Roland G. Henin

by Susan Crowther

  I’ll tell you one story that is funny … and kind of embarrassing. Because I am so organized and so is he … You have these two organized, on-the-ball people, but really, we are also very busy. I was traveling and training and getting ready and also running the Greenbrier kitchens. We were building a casino at the Greenbrier, plus building and opening five new restaurants … all kinds of stuff.

  This one time, we were scheduled to meet in one of the Delaware North stadiums. It was going to be a quick meeting: we were going to fly into this stadium, meet, and fly back. It was just kind of a fill-him-in-on-how-my-training-and-everything-was-going type of meeting.

  I’m in, I think it was New Jersey, and he’s inside the stadium, telling me where to go. I’m talking to him on the phone, saying, “Chef, I do not see the entrance you’re talking about.” I keep going around this ballpark, over and over again, and he’s explaining where to go, while I’m with my taxi driver. We’re looking at the street names, and Chef is right on the phone, explaining, “Turn down this street, turn down this street …”

  I’m like, “Chef, I can’t even find that street.”

  I’m trying to tell the taxi driver and he’s looking at me like I’m crazy. It’s been like forty-five minutes, and it finally gets to the point where I’m thinking, I’m not going to have time to meet with him and get back in the car and drive back to the airport. I may actually miss my flight.

  Finally, we put two and two together.

  “Chef Henin, I know this may sound strange, but … where exactly are you? What stadium are you in?”

  He was at another city, at a different ballpark. I think it was in Buffalo or something like that. Here I am, in New Jersey. When we figured it out, I was like, “Chef, I am at … the Meadowlands.”

  “Ooh. Okay.”

  We had talked for almost an hour on the phone, trying to find each other. Even at that point, he was still, “Okay. Well, how long would it take to get on a train?” He was relentless, still trying to make it happen.

  “Chef, let’s just reschedule. This trip clearly did not work.”

  It was so embarrassing. I told my wife, I said, “Laura, so the meeting I was at? I don’t even know how to tell you this.”

  She looked at me like, You whaaat?

  We scheduled this meeting, and we were in two completely different cities … the biggest total goof of a travel issue I’ve ever had. I’ve never had anything like that ever happen. I mean, maybe get the wrong street or the wrong building, but I never … completely wrong city altogether. Not even in the same state. To this day, I don’t know who would ever say whose fault it was. [Laughs] I thought I had the right city and the right stadium. It’s ironic, though, especially for two people who are so organized. To this day, I travel so much, and this has never happened to me again.

  SUSAN: That’s definitely going into the book! Would you tell me more about your CMC experience?

  RICH: Taking the CMC exam is extremely stressful—eight days and 130 hours of cooking examination. There is a consistently high fail rate. You don’t sleep. You lose weight. There are different people coming in and out the entire week. Every day, you are being timed: you get four hours and twenty-eight ingredients; now go cook a five-course meal. They throw all kinds of curveballs at you …

  It was the last day (which counts for 50 percent of the entire score). There was this one moment: I was full-throttle, face down, looking at the cutting board, just chop-chop-chop, getting the stoves full of stuff. You get consumed with it. At this one point, this hand comes into the picture. It grabs one of my knives, a cleaver, in a joking way, like they were getting ready to chop my fingers off. I looked up … it was Chef Henin. He’s smiling.

  It was a calming moment, in all this noise. There are so many people watching you, and so many cameras and people in the glass, looking in. And, here’s the man. He just walks right in, during the exam. There are all these people around and other CMCs judging. “I’m going over to see Rich.” It was just a smile … he winked and walked away. Sometimes, something like that, in the midst of all that chaos, can be enough to get you across the finish line. We didn’t say anything. He put a smile on my face, and I got back to cooking.

  The last day, you are cooking Continental Cuisine—different dishes, from around the world. You are already fatigued from the days prior. At the end of that section, you get a thirty-minute break. And by the way, within that thirty-minute period, also they present to you twenty-eight random ingredients to incorporate into another five-course menu. After your break, you go right back into the kitchen and begin cooking again. It is a dizzying amount of work and requires an intense concentration. You’ve got to be really good, at many different things, for a long time, to survive.

