58 pages • 1 hour read
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
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Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Second Course”
Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary: “Who Cooks?”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use and addiction.
Who actually cooks food in restaurant kitchens? Most of the work, Bourdain explains, is done by line cooks. This is a difficult job that requires “character and endurance” (55). Although line cooks must be skilled, they should not be innovators: The chef sets the menu, and the line cooks make sure that the food is cooked the same way and to the same standards each time. Bourdain notes that it is mindless, repetitive work.
Bourdain says that most New York chefs prefer Ecuadorian, Mexican, or Dominican line cooks rather than culinary school-trained American workers. This is because “kids” fresh out of culinary school often want to innovate and take over the kitchen. Although undocumented immigrants were once common in kitchens, this is no longer the case: All the line cooks Bourdain hires are highly sought-after professionals, legally able to work in the United States. Bourdain has occasionally employed Americans, but they are rare. He also notes that kitchens are male-dominated, and the women who excel in that environment tend to be tough and able to shout and drink as much as their male counterparts.
