The Guys
04/06/20
by Caleb Trahan
The guys… What’s going to happen to the guys?
Miles Davis is playing in the background. Birth of the cool. I always thought that was so bold. To call something the birth of the cool. To say this is it. This is the beginning of cool. Birthing it. I guess that’s not really what that means. It’s more about the sound. A new era of sound. Cool Jazz.
With the dining room closed, how are the guys going to get paid? Everyone else is switching to takeout and delivery. How do you translate a sit down tasting menu, where the chefs water, wine, mark, clear, and deliver 14 courses into that? Delivery. That’s a lot of to-go boxes.
I usually prefer Coltrane. But tonight I needed something a little less frenetic. Something that would shake my ears a little softer.
The guys… most of them moved across the country to work here… Chicago. To work in some of the best restaurants in the country. To be a part of a bigger culinary movement led by some of the best chefs in the country. They’re young… the guys… 24... 25. They didn’t move here to do takeout and delivery.
Birth of the Cool was recorded over three sessions spanning a year and a half. And it wasn’t for years that it was released in a somewhat complete version. Miles Davis transitioning from being a key member in the Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie era to a band leader of a new sound in jazz.
Who are those guys anyway? The ones who run those kitchens at the top of Chicago’s dining scene. Are all of those restaurants going to make it? Reopen. Is it going to be different? A new movement. It might take years for it to coalesce. Years for it to present to others. And who’s going to lead the new movement, a culinary rebirth, when this is all over?
To think that a different approach to music like that would have such a big influence. And it wasn’t even heard in album form until years after they pursued those ideas. That’s a long birth for anything. That’s determination. Birthing a new form. Polyphony. Allowing each of the members in the project to grow, - “leading jazz into a brave, post-bop world in the years that followed,” as Ashley Kahn put it. Cool Jazz. Even though I usually prefer bop.
Shrimp Po’boy
The guys. They want to keep moving forward. They’re determined. Maybe not Miles Davis determined. But determined. They want to do something. Each bringing their own talents and experiences. Coming together. For now it’ll be po’ boys. They’ll get more experience baking bread, stuffing sausages, making potato chips with fun flavors. They’ll be a part of sustaining their restaurant. Collaborating with other restaurants and the larger industry that they’re a part of. It’ll be good for them. The guys… they’ll be the ones running the top kitchens someday. Because they’ll have made it through this. And that will carry me through this… the guys.
My name is Caleb Trahan. I have a Bachelor’s of Liberal Arts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It was there, attending college for the second time focusing on literature, creative writing, and psychology, that I began cooking professionally, and decided that the culinary arts were a more enjoyable pursuit. That pursuit led me to Chicago, where I work as the Chef de Cuisine at Schwa restaurant.
When I took over as the Chef at our restaurant I had several conversations with the staff about my goals as their leader. I wanted to create a safe environment for growth and expression in their culinary pursuits. Inviting them into the process of menu and dish development, allowing them a voice in the creative aspects of the kitchen, educating them in areas where they were less experienced and nurturing them to lead projects where they’ve had previous experience. Everyday, when they show up at call time, I greet them and ask how they are doing. This greeting usually also includes asking if they are excited for today, and if the previous shift had been a rough one, reminding them that today is a new day. This is an attempt on my part to show that I am not only concerned with their ability to produce but also their psychological and emotional state as they develop and grow. At the end of the shift, I say good night to each one of them, usually accompanied with a fist bump, and thank them for their hard work. Throughout the day, I periodically check in with them, asking how they are doing and if they’re feeling alright. All of this is to say that while my duties running a Michelin-starred kitchen include trying to uphold the inspiring standards of creativity, flavor, and hospitality set by our Chef and Owner Michael Carlson, the staff’s development and wellbeing is at the top of my concerns and motivations.
My current staff of chefs consists of five young men, all in their mid-twenties. I often refer to them as “the guys” or “my guys.” As I cooked dinner one night recently, it was this phrase and this preoccupation that inspired me sit down and write, as well as the Miles Davis album I had playing trying to relax my mind. I haven’t written creatively in some time, mostly because of the demands of my job, both the time and the creativity that it requires. But seeing as we’re in a period of social distancing and our restaurant’s dining room was required to be closed, I had the time to spend on expressing myself through a different outlet. Considering our industry’s long history of an exclusionary perspective and toxic masculinity, I would hope that the gender specific choice of the term “the guys” does not further contribute to this systemic problem, but would be perceived as the concern for this current staff and the use of the phrase as a creative expression focused on them.
