Why write a cookbook? Because your kitchen misses you.

A friend of mine is fond of saying that next year's perfect tomato starts this year, or something like that. I have to admit that I tend to tune him out sometimes as he waxes philosophical about the majesty of tomatoes, terroir, etc. but I guess every gardener or chef has their "thing".  His point is simply that, as an art form, gardening requires more than thinking about just the approaching season, and how to get a few juicy tomatoes out of the ground this year, but how to get more for years to come.

I remember working in a restaurant in San Francisco and sitting in the corner, always just below a boil, was  a steam jacket kettle (If you don't know already, imagine a 40 gallon crockpot) that was always going, filled with chicken bones, celery ends, onions and carrots.  It would be there in the morning when I would walk in, having lost quite a bit of volume but I was always tempted to just ingest a bowl of the stuff as it was.  We all have our things.

I suppose my point is that cooking and food should take time and maybe some of it should be about the ritual as opposed to the speed of something that comes close. Time is the chefs and the gardener's best friend and worst enemy it seems.  When you are in a kitchen and the tickets are coming in one after another, you learn the value of having been prepared before hand (see mise en place).  Still, there is more to it than that smug satisfaction of being prepared.  There is the calming that went into the construction of the thing.  You know the guest will know that there were hours that went into the preparation of that meal before they even placed the order.

We are writing our own cookbook for 99Knives and it should go without saying that I tend to stop reading when a recipe calls for adding a name brand ketchup as a base or a bouillon cube in lieu of stock.  I am here to make a case for making your own stock and making ketchup from scratch, from tomatoes you grew yourself. This book is meant to be read, to be held, to be marked in and have the pages of favorite recipes dog eared.  Bacon is going to have its own section...that's how serious we are about this.

This book is going to have stories about what it is like to work in a restaurant and what it means to take pride in what you make as a profession, as well as how you can do the same things at home.  We want you to get reacquainted with your kitchen. Take a few hours to smoke some pork, make some stock, or make your own ketchup.  Your kitchen misses you.

Mise en Place (Meez-AHn-Plahs)

Mise en Place was one of the first terms I learned when I stepped into a kitchen.  It is a French term meaning "putting in place".  When things are slow, you put things where they need to be so that they are within reach when you need them.  You make assessments of what you are going to need and prep accordingly, hoping that you prepare enough so that you do not run out yet still not so much that food gets wasted at the end of the night.  When you walk in, you check with the host stand, see how many reservations are "on the books" and then you set about your job.  One of my first jobs was as garde mange (basically all of the cold items on the menu).  It is one of the least difficult yet most tricky jobs on the line.
When guests are seated for the dinner rush, you are the one who is hustling putting up salads and cheese plates, appetizers and amuses bouche.  You are the one in charge of making sure the guests meal starts correctly and you have essentially every table in the house.  It is often a separate area from the line for the practical reason that you really do not want lettuce and dressings near the grill or the flat top.  You are an island.  I happened to work in a restaurant where the garde manger was also dessert chef at night so once all the salads were out, I had nothing to do while entrees were plated, but I knew what was coming.
 This particular restaurant was in the theater district and we would often have people come in before a show.  There were always those guests who wanted to be seated at 7 and out so that they could make an 8 o'clock show.  When you paid attention, you could see little signs of what was happening in the dining room.  Entrees would go out and for 20 minutes not a single order would come into garde manger.  Still, you knew that when the bussers started to bring back plates that were stacked with chicken bones, that you would soon see dessert orders and the second rush of the garde manger would begin.  It was a little faster this time because people were slightly boozy and they wanted to get out of their and go see their show.
 It all works when you know what to expect and there may be a few terse moments when you are "in the weeds" but nothing you can't handle because you know where everything is.  Right now, we are putting everything else in place.  This is what it means to be a professional. The big events start in June and we have a responsibility.
We are meeting people who believe in this; people who know that this is the rush and that there are a lot of charities in need.  We are proud to announce that No Kid Hungry and Defenders for Children are going to be just two of the charities that we are supporting with many more to come.  Know that when you make reservations at one of our events that a minimum of 10% of the proceeds goes to a local charity.

Terroir--99knives Cookbook

Terroir is the stuff in the soil that makes the soil unique to that area.  Pretty simple, right?  It is also amazing because it means that things grown in Carolina taste like Carolina.

99Knives 2014 is just the start of a league of culinary professionals all competing for a good cause.  Since this whole thing was thought up, we have been working on a number of different ideas to bring out what is both universal and unique. These chefs are well versed in Asian, French, Italian, and more, but they know how to bring out what is great about the south and no matter what style they are using, the tomatoes taste like they were grown right here.

We are going to do our level best to be a positive impact in the food community.  We are launching partnerships all over the state and the country and are excited to drive initiatives that are going to make this an amazing endeavor.

We believe that a lot of people, working towards the same goal, can get a lot of things done!  Thanks to the support of our chefs and our contributors, we are compiling a cookbook that captures not just South Carolina cooking, but cooking in the south.

The 99Knives Carolina Culinary Competition Cookbook will be out in June 2014.  It will feature chefs and writers from all over South Carolina adding stories and twists classic southern favorites and more. Know also that we have a commitment to donating 20% of our profits to charities all across South Carolina.

