TAKING THE HEAT

SOME OF THE CAPE'S TOP WOMEN CHEFS DISH THE DIRT ABOUT BEING ON TOP OF THEIR GAME

by Kate Barriera

The next time you eat at a restaurant, take a peek in the kitchen. Chances are, the person flambéing your fluke will be a man. As is true of most high-powered positions, restaurant chefs are predominantly men. Long hours, physical labor, and a work environment that ranges from egomaniacal to downright misogynistic are just a few culprits of gender imbalance in kitchens. Four of Cape Cod's women chefs know these challenges well.

Bari Hassman, Executive Chef of Devon's in Provincetown, was drawn to cooking at a young age. The aspiring chef prepared extravagant menus for her parent's dinner parties. "I grew up believing that women could do whatever they wanted," says the toned 41 year old, as she strolls Herring Cove beach with her dog Sullivan. After 17 years in the restaurant industry, her outlook is a bit more nuanced. Even with her own kitchen, Hassman continues to face gender stereotypes. "It's not the chefs that are hardest to crack, it's the purveyors," says Hassman, who played it tough in order to break into the "boys club." Often, when orders arrive, the carrier will pass by Hassman, in favor of the prep cook, "a 29-year-old kid," who has been confused for the chef by deliverers and patrons alike. "The most disturbing thing is when women do it," says Hassman.

Jan Wright has had the same experience as Executive Chef of Scargo Café in Dennis. "Delivery people walk up to the first man they see. They're getting better now, but I've been here for sixteen years," says Wright, whose graduating class at Johnson and Wales in 1981 was only ten percent female.

Sue Connors, chef and owner of Pisces in Chatham, recalls a restaurant where her male co-workers "were not interested in having a woman advance beyond them." One afternoon, Connors opened the refrigerator door to find a crude statue that her fellow chefs erected out of produce. "The only thing to do at that point was take one of the vegetables and hurl it at them," says Connors.

Susan Connors, chef-owner of Pisces

Heather Allen was always one of the guys; she grew up working in the kitchen of Mrs. V's, her mother's Maryland restaurant. Heather's comfort and competency in the kitchen earned her a place as the only female member of the 1988 Olympic culinary team. Her far-reaching and fast-paced career was exhilarating, but taxing. "I wanted to get back to a place where I could be busy, but also enjoy life," says Allen, currently Executive Chef at The Regatta of Cotuit.

While these accounts reveal hurdles women face as professional cooks, they also provide valuable guidelines for survival and success in the restaurant industry. "The guys try to break you down and see if you'll be able to hang," says Allen, who was already an accomplished culinarian when she joined the Chatham Bars Inn as assistant garde manger. After an appropriately humbling tenure as second salad tosser, Allen approached the head chef about a promotion. "You can be on the hot line when you cut your hair," the chef prodded. Allen saw this as an opportunity. That night, the resolute cook went home, lopped off her waist length locks and arrived at work the next day to claim her position among the crewcut chefs. Having proved she could hang, Allen got the chance to prove she could cook.

It's not always so easy. "Women are rarely hired onto the hot line, no matter what their skill level, so they have to take more initiative and be persistent," says Connors. Still, there are kitchens in which women are unlikely to be promoted. When faced with this reality, Conners plucked up and quit. "The restaurant industry has lots of turnover, so if you realize you're in a bad situation, you can get out pretty easily," she says. "The restaurant industry is in the dark ages of business," says Hassman, referring to the bulk of restaurant jobs, which don't offer 401(k)s or health insurance. But this allows chefs to extricate themselves from a bad match, with minimal consequences. "The industry is so transient. You can work for lots of different people, take the good with the bad, and learn something from all of it. It's an advantage chefs should utilize," says Hassman.

Of course, this transitory lifestyle has its drawbacks. Few female restaurant chefs start families of their own. Even dating can be jeopardized, says Hassman. "The business puts a lot of strain on relationships." But familial fulfillment is not out of reach. "My kids are the kids I'm teaching in the kitchen. I can tell if one of them is having a bad day by the way they're cutting mushrooms," says a satisfied Allen. For her part, Connors doesn't consider the choices she's made to be sacrifices. "I love food and wine and my restaurant family," she says.

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But with pans clanging, waiters moaning, fires roaring, and customers clamoring, it might seem as if hollering is inevitable, if not necessary. "Women run kitchens different then men," asserts Wright, who has a zero-tolerance policy for screaming. Hassman sees no benefit in demoralizing her staff. "There is no yelling in my kitchen. Everyone is happier and more productive in a positive environment," she says.

