San Antonio (Texas) CC’s Executive Chef, Nelson Millán, uses his passion for music to better understand and teach the art of cooking.
Both cooking and music have been important parts of my life since the very beginning. I remember cooking my first dishes ever—a pizza and a beef empanada—when I was 8 years old. That same year, I received my first pair of bongos for Christmas. And ever since, those two disciplines and art forms have shaped my life. What’s most interesting is how they continue to grow parallel to one another.
Both music and cooking are artistic expressions and they have much common as they appeal to the senses equally. Great cooks harmonize and balance ingredients in one cohesive and well-composed dish that make sense to the palate. Good musicians harmonize and synchronize rhythmic patterns and notes to produce well balanced and synchronized music that make sense to the ears.
As the Executive Chef of San Antonio (Texas) Country Club, I once asked my crew: “What if your favorite band was visiting our city and you paid a good price for tickets to go see them perform with the expectation that the band will perform your favorite songs. Then what if the lead guitarist decided not to play his best tunes or solos, or the drummer decided to perform half energy like because he/she didn’t feel well that night?” Their answers ranged from “that would be disappointing” to “I would ask for my money back instantly.”
Their answers ranged from “that would be disappointing” to “I would ask for my money back instantly.” So I decided to use this as a lesson.
On many occasions, my crew has heard me compare our team to a great band our members come see perform every single night. Therefore our instruments, harmonized ingredients, and performance must to be tuned and calibrated to the optimum level possible. This will allow us to perform our best and be the most cohesive so the members won’t be disappointed or ask for their money back at the end of their meals. I also stress the importance of the synchronization among the team during our “performance.” It’s easy to tell when a band is well-synchronized with its members playing harmoniously together and no one over-shadowing the other. They—and we—complement each other to produce great music/food for the ears/palate.
Thirty-eight years later, 25 of which I’ve spent cooking professionally, my two passions continue to grow and align. I seem not to be able to separate them. The reason? One helps me understand the other and both bring balance to my food, my crew and my life. So when you can’t find me in my kitchen directing our daily culinary concert, you will find me with my bongos—I keep a pair in my office—at the stage of the weddings or social events at the club (seriously) or at home in my studio or on campus at the Culinary Insitute of America, San Antonio passing the same “philosophy” on to my students. And now, hopefully, to you, too.
P.S. I played professionally with a christian music band from age 15 until 22 and toured extensively throughout Latin America and the USA during those years. We even recorded a video for the openings of Billy Graham’s Spanish-speaking countries crusades. This is how I collected such an array of instruments. Everywhere I went, I grabbed an instrument to bring back home with me.
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