“It’ll Be Fine”- The Top 10 Worst Excuses Used in Kitchens Today

April 4, 2019April 4, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good afternoon, friends and neighbors!

Even as affairs in American kitchens are slowly changing from the bad old days, one aspect of the Kitchen Life still holds up:

The professional kitchen is a meritocracy.

You either can do the job, or you can be TAUGHT to do the job, or you can’t. Doesn’t matter where you went to school, who you know, how many cookbooks you have.

You can either show up, on time, in the right state of mind, and do the job like you said you could… or you can’t.

That said, the space between arrival and the last two week of a position can be… colorful, to say the least.

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Keep On Truckin’- Portland’s Portable Food Scene

March 22, 2019March 23, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good morning, friends and neighbors.

Some time back, I asked a group of professionals what movies about kitchen life got it “right,” and which ones really REALLY got it wrong.

“Waiting” and “No Reservations” were among the “don’t mention that movie in my presence” list, but there was one movie that everyone- and I mean everyone- claimed hit the nail on the head: Jon Favreau’s 2014 father/son megahit, Chef.

Whether it was the sweet story of a busy chef trying to keep a relationship with his son, that same chef bucking a demanding owner and going into business for himself, or just the gobs and GOBS of on-location foodporn, Chef struck a chord with every pro I met who’d seen it.

When my mother saw the movie for the first time, she said, “See Matt? That looks fun, and not that hard! You could do that!”

Thanks for the vote of confidence Mom, but as cool as it looks- running a food truck is NOT exactly the “easy mode” of the food world.

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Young And Hungry- The Millennial Cook

March 2, 2019February 28, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good afternoon, friends and neighbors.

I am a cook. More specifically, I am a baker- or pastry cook, as one of my previous job titles went.

I am also, by virtue of being born in the late 80s, a member of that currently-most-accursed of demographics… a millennial.

And things are getting real out here, folks.

“… Millennial!”

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A Day at the Beach, and a Sense of Perspective

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker

Good morning, friends and neighbors.

It had been a very long time since Em and I had gotten out of the city. We went back to Philadelphia in July, but the last 6 months have been especially trying (to say the least,) and the immediate future promised to be even more interesting.

Back when I lived in New Jersey, walking on the beach near my house offered more than good exercise and an enjoyable afternoon. It offered perspective- a quiet if a not-so-subtle reminder of my size and place in this world, as well as the size and place of my problems.

Even the biggest things are not so big at all, compared to the view from Cannon Beach.