If I had to make a list of the skills that a chef needs to be first-rate, they would be:
One, the ability to wield a knife: to cut vegetables evenly, to butcher meat and fish, to make wispy-thin vegetable garnishes.
Two, the ability to cook food — animal proteins, vegetables, grains, beans, eggs — to the proper doneness and the proper texture.
Three, the ability to multitask, to have a dozen things on the stove while at the same time breaking down and fish and carrying on several conversations.
Four, the ability to make something look beautiful on a plate, what we call “presentation” in the business.
And five, the ability to season: to use salt properly, first and foremost. But also knowing the proper use of acidity, of chiles, of spices, and even neutral ingredients to balance out flavors.
Of these, good knife skills are actually fairly common in the business. I’ve noticed, for example, that young cooks who have learned to cut vegetables into an even, microscopic dice will tend to make a fetish of their ability to do so. The ability to cook food to the proper doneness can be taught fairly quickly. Multitasking is an ability you either have or you don’t; if you can’t multitask, you’ll never move above the rank of prep cook. As for presentation, I admire a chef who has an artist’s eye for arranging food, but often, this comes at the expense of flavor.
Which brings us to seasoning, the rarest and most valued ability of all, and it seems, the one hardest to teach and master, if it is ever mastered.
The ability to make something that’s delicious and interesting from the first bite to the last (sometimes chefs make something whose first bite is explosively delicious but whose subsequent bites are over-intense and inedible) is what I look for in a chef. It’s why I’m often at Matt Selby’s joint, Corner House (it doesn’t hurt that it’s six blocks from my house and that I can usually find parking).
Matt has generously shared his recipe for his excellent breakfast burrito.
John Broening is a chef at Spuntino and Le Grand Bistro in Denver. E-mail: johnbroening@msn.com.
Matt Selby’s Breakfast Burrito
If you can’t find crema, manteca, Fresno and poblano chiles in the Mexican aisle of the grocery store, look for them at Mexican markets.Makes about 4 servings of stew, and 3 burritos.
Ingredients
GREEN CHILE STEW
2 ounces manteca (lard) or 1 tablespoon oil
1 red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound pork shoulder, fat cap removed, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander
4 Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled and chopped (or 2 poblano chiles)
4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lime, juiced
Cayenne pepper, to taste
BURRITO
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ red onion, diced
½ pound fresh chorizo sausage (Matt recommends Polidori, sold at King Soopers and Spinelli’s)
½ cup green chile stew
2 red potatoes, cooked fork-tender in salted water, diced
4 large eggs
½ pound shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
3 12-inch flour tortillas
PICO DE GALLO
½ red onion, diced
3 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 Fresno chile, deseeded and finely diced
3 tablespoons cilantro, stem and all, roughly chopped
1 lime, juiced
Salt, to taste
LIME CREMA
4 ounces Mexican crema
1 lime, juiced
Salt, to taste
Directions
MAKE GREEN CHILE STEW: In a large pan, heat manteca or oil over medium, sweat onion and garlic about 5 minutes.Add cubed pork, raise heat a little, and sauté until browned. Add garlic and onion powders, oregano, cumin and coriander, sauté until fragrant. Add Anaheim chiles, stir and cover mixture with chicken broth. Add water if needed.
Lower heat and simmer mixture until pork is tender, 45-60 minutes, replacing any liquid that reduces out of stew with water or more stock as it cooks.
Combine cornstarch and water to make a slurry and add to simmering stew to thicken. Add more slurry as needed until desired consistency is reached. Season stew to taste with salt, pepper, lime juice and cayenne pepper. Refrigerate.
MAKE BURRITOS: Heat vegetable oil over medium heat in a large sauce pan, add red onion and sweat, about 5 minutes. Add chorizo to pan, breaking up with spoon until cooked through. Add green chile stew, cook 3-4 minutes. Add red potatoes and simmer another 10 minutes.
In a separate sauté pan, scramble the eggs over low heat. Add scrambled yolks to chorizo mixture and stir to combine. Remove from heat and chill. After it is chilled, fold in shredded cheese and season mixture with salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Evenly distribute the burrito mixture into the tortillas. Roll the tortillas up and bake for about 12-15 minutes until the mixture is heat through and the tortillas are slightly crisp on the outside.
While the burritos are baking, in separate bowls, combine the ingredients for the Lime Crema and the Pico de Gallo. Serve with burritos.