Another common source of restaurant rancor is the adversarial relationship between the servers, also called "front of house," and the kitchen staff, or "back of house." It's a perplexing riff, and one that these chefs are determined to correct. "The front and back of house have to be well connected. That old school, yelling and animosity doesn't work," says Allen. She has a point. Servers are the link between a chef and her customers. Clearly, it is in a chefs best interest to foster an amiable and informed staff to represent the kitchen. Bottom line, says Conners, "no matter how great the food is, if customers don't have a good experience with the front of house, they won't come back."

Wright points out that this management style has advantages in the current market. "You can't afford to treat people poorly. Employees are not disposable anymore." Not only are valued staff harder to come by, but "there are strict rules about how to treat restaurant employees going into effect," says Hassman, who believes that kitchens headed by women will fare better during this transition.

Make no mistake; working in a woman's kitchen is no tea party. They are chefs, after all. Chef Allen knows that a "work through it" attitude is necessary in the kitchen. "No cramps, no crying, no 'I can't come in because I'm emotional.' Put it aside and do your job," Allen tells her cooks. Wright, who worked sixty-hour weeks for much of her career, says that women who want to become chefs "need to understand that this is just the way the business is and embrace the lifestyle." The professional kitchen is an intense environment "that is not for the faint hearted of either sex," says Conners. She finds that people who don't cook professionally often have the misconception that working in a restaurant kitchen would be "fun." Often, it's quite the contrary. "On a nightly basis it's about production. You're gonna sweat," says Conners. Serving consistently excellent food to a [sophisticated] clientele requires meticulous planning, serious muscle, and a thick skin for both the emotional and physical burns. "The most difficult challenges a chef faces are true for men and women," says Hassman. A chef must be truly inspired by food in order to face the industry's endemic hardships.

And that kind of inspiration has nothing to do with gender. Independently of one another, each chef stridently disavowed the notion that gender informs cooking. "It's up to the individual how creative they are," says Wright and Allen agrees that "personality has more to do with the quality and type of food a chef produces than does gender." Hassman sees women working at all levels of the industry and producing all types of food. "Women's cuisine runs the gamut," she says. When it comes to food, one gender "isn't more talented or intuitive than the other," concludes Allen.

As the restaurant industry creeps out of the dark ages, Allen, Wright, Connors, Hassman, and thousands of other women chefs, will have the opportunity to reform restaurant kitchens. With structural organizations, such as the Women's Restaurant Association, already facilitating connections between the growing number of women chefs, this community is poised to set new standards for professional cooking. Hopefully, these changes will not only create a friendlier path for the next generation of women chefs, but also produce better restaurants in which we will all be better served.

Bari Hassman Executive Chef at Devons

E&T FARMS

AQUACULTURE, HYDROPONICS, BEES, & BERRIES

by Doug Langeland

Ed & Betty survey the fish barn

Our correspondent Elizabeth White did a fascinating article on bees and local honey in our fall issue, and my assignment was to go and take pictures at E&T Farms in West Barnstable. I expected to see a small operation with some boxed beehives. Instead, once I turned onto an unassuming driveway off Lombard Avenue in West Barnstable, I came upon a barn 125-feet long on one side attached to an equally large greenhouse. Ed and Betty Osmun, the proprietors of E&T Farms welcomed me into the barn. I was stunned to find myself standing in a "Rube Goldberg-esque" world of tanks teeming with fish. Raceways and pipes were shunting water around. Wide wheels filled with holes spun in water. It was dark and humid; there was the sound of water rushing everywhere. The barn led to a bright, gleaming greenhouse with dozens of hydroponic trays bursting with salad greens and tomatoes. I got the bee pictures, but also learned that honey is just the tip of the iceberg at E&T Farms. I had to learn more.

STARTING WITH BEES

Ed Osmun was born in Summit, New Jersey. His father owned and ran a PR firm and his mother was his dad's secretary. His parents loved the Cape so much so that they even came up to their "summer" home in the winter. For a while Ed went to the Champlain School in Chatham and Mashpee. Betty is a lifelong Cape Codder raised in Marstons Mills. She and Ed met at a Barnstable High School dance. In the middle of his high school years when the Champlain School closed, Ed returned to New Jersey to graduate. After graduation in 1971 he returned to the Cape to be with Betty, and they soon married.

In the ensuing years Ed held various jobs while Betty began a thirty-year career at Cape Cod Hospital. In addition to doing sheet metal work and working as a manager at Hyannis Hardware, Ed also was general caretaker for his grandmother who lived in West Harwich. Long fascinated by bees, Ed started a couple of hives to pollinate his grandmother's gardens. He started harvesting honey after his grandmother passed away in 1998 and since then the business has grown to about 200 hives. Ed has grown his business carefully because "time management" is the key to success with bees. "I don't want to just be a bee 'have-er.' Bee 'have-ers' don't take care of their hives. It's important to actively watch and manage your hives to make sure they are not overcrowded or prone to disease." If a hive becomes overcrowded the queen will leave the nest to find a new hive and this leads to swarming. So monitoring and splitting up a hive before that happens is vital. Feeding with a sugar and water syrup, and keeping mice out is key in the fall, while maintaining moisture levels is crucial during the winter. In the spring, the bees become active before flowers bloom, so they need to be fed with pollen and brewer's yeast.

