Know who's in command

The Kitchen Brigade is a structural chain of command for professional kitchens created by the legendary French chef, Georges-Auguste Escoffier.

Named by Kaiser Wilhelm as

“the emperor of chefs,” he is one of the most important figures in the development of modern French cuisine, and one of the fathers of haute cuisine.

Most kitchens today use a similar system based on Escoffier’s ideas. Way back when there were only two classes, the aristocracy and everyone else, the titled elite could afford to spend hours and hours “at table” while a chef prepared course after course for their culinary pleasure. They could dawdle about, drink and dally while waiting for each course.

After all, what else did they have to do except be rich? And everyone else? Well, they cooked for themselves. If they could find anything to cook, that is. What was needed was a system by which culinary tasks were codified and delegated to specific workers in the kitchen. Enter Escoffier and his Brigade de Cuisine. Escoffier realized that if he could pare the time at table down from six hours to only one or two, the middle class could work a full day and spend their money at a fine hotel restaurant. Escoffier was one of the first, at least in the culinary world, to realize that time is money. Escoffier modelled his Brigade system on the military hierarchy. This system was based on a strict chain of command and a separation and delegation of tasks to a host of different kitchen workers. The traditional brigade system is specialised almost to the point of dysfunction if one or two of the workers were sick or got kicked by a horse! Members of the Brigade The general hierarchy is as follows, with each position directly responsible to the position above his. Chef de Cuisine –This chef is in charge of the entire kitchen. He prepares menus, purchases foods and directs everything that goes on in his kitchen. Sous Chef de Cuisine –Sous means under in French. The sous chef is the chef de cuisine’s deputy chef. He takes his orders directly from the chef de cuisine and acts in his place if he is not present. Chef de Partie –There is not one chef de partie. A chef de partie is in charge of a particular station in the kitchen. Each chef de partie might have one or more cuisiniers, commis or apprentices working directly under him. Cuisinier –The cuisiniers are cooks. They are responsible for preparing specific dishes at a specific station. Commis - The commis, or junior cooks, also work a specific station, but they are generally responsible for taking care of the tools on that station. They report directly to the chef de partie. Apprentice – An apprentice might work a specific station, eventually. They are usually gaining work experience and help with cleaning and prep work. At the start of his apprenticeship, an apprentice might even find himself washing dishes. The Stations There were many stations in the kitchens of Escoffier’s time. Each station was run by a chef de partie who reported to the sous chef. I am leaving out some of the more esoteric stations because in my opinion, they have no relevance in todays’ commercial restaurant kitchens. The stations listed here are still seen, in whole or combined with other stations, in modern commercial kitchens; Saucier , Rotisseur , Grillardin Know who’s in command H&RT OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2016 53 food trends , Friturier, Poissonier, Preparations, Entremetier, Potager, Legumier, Garde Manger, Patissier, Boulanger, Executive chef , Sous Chef, Pastry Chef, Line Cooks, Garde Manger , Fry Cook, Grill Cook, Saute Cook and Pastry cook/ plater. While the brigade of today is very different from the brigade of Escoffier’s day, today’s cooks owe the spirit of their stations to that great chef and culinary innovator. The Kitchen brigade of the future could and should in my belief adapt and evolve to a hybrid of all that is good from the past the present and the future while also looking at what is happening both here in Europe and Overseas. Kitchen Manager - Has the overall responsibility for the smooth running of every facet of the kitchen. I would ask you to ponder is it more important that this person is the culinary genius in the kitchen or the person who will make sure that every member of the team has the tools they need to complete the job required of them to deliver exceptional experiences for your guests? I would suggest that the most important skills needed to be a great kitchen manager in today’s world are more in line with a project manager. Someone who is extremely organised, a multi tasker, great at delegating responsibility and developing and training a team of professionals and last and probably most important great financial awareness and ability to manage their profit and losses. Line Cook - These are the chefs who are responsible for the actual cooking of the food in a busy kitchen and typically are split into various stations for example you will have one that excels on the grill but is not as efficient on the fryers. You will find chefs are more passionate about one aspect of cooking, for example if a chef lives and loves a healthy lifestyle then they will excel in the area of creating amazing salads and healthy options and this can easily be brought into any operation as additional value to the guest. Prep Chef - This is the engine room of any good operation and the one person you cannot live without. The prep chef is the direct line between what is needed for ordering and what is needed for service and has the responsibility to work closely with both sides of the operation. A good prep chef will save you both time and money and also enable your line cooks to deliver a more consistent and timely offering for your guest. I will leave you with this thought in this day and age and with all we know about the shortage of skilled chefs in our industry, maybe it is time to look at taking the best of both past and present while also looking at best practices from around the globe to create the brigades of the future. I think we are delusional if we think as people we can be experts in everything especially when it comes to food as it is a living breathing and ever evolving adventure in our lives and what we love today we forget about tomorrow. Surely in this day and age we should look at our people and understand “WHY” they are doing what they do and what it is they love about what they do and then help them to be the best at what it is they love doing and maybe build a team around those who compliment them. We need to realise that it’s more than acceptable to not want to be a Head Chef but to expect to be compensated for the contribution you make to a team delivering for the guest. I would argue that if we look at our teams in the kitchen and reward them financially for being part of the overall team that has exceeded the guest expectations then you will have a team that will not only be stronger together but will work harder together. Imagine if everyone in that team was financially rewarded at the same level for being the expert in their department and instead of leaders and followers. We would have professionals who took pride in their roles and celebrated their achievements as a team.

Author & Chef Anna Schumacher