Executive chef at Viand draws on culinary experience from around
the world
Fred Schneider tells it like it is. He will tell anyone who asks exactly why he loves his job as executive chef at Viand restaurant in Morgan Hill: He loves to cook, he loves the healthy paycheck he receives to cook and he loves the travel opportunities cooking has afforded him.
Schneider, a native of Europe, began his culinary training more than 25 years ago in southern Germany at the age of 16. After his 3 1/2 years of working as an apprentice, Schneider set out to learn tricks of the trade from other great chefs all over Europe. He worked and studied cooking techniques in France, Italy, Switzerland, the French Caribbean, Turkey and, eventually, America.
“You know, it’s like any craft – you start at the bottom of the totem pole with the basics, and you keep learning,” he said. “I am still learning. I learn from everyone, whether they are the dishwasher or a server or whoever. Everyone has something they can teach you.”
Despite his extensive training, his title and the fine dining cuisine served at Viand, Schneider said he still considers himself “just a cook,” and chefs who say they are otherwise are just being pretentious.
“I don’t care what your title is in the kitchen; it’s all hard work,” Schneider said. “If you are not willing to put in the work, peel the potatoes, cook the rice, then you aren’t doing your job.”
At Viand, Schneider said he takes the opportunity to pay forward all of the lessons he’s learned over the years by sharing his knowledge with young culinary school graduates and other upstarts working under him.
“I have learned an incredible amount from Fred,” said Ryan Johnson, a recent culinary school graduate who also works at Viand. “I learned the fundamentals and the chemistry of food from school, but he’s taught me to apply it. He’s amazing.”
One thing Schneider impresses upon his kitchen staff is to make everything with fresh ingredients from scratch. Another thing is to let the food speak for itself.
“I don’t drown my fish or the meat in sauces, and I don’t cover the food with garnishes,” Schneider said. “You don’t want to change the flavor, you want to enhance the flavor. You put a little sauce that helps bring out the flavor of the beef, or you put a sauce that compliments the fish. But you don’t want to taste just sauce. What’s the point of that?”
Despite all the hard work and effort, one aspect of cooking Schneider said he particularly enjoys is figuring out how to do traditional dishes in new ways.
“You do the same dish, but without butter or lard,” he said. “You figure out how to make them work in a new way.”
Schneider has put the philosophy to work all over the world and at a job he had working for a celebrity in Los Angeles. There was a clause in his contract with the celebrity swearing him to secrecy, but if you’re willing to pay the penalties detailed in the contract, he’s willing to tell you the celebrity’s name.
Schneider will, however, tell you the names of each member of the staff he works with, who are the people he said are really important.
“You are only as good as the weakest link in the chain in the kitchen,” he said. “I have an excellent staff here, and I think they should be in the newspaper. They are Gilbert Torres, Ryan Johnson, Dominic Asio, Theresa Sanchez, Sara Cruz and Hector Mendoza. I could not cook if those people weren’t as good as they are, you know?”
Taste Fred Schneider’s dishes at Viand restaurant, located at 16825 Condit Road in Morgan Hill. Call (408) 779-8564 for reservations.