Managing 200 hives is labor intensive, but Ed clearly loves it. "I am endlessly fascinated by bee social structure," he smiles. "For example, the bees closely monitor the queen and, if she's failing, they will kill her." Ed has to discipline himself to not study a single hive for too long or he will fall behind on his maintenance schedule. The honey business produces at least 75 gallons, even in a tough year like 2006 (too much rain is bad for honey production). Betty left her position at the hospital in 2002 and now helps Ed full time, especially with extracting and bottling honey. She also creates products like bee pollen and wonderful beeswax candles. (Dianne is particularly fond of the six-sided tapers-they last forever and smell heavenly.)

EPCOT, FISH, AND VEG

During a mid-1980s trip to Disney World in Florida, Ed and Betty saw an exhibit at Epcot Center that made a lasting impression on them. "They demonstrated aquaculture and hydroponic systems that grew remarkable amounts of food in a very compact area," recalls Ed. "The sustainability made so much sense to me, the operations were so efficient in the use of land and energy. I couldn't get the operation out of my mind for so many years that I figured I had to give it a try."

Having no experience with either aquaculture or hydroponics, Ed started to read and research. He reached out to thought leaders like Keith Wilda, a sustainable aquaculture expert at U. Mass. Ed and Betty traveled to Indiana to learn about fish aquaculture-systems designed by Jim Bradley, a pioneer in the area. They also credit Bill Clark of the Barnstable County Extension Service for being "a really big help." Ed was happy to find that "once you get started on something like this, there are a lot of people who are happy to help you."

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Fish almost ready for market

Ed was most inspired by systems that linked fish aquaculture with hydroponic greenhouses. Fish are grown and fed in tanks that are constantly circulating with water. The nutrient-rich water leaving the tanks is used to feed plants grown in trays in the green house. The plants, which are grown in a mix of coconut husks and Perlite, absorb the nutrients, and the growing medium filters the water. After passing over the plants, the water is pumped back to the fish area, further filtered by those spinning wheels, and returned to the fish tanks to begin the cycle anew. This creates a closed and highly efficient loop: fish feed the plants and the plants clean the water for the fish.

In 2004 Ed, together with his son Ted (the 'T' in E&T Farms), began construction of a pilot system. They tried different combinations of tanks, raceways, and hydroponic trays. They learned by trial and error, and refined things like adding biological filters and an air system that lifts water from the greenhouse back into the fish tanks. Ed also incorporated UV sterilizers and learned how to deal with fluctuations in water pressure and temperature. Despite the daunting array of equipment used in his greenhouse, Ed is modest about how much he has learned and the complexity of what he has designed and built. He matter-of-factly notes he got the system functioning "pretty quick," the way someone might talk about putting in a garage door opener.

In addition to their honey operation, Ed and Betty, together with farm manager Travis Stovall, oversee a 9,000-square foot farm/fish facility that circulates about sixty thousand gallons of water. They grow tilapia, large mouth bass, and brown trout. The fish, in turn, feed various salad greens, herbs, tomatoes, and edible flowers. They hope to ship the first commercial load of fish in early 2007 and to increase annual production to forty thousand pounds of fish.

Currently Ed and Betty market their honey and produce during the summer through the farmers' markets in Hyannis and Orleans and directly from their farm in West Barnstable on weekends during the winter. They also sell to their honey, candles, and salad mix at Chatham and Dennisport Natural Markets. The salad mix, which is sealed in special no-fog bags, stays fresh and crisp for an amazingly long period of time. The fish will be sold to Asian markets in Boston that have a clientele that insists on absolutely fresh fish. The markets keep live fish in tanks from which customers make selections that fishmongers dress on the spot. Ed also hopes to sell fish to Cape restaurants, but he is not sure that they are equipped to deal with whole, live fish.

In the greenhouse Ed is anxious to try growing other vegetables, but wants to see where there is unmet demand. Since he can operate year round strawberries have potential, but they require a new system with different nutrients. Outside the barn, Ed and Betty have a new blueberry patch, which will become a pick-your-own operation in 2008.

By next year there should be a major NEW farming operation right under our noses in the mid-Cape. Freshwater fish, salad greens, herbs, blueberries, and-hopefully-strawberries. If you want to be as amazed as I was by this operation, schedule a visit to take a tour of E&T Farms. Then buy some beeswax candles and a bag of hydroponic salad greens and be grateful that people with the vision and passion of Ed and Betty Osmun live on Cape Cod.

