Consistency

Oscar Wilde once said "consistency is the hallmark of the unimaginative."

 I wholeheartedly agree.  Which is exactly why I am horribly inconsistent in keeping up with this blog.  Just kidding.

About a month ago I was discussing business with someone and they offered some constructive criticism.  Mostly it was requests for past or future sandwiches for Grub and specialized proteins such as venison and wild elk for Bistro.  Then they mentioned the coleslaw at Grub.  The last time they ordered our 'cider-brown sugar slaw', it wasn't quite as creamy as the time previous.  They told me consistency was important.  I assured them I would look into it...and of course did. I adjusted the current batch, informed the staff to be on the lookout for such issues and moved on.  Or I thought I moved on.  That issue stayed on my mind for weeks and it wasn't until I was making a new batch of fresh tomato ketchup that I realized why it was bugging me so much.  Perfect consistency in my restaurants is an unattainable and it is not our fault nor is it a bad thing. 

I realized that moment that consistency is a byproduct of the processed/pre-packaged food era.  If you go to a restaurant and you get the exact same tasting coleslaw over and over again chances are extremely high that most, if not all of the ingredients, are pre-made.  Maybe it is a pre-shredded cabbage mix.  Most definitely it is a bulk commercial mayonnaise.  Heck, it could be straight out of a food service bag, just dumped right from the bag directly on to your plate. 

Let's look at our coleslaw; first the mayonnaise is made fresh (almost) daily from locally farmed eggs with freshly peeled garlic, Maille dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, sea salt and oil.  Then the cabbage, onions, and carrots are hand cut and it is all mixed together with a set recipe which includes brown sugar and a nice cider vinegar.  Simple right?  How could this be different from one batch to the next, especially if strict recipes are followed? 

Well, let's start with the aioli.  Chickens eat different things based on the time of year, and during those different times of the year the eggs come out different. During this time of year the chickens have moved from a strictly feed diet to working fields of bugs.  This change in diet causes the fat and protein content in their eggs to go up, thus changing the way it emulsifies with oil...slightly of course, but definitely enough to noticeably alter our finished product.  We take that egg and mix it with chopped garlic and dijon mustard before we emulsify in the oil.  The garlic changes with each batch that we get in. This time of year we start to use fresh spring garlic which is drastically different than the hard, cured stuff.  Even the mustard is different from batch to batch (which is why I mentioned the actual brand).  That's a little surprising because it is a fairly large company based out of France, which could be why it is ok with a lack in perfect consistency...in my mind and experience Europeans are ok with that type of inconsistencies, at least more so than Americans.  I have heard some chefs complain about Maille, but this is one of the reasons I love it. Now we have three separate ingredients that can all cause major but subtle differences in the way the final aioli comes out. 

Let's move to the vegetables used in making the coleslaw.  All the carrots, onions and cabbage change slightly from farm to farm, variety to variety and day to day.  While this is all out of my control, I will say I opt for different varieties of cabbage based on which I can get locally at the time.  The type of cabbage makes an absolute difference in the finished slaw.  Standard green cabbage has a high water content and is slightly bitter, whereas tendersweet cabbage has a similar water content but is very sweet.  Savoy cabbage has a much lower water content but is far more tender, and so on and so on.  My theory as to why the bagged stuff is so consistent is that they are old vegetables that are then soaked in a water solution (salt most likely) to ensure slow bacteria growth (so they can last longer), that are then bagged and refrigerated in a warehouse sitting and waiting until ordered, all of which void flavor making the final product consistently bland. 

That leaves so many variables in just something as simple as coleslaw.  Now imagine every other item we produce out of both of our kitchens in a day, especially considering we are use such small scale, locally farmed produce and meats with countless variables of their own.  That's variables upon variables upon variables, variable to the variableth power even. 

I understand the place of consistency.  I understand there are certain types of restaurants that thrive on such consistency and they should (no I'm not talking about McDonalds and Applebees even though they are prime examples, I'm talking about the 'mom and pop' pizza shop and the coffee shop around your corner).  While I now take pride in the fact that we can't be consistent in the final product because it shows that we make our food in house, from scratch and from real ingredients, this does not say that I don't think things should be consistently good.  I don't want to serve anything of poor quality and do my best to be sure that it goes out to my liking.  Honestly, I know I can't be overseeing everything that is made and served at both restaurants, mistakes have been and will be made but I do my best.  I am comfortable with the fact that everything we make, from our ketchup to our roasted chicken, needs to be tweeked day to day even after a recipe is followed.  Our beef taste different based on the time of year and the age of the animal just as our greens taste different if it has been rainy or dry and I understand that.  This is what separates  my staff from the rest, they are always tasting and tweeking to the best of their abilities, not just cutting bags open and opening cans.  It's the difference between a professional cook and someone who works in a ktichen.  I can live with the fact that our coleslaw wasn't quite as creamy as the last time you had it, as long as it was still delicious. 

I like the way you think Oscar...