This Line Cook Got His Job by Tweeting at a Famous Chef

Sam Daigle cooked for the Army before he became the chef de partie at Minneapolis's Spoon and Stable.

Line and prep cooks are awesome. They bring the heat night after night, working tirelessly like ninjas with super sharp knives. And when it comes to practical, efficient ways to be a better cook, they've got the game on lock. Welcome to "On the Line."

No one actually expects famous people to respond to their tweets, but Sam Daigle figured he'd try anyway. When the Minnesota-born cook Daigle heard that acclaimed Café Boulud chef Gavin Kaysen was moving back to his hometown of Minneapolis to open a restaurant, he shot Kaysen a tweet inquiring if he needed cooks. To his surprise, Kaysen was game. Daigle shared his resume, and after a meeting, he was offered a spot on the team. It's a fairy tale story in under 140 characters, or as close to that as hardened line cooks get, anyway.

Cooking for one of NYC's best chefs may have been intimidating for some, but Daigle had logged some impressive hours in the kitchen; in addition to a series of line cooking jobs, he worked as a mess hall cook for the Army, serving up food for 2,000 soldiers daily. "It was really crazy, but I knew I would get distracted if I wasn't doing something constructive," he says.

27-year-old Daigle became the chef de partie at Kaysen's restaurant Spoon and Stable, a refined but approachable spot that marries classic French technique with seasonal ingredients and Midwestern cooking traditions. In his role, Daigle preps and cooks for the meat/grill station, including all of the butchery. He took a break from foraging ramps with friends (to be grilled with olive oil, salt, and pepper) to speak to us about his journey, and the tips he's picked up along the way.

Cook Meat Like a Line Cook

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Sam Daigle

Daigle, working the line. Photo courtesy Sam Daigle

Stop Overcooking Your Meat

"Some people, my mom included, completely overcook their meat," says Daigle. "You need to get over that. I don't say that in a tough love kind of way, but home cooks really do need to learn and appreciate how to cook meat to the temperature it wants. Rib eye should never be more than rare, flank steak you want medium. Pork chops should be medium too, although that scares a lot of people."

The Secret to Crispy-Skinned Chicken

Forget about trussing or tying up your chicken. Not only is it unnecessarily fussy, it actually hinders the skin from crisping properly. Let that bird splay out, explains Daigle, and the more exposed surface area allows the skin to become golden, brown, and shatteringly crisp.

Get a Little Handy

Like most cooks, Daigle considers his hands to be his most valuable tools in the kitchen. He describes them as "weathered, leathery, callous, tough, and raw," thanks to years of grabbing hot pans and moving cuts of meat on the grill sans tongs ("I don't know, you don't always have them close by," he says in response to the obvious question: Why???). Although BA doesn't advocate putting your digits in danger for the sake of a porterhouse, you can learn a lot about cooking meat by touching it with your hands. Press the meat with your fingers throughout the cooking process as you simultaneously take its temperature. You'll begin to associate the different levels of resistance and "spring-back" on the meat's surface with its corresponding temperatures. Eventually, you won't even need to check the thermometer, and will be able to discern any cut's temperature like Daigle: "The meat tells me when it's done."

Parting Words

"The most important thing I've learned is to stay true to your roots. For me, that's hunting and fishing and foraging, like my dad taught me. I grew up doing that, eating things like casseroles and hotdish. I still love eating like that, and it's influenced how I cook."

This young baker got her start making Auntie Anne's pretzels.

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