Travis Stovall, Manager of E&T Farms

CAPE COD COOKING LIVE

A NATIVE CAPE CODDER RETURNS HOME TO COOK IN PUBLIC

Robin & Chef John Prepping their Recipes

Move over Emeril, the Cape has its own home-grown TV chef. Chef John Marcellino is the star of Roche Bros. "Cape Cod Cooking Live", which is broadcast on local public access television stations reaching over 150,000 households from Falmouth to Chatham, and off-Cape in Marshfield and Wellesley. If you haven't tuned in, you're missing out on an informative, quality program, and an engaging local personality.

We had the opportunity to watch Marcellino in action, both on the TV set while being filmed, as well as at Roche Bros. Mashpee store where he holds court each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM, serving up samples of his cooking and answering questions from his ever-expanding fan base. Marcellino is gregarious, charming, and extremely knowledgeable about local foods and cooking techniques. Unlike some TV chefs, he understands the limitations of most home cooks and keeps his recipes accessible.

Robin & Chef John prepping themselves before broadcast

A Wampagnoag Native American from Mashpee, Marcellino returned to the Cape in 2005 after a 19-year absence with a long resume of broadcast credentials. In 1990 while teaching a cooking course at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, Marcellino was invited to make an appearance on NBC Channel 10 (WAVY in Virginia). His natural ability in front of the camera quickly led to a regular segment called "Food on the Fly" on CBS Morning News, followed by TV stints in Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. He has also broadcast a regular cooking segment on WTOP Radio in Washington, DC, and been spokesperson for Trader Joe's stores from Virginia to New Jersey. Looking to move back home to the Cape, Marcellino approached Roche Bros. about working together. According to Paul McGillivray, vice president of sales and marketing at Roche Bros., "We started at first with in-store cooking, food preparation and product demonstrations. It was apparent from the start that Chef John had a great rapport with our customers. We felt that the show would allow him to reach a greater audience while introducing new customers to Roche Bros. Being a new store on Cape Cod we are continuing to look for ways to communicate with new customers about the benefits of shopping at Roche Bros." Marcellino, or Chef John as he prefers to be called, claims that working with Roche Bros. has provided him true creative freedom. And, watching him in action, the joy he has found in that creative freedom is palpable.

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Originally the sole host of Cape Cod Cooking Live, Chef John has lately stirred up the mix by sharing his stove with Robin Sager, whom Marcellino met, appropriately enough, at Roche Bros. Market. Sager, a home cook who prefers a lighter, healthier touch in the kitchen (i.e., less fat and salt) provides a nice foil to Chef John's "meat and potatoes guy" (i.e., richer) style cooking.

For a local public access program, the set is quite sophisticated. In center stage is a handsome cooking island and cabinets made of oak, a marble prep countertop, and a Viking range with an electronic induction stovetop. Chef John secured the items from Crane Appliances in Falmouth & Design Studios of Yarmouth and even postponed production of the program until the Viking arrived. The entire set comes apart and must be assembled for each show. While Roche Bros. donates the food items used for each segment, Chef John and Robin do all their own menu planning and ingredient preparations. After each show, Chef John rolls up his sleeves and washes the dirty dishes in the studio's kitchen.

We recently watched Chef John and Sager tape their "chicken" show (segment #12). The first 10 minutes of the program was shot on the "cold side" of the set (away from the stove). Here they talked about what to look for when buying poultry (who knew that dark bones means that the chicken is old?), how and how long to store it, cooking times and temperatures, and how to tell if your bird is done-even if you don't have a cooking thermometer. Then they moved to the stove and started cooking. Each prepared an appetizer and an entrée featuring chicken as the main ingredient. Although not a trained broadcast professional, Sager is telegenic and poised, and Chef John generously shares the stage, teeing her up with questions and teasing her good-naturedly. They both prefer not to plan each show too much in advance in the interest of keeping their patter fresh and natural.

For the most part, specific recipes are not given during the show, but they can be found on the Roche Bros. website (rochebros.com under the Cook With Us tab). We've provided their two chicken entrées below. Both were tasty, despite being prepared under less than optimal conditions-although we must confess that our favorite is Chef John's Chicken & Shrimp Soyo Cream Sauce Sauté. Sorry, Robin.

Show time!

Tracy's Wine Recommendation: Soy-based sauces are both savory and salty, so you want a wine with big fruit and low tannins. For either dish, try a richly flavored white from Alsace like Pinot Blanc or Riesling, or if you're in the mood for a red, a Barbera (from Italy's Piedmont region) will do the trick.