a big thing in the mountains.
- The most ridiculous member or guest request I’ve ever had was a burger, split. One half with swiss and cooked medium-well, and the other half with American cooked rare.
- I love being a club chef because I have the opportunity to really learn the likes and dislikes of the members and the budget to be able to constantly exceed their expectations.
- When I’m not in the kitchen, I’m doing something outside: snowboarding, hiking, camping, fishing, golfing, biking.
- My biggest mistake when I first started as a chef was trying to be friends with all of my cooks.
- I cook Instant Ramen with smoked oysters and a poached egg at home, but I’d never cook it at the club.
- If I could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, it would be Elon Musk.
- The most valuable piece of career advice I’ve ever received was, “Make yourself the obvious choice.”
- My favorite celebrity chef is Grant Achatz because his mind works in such a unique way.
- The most important thing in my kitchen is my staff.
- I want to learn more about curing and fermentation because those processes produce some of my favorite flavors.
- My favorite ingredient is crab. Patagonian Toothfish—sorry I meant Chilean Sea Bass is the most overrated ingredient. Smoke is the most undervalued ingredient. I detest shad roe, and I can’t live without butter.
- I don’t like to brag, but I’m a new dad.
- My most embarrassing moment in the kitchen was going down with a kidney stone and being curled up on the floor of the office in the middle of a big club event.
- I’d like to see more club chefs collaborating on ideas, events, and staffing.
- My favorite cookbook is The Flavor Bible because even though it was one of the first cookbooks I owned it is still a constant resource for my staff, as well as myself.
- My favorite kitchen hack is anything sous vide. The precision and reliability is priceless.
- I am motivated by my wife and my daughter and inspired by so many of the chefs that I have worked for and with.
- The hardest service of my career was New Year’s Eve a few years back. There was a huge event with very limited staff and it just felt like I spent the whole night putting out one fire after another.
- The most popular item on my menu based on sales is our Perfect 10 Burger. It’s a house grind of chuck and prime rib, hand-formed 10 oz. burger with our house-made steak sauce.
- I’d lose my job if I took lamb lollipops off the menu.
- A combination of work ethic and teachability are the most important qualities in a sous chef.