  It’s a great exam, yet I can understand why a lot of people opt to not take it. For some people, there is probably more to lose than there is to gain. I mean, if you’re an accomplished chef, why put yourself through that? But I wanted to take it, to see if I could. People like him are guiding you along through the years, not saying, Hey, go take it, but rather, referencing it in conversations. It puts you on a course to feel compelled. That’s a prestigious group, mainly because of people like Chef Henin. Plus, I thought it would be good training for Bocuse d’Or, which it certainly was!

  SUSAN: Final thoughts?

  RICH: What reveals the most about him isn’t necessarily about him; it’s the people he’s influenced. That’s always impressive, when you see how many people somebody has influenced. That has influenced me to take on more of a role and be patient with people. You never know who you’re training—you may be training the next Thomas Keller. You just don’t know. He’s always done that in a selfless way. He just wants to help people. It’s just fascinating to see what that effort has blossomed into, in so many ways. Even for me, I point to him as somebody who has been an influencer in my career, so it’s an honor to contribute in any way I can.

  ___________

  2 Wikipedia contributors, “Meilleur Ouvrier de France,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meilleur_Ouvrier_de_France&oldid=761396351 (accessed May 26, 2017).

  Guarding the Eggs: The Legacy of Roland G. Henin

  I saw it, but nothing I can do. I can’t get in the way. I can’t fix it. Let them continue to make their mistakes, and learn.

  —RGH

  SUSAN: Now that you’re retiring, you are creating a legacy here at Delaware North with Chefs Kevin Doherty and Percy Whatley, mentoring them through their CMC exam.

  RGH: If I leave today, I have no legacy; if I haven’t trained chefs to become Master Chefs, to start thinking the way that I am thinking and acting, then between three weeks and three months from now, everything that I’ve done—everything—will be back down to the ground, will disappear, will melt away. I guarantee you that. I guarantee you that it will revert. If I leave, who’s going to take over and carry on these kinds of things? I do it for the preservation in the company.

  There are two guys—one on the east coast, one on the west coast—two strong operations, two strong chefs (well, sort of strong) developing. They are going to be able to carry on quite a bit of my legacy. I get into some argument with them, because they are … well, it’s a new generation, and they are culinary school–trained. They haven’t gone through apprenticeships. It’s a different lifestyle.

  Sometimes I shake them up a little bit, because they are too easy, or too soft, or too lenient … too acceptable. I said, “No, guys. You need to stand up. You need to validate your rights, what you preserve. It’s a profession. You cannot just pass it under the carpet. It’s a craft.” You cannot let them just push you around. Middle management, it’s not their fault, because they are trained to cut corners, protect the bottom line. What’s the return on investment? It’s their job, but you have your job, too. Those guys, if you let them do it just once, they will do it forever. You have to stand up for that. That’s why you’re the chef.

  We
determined who would be most appropriate out of five candidates. Four have potentials, and two are the best. Better to have two to carry the legacy, to strengthen the values. One traveled from the east, one from the west: Chef Kevin Doherty, executive chef from TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts; Chef Percy Whatley, executive chef for the Ahwahnee Resort, Yosemite, California (now vice president, Food & Beverage, Delaware North Parks & Resorts). Both are involved in different dimension than just executive chef. They had the willingness to step out. No shoving down throat. You can’t force them to want it. They stuck it out, and here they are. You can meet them halfway, like horse to water. Can’t make them want it or convince them that it is worthwhile value. You can’t make a plow horse a racehorse, but, you can expose a racehorse to the track.

  * * *

  Since receiving his CMC title in 1983, Roland Henin has remained directly involved in the CMC certification process, as are all CMC title holders. Henin served in an advisory capacity to chefs John Fisher, Lawrence McFadden, and Mark Erickson and less formally to several other candidates. For chefs Kevin and Percy, the CMC training took place primarily at the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute (NFCI), a spectacularly equipped culinary school in the heart of Niagara Falls.

