A Message from a Seasoned Great Chef

On 5 November 2011, AHA Philippines held its commencement exercise at Makati Shangrila Hotel.

In connection with this, AHA Philippines gave the Most Outstanding Alumnus Award to Chef Ginney Villar, DCE 2007 Batch.


*Her message*
Good morning, Chef Gene, Dr. Gatchalian, Professors Fernando and Salvador, AHA faculty, graduating class, family and friends. Thank you for the opportunity to address this year’s batch. It is an honor to take part in this happy occasion.

Allow me as well, to take this opportunity to thank AHA for starting me off in my great kitchen adventure.

These days everybody and their uncle, wants to be a chef. Chefs can stand now shoulder to shoulder with doctors, lawyers and engineers. Chefs are hot. Chefs are cool.  And yes, chefs are today’s rock stars.

Look around you. We have our own shows, magazines, clothing line, biographies and not just recipe books. And hey, what do you know, even movies and a musical! I’ve met parents who introduce their kids to me as ‘future chefs’. I don’t think they would have said that with as much pride or promise a decade or so ago. It’s now a legitimate and desirable career.

Chefs get invited not only to cook but to party with the best. People ooh and ahh when you are introduced. We are asked about our expert opinion much like doctors who get ambush consultations during cocktails.

It seems like a charmed life from an outsider’s point of view. Yet few see the scar from the knife that slipped, the soufflé that did not rise, the chicken that got burned, and the less than perfect choco lava emerging from the oven. Nobody sees the real score, because even reality shows will not be bothered by the too real aspects of our lives.  All the world sees is this smiling chef in a pressed jacket with a delicious treat in hand.

But we know better. We are chefs.

I have not been a chef for a very long time, but I’ve learned quite a few things in the course of my work not just about cooking but also about life. If you do not see how your work as a chef affects your real life, then you are missing something very important. There is a reason for everything and why you are where you are right now.

To be a great chef is to be aware of the lessons you encounter everyday. To be a great chef, you have to use those lessons to be a better person. And better persons always make better and eventually great chefs. Because in real life, it is not necessary to be a celebrity, but it is important to be great.

  

So let me share some of my insights with you with a wish that you find use for them in your lives as future great chefs. I call this my Kitchen Decalogue.

1. Eat breakfast.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Without it, you won’t have the energy to last a full day in the kitchen or patience to listen through the rest of this speech. Studies have also shown that you perform better and have less chances of getting sick or figuring in an accident by simply having a regular breakfast.

Nourish yourself in body and mind first because no one else can do it for you.

2. Mise-en-place for life

You cannot run a kitchen if you are forever looking for things. This applies not only to ingredients but to an organized way of doing things from cooking, to employee relations to work systems. This also means knowing your basic cooking skills by heart.

The importance of having everything in place, including your focus and skills, cannot be overemphasized especially when there is a guest screaming through your pass thru window.

3. Be intimate with your ingredients

You can’t be sexy with your dishes if you do not know them inside and out. Do not allow what you already know or how you see yourself, hold you back from trying things. Be bold. Go to market, talk to the vendors, slice your own meat, taste your spices. Cooking is a creative and interactive process between you and the world.

How else would you know what you can do if you do not know the potential of what you have?

     

4. Mangoes take their time.

No matter what you do, you cannot rush a mango and get the same quality. They ripen in their own time even if you cry to high heavens. With an understanding of time and seasons, you will know what to cook and when, what to say and not yet to say, do and what not yet to do.  This knowledge will save you money and heartache.

Everybody has the same 24 hours. It’s how we use it that differs.

             

5. Chef is a four-letter word

Whatever happens the buck stops with you. You cannot blame your mother, the President, your chef instructor or your boy/girlfriend if something goes wrong. There will be days when you just have to take it squarely on the chin and roll with the punches.

Develop the maturity and humility to accept criticism because this will further your education and build your character.

6. Temper your fire.

People talk about all-consuming passions. Do not mistake that for being one-dimensional. Balance is importance. Without a sense of balance, you cannot stand properly, create a good dish or manage a team properly. Even a hot dish needs balance to be a hit—it will have to manifest alternating tones, depth and complexity.

Passion is not about pursuing one thing to your own, your loved ones and colleagues’ detriment. Passion is about living a life with meaning and purpose.

7. Begin with garlic.

In Filipino cooking, we usually start by sautéing garlic in oil to release its flavor. This becomes the foundation of our dish much like a life principle is our starting point. Are you guided by a principle? Is it excellence? Innovation? Sustainability?

Principles will guide not just the quality of your cooking but the quality of choices you will make in life.

8. The plate is your stage.

And that’s how people will know you.  Therefore, standards and consistency are important. You cannot point to your awards and demand to be exempt from a bad dish. Every day is a performance no matter how you are feeling.

There is rarely a take two, because like show biz this is an unforgiving business, so prepare every time you step on stage.

9. Murphy lives in the kitchen.

Do you know Murphy’s Law—anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Guess what, Murphy lives in the kitchen.

While I say that you will be known by your plate, there will just be days when something will go wrong. Your partner will be a no-show for your biggest function yet, you will overcook the last steak, someone will mistake salt for sugar and waste a whole batch of dessert one hour before service time.

Accidents and mistakes will happen and you just have to forgive yourself. So just square your shoulders, raise your chin and with great dignity intact, go home with half your paycheck.

Education as you know, is expensive.

10.Serve fun.

I remember the slogan of this pizza parlor as a kid which goes, ‘We serve fun…also pizza’. It’s probably the longest case of a last song syndrome. It hums in my head many times every week.

Fun is important in its many forms. You should be able to find fun in your work without too much effort. If you have to work too hard at finding fun in this crazy business, do yourself a favor. Hang your apron and go.

Remember, people will pay for good food, but if you provide joy with your food, it will bring them back.

Eating is an experience and everybody remembers a good experience.

As I come to a close, I wish each one of you personal and professional success. As chefs you have been given an opportunity AND the power to contribute to a better tasting world.

Season well.

Thank you for your time.