Our Industry Interview with ...

Colleen McClean
Chef - Rare One Restaurant, Vancouver



You don't mess with Chef Colleen. That is, not unless you fancy kissing the linoleum. Colleen McClean, the talented new chef of Rare One restaurant, may be a woman working in the often macho environment of a restaurant kitchen, but she knows how to stand up for herself, and what's more, she's not afraid to speak up, especially when something needs to be said and everyone else would rather hide behind the stock pots. That hasn't always earned her the affection of her employers, but we love her for it, and her staff know to take her at her word. As actor James Cagney once said with admiration in an old movie. "Yah, she may be a woman, but she's a real dame!

How does your menu at Rare One differ from that of previous chefs, Quang Dang or Brian Fowke?
It's not necessarily different. The concept of Rare is to use ingredients not seen too often and cooking techniques not seen too often. And of course pairing with a rare wine.

Can you give some examples?
Sure, green garlic, Saskatoon berry, birch Syrup, espelette pepper, stinging nettles, turtle, musk Ox, deer tongue … as for techniques, we are doing interesting things with sous vide and molecular gastronomy and experimenting with soy lecithin -- an interesting product that we use as a stabilizer for cold foam (it is mainly used commercially as a stabilizer for ice cream).

You used to work at Feenie’s. How much of the Feenie's Cookbook was your contribution?
It was a six month project and I spent the entire time researching, finalizing and editing—the publisher sent everything back to me. The recipes were done every day in the restaurant and I was in the kitchen every day. We (myself, Mark Andre, Rob and Rob’s personal assistant ) all had a large part in producing the book. I put hours and hours into it – it was a labour of love.

What does no one know about Rob Feenie?
He is a very complex guy. There is a perceived notion of Rob within the industry that he is “outside� the business, acting as a spokesperson only. But that is not who he is. He is a lot nicer than that; he cares a lot about his business – thinking he is above all that is very unfair to him.

Any cooking tips?
The problem with most recipes is that you can have 20 people read the same recipe and it will be different. I advise that you understand a recipe, read the whole thing through before you attempt to make it and visualize – have a goal to reach at the end. I wrote tons of recipes for Feenie’s book and each one of my cooks would do it differently.

Why?
Each cook had a different interpretation of what they are reading; this applies to professionals and the public, even with the right measurements. Some are careful while others are careless.

What do the hours of the job do to a female chef's social life - or home life for that matter?
To any chef the hours are crazy – at Feenie’s I worked 100 hours a week for the last few months. I have a large group of friends that would call and say, “I haven’t seen you in six months, what’s going on?� But it is easy to achieve balance in your life if you choose the right job in the industry – right now my job is very balanced. And you are expected to work a lot of hours when young.

How old are you?
36.

That is young!
Not in this industry. I have been cooking for 14 years.

How did you get started?
I trained at Dubrulle and my first job was at Seasons in the Park; started out on etremetier and I moved on to pastries and garde manger.

Do women chefs get groupies?
I make it clear that I am married. But I do have a number of clients who have followed me from one place to another. I worked as sous chef at Coco Pazo; there was an open kitchen so I got to meet a lot of clients. I cooked and also served them and because they were three feet away from me, they would ask questions, I would talk about technique; it was all about show.

Do you prefer an open kitchen?
It does have advantages. I enjoyed working in them and got to know the clients better. I wouldn’t prefer it all the time. But it can be lots of fun. As for disadvantages, you can’t say what you want. And I have a potty mouth.

To your brigade?
I have to watch my mouth around my mother. With my staff, I will make it clear that I am angry, but I’m not a screamer.

What's the most aggressive tactic you’ve ever been forced to take when working in a macho kitchen environment?
My staff at Feenie’s used to get into towel fights – whipping their towels like they do in locker rooms and they would get obsessed. It was really annoying. I told them that if they continued, they would be doing push-ups. I caught a cook whipping the dishwasher and he had to do 30 push-ups on the dish pit floor. He deserved it. I believe he is still at Feenie’s. Who knows what they are up to now…

Other than the obvious, what is the main difference between male and female chefs?
Women are far more efficient, far less screwing around, less of the stupid crap. They usually put their head down and work – they have an innate sense, unless they are chatty. With men, they have to be trained.

When does this disparity start?
Schools imply that both males and females will automatically be chefs when they graduate. When I finished school I had a big ego but soon lost it because I realized there was a lot of work to be done and I had a lot to learn.

Do you ever wish that you could wear fashionable shoes?
No, they hurt my feet. I have an issue with a tendon in my foot and found that I have to wear special arch supports. A few weeks ago I wore four-inch heels at a Rare party and regretted it for days afterwards.

Do you ever watch the television show Godiva? How realistic is it?
I used to watch it but it is not at all realistic. It was stupid. They used an idea of what a chef is like but you can’t take one idea and apply it as a generalization – it was contrived and glamourized.

Your kitchen is quite small. What happens when you get backed up?
So far the kitchen works well because we are set up to face each other; we communicate well and ask each other favours and it’s very team-building. But the dishpit area is hard to negotiate, it's not set-up in an efficient way. We haven’t been backed up, even during Dine Out. Most restaurants use pre-set menus — tasting menus usually – so it is easy to pair one table with another; for example, several tables might be ordering cauliflower soup at the same time.

Do you have a food vice?
I’m a starch-a-holic. I don’t buy junk food but I eat tons of bread, pasta, rice. Right now I am almost 200 pounds and I’ve never been this heavy. I am not happy with my weight. But now that I am at Rare, I can go back to the gym. Rare isn’t open for lunch so I can work less hours and only have to manage five people instead of 25 like at Feenie’s.

What have you learned from this business so far?
There is still so much to learn, you can never stop learning about so many diverse cultures and the food that goes with them; that is what keeps me in this business.

What does the future hold for female chefs?
There is definitely work available. I just hired a woman at Rare. The biggest problem is having children, keeping that balance. Women have children and decide they can’t work at a restaurant kitchen so they go into catering or teaching. Also, working in restaurants doesn't lead to a happy marriage unless both partners work the same hours.

Your husband?
Very accommodating.