Chef’s Thoughts with Pedro Sanchez, CEC

BraeBurn CC’s Executive Chef says this the most valuable piece of career advice he’s ever received.

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Chef’s Thoughts is sponsored by barillafs.com.

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Born and raised in Venezuela, Pedro Sanchez, CEC, is the Executive Chef of BraeBurn Country Club in Houston, Texas. Prior to this post, he was Senior Sous Chef of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. He also served as Sous Chef of Lakeside Country Club in Houston, Texas.

1. You’d be surprised to learn that I am currently studying to become a sommelier.
2. If I could trade places with one chef it would be Joan Roca.
3. One of my most memorable meals was the omakase tasting menu at Pujol restaurant in Mexico.
4. My go-to drink is cabernet sauvignon.
5. My last meal would be a picanha steak with chimichurri.
6. My worst culinary creation was a tuna tartare I did when I was an apprentice. The flavors were strong and wrong.
7. If I could change one thing about my club I would make the pool kitchen bigger and more efficiently designed.
8. My favorite junk food is Venezuelan street food-style hot dogs.
9. If I wasn’t a chef, I’d love to be a master sommelier.
10. I knew I wanted to be a chef when I finished a digital clock in electronic engineering school and felt no emotions. I was just thinking about the prep and game plan for my shift in the restaurant I used to work at.
11. You’ll never see sushi on the menu at my club because sushi making is an art that I have not mastered yet and it would be a disservice to the members.
12. The most ridiculous member or guest request I’ve ever had was once I was asked to make eggs benedicts without butter because of allergies, so I sent them without hollandaise sauce, the guest sent the plate back and was very upset that it didn’t have the sauce on it.
13. I love being a club chef because of the relationship we create with members. It’s nice when you see a member’s name on a ticket order and you know exactly how they like their meal cooked.
14. When I’m not in the kitchen, I’m enjoying time with my wife and son.
15. My biggest mistake when I first started as a chef was overthinking the food, overcomplicating menus and not cooking from the heart.
16. I cook Venezuelan arepas and empanadas at home, but I’d never cook them at the club.
17. If I could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, it would be my grandfather. I would love to sit down and talk about food with him.
18. The most valuable piece of career advice I’ve ever received was, “Your team is a direct reflection of your leadership.”
19. My favorite celebrity chef is Enrique Olvera because he took the cuisine from his country and elevated it all while training many other chefs who ended up being some of the best chefs in the world.
20. The most important piece of equipment in my kitchen is the stoves because we cook everything to order.
21. I want to learn more about Asian cuisine because the flavor combinations are simple yet very complex.
22. My favorite ingredient is garlic. Truffle oil is the most overrated ingredient. Anchovies are the most undervalued ingredient. I detest canned tuna, and I can’t live without butter.
23. I don’t like to brag, but I graduated high school when I was 15 years old.
24. My most embarrassing moment in the kitchen was back when I was a line cook, I overcooked a lamb chop 3 times in a row for the same table and the chef made me go out and apologize for the long delay.
25. If I could have one superpower, it would be super speed, so I could do more things in the day.
26. My favorite cookbook is The Flavor Bible.
27. My favorite kitchen hack is making ice cream and sorbets with liquid nitrogen. You can literally do any flavor combination and it’s done in seconds.
28. I am motivated and inspired by my son. I want to be the best example I can be for him.
29. The hardest service of my career was my first service in a big hotel back when I was an apprentice. I didn’t know the dishes very well and the chef was screaming his lungs out at me during the whole service. I cried in the locker rooms when we finished.
30. The most popular item on my menu based on sales is veal scallopini.
31. I’d lose my job if I took the BraeBurn Delight Sandwich off the menu.
32. Reliability is the most important quality in a sous chef.
33. My go-to breakfast is sugar-free red bull and Venezuelan arepas if I have the day off.
34. When hiring, overwording kills a resume fastest for me. Overwording
35. My biggest professional pet peeve is cutting corners in a recipe for a faster finish.
36. I will always purchase puff pastry instead of making it from scratch.
37. The most important question I ask during the interview process is, “Walk me through your favorite recipe as if you were to make it right now.” It helps me see the level of culinary knowledge and organization the applicant has.
38. The best excuse I’ve ever been given for calling off work was, “When an employee called in sick with “a fever” after he spent the whole day before bragging about the big party he was about to go to.
39. If I had to hire a family member, I would choose my wife because he knows her way in the kitchen.
40. The best culinary gift I’ve ever received was a set of Global knives my parents gave me as a graduation gift. I still have them with me.