The first edition of this 205 page cookbook will feature recipes from professional and amateur chefs from all over South Carolina in an actual paper (digital will come later) format that allows you to feel the pages in your hand, something that you can get stains on, and after a few years, see flour get into the cracks for use.  We will do our best to throw in some wit and southern charm as well.--CJ

Chef Kristian Niemi--"Welcome to Cola"

I have been in Columbia for a little less than a week, beckoned by sweet stories my mother would tell me about the place, the infamous southern hospitality, and the chance to do something like 99Knives.  So far, nothing has disappointed.  Cola (I only just learned that this is what the city is sometimes called) is a lot of serious fun. I'll admit, I am a market girl and I like fresh food and knowing my growers. I took a swing by USC's market last week and then Saturday, I went through the Soda City Market and grabbed some stuff to take back to my hotel (we will see if I have the same positive attitude about the city after a week or so of apartment hunting, but I digress).  There was so much to see and so little time Saturday, but I was able to make a record of who I saw and who I wanted to be involved in 99Knives.

It is chefs like Chef Kristian Niemi of Rosso Trattorio Italia and Bourbon here in Columbia.  We asked him because when we put out the post for this and told people that we were looking for chefs to support a good cause and get involved in some good clean fun, his name came up...a lot and he responded pretty quickly with two words, "I'm in."  We are glad to have him in and we are looking forward to talking with him and a lot more chefs in the area, letting you know how they do what they do, and how you can come out and watch them work for some good food for a good cause.

Chef Teryi Youngblood, AKA the Gamer!

When we first approached Chef Teryi Youngblood of Passerelle Bistro in Greenville about competition in another event for a good cause, it took her all of about a minute to say, "sure".  Chef Youngblood is the quintessential "gamer" and everything that people look for in a leader.  People we have talked to describe her as "intense" and "passionate" yet "really kinda sweet" and always ready for a challenge. That is a fine line for a lot of people in her position.  It is easy to slide into a category of being just plain mean, barking orders and trying to be feared rather than respected, but she walks the line well and at Passerelle, a cute little bistro in the heart of Falls Park in Greenville, SC, she is known for her skill, amazing food, and getting things done.  Chef Youngblood has a lot on her own plate these days but she says that if she can, she will be a part of this event.  We hope to get her and 98 others just like her.

99 Chefs...99knives

The chef's knife is their second greatest asset after the mind that controls and guides it.

We are seeking 99 Chefs from all over South Carolina.

We have broken the state into 3 distinct districts: Upstate, Midlands, and Coastal.
We are looking for 33 chefs from each district.

Each chef will be competing for a final prize of $5000 for themselves and $5000 to the charity of their choice.

Those 33 chefs will be whittled down in intense competition with an intense test of their skills, ingenuity, and creativity to one chef per district with a point system and head to head competition.

Whoever has the most points when we get down to the final three will have home field advantage.

The winner from there will be awarded The Green Chef Coat...

This is not your regular chef competition. We plan on challenging each competitor in every way that we know how.

Know a chef who would or should be in the competition?  Let us know.
9of9productions@gmail.com

Where it all begins

When I was young, I would remember things about my mother and the job that she did.  We lived about an hour away from the restaurant that she managed and she was always gone when I got up in the mornings.  I can remember her walking in the door at about two in the afternoon and going to sleep on the couch, with a subtle nod to myself or my sister to wake her up in an hour or in 30 minutes so that she could head back to the kitchen and work until 3 a.m.
When I put on my first chef coat, I knew how she felt.  There was a blinding fatigue on some days when I would wake up in the morning that would soon fade when the first rays of light would hit me as I stepped out into the fresh air, made whatever commute I had to make to whatever restaurant I was working in at the time, and then back, often through the dining room, and or behind the bar.
Some places I worked had show kitchens where the guest could watch us toil in front of a stove or a grill.  I twirled pizzas in front of heavy brick ovens and prepared salads right in front of the guest's eyes; struggling to keep my sleeves clean.  You get pretty good at it after a while.
Then there is the rush.  You can almost feel it coming.  You can see the guests taking seats and wanting dinner.  The server approaches the table.  Then, the first tickets start coming through.  The next couple of hours is a delicate ballet that sees dishes being cooked, prepared, plated and floating to the table all at the same time.  Guests will sit, talk and give little thought to how their meal reached their plate...unless there is something wrong.  Most of the time, though, everything is right and people leave happy.  Late at night, we clean and do bar orders, laugh and joke and prepare to leave.
We love the art and the science.  We love and hate the way we have to have a stack of clean, hot, white plates for the beet carpaccio because if you mislay one of the slices it puts a beet red stain on the plate that cannot be removed.  We love special orders during down times, where we can show off.  We hate special orders when we are in the middle of rush.  We love chilling things and heating them up and getting proper use of the thermometer that we keep in our sleeve pockets.  It is all math, it is all numbers, it is all art, all at once.

My mother could have done a lot of things, other careers.  I can do a lot of things.  I cooked to put myself through film school, then went right back to the line.  The line is what calls us.  The sound of the printer; clinking glasses, silverware, barking orders and the curt reply, "yes, Chef."when an order is barked.
For some it is something to do, a summer job, or something to make ends meet for a while.  For some, it is something to try because they saw someone or something interesting on the food network.  For some, for me, it was a calling.
A part of any calling is to impart your gift to others, to share, to use your gift to make the world a better place.  99Knives is going to bring together 99 people who love the heat, the cooking.  They love the intensity and the late nights or early mornings.  Most of all, they love where they are.  They are engaged in the communities they cook in and they have a desire to make it better.  These are the chefs we are seeking for 99knives.  Chefs who love their job and their community.
Sure, there will be prizes.  Sure, there will be fun and games.  When the last chef leaves the last kitchen though, there will be bragging rights and they will leave a community...their community...a little better than when they got there.  99knives is coming and it is going to be great. The search for 99 Knives starts....NOW!--CJ

Want to participate or know someone who does or should?

Contact us at 9of9productions@gmail.com