Chef Profile: Alan Cook
Chainsaw Done Gone
Chef Cook manning the stove, his trusty Sharpie close at hand and in pocket.
The Chef: Alan Cook, Executive Chef at Twenty Milk Street, the restaurant at the Portland Regency Hotel and Spa in Portland, Maine.
The Toolbox: Chef Cook (ha!) says his toolbox is not terribly portable: “I have two knife racks in the kitchen and a couple of drawers assigned to tool storage,” he says.
The Tools: On said racks and in drawers an observer will find a veritable bounty of knives, including eight- and ten-inch French knives, boning knives, slicers, serrated knives, paring knives, a small butcher’s knife, a sharpening steel, and a scimitar, which Merriam-Webster defines as a saber having a curved blade with the edge on the convex side and used chiefly by Arabs and Turks. (Editor’s Note: I wonder if Cook uses it to deter others from “borrowing” his tools…) In the drawers, you’ll find a cacophony of peelers, channel knives, Parisian scoops, microplanes, a mandolin, a cheese knife, a waffle knife, clam and oyster knives, and seafood shears.
Tools He Couldn’t Live Without: “I wouldn’t be able to work without my black Sharpie, a pocket thermometer, a pencil with plenty of eraser, and a pitcher of iced coffee,” he admits.
Note that Cook's must-have hairdryer and iced coffee take center stage.
Tools That Grew Legs: Chef Cook has been with the Portland Regency for nineteen years — several lifetimes in chef years — and he fondly remembers a complete set of ice carving chisels, specialty ice carving tools, and an electric chainsaw that he graciously loaned to the kitchen at their former sister property, The Black Point Inn in nearby Scarborough, where they are still found to this day. (Editor’s Note: At least he knew where they went; lots of tools go astray when perpetrators slip them into chef jackets and down pants; I shudder at the thought of smuggling a chainsaw.)
His You’re Kidding, Right? Tool: A hand-held hairdryer. “The humid days in the summer really take a toll on refrigeration, and so we use the hairdryer to rapidly defrost the coils and fins in our refrigerators when they get too iced up,” he explains. “Another tool that I consider strange is my computer. I spend at least 30% of my day researching, pricing, ordering and communicating with other departments on the computer, and I never thought when I started cooking 24 years ago that a computer would be such an important tool in the kitchen.”
What A Psychologist Would Say His Tools Say About Him: Everything in its place. “I keep all the tools — and everything in the kitchen — in a certain place,” he says. “I get irritated if I have to waste time looking for something that wasn’t put away in the right place. A shrink may label me as anal-retentive or a bit OCD, but he would also question why I have a rusty old four-pound meat cleaver hanging around, which I never use.”
Excellent facts and information Alan! I would agree the computer allows for so much research of food product and gives up the opportunity to check out what other restaurants may be doing with prices, offerings, and menu changes. Of course, the only way to get the feel and flavors of an establishment are to patron it yourself. Then again, I would have never known that “typing” in High School would have saved me when it comes to knowing utilizing the computer these days! Congrats on the posting, I hope to read more in the future!