When Laureano Satian left Ecuador, he didn’t even know how to make a proper cup of coffee.

Thirty years have passed since he came to the Midwest, where he started out as a dishwasher in Chicago.

After stints with a country club followed by the Palmer House, Fairmont and Four Seasons in Chicago, he landed in the kitchens at The Pfister Hotel, where he’s handled banquets for the past 17 years.

Pushed by a relentless work ethic and love of food, the 61-year-old says it was chicken piccata that made him want to learn more. “I thought there was only one way to prepare chicken,” Satian said. “There are a thousand ways.”

As executive banquet chef at the Pfister, he feeds thousands each month. He believes the most important thing one can do while cooking is taste. Almost everything he does is from scratch. He’s passionate about stocks and sauces, elevating simple ingredients with an investment of time and attention.

A married father of three, Satian lives in Brown Deer.

Q.How did you get started cooking? Was it something you grew up doing?

A. No. I had never been a cook before. In my country, kitchen is the tradition for women. I didn’t even know how to do a cup of coffee.

I came here and my first job was a dishwasher. My second job was in a factory packaging food for next-day delivery. I was friendly with the chef. He was a French guy who would speak Spanish. I would watch him.

He said, “Would you like to work in the kitchen?” I’d sneak into the kitchen and little by little I’m learning.

Then I worked in a country club for about eight years. I thought I knew about kitchens, but there was just one menu. I thought that was hospitality. I went to hotels…. I realized all kitchens are different. It is like art.

Q.What made you think the kitchen was the right fit for you?

A. It was a dish. The way they presented the plate, I was excited. It was chicken piccata with a mashed potato and green beans with almonds on top. Oh man that looks good. I wished to one day learn to do that.

Q.You’ve been handling the Pfister’s banquets for 17 years. How did you get started?

A. I’d never run a big kitchen by myself. I’d never been a banquet chef before. I was a restaurant sous chef. That’s a little different.

When I came on board, I had a little interview. They asked me when you want to come to work? I said any time. It was Sunday.

Monday I have my blood test, same day they called me everything is OK. I’ll be there tomorrow. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I was just cooking. I said, “Where is the chef?” They said, “You are.” I said “No, you didn’t tell me that.”

I had never run a kitchen like this. I told the truth…. I said give me three months, if this doesn’t work, back to Chicago.

Q.What are the differences between a restaurant chef and banquet chef?

A. Restaurants, you have your menu and you order and follow the menu. You never know when you will get busy.

Banquets, there are a lot of different events, a lot of different menus. We have information in advance. People do tastings two, three, four months, sometimes even a year before the event.

Q.How many people do you feed in an average week?

A. I would say 1,200 to 1,500 people…the numbers vary.

Q.Is there one thing that defines your kitchen style?

A. Stocks and sauces. I can buy already pre-made, but I don’t like it. I like the way I do it from scratch. I like they way it tastes and the way people appreciate it.

Our lobster bisque is from scratch. A lot of people buy the base; it is salty. I don’t like it. I buy lobster bodies. You wash it, simmer it, you throw away all the fishiness and then you do the stock. So the flavor is there, but it is not fishy.

Q.What’s your most time consuming recipe?

A. My demi-glace, that’s three days…. If you want to do the real one, the good one, that’s what you do. That’s the longest recipe.

If I use 200 pounds of veal bones, I have 60 gallons of stock, two gallons of port wine reduction. It is reduced to five gallons. That’s the best.

You can use it in pasta, anything, thousands of sauces you can make. In the busy season, five gallons lasts me two weeks. I put it in the freezer.

Q.What’s a dish you are known for?

A. Veal-stuffed chicken. I came up with it for a tasting. I was kind of scared because the person who was running the party she tasted it and said, “I love it, but I’m scared because it has veal.

People say what is that or I don’t like it.” But when they ate it, the entire room was happy with the food. Even Mr. Marcus liked it. Now it is on the banquet menu.

Q.Any advice for someone starting out in the industry?

A. Only one person I’ve hired knew how to cook, everyone else had to learn.

Q.Are banquets a good starting point for someone wanting to learn the food business?

A. We show them how to hold a knife, the different cuts, and we chop vegetables. A lot of people are happy because I work with them and teach them, but in a year or longer they jump into the line and learn. Banquet is not only one kind of meal, it is a lot of different meals.

Q.What are meals like at home?

A. My traditional food is rice. My wife is cooking rice every day. We never get sick of rice. We prepare it different ways, but there has to be rice.

Q.What’s the trick to learning to cook large portions?

A. A lot of people try to follow recipes, but for big portions I don’t go by recipes. I go by tasting.

Q.You go by taste, not necessarily a recipe?

A. In big portions, yes. We make soup for 500. So to break down a recipe, you’re never going to get that to work properly.

Q.Do you have a memorable kitchen mishap or learning experience?

A. Every mistake, you learn. For myself, every mistake I do, I remember next time. You don’t want to do it again.

I screwed up soup for 800 people. See, in a tomato soup you have to put a little sugar to balance the taste. I was busy, and I thought I put the sugar already, but I put in salt. I doubled the salt. Before I take it out of the big kettle I tasted it, said what happened? The tomato soup is dead right there.

Q.Biggest lesson you’ve learned as a banquet chef?

A. It isn’t just about using your knowledge in a banquet setting, it is using your ideas. The waiter may have 10 trays and drop the food. I’m suddenly short 10 orders.

What do I do now?

The rest of the people have the food on the table, and that table has no food. You have to fix it in under 10 minutes. I’m very good at that.