600 MOVES

It was 1997 and I was getting crushed.

I had just finished culinary school in San Francisco and moved to Maui to work as a line cook at Roy's in Kahana.

I was young, hungry to learn and probably moving twice as fast as I needed to.

That night we were deep in service. It was an open kitchen, so everything was right there for the guests to see. The food, the station, the cooks, every movement.

I was working hot appetizers and trying to keep up.

Chef David Abella walked into my station and stood right in the middle of it.

I was trying to get around him.

He said, "Stop."

I remember thinking, Chef, I really need to get around you right now.

He said it again.

"Stop. Look at me."

So I stopped.

And he said:

"Right now you're making 6,000 moves. You need to make 600."

I have been teaching that sentence to cooks ever since.

Chef Abella told me I needed a pivot foot.

Think about basketball.

You plant one foot and you can move around it without running all over the court.

A good kitchen station works the same way.

Turn and what you need should be there.

Reach and the tool should be where you expect it.

If you turn around, make the turn count.

If you are going to the walk-in, know what you need before you get there.

Do not walk in for the chicken, come back out, remember the herbs, walk back in, come out again, then realize you forgot the butter.

Get a cart.

Write a list.

Make one trip.

That is mise en place.

The literal idea is simple: everything in its place.

But I think the bigger lesson is this:

Think before you do.

Chef Abella was not telling me to work harder.

I was already working hard.

He was not telling me to move faster.

I was already moving too fast.

He was teaching me to make fewer, better movements.

That night changed my culinary career.

Thankfully, it happened near the beginning.

I started thinking differently about how I set up a station, how I wrote prep lists, how I moved through a kitchen, how I organized a team and eventually how I taught other cooks.

Almost 30 years later, I still write lists.

I still think about what needs to happen first.

I still think about what I can accomplish in one trip instead of three.

Eventually some of the list becomes mental because you have done it so many times.

But the mindset never changes.

Plan.

Organize.

Put things where they belong.

Then cook.

You do not need to work in a restaurant to know what 6,000 moves feels like.

It is 5:30 and you decide to start dinner.

The chicken is still in the package.

You are looking for the sheet pan.

The potatoes still need to be cut.

You forgot where the oregano is.

You open the refrigerator three times.

Then you realize you need the feta.

Now something on the stove is getting too hot while you are cutting something else.

Nothing about the dinner is especially difficult.

But all of it is happening at once.

That is the chaos.

And I think that is the part of home cooking that wears people down.

This week's Lemon-Oregano Chicken Bowl is a good example.

You can marinate the chicken earlier.

You can get the potatoes ready.

You can have the components for the bowl washed, cut and waiting.

Then when it is time to cook, you are cooking.

You are not making twenty decisions while you cook.

The exact preparation changes from dinner to dinner, but the principle does not.

Move the work to a better moment.

Sometimes that is the night before.

Sometimes it is ten minutes in the morning.

Sometimes it is simply reading the recipe before you start and putting everything you need on the counter.

That is 600 moves.

Not literally 600, of course.

It is the mindset.

We talk about the 5:30 moment a lot around here because that is when all the little decisions tend to arrive at once.

What are we eating?

Do I have everything?

What do I start first?

How long does that take?

What can cook together?

How do I know when it is done?

For years, cooks learn to answer those questions before service starts.

That is what prep lists are for.

That is what mise en place is for.

That is what organization is for.

And it is a big part of what I want SEASON to do for you.

You should not have to invent dinner while you are trying to cook dinner.

The week is organized.

The shopping is organized.

The instructions tell you what comes next.

We tell you what can happen ahead of time.

We tell you what matters and how to know when it is done.

The goal is not to turn your kitchen into a restaurant.

The goal is to take some of the thinking that makes a professional kitchen work and make it useful at home.

Because the best way I know to make the 5:30 moment feel better is to take the chaos out of the moment.

The Lemon-Oregano Chicken Bowl is where I would start.

Chicken, crispy lemon potatoes, olives and feta, built around one sheet pan.

It is exactly the kind of dinner where a little thought beforehand changes the entire night.

The rest of the week travels quite a bit, from Pistachio-Crusted Salmon and Pork Scaloppine to Pumpkin & Pancetta Rigatoni and Korean Braised Short Ribs. On the Plant-Based side, there is Moroccan Chickpea Tagine, Fattoush, Firecracker Tofu Noodles, a Miso Parsnip & Carrot Bowl and Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Ten different dinners.

Different techniques.

Different amounts of time.

Same question before you begin:

What can I do now that makes later easier?

That is one I still ask myself.

Before I go, hit reply and tell me: What part of making dinner sends you running in circles? I really do read the replies.

Think before you do.

That is what The 5:30 moment, handled means to me.

Taking 6,000 moves and turning them into 600.

Michael

Chef Michael Rossi

Have a question or just want to say hello? Write me anytime at [email protected].

P.S. If this made your week a little easier, forward it to one person who's staring down the same 5:30 question. That's the whole way SEASON grows, one cook telling another. Send them here: tonightsseason.com/dinner