  Four Months Before the CMC Exam:

  Excerpts from the CMC Training Session Journals

  Percy Whatley; Boston, Massachusetts: June 15–20, 2014

  June 16: Rented truck and moved kitchen equipment from casino to NFCI. Set up respective kitchens and drew assignments and kitchen rotations for the following day. I drew Coq au Vin and Rouladen. Kevin drew Goulash and Hasenpfeffer. On day two, we would switch items.

  June 17: 7:30 a.m. departure to NFCI. I had station #1 with a 12:00 p.m. service time. I struggled to get going … commis was not available until 9:30 a.m., which set me back a little and forced me into doing some items normally accomplished by the commis. The only good thing of the day was my biscuit. Shabby day altogether. I should have fired the capon an hour earlier than I did and the butchery of the veal top round was HORRENDOUS! I am not thinking before acting upon some tasks and being STUPID! Had to pound thick slabs of veal where I should have sliced thinner and only had to pound lightly to flatten them out. Garnish was not well thought-out. Pommes Purée was watery, extra mushrooms redundant, etc. Rouladen a disaster overall … time to regret this day altogether, but chalk it up to a learning experience. At least I had my pants around my ankles…. Disappointed in myself is an understatement.

  June 18: With my tail between my legs, breakfast at 7:00 a.m. with a 7:30 a.m. departure. I had to rebound today with a level of redemption necessary. I was much happier with the quality of end product, but there is still work to be done with the thought processes of garniture. Using vegetables as containers to stuff (tomatoes, eggplant roulade, stuffed peppers, etc.) is an AHA moment that must become the norm in practice. Proteins were cooked well. Two hours of braised cabbage and still al dente?! MUST BE MORE FOCUSED ON MULTITASKING throughout the cooking window: blanch all veg at one time; don’t do one thing at a time on the stove; there should be three or four things … WORK SMARTER … start by doing the things I DON’T LIKE TO DO FIRST….

  June 20: Went to TD Garden to get all the items (food, equipment, etc.) and loaded up for the two-hour drive to Amherst, Massachusetts. We arrived at 8:00 a.m. and set up the kitchens. Being a large institutional bake shop, there were some equipment challenges, but nothing too serious. Since we had MEP (mise en place) scaled out, we did our items in four hours with no commis (five hours in the exam). Chef Tom and Noble critiqued us with the following pointers:

  • Soak Joconde in Calvados simple syrup to provide moisture and to tie in flavors of pumpkin mousse and apple gelée.

  • White chocolate ice cream is too sweet; reduce from 12 oz. to 8 oz.

  • Instead of ice cream quenelle, do a shiny ball with a Zerolon scoop. It will fit better in the tuile cup, as well as tie into the shapes existent on the plate.

  • Focaccia should be 75 percent hydration dough, where my recipe is about 50 percent. Should be much wetter. I should find an interesting shape, such as a rectangle, so that I can slice it like a true focaccia is sliced in Italy.

  • I should lightly lié the compote, so that it has a more “saucy” consistency.

  • A little powdered sugar sprinkled on the streusel topping will give it a little bit of added elegance.

  Departed UMASS at 4:00 p.m. Nice homemade dinner at Chef Kevin’s house with his wonderful family. Thanks for the hospitality. Bed at a little after 9:00 p.m. and a 4:00 a.m. departure for the airport. Unfortunately, a nine and a half hour delay with a plane cancellation. Didn’t get back to California until 7:30 p.m…. long day.

  * * *

  Kevin Doherty; Niagara Falls, New York: July 20–25, 2014

  July 21: Rented minivan from National, picked up chefs Percy and Henin. Percy rented U-Haul to gather equipment from Hamburg. Unpacked and set up kitchen. Small fire alarm issue, with the building being evacuated for about twenty minutes. Picked numbers out of the hat to cook the next day. I picked Coulibiac and Chicken Kiev. And Chef Percy had Paella and Osso Buco. Chef Roland took inventory of items in freezer, and we pulled a few things out to thaw as needed. Wrote a shopping list for our day(s) of cooking and went shopping. Homework until about 10:15 p.m.

