First came the internet, then cell phones, and now AI. I have had an amazing career shaped by technology. Not long ago, every Executive Chef had an administrative assistant because so much of the work was manual and too much for one person to manage alone. My assistant handled timecards and scheduling books, reviewing, adjusting, and confirming each culinarian’s hours. She then moved on to invoices and other paperwork in her ‘inbox’—not digitally, but by hand.
Origination matters. It can be risky to rely on AI without first developing your own thoughts. I have used AI tools like Claude and Copilot to help shape or proofread text, but I do not feel satisfied when I have not worked through the ideas myself. My guess is that something is missing: the dopamine hit that comes from creating something original. I still want to think for myself, stretch my brain, and learn from the effort each task requires.
Most great Executive Chefs use cookbooks for concepts. They see pictures, ingredients, and formulas as influences, but not as the destination. They take the concept of the author and add their own touch to the dish. Charlie Trotter’s cookbooks were perfect for that. He had amazing ideas and illustrations that allowed me to slightly change the proteins or accompaniments to make them my own. Most cookbooks by celebrity chefs are not accurate to the gram, so following the recipe might not achieve the exact results. I am referring to savory dishes; with pastry, I always follow the recipe because baking is a science, and the smallest thing left out or added can change the ratio and balance.
In interviews, committees often include a technology entrepreneur who asks Executive Chef candidates how technology is used in the kitchen today. They may not always know exactly what they are asking, but the question matters because it reveals how modern and open-minded a candidate is. Are the candidates stuck in the past, or are they curious about the future? Executive Chefs need clear non-negotiables while also looking for ways to reduce labor and create better consistency. Using applications, programs, or, most importantly, kitchen equipment can move culinary products forward while making them better.
Years ago, I had the chance to visit Escoffier’s kitchen in the basement of the Ritz Hotel in London. It felt like a dungeon: large, hot, and dimly lit. You can imagine hundreds of staff working in suffocating heat, manually preparing thousands of ingredients. Today, that level of labor would be impossible to sustain. In my 40 years in kitchens, labor has been cut nearly in half, starting with the administrative assistant in the office.
For me, two changes I always make in the kitchen are proper lighting and temperature control. I remove yellowish covers or outdated types of lighting and address the temperature whenever possible with air conditioning and equipment that produces less heat. Old deck ovens, for example, can create tremendous amounts of heat.
We have DELIMA in the Certified Master Chef test, along with the evaluation of what a Master Chef should know or be aware of. In 2010, Richard Rosendale brought technology into the examination and used it right in front of us. In fact, as a judge, I wasn’t sure I knew what I was looking at or how to evaluate some of the techniques or systems. Rich was ahead of his time, and that is a great definition of being a Master Chef. Like NBA star Stephen Curry’s three-point accuracy, I believe Rich has changed the standard of the Master Chef test regarding technology and its use.
Over the past 20 years, processed foods have harmed many people’s health and quality of life. Hidden chemicals, unfamiliar ingredients, and altered production methods can affect the body in ways we do not always understand. As an Executive Chef, I can recognize some of those food practices as unsafe, but with technology, the risks are less clear. I find myself asking whether AI could soften the mind in the same way processed foods have weakened the body. Time will tell, though spell check and other tools could probably be questioned in the same way. Like all things in life, we must ask ourselves: What do we embrace, what do we leave behind, and what do we endorse for the future?
Like most Baby Boomers, I am stuck in the middle, adopting technology slowly but eventually using the best tools for my personality and mindset. Meanwhile, my partner, Annette, is always marching forward with new technology. I love that about her, and it is one of the reasons we work together. I am always curious about new techniques and fearful of getting left behind.
Last night, for dinner in my home kitchen, I Cryovac-ed chicken breasts with Thai spices, cooking them sous vide while watching TV in another room. My 20-something daughters would call that true multitasking. The circulator produced perfectly moist chicken, ready when my wife arrived home. While I still love challenging myself with simple cast-iron cooking, light heat, and the right amount of fat, this technology reduces mistakes and creates the consistency that private club food and beverage operations value most.
