The Union Club of Cleveland’s Lawrence McFadden, CMC, GM/COO, is proud of how the club’s culinary team is overcoming obstacles and relying on sight and sound to ensure consistency and quality.
We have always been taught the importance of our five senses and their impact on the application of our culinary products. But has pandemic prevention disrupted the chef’s ability to use taste and smell as part of the process? Can a chef still accurately do his or her job? What must change and how? Have the requirements of safety become a distraction to each dish? Can we overcome them? Has the current situation removed the commonsense ability to utilize all the senses while being in alignment with health and safety?
A great mentor of mine once told me he could look at the color of the smoke, listen to the ingredient in the pan and smell the results, thus determining if the product was being handled correctly or at what stage of the cooking process it was. This great Chef was Paul Prudhomme and he would often say, “Lawrence, look and hear what is happening in the pan.” The same man, the father of modern Cajun and Creole cuisine, was so precise with his senses that he was able to created blackening when a novice might have thought the dish was just burned.
During our time together, Chef Prudhomme was still heavy, so instead of walking over to see the product in the pan, he listened and viewed the results of our technique from several feet away. He was a true artist and overcame a personal condition by enhancing another skill other than his sight.
COVID-19 protective masks have compromised but not eliminated taste and smell for the cooks and chefs in our club. Masks have limited their ability to taste what is happening in the dish during the process. Many members might not know that great chefs taste their food though out the cooking process and evening’s business.
This mask situation would be much like going to a wine tasting with a stuffy nose, then trying to describe the complexity of the wine. Something will certainly be lost in translation, especially the hard work of the winemaker.
For young chefs, this is particularly detrimental as they need to taste often, gauging their seasonings, technique, and/or smelling the changing of the proteins when heat is being added. This is how they learn. Sight, sound, and feel are part of the game. I guess this is the reason we have five senses.
Each day, I walk through the kitchen at the club, appreciating that each one of our culinary professionals are honoring the restrictions with a full protective mask covering their faces. At first, you might think that the masks look hot or uncomfortable, but think further through it and you’ll wonder how they navigate consistency of technique within the bounds of these safety requirements.
Recipes are effective, especially in baking and pastry where exact recipe practices are kitchen law. But aside from pastry and garde manger, the other stations handle fresh raw products that can’t always be customized for consistency. Each protein is unique and so marinades and seasonings don’t always work in the exact same way every single time.
The real challenge comes from the delicate proteins or specialty products that need just a touch of finesse and slightly more care, utilizing all five senses from the cooks. In this example, artisanal clubs are the most venerable if they specialize in the non-purchased, or batch produced products. These establishments pride themselves on seasonal products at the hands of talented line cooks.
If we take that example further, most traditional culinary products are produced without challenges. Think of hot fries or temperature appropriate burgers. Many operations even allow the member to season their products to their liking with salt and pepper on the tables. Others simply purchase ready to cook foods that are finished and served.
Our club purchases very little pre-prepared foods. This means we must enlist other senses as we focus on high sanitation practices. Our kitchen staff mouths are sealed with masks. Sight and measurements have been our main determination of doneness and proper seasoning. No more a la minute tasting, regardless of disposable spoons for the foreseeable future. We can’t take the chance of being inconsistent regarding the health and reputation for the greater good of the organization. And while we accept a small amount of risk in taste, we gain a great amount of trust as we are protecting our members during these unique challenging times.