“Cooking is About Repetition” Thomas Keller

Last week while driving I happened upon an interview with chef Thomas Keller on the NPR program From Scratch. It was a long interview and covered a lot of territory, but what really struck a chord with me was when Keller said “cooking is about repetition”. That phrase really resonated with me, as it does with anyone who has worked in a professional kitchen, and is the heart of formal culinary training as well. In culinary school, as in restaurants we repeat the same tasks over and over, until you can practically do them in your sleep, which can come in handy when working a fourteen hour shift at a restaurant.

For Keller, the beauty of this is the freedom it gives his mind when engaged in these tasks. He is able to let his mind wander, and he can make double use of his time, completing the task, while solving a problem, or coming up with a new concept or recipe. In some ways this is the opposite of flow, because rather than focusing on the task at hand and that task feeding your energy, the ability to perform the task without full attention allows your energy and focus to land elsewhere.

I was in culinary school for almost two months before I ever set foot in a kitchen and the first class was aptly named skills development. These skills-D kitchens as we called them, provided the rest of the school, including the restaurants with stocks, and aromatics. Each day we would arrive and get started roasting bones for beef stock, and making chicken and veal stock, we’d chop onions, garlic and shallots to be used by others, and then after lecture get started on whatever skill we were tackling that day. We learned the basics, and we learned them by making them over and over.

Working in a restaurant is about repetition as well. Even restaurants that change menus frequently rely on staples that their regular customers know will be available. Every night, service is different, and has its quirky challenges, but the afternoons spent prepping are filled with the same daily tasks.  You break down chickens, cut fish, chop vegetables and make mountains of garnish. During my culinary school externship spent at American Seasons in Nantucket I would chop about a case of peppers into a brunoise every day, and then get started on chopping a case of parsley. It was excruciatingly dull and thankless; when was the last time you admired the garnish on your plate at a fine restaurant? I spent those hours daydreaming and chatting with my co-workers engaged in equally dull tasks.

Brunoise cuts (elgranchef.imujer.com)

The creativity is what happens during those mindless hours, and the magic is what happens while diners sip wine and exchange conversation while behind the scenes anything from a smooth, and flawless service to absolute pandemonium takes place.

I’m sure some version of this occurs in your kitchen as well. You’ve got dishes you’ve made so many time that opening that stained and broken-spined cookbook is merely a formality, as you can make that dish blindfolded. But chances are good that at your house, you don’t have hours of quiet spent prepping for your family’s meal, you are probably rushed, and constantly interrupted. But in the end, for all of us who consider ourselves cooks that repetition brings those zen moments, that can add to the experience as much as the moments of intense attention and focus.