It sounds almost like some kind of
Gothic Fairytale: The youngest son of a
poor farmer goes out into the world to make his fortune armed with only three
things: a knife, a pouch of salt and a bag of bones.
Fiction has a way of validating
life’s events rather than the other way around- Denton Milford is proof of
that. Nobody, except a few here in Parrot County, knows who Denton Milford is-
just the way he likes it. But everyone knows who Chef Orleon is, or dang near
everybody who has any appetite.
We don’t get a chance to see Chef ‘O’
back here too often. He has an aunt who lives down Beeno Ford and comes to
visit as often as he can. Most folks figure it’s a gesture of gratitude for
making him who he is today- Chef Orleon: ‘The Famous King of
International Cuisine’. Everything he ever did in his meteoric rise was
built upon a few simple notions his Aunt Celia taught him in his youth.
It’s funny how the world idolizes
heroes, but every hero is still only a small child inside. And when the hero
comes back home, no matter the years, the miles or the fame, the hero is still
a small child compared to older folks in their past. The world thinks Chef ‘O’
knows everything about cooking, but he understands that only Aunt Cecilia knows
best.
I guess we all need heroes- they
inspire us to be better. We each have our own yearnings to become someone else-someone
famous. Unfortunately, we have to learn to gravitate toward those things we do
best with whatever skill-sets we are blessed, or cursed. But that never stops
us from visualizing our ordinary self glowing in the footlights of some kind of
fame.
Of course, fame is more important to those
who only dream of fame. It is not necessarily a condition the famed individual
craves or needs- most often they only wish for a moment to disappear from those
lights, get a good home-cooked meal and a good night’s sleep. At least that’s
true for
Milton.
Fame is such an odd animal. The irony
of such which Milton confided; we’re not always good at what we really want
to do; and what we’re really good at is not often the thing we really want to
do- go figure crazy human animals!
You see, Milton really wanted to be a
professional baseball player.
But eventually- as Milton explained-
he finally succumbed to his “Derby Dilemma’. Here in Kentucky we have the famous
Kentucky Derby. Any horse that has a chance to win must have the very best of
three things, Vision, Physical Attributes and Mindset. Without coordinating
into a perfect package you will ultimately get lost in the dust. The same is
true about professional baseball players; that was Milton’s Derby Dilemma; He
wanted to come to his career table playing the cards of Ted Williams but he was
only dealt the same hand as his Aunt Cecilia. So he settled for doing what he
was gifted at-thus, Chef Orleon.
I told Milton a secret of mine one time.
Many years ago I hankered to be a
great chef. I actually took classes. I was immediately inspired but nothing
ever came of it.
At the end of my two weeks of
culinary training all I remember coming away from the experience with was
enlightenment of three things: How to use a sharp knife; How to make soup
stock; And the secret to excellent flavor exists in understanding what happens
to ingredients at the molecular level (Chemistry was never one of my strong skills).
I thought being a chef would be easy but I
came away confused by the complexity of it all. I figure at the end of the day
I lacked the Vision, the Physical Attributes (smell, taste, etc.) and the Mindset
to build upon.
It was like taking guitar lessons from
Eric Clapton and afterwards only knowing how to hold a pick, tune a guitar and play
basic three chord progressions-no net success as a famed blues guitarist! On
the surface, seemingly a waste, yet within three simple guitar ideas are the
secrets to unfold a universe of music creation. I finally figured out the same was
true with my short venture to become famous like Chef Orleon.
I didn’t expect
Milton
to respond to my little story, but he did.
“You learned a big part of the real
secret”, he nodded. “Cooking is like any profession in life; the art is in its
simplicity; it’s easy to make something complex to showcase and confuse those
you wish to impress, but to strive for perfection in art it is essential to
strive for simplicity.”
He told me his secret: Aunt
Cecilia stressed three simple rules
for cooking, similar to what I had learned- a knife, a pouch of salt and a
bag of bones. As Chef Orleon, her rules were a constant mantra for
everything he ever did as a professional chef.
She taught him that a good sharp
knife is the ‘Artist Paintbrush’-proper trimming of meat and slicing and dicing
ingredients to the correct size and shape makes the difference between
perfection and mediocrity.
Flavoring is the ‘Artists’ Palette’;
how to use salt with other spices to effect a distinct, simple flavor. The more
seasons you add the less distinct flavor you end up with-like mixing paint-if
you add all the colors, all you end up with is ‘gray’! Flavor is about knowing
the correct salt, fat and caloric content! You use ingredients and spices to
sacrifice their distinct taste to become transformed into a new taste.
And finally, anything you cook must begin
with a Mindset to go beyond the ordinary. For instance, most recipes require
some amount of liquid. Water by itself does little to enhance taste-but
prepared soup stock does! When most people see bones, seashells and fish heads
they’ll throw them away. But any great chef knows boiled down properly into a
stock becomes the ‘Artists’ Canvas’ to create any masterpiece.
I miss when Chef ‘O’ leaves after
visiting. But just his brief presence sort of inspires everyone to notch up
their culinary creativity-Parrot County palates are reborn! The rich smells
rising on the breeze from previous mediocre kitchens reminds us we might all be
heroes just waiting to be cooked up a bit.
