Pea Brain

Some cooks are just dirty.  Like Pigpen from Charlie Brown, they seem to leave a cloud of dust (and grease and crumbs and chopped herbs–you get the idea) where ever they go. Pigpens make their lives more difficult because the more mess they make, the deeper they fall into a disorganized abyss and with line cooking–any cooking–organization and efficiency is key. A good chef will ride a Pigpen, constantly getting on his case: wipe down the station…stop wiping your filthy hands on your chef jacket…work CLEAN, and hopefully, over time, a Pigpen can turn the corner into cleanliness–the first sign of a good cook.

One Pigpen I worked with was not only a sloppy cook, but personally disheveled, as is so often the case. His hair always looked unwashed, he didn’t take care of his teeth, and his chef pants were always falling low and his apron riding high, so that a healthy band of flesh across his back waved to everyone in the kitchen. None of this prevented his luck with the ladies. (That Pigpen line cooks are appealing to the ladies is something I still don’t understand.) But, it did provide fodder for his fellow cooks who, not only teased him for bing a Pigpen, but would take any opportunity to drop a single green pea into his exposed butt crack when he least expected it.