That line was from "Kung Fu Panda." On the surface, it did not seem like the type of film to inspire food-related thought. That was before I knew that Jack Black's panda character had a father (who is a duck?) who owned a famous noodle shop. What's the connection?
In the movie, the message was simply to have confidence and believe in yourself. There is no 'mystery ingredient' that will make you all powerful or give you an edge over the next guy. If you believe it, you can do it. 'Secret ingredient soup' ends up simply being soup... albeit a well-made flavorful one.
In my chef mind, the message came down to experience. What is it? It's the secret ingredient. When and how do you get it? Can you notice when it happens? It is, in its abstract sense, the secret ingredient to making good food. When I say 'good food,' that doesn't discriminate the ethnicity, modernity, or monetary value of food in any way. It's just realizing one day, that you have full control over the outcome of what you are producing... in the restaurant kitchen or at home. You won't notice when it happens, it just does... if you have scruples and listen to your better judgement it will. I remember many years ago struggling to get better at the sauté station in a long since defunct kitchen in Metairie, Louisiana. The sous chef said something that has since remained in my memory. "You won't notice it happen. One day you're going to be working that station, the orders will be flying in, you'll be keeping up and slamming out food, then it will hit you. You've mastered it. You'll try to remember when it happened, but you won't be able to recall a precise moment." How profound, yet obvious. My mind was so impressionable. Still is. Since then, I have kept my eyes open... waiting for the moment when experience happens... trying to catch it like Santa Claus. You never see him. You just keep waking up with a bunch of new toys to play with.
So when do you call yourself experienced. Is is a measure of confidence or cockiness? Is it because your ego has swelled up? Where's that line in the sand? The common saying is, 'good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.' But, what if you don't learn from bad judgement? Is time a matter of experience... or experience a matter of time? Just because you have grease burn scar tissue older than some of your cooks does not in itself make you that much better... unless you learned something. I've known quite a few bullshitters who worked themselves into good jobs only to fall flat on their faces. Chefs that spend more time on the phone than on the stove. Personally, I've always been much more critical of myself. I did go through phases when I felt the 'experience growing pains' and pushed my culinary boundaries a little too far out. I've let my ambitions and attempts at creativity run far ahead of my skill set at times... but, that too (or realizing when you are doing just that) is a mark of experience... if you learn it.
How dedicated are you? Coming from a blue-collar part of the world, I had work ethic drilled into my head since youth. When I accidentally entered the kitchen world, I took that with me. There were times, during Mardi Gras, when I was logging in 90 hours a week working as a pizza cook for $5 an hour with no overtime pay and feeling proud of it (yeah, this can be one of those 'I walked 5 miles barefoot in the snow uphill both ways' stories). There were phases after which I really wondered what the point was. I read Charlie Trotter's "Lessons in Excellence" during my line cook days and laughed. What about life? Isn't there a bigger picture here? What about all that suff you're missing out on? Do you have chronic FOMO? If you do, then you need to get over it. It's all mental. Recently, I was thinking back and realizing that I've only called out sick one day in my entire cooking career. Did I have a good reason? Hell no. It was because of a crazy-ass girlfriend and it was back in my Kitchen Confidential party days. I recall hearing my chef's brief monotone dissappointment over the phone, and I still cringe today. Luckily, this period did not last too long, and I soon flipped back to the other side. I began to sneak into the kitchen on my days off. I couldn't stay away. Was that healthy? Just another extreme in my quest for balance.
So, last question... what's my point to all of this? My point is to take stock. Look for a second to realize that you have mastered that station. If you haven't, then don't worry about it. Be super-critical of yourself moreso than anyone else could possibly ever be and you won't be shocked (hurt, offended, ego-deflated, pissed off) when someone else says it... because they will probably be right, and you will be wrong. When you can say that you've learned something along the way, when that 20-year-old grease burn scar tissue actually means something, you will have a little bit of that secret ingredient on your spice shelf... and only then will your kung fu be strong.