Good morning. Prior to becoming the author of this newsletter, I spent a few years cooking in what my mother calls "fancy restaurants." While I'd never confuse my brief culinary stint as something that makes me a chef, I'm confident that any of my former kitchen colleagues would confirm the following: I was an especially consistent and efficient line cook. As for how I—a person who routinely submits this newsletter just minutes before its deadline—managed to become consistent and efficient, all credit is due the following three kitchen heuristics that were passed onto me by lifelong chefs.
Put your knife down as few times as possible. Forgive me for how lame this sounds but, keeping your knife in your hand for as long as you can will naturally compel you to structure cutting prep into a sequence of repeatable motions—and, as is the case when constructing literally anything, that is the key to efficiency. Here's an example: When making Roberto Santibañez' Classic Guacamole, make lengthwise cuts on every avocado without dropping your knife. Then, put your knife down, open all of them, and remove the pits. This way you can consecutively scoop all of the avocado halves at once.
Walk less. The fewer steps you take in a kitchen, the quicker you'll work. Rachael Ray's been harping on this for years—and her trash bowl trick is the easiest way to reduce extraneous steps.
Work quietly. The best kitchens sound more like monasteries than the cacophony present throughout that entire Bradley Cooper chef movie. There's two reasons for this: 1) Excess sound, in any workplace, is annoying. 2) Quiet is smooth and smooth is fast. Meaning, whatever immediate "efficiency" you gain through sudden (read: loud) movements, you'll ultimately lose by way of disorder. Peaceful work is fast work. Namaste.
*I know that cooking advice—especially when read in an email—can occasionally feel didactic. If you found this section tiresome, let me know. I'd love to hear your feedback. My email remains paul.hagopian@food52.com*
