Bless the cook who serves love and laughter…
Enter Hudson’s Chefs
The kitchen hierarchy at Hudson’s was based loosely on Escoffier; the French culinary artist, known as “the king of chefs and the chef of kings”, who earned a worldwide reputation as director of the kitchens at the Savoy Hotel. Escoffier operated his kitchens implementing the system of the military’s chain of command, which he called the Kitchen Brigade System. His was in a large hotel with a very large kitchen and an equally large staff which is quite different than the average size of the “run of the mill” restaurant. The list below is my understanding of the chain of command at large hotels.
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 no 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 and those stations would be Saucier (sauté cook and makes sauces), Grillardin (grill person), Friturier (fry cook), Poissonier (fish cook), Potager (soups), Legumier (vegetables), Garde Manger (all cold preparations, from salads to pates), Pâtissier (pastry chef), and Boulanger(baker).
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.
As I said, at Hudson’s we implemented this system but with a payroll budget that resulted in a minimalized interpretation. After chef and sous chef at Hudson’s the remaining kitchen employees were simply given the title of “line cooks”. In large hotel size kitchens, it is much more important to have a chef responsible for each area. At Hudson’s we cross trained, being a small mom and pop restaurant, we had to be a very labor cost-conscious kitchen, and it was very important that everyone could criss cross through the kitchen. At Hudson’s the Executive Chef was very seldom simply an overseer in the kitchen they were a working chef, they might work the sauté station one night and the grill the next night, it all depended on the projected volume of the reservations.
My official title was owner, operator, and chef, but it was imperative that I know how to work and proficiently cook in all stations. In the early days I was the fireman on the line, putting out fires and helping where needed to unbury the buried, this is known as the “rounds cook” or chef tournant. Being buried alive at any station is called being “in the weeds” and that could happen to anyone at any time because if the trend of the night was all sauté items and no grill items, well you guessed it, the sauté cook is “in the weeds”. If you were a good fire fighter you had to jump into any station at any time and it takes a special talent to unbury a station and that my friends is what makes the restaurant adrenaline driven world exciting. At a small volume restaurant like Hudson’s you never knew what was going to happen.
In the early days of Hudson’s, Gert tried to implement Escoffier style in the kitchen but Hudson’s style was unique, we did not have a true Executive Chef and the chain of command was not followed primarily because we couldn’t yet clearly identify the positions, henceforth, we got through each day by the seat of our pants. Jeff Courington was the most experienced but me being there as chef/owner threw a wrench in Escoffier’s order of operation.
A German friend of Gert’s had several young German cooks who were coming to America to check it out and a job in the States for them would be a bonus, multi-tasking tourism with gainful employment. So, the German invasion began at Hudson’s, we hired front of the house and back of the house, and they brought lots of fine dining service experience to our restaurant. It was a win win for all parties concerned. Enter Harold Katzenberger, Fredrick Bauer, Reiner Schmitt and Elizabeth Noeth, they were so busy perfecting there English that the Hudson’s chain of command was not top priority but they were a big influence in the unique style that was Hudson’s, plus they added an exotic international flair.
Then Robert Hughes was hired at Hudson’s and as best I can recall, he was the first that I hired formally naming as my Executive Chef. His passion earned him the name “Mama Hughes”. Steve Warren, Hal Sapadin and John Cheatham were his line cooks who all brought not only their passion, but their favorite recipes. We must have looked like lost outlaws trying to find the way, we were doing a daily menu and we would try any dish, within reason. If that dish didn’t sell or get great comments, off the menu it came.
Most of the cooks I hired were retired drug dealers trying to rehabilitate into a new lifestyle with an IRS approved income. I was in and out a lot during this time period, between binging and then entering rehab and then back to binging and then back into rehab, somehow Hudson’s flourished and continued to get rave reviews and national attention. When I finally learned what I needed to learn and graduated from rehab it was 1990 and Gert had hired a new Executive Chef, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, John Jay Moore, JayMo or Jay. This began my long respect for CIA graduates, Jay was a natural manager and a great cook and everyone loved him, from vendors to dishwashers to waiters to health department officials. In prepping Jay for meeting me upon my return, in Gert’s broken English he told Jay he would like me because he told him that “he’s a real Gregorian”. Jay was not sure if I would enter singing a chant. Gert meant to say gregarious. He was often misunderstood.
Austin is full of high-tech folks who made a bunch of money, but they just didn’t feel fulfilled. They thought their self-actualization would be found in the kitchen because it was so rewarding when they cooked at home for their friends, I mean, what a great job. I would introduce these eager prospects to Jay and he would proceed to tell them the real story, they would peel potatoes for 10 years at minimum wage, then if they were talented, they became line cooks and if they did that well they would then become sous chefs, not encouraging them at all. Jay took pleasure exposing the truth about the kitchen as a career path.
Jay taught me a lot. Hudson’s offered cooking classes and we did many cooking schools together. For each class, in preparation, our routine was he would write two recipes and I would write two recipes. I would then type all of our recipes to get them ready for print, we gave our cooking school students the printed recipes to take home, and by the time I had typed his recipes and then observed him cooking the recipes, I realized I was the one going to school. Jay worked at Hudson’s for 11 years, that’s a long time in the restaurant biz, restaurant years are probably close to dog years, so let’s say he was there nearly 70 years. We wrote our first cookbook “Cooking Fearlessly” together, but that’s another story. All the chefs had jokes or sayings that will remain forever in my memory and Jay was a witty guy and I have many of his silly little ditties in my recollection. One night, it was 2:00am, we had been working a long catering job, we were doing our final cleanup, Jay was tired and worn out when he looked at me and said “We have done so much for so long with so little we can do damn near anything with nothing”.
