Bobby Hellen

Executive chef, Resto
New York, New York

Hacking the head off a goat isn’t as gruesome as you’d think,

especially when chef Bobby Hellen’s at your side coaching you

through it.

Hellen, the executive chef of Resto in New York’s Murray Hill

neighborhood, doesn’t use a saw when cutting up a goat or a pig.

He uses a sharp knife.

“You’ve just got to find where it moves,” he explains as he

shifts a leg back and forth. “The place where the joint goes in is

where you put your knife.”

When he passes me the knife and has me cut the goat apart in

all the places he tells me to cut, it seems like I’m cutting through

butter. This is the mark of a chef who understands the way

animals are put together. It’s also the mark of a chef who

understands what to do when he takes the animals apart: in

Hellen’s kitchen, nothing goes to waste.

So, for example, the heart and liver and kidneys? They’ll go into

charcuterie. The ribs will be made into chops, the scuddle (loin

ends) will be seared, and all the other parts that don’t make it into

an entrée or an appetizer will be used for stock.

Using all the parts of an animal like this is good on many levels.