Master and apprentice
Shannon Bennett teaches the skills needed to cook in his kitchen, writes Dan Stock
HE might be the head of a restaurant empire that spans cafes and casual eateries through to a bakery and bar, to the highest echelons of fine dining, but like all chefs Shannon Bennett started at the bottom of the kitchen ladder.
The 15-year-old apprentice was the first in the kitchen in the morning at Max’s at the Hyatt — at the time Melbourne’s most prestigious restaurant — and often the last to leave.
“I had to come in two hours earlier than every other chef, just so I would have all my prep done in time,” the now 42-yearold chef says. “I was so slow at the start, all these things were so foreign to me. But all I wanted to do was to succeed, to learn the skills that are used in all the Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe.”
Among the many skills he perfected during his apprenticeship at Max’s, Shannon learnt how to cut a classic brunoise — a fine dice of vegetables that are used to flavour sauces and soups — how to make the perfect hollandaise sauce and how to cook the perfect omelette.
“You go in at that age, so enthused. I’d read all the books, watched TV shows, you think you know so much, but the first day in the kitchen, you realise you know nothing.”
The Vue Group founder and creative director says the pressure on young apprentices today is even greater than when he first donned chef’s whites.
“I think there’s more pressure on young chefs to learn less skills and to qualify (as a chef ) quicker. There’s more exposure to food, the internet means you can do more learning outside of the kitchen now,” he says. “But things like a classic brunoise, or how to shuck an oyster or how to make the perfect omelette are being lost.”
The Vue Group runs its own four-year apprenticeship program, where two chefs in each year level work across the group, with the final six months being spent in the kitchen at the flagship Vue de monde (ranked No. 4 in the delicious. 100).
Shannon then encourages his newly qualified chefs to head overseas to cement their skills and gain experience and perspective.
“I’m a bit old fashioned but I think it’s important for the chefs to go and do 12 months in a Michelin 3-star restaurant. Once you have that under your belt you can do anything, run a catering company, a pastry shop. You’ve seen every aspect of the industry.”
And while Shannon says a brunoise isn’t the type of skill a home cook needs (“I’d never chop an onion like this at home”) being confident with using a sharp knife is key to kitchen success.
“I think every home chef should learn how to fillet a fish, how to truss a chicken and how to make the perfect crackling,” he says.
“Another good trick, I actually teach the (MasterChef) contestants this now, is to use a toothpick to devein prawns. Through the back of the prawn, put the toothpick through the tract widthwise and lift it out, it will come out. I learnt that at Max’s.”
Reckon you could pass Shannon’s apprentice skills test? Here’s how.
CLASSIC BRUNOISE
“We use the brunoise as an assessment for apprentices, spread out the vegetables to make sure the dice is uniform, see if any pieces are uneven,” Shannon says.
A classic French technique, brunoise is a fine 3mm dice of vegetables, traditionally carrot, onion and celery.
The vegetables are then quickly blanched in salted water and used to garnish soups and used in sauces.
For onion brunoise, quarter and then peel the petals out. Dice each petal separately.
“It’s laborious, but it will give you the finest dice. These are the skills I think you go out to a restaurant for.”
For carrot brunoise, cut into a rectangle by topping, tailing and squaring the sides. Cut the carrot into 5cm long pieces, then cut into 3mm slices. Stack these and cut into sticks 3mm wide. Then slowly cut into dice.
And for celery, Shannon says this is the showstopper for non-chefs.
“People don’t know how you get it looking so good.”
The key is to first peel the celery, which will get rid of any stringiness.
Cut into 5cm long pieces, slice lengthways into strips 3mm