Next comes Becky Barsch, another chef at Hudson’s that became a great friend and had a huge impact on my life both as a chef and as a person. Also, she called Gert “sunshine” which I found amusing. She was a CIA graduate and had worked for Gert at his other restaurant, The Courtyard, for years and had more than proven her worth, but Gert was having legal and financial problems and she was no longer in his budget so bringing her into the Hudson’s family was a no brainer. She worked in our kitchen as a Sous Chef before she became the Executive Chef. Becky was really entertaining at our cooking schools, she loved a captive audience and she would tell her spicy jokes and embarrass yet thrill the crowd, you never knew what highly entertaining and inappropriate thing she would say. One Thanksgiving we had done 685 meals and I was bitching because it wasn’t enough for me, I wanted to do 700. Becky turned to me and said “You can only push so much shit thru a 1” tube”. I later learned it was her husband’s saying, but it was very appropriate. I shut up.
The CIA program is a trade school, Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. After the students complete their studies at the main campus in New York, the future chefs then seek internships with school approved chefs that had been former CIA students; then they return to school armed with lessons learned in the real world, it’s a great program.
I soon realized that you could get high quality employees for minimum cost and I kept CIA interns employed for that and a few other reasons. Only once did we have an intern return after graduation and come aboard as a full timer, it was McCaily Cranna and she was a great chef.
There were several great chefs at Hudson’s that did not go to the CIA. Ron Brannon was the chef that I remember as having the best taste buds. Many times, I’d be working on finding a specific taste and couldn’t nail it. I would bring it to Ron and he would taste my creation and say, add more salt or a squeeze of lime or more pepper and under his advice, the dish would come alive. Ron was hired as the sous chef working under Jay, but he returned as Executive Chef years later. Courtney Swenson was a great sous chef during Becky’s tenure as Executive Chef. Being a spicy girl, Courtney created the Hot & Crunchy Trout which evolved into the Mighty Cone and will live on forever, it is her legacy and I owe her so much.
Back to Becky Barsch, she fell in love with Jay’s roomie from the CIA and she became Becky Barsch Fischer literally at Hudson’s in the yard by the smoker. Becky and Jim, the lucky guy, just recently moved to France and now have a restaurant in France, our little fearless adventurer. When Becky gave her notice at Hudson’s, being the great gal she is, she found a very high-quality replacement for her job before she left us. Enter Robert Rhoades.
Before I go any further, I must give Mexico it’s proper respect first. The cooks at Hudson’s that hailed from Mexico were always reliably the backbone of our kitchen. They have an eye for detail, they are hard workers, they take great pride in the quality of their work and one of the great attributes of Mexican cooks is that after they are secure in their jobs, they employ their family. Blas Gonzales was one of the best sous chefs ever to grace the doors of our restaurant and along with Blas we acquired many great cooks from his home town, San Luis Potosí. Blas now is a successful family man and restauranteur in Kerrville. Hudson’s was always a springboard and training ground for chefs to do their own thing.
Robert Rhoades first restaurant job in Austin was with Ron and Peggy Weiss, Jeffrey’s Restaurant and when they opened a restaurant in the Watergate Building in Washington D.C., they hired him as their D.C. Executive Chef. Becky worked with Robert somewhere along this time period and was very impressed with his talent and luckily for us, she successfully recruited him on her way out. Robert was pre-med before he went to the CIA and graduated from CIA number one in his class. During his tenure as executive chef at Hudson’s he was being considered as chef at the White House. Luckily for us Robert landed the first runner up position and they hired the Asian girl, who is still there, probably making McDonald’s runs for the current administration. Needless to say, Robert was a great asset, he was a master at creative plate presentation, but his best strength was his taste buds—like me he felt that sea salt took dishes to their highest flavor and he combined the most unexpected flavors for the “wow” factor. Once, we were doing a packed cooking school when he described to the class a lesson he had learned in the Escoffier Kitchen at the CIA. They had a big pot of puréed carrots wanting to be soup and the students circled the stove with their tasting spoons in hand. The instructor added a little sea salt and all of the students tasted the bland purée. The fifth time the salt was added the students tasted a scrumptious carrot soup. It just needed salt to come alive. A man after my taste buds! Hudson’s reached its highest point during his reign.
Kelly Casey who had conquered every station in the kitchen, as well as Sous Chef, throughout her years and had observed Becky’s and Robert’s performance as Executive Chefs was more than ready to become the new Executive Chef when Robert retired his toque. Her formal training had occurred at Disney World Culinary Program in Orlando, FL. There were many restaurants on the property and as part of their culinary program she moved from restaurant to restaurant. She told our cooking school that “her father called it a Mickey Mouse education and now she works for Goofy”. I smiled proudly. Kelly kept the iconic Hudson’s flavor and quality alive when I no longer could and I am eternally grateful.
The recipe below is a green tomato relish. It is a Jay Moore family recipe that compliments fish as well as wild game. It is a great way to utilize the green tomatoes of the Fall. I have made it with tomatillos and napalitos for that South of the Border taste. Man, those Okies can cook!
Green Tomato Relish, ok you can call it Chow Chow
Ingredients
1 large sweet onion, ¼ dice (Maui or a Texas 10/15)
2 pounds of green tomatoes, quartered
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of mustard seed
1 cup of rice wine vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon hot sauce
3 limes juiced & zested
3 tablespoons cornstarch slurry (mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of water)
1 poblano, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup kernel corn
Method
Add all ingredients to sauce pan and bring to simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve hot or cold.
Great for canning.
Makes a great gift.