differ in the degree to which they do violence to the final product—whether they affect the quality of the finished dishes. Tricks of the trade are generally less noticeable in the final outcome—thus, we label them “tricks”—than shortcuts. Approximations, depending on how approximate they are, may have little or great effect. These terms are used in professional restaurant kitchens with similar meanings although without distinguishing between tricks as knowledge held within the boundary of the occupation and shortcuts as accessible knowledge.
APPROXIMATIONS
Some occupations demand precision. Yet, all produce “slop” with which workers can mess. Few occupations require the microscopic precision of draftsmen or machine-tool operators, but even for these workers there are micromillimeters of choice. To permit approximation is to provide autonomy. Entering through the portals of a commercial kitchen, a home cook may notice a lack of precise measurement. The head chef at the Blakemore emphasized that he stresses conceptual, practical working knowledge:
The basic recipes are in the book. As a matter of fact, when we were in school we didn't figure this out ‘til [final] quarter. In first quarter everyone expected that this is how we make whatever it was. Salisbury steak. This is how we make it. It got to second quarter, they said no, this is how you make it, and they gave you a new recipe. Third quarter they said this is the recipe we're going to use. You thought to yourself, “What kind of education are we getting if they can't even decide how it works?” By fourth quarter we finally figured out that what they were telling us is that if you took all three recipes, the base is going to be there. Hamburgers and vegetables are your base. Whether you put in oregano, basil, tomato juice or tomato paste, that's your option.
(Personal interview, Blakemore Hotel)
Although cooks have recipes, they ignore them, interpret them, and move beyond them to creative autonomy. Recipes are suggestions, not orders, although many home cooks follow them. Restaurant cooks have a different perspective:
| BARBARA: | I think there's a lot of common sense in knowing how to interpret a recipe. |
| GAF: | What do you mean “interpret a recipe”? |
| BARBARA: | It just seems to me that when I read a recipe and I see certain instructions how to fold something in, but common sense tells me that I have to do that very gently in this specific recipe because of the ingredients that are in it. |
| GAF: | Beyond the recipe? |
| BARBARA: | Yeah. And I've seen people make all the same recipe at the same time, and you have five different results, anywhere from disaster to marvelous. It all was dependent on whether that person was paying attention to what they were doing and whether they were concentrating or whether they had common sense to realize how that should look at a certain stage.(Personal interview, La Pomme de Terre) |
Dishes can be prepared in many ways; the skill is to decide which preparation should be used so the food is consistent and fine. Even here the knowledge is from memory and experience. When Jon asks Mel whether he has a recipe for making crepes, Mel replies: “I just mix things together.” No more specific instructions are given, and Jon's crepes turn out well.
Because it is difficult to recall specifically how dishes taste, cooks work “by the seat of their pants.” Much cooking involves adding approximate amounts of ingredients. While this might surprise those who imagine the cook must follow a recipe precisely to have the food meet an ideal standard, it reflects practical cooking. Adding ingredients in this way not only saves time but also allows the cook more autonomy.
Perhaps the best example of the use of approximation is the production of stock, the basis of sauces and soups. The stock has been described as the key to haute cuisine. The great chef Escoffier believed: “Stock is everything in cooking. At least in good and well-flavored cooking. Without it, nothing can be done. If one's stock is of good flavor, what remains of the work is easy; if on the other hand, flavor is lacking or merely mediocre, it is quite hopeless to expect anything approaching a satisfactory result” (Crocker 1945, P. 109). Cooks at the Owl's Nest and La Pomme de Terre are proud that they prepare their own stock, avoiding canned broth or powdered stock, but, despite its crucial quality, they do not follow a recipe. What is added to the stockpot is a matter of convenience, rather than planning:
Paul, the head chef, prepares beef stock for brown gravy. He tells me that he usually lets the stock cook for forty-eight hours, but Mel needs the vat tomorrow, so it will only cook for a day.…Later Bruce dumps egg whites and shells into the vat. Larry comments: “Sometimes it's just the garbage can.” The stock vat is located right under the water faucet, so excess water falls in the vat.
(Field notes, Owl's Nest)
| GAF: | What things in the kitchen do you think a layperson would be most shocked by? |
| DIANE: | The stocks, how gross it looks to look in a stockpot. The first time I ever saw them I thought it was just repulsive. I think…for layperson they think, “Oh, my God, don't you just throw that away.”(Personal interview, La Pomme de Terre) |
Stocks and soups represent instances in which workers' choices may seem arbitrary if, indeed, they are conscious decisions. We may have confidence that we know our work, and that everything will be fine, and it usually is. The fact that the stock cooked on Monday differs from the stock on Thursday doesn't affect the evaluation of the meal—it tastes close enough for unknowing, mortal tongues, just as cars, surgical operations, and cowboy boots can pass muster despite their microdifferences. As the ingredients are approximations, so is timing (as discussed in chapter 2). When the Owl's Nest prepares gravlax (smoked salmon), they marinate the fish for anywhere between twenty-four and forty-eight hours, depending when it is needed.
Approximations are so integral in the work environment that cooks josh about the significant margin of error in their work: “Mel pours a dash of vinegar into the salad dressing and jokes to me: ‘It comes out perfect every time’ ” (Field notes, Owl's Nest). The nice thing about many foodstuffs is that no matter what one does to them they taste “the same” to most customers. They are “forgiving.” This doesn't mean, of course, that they taste identical, but our memories of flavors are not so precise as to distinguish between tastes not dramatically distinct. Although we may be more sensitive to textures, cooks can get away with a world of imprecision that would not be possible if their customers were able to engage in comparative tasting. To be sure, customers make judgments between good and bad dishes (and dishes that are better and worse), but most consumers accept the expertise of the cook and do not have sophisticated or educated palates. The evanescent character of cooking, distinguishing it from most other arts that are either material or can be captured in a written, auditory, or visual record, allows for imprecision that is not possible elsewhere. Memory is a capricious judge.
To the degree that workers use forgiving materials, they have flexibility and opportunity for error denied to others. This, for instance, gives psychiatrists an edge over anesthesiologists in malpractice suits although, as the latter practitioners are aware, bodies can stand a range of gases. One illusion that “professionals”—or those who claim the label—demand for themselves is that they work with unforgiving materials while they hide their secrets. It is trying for workers to perform before a knowing and critical audience, but even here the knowing audience may be unaware of the script, and some errors can be rescripted into the drama (Goffman 1974).
SHORTCUTS
While preparing meals, home cooks make many decisions outside the rules of the recipes they follow (Tomlinson 1986): do you fry bacon for a crumbled topping or just add Bac-O-Bits; should your whipped cream come from a mixer or a can? Similar culinary trade-offs characterize professional cooks. Any competent food preparer would be aware of these techniques but might not select them because of their effects on the outcome. Some shortcuts have noticeable consequences as when instant whipped cream is used instead of cream whipped by hand; others have minor effects as when a food is defrosted in a microwave, rather than at