Besides opportunity for other forms of creative expression, the stay-at-home mandate on our restaurant has afforded other opportunities for the staff and myself. The restaurant is already non-traditional, in that there is no service staff, and the chefs perform the tasks normally relegated to a separate group. They pour water and wine, set silverware, deliver and describe dishes, and clear tables. This delegation of responsibilities to staff that in a more traditional restaurant would not normally perform them has informed me to continue to distribute non-chef tasks for the sake of continuing their growth in other areas of our industry. Before this, our restaurant had never had an Instagram account. So one of the tasks I dispersed was to create one. This account would be a communal contribution and an opportunity for the staff to learn other aspects of a restaurant’s operations. Media relations was another area with new tasks. The production of t-shirts, stickers, and tote bags was another project dispersed to a staff member - leading us to the conclusion that without our normal means of operation, pursuing different avenues could lead us be able to provide support to our restaurant and staff.
I was born and raised in Louisiana and learned to cook at an early age from both my grandmothers. After living in several other states and currently residing in Chicago, I find a huge comfort in cooking food from my home culture. The smell of celery, onions, and bell peppers simmering immediately soothes me. In a desire to share this food that comforts me with others in this time of stress and isolation, we - the staff and myself - decided to offer po’ boys and jambalaya as takeout and delivery options. If you are unfamiliar with the restaurant, this a completely different mode of operation to our normal twelve-course tasting menu. This, again, afforded educational and growth opportunities to the staff: aspects of bread production (mixing and folding dough, hand shaping, and baking), aspects of charcuterie (sausage making), making potato chips, besides the opportunity to create uncommon flavors from our store of seasonings normally applied to very different uses. We’ve also joined efforts with other restaurants to produce unique collaborations based on this idea. This provided the staff opportunity to create and maintain relationships with others in our industry who are dealing with similar issues during this unique time. I would also like to share this with you, the reader, in the form of a few recipes scaled to home production. Hopefully you can find some solace in recreating someone’s comfort food, even if it is unfamiliar to you. Maybe by doing so, in a remote fashion, you can take part in a severed aspect of our industry, the hospitality, sharing this experience with us, “the guys” and me.
Po’boy Buns (Yields 4)
85g Water
85g All Purpose Flour
Quarter teaspoon of Dry Yeast
The night before, mix these ingredients in a container with plenty of extra room. It’s going to expand and bubble up. Let it go over night. We’ll call this the poolish.
All of the poolish
155g water
1g of dry yeast
250g all-purpose Flour
5g salt
The next day combine the poolish, water, and yeast. Add the flour and mix with your hands until a dough ball forms. Let rest for 15 minutes. Add salt and mix with hands working dough until nice and smooth. Transfer to a container or bowl and cover. Let rest for 20 minutes. Fold dough and let rest another 20 minutes. Continue this process until the dough is nice and fluffy.
Preheat oven to 400° F. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape into sandwich sized baguettes. Bake until done.
Shrimp
40g yellow mustard
20g cane syrup
20g water
20g Worcestershire sauce
10g hot sauce
5g creole seasoning
Whisk together all ingredients. Peel and devein shrimp. Marinate in mixture. Mix together equal parts yellow corn meal and all-purpose flour and season to taste with creole seasoning to taste. Heat oil in pot to 325° F. Dredge marinated shrimp in cornmeal and flour mixture. Fry until golden.
Mayo
For the restaurant we made our own garlic aioli with a little cayenne. But since you’re already baking bread and frying shrimp maybe just use whatever brand mayo you prefer.
Cabbage
My favorite po’ boy place in Louisiana uses shredded cabbage. Slice thin.
Potato Chips
Bring a large pot of water to boil, adding ¼ cup of distilled vinegar for every quart of water.
Peel four potatoes and thinly slice them, preferably with a mandolin. Blanch sliced potatoes in boiling water and vinegar solution for one minute. Strain potato slices and run under cold water to stop cooking. Spread cooled potato slices over towel and let dry for 10 minutes. While potatoes are drying, heat a pot filled halfway with oil to 325°F. Only fill halfway with oil, since it’s going to bubble up when you add the sliced potatoes. Fry potato slices in small batches until all bubbling stops. Transfer to paper towels to help remove excess oil and season with salt. You can use this same pot of oil for frying the shrimp when you’re finished with the chips.