  July 22: Depart for NFCI at 7:30 a.m. with 8:00 a.m. arrival. I set up kitchen from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. Began cooking with good sense of urgency, since we did not have commis assigned. We solicited Chef Scott Green to provide assistants. They arrived at about 10:30 a.m. and that was good, but these cooks who have worked for Chef Scott for three years have little to no skill. This is good training for us, as no idea of who will be helping during exam. My Coulibiac was okay, need to straighten lines, pour butter into chimneys. Kiev, I should know better than to use raw garlic … should have been boiled or roasted for maximum sweet flavor. Cleaned up and departed the school. Homework in hotel room in preparation of Day Two. Bed around 11:00 p.m.

  July 23: Assistants arrived on time ready to work. I don’t know as I did not take these two main dishes seriously as they were not executed to the level of mastery. Paella was not good, rice was undercooked on the smaller one, chicken was undercooked, and I put the shellfish in way too early and it overcooked. Osso was good, but could have been tighter. It was marinated for thirty minutes, seared. Risotto was good. Broccoli stems needed to be trimmed or removed for another dish. After cleanup we were able to build a menu from existing proteins and ingredients for a Freestyle menu session. We were given a small budget to supplement the ingredients of $3 per person or $60 total, between us. We came in at $53 for the shopping trip. Did homework until about 10:30 p.m.

  July 24: Breakfast at 6:00 a.m. and arrive to NFCI at 7:00 a.m. Started stocks with a gentle reminder from Chef Roland. Commis showed up on time, ready to work. Commis had a good sense of speed today, had to ask him to pick up the pace at one point during tomato peeling. I think this is where Chef Henin notes I become gruff … looking at this every day, as I do not wish to be labeled as losing control etc. This seems to be a weakness that shows itself now and again, not all the time. Making note on it. I cannot say it’s an East Coast thing … Service needs to be a bit more organized, tighter, making my table cleaner as the spectators noticed my cluttered table.

  One Month Before The CMC Exam

  Kevin Doherty, CMC Training Session Interview, Niagara Falls, New York: September 30, 2014

  SUSAN: How’s the training going?

  KEVIN: Back to the three-sided triangle. You’ve got to be in sync, or at some point it will fall off. Your best ally or your worst enemy is your mind. Chef reminds us, “We have a good day; we have a bad day. If we have a good day, we should be able to have two good days. If you can cook good two days, you should be able to be a good cook four days.” You look forward to the trip (to Buffalo) all the time. Getting on the plane, it’s stress-free. I have an easier flight than the two of them—fifty min
utes nonstop, from Boston. I did my mental mise en place and checked a bag with all the stuff I’ve been lugging back and forth. When we were given our proteins yesterday, it wasn’t a daunting piece. When everybody’s talking about the Classical Cuisine, it’s still just cooking; that’s the approach I took. I wasn’t freaking myself out about Escoffier. Cooking is cooking. I’m just following a recipe and some old principles.

  I would have had a good day if I had used a little more salt. That’s going to kick me in the butt, all night long. My artichokes could have been a little whiter, but my vinaigrette was there and had some spring in it. It was a fun salad. I was missing salt on my fish. With the exception of the lemon and the salt, it would have been there. For day two going in, I’m looking forward to the Mystery. It’s all the mental preparation. You saw the homework that we do and how we physically walk through the cooking of the dish, and what the commis are going to do. Ideally, I’m done fabricating something by the time he has the mirepoix done, so we went to the pan together. It’s the dance.

  Up until when I had the five recipes for my baking pieces, it was like I was in quicksand. I couldn’t get out. Chef has a different view, but I know I didn’t freak out about the oven. It was the recipes that got me overwhelmed … simple three-four-ingredient recipes. It’s like, wow. That’s when you just try to breathe through it. You see the dishes, and you see the colleague’s dishes knocked out, and it doesn’t matter. If everybody else jumps off the bridge, I’m not. It goes back to what they say in school but just taking it all in and hopefully making the corrections. As Chef says, “The devil’s in the details now.” Really. Salt. Salt is going to send me home.