I went to a Mario Batali cooking demo a few months back and someone asked if he knew what the secret ingredient was beforehand and how they have all the ingredients. He stated they all go into the battle knowing whether the secret ingredient is going to be something savory or sweet, and plan certain dishes they're going to make - ceviche for example, and plan around the secret ingredient. This would explain why they have specific ingredients beforehand. I'm not saying you're wrong, but it would explain the prep if it's true.
Do you have a preferred kind of cookware? Stainless? Aluminum? Copper? What do you think of induction cooktops?
Depends on the job. Those metals all get different temperatures. I use whatever tool works best at that particular food I'm preparing. Personally, I dig my cast iron pans because I like to sear things on them because of the high temperature they get. Great for your home, not so great in a working kitchen for a lot of reasons, mostly because there are many things being put on and taken off the stove and those heavy pots and pans can easily break the glass over the course of a few weeks of constant use. Broken glass on those stoves usually switch a safety in the induction stove which means the entire stove is rendered useless. Spoiler Mario is lying, chefs know exactly what the mystery ingredient is, they also know which chef they are going up against.
The best restaurant I've ever eaten in was a place called Simon's British Flavours. Brilliant and simple food, really focusing on the natural flavors of his dishes instead of using a lot of sauces and spices, and what sold me ten minutes into sitting down for the first time was that his shepherd's pie was made with rabbit and not beef, which is fucking impossible to find in a restaurant in my area. I had only one bad meal there, and to tell the truth it wasn't even the whole meal that was not up to par. It was the starter, a bowl of roasted red pepper and eggplant soup, which had zero flavor and wasn't seasoned properly. I flagged down my server and told her about it and within five minutes Simon was at my table introducing himself and apologizing for the mistake. He comped the entire $160 meal and gave me a voucher for a bottle of his house wine should I decide to return, which I did on no less that thirty occasions in the year he was open. Never again did I have a poor meal there, and I really respect a chef who truly stands by his product and admits and understands his mistakes. Training and education for me was simply a way of filling the gaps of what I didn't already know. I had 8 years cooking experience before I went to school, and while I was very good at what I did, I didn't know a lot of the technical terms and some of my techniques were a bit rough and lacked finesse. I went to Red River College, which I feel wasn't the best choice, but was enough to teach me what I needed to know at the time, while leaving a lot for me to learn on my own, which is how I prefer it, especially with such great books as this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larousse_Gastronomique Now, if a high-school kid fresh from graduation wanted to get into culinary, I'd recommend he or she spend a few years working in actual kitchens, even just as a dishwasher to begin. This would be to get a feel and taste for what the industry is really like, which is a far cry from culinary school. Most of the guys and gals I went to school with didn't make it because they simply weren't expecting the absolute fuckshow that most professional kitchens are. However, that being said, even if you take the courses and end up choosing another career path, it never hurts to know how to cook properly. It's one of those things that can be used quite often in day to day life. What's ranks as one of the biggest myths out there is the "your burger's done at 71" shit, which most people consider to read as "incinerate this burger or your child will die". While there's truth in that, it's possible to have a medium rare burger if it's properly prepared. The reason most hamburger meat, especially what you buy from the grocery store, is so riddled with e.coli is because when you grind the beef down, all the bacteria that used to be just on the surface now has more room to multiply, and does so before you show up to buy it. So, if you don't grind the meat until you're ready to serve the burger, anything bacteria on it are going to be much less harmful. This myth is starting to lose ground though, as there is so much information out there now that's so easy to access. She doesn't bother me too much, but I think that stems mostly from the fact that I have no desire to be on TV save for being a challenger on Iron Chef. I say that anything educational about food is a must have on TV, regardless of who's teaching. So long as their teaching the facts, it's ok in my books. The more information that's out there means a greater chance that shitty restaurants are going to go by the wayside because they can't maintain a clientele with sub-par product. When I see a huge menu after being seated, I get worried. Very few places can handle a big menu, and while it's a nice concept to be able to cater to all tastes and preferences, being a jack of all trades is almost guaranteed to be a death sentence for a restaurant. The Canadian chain, Moxie's Classic Grill, is a prime example. Their menu is so large you could get lost in it, and after working there for a month I had to leave because nothing I was cooking with was fresh or properly prepared simply because there wasn't enough manpower to handle the 600+ ingredients their menu required. I actually had trouble picking up their line and their recipes because there were just too many to handle in such a short time, and the volume they put out is truly epic. However, despite the food, they continue to do well because their strength is marketing and atmosphere, which still draws in a lot of folk who can handle a poor meal so long as they look good while eating it. A good menu is kept tight, with a lot of cross-usage in ingredients. This way, you eliminate waste, you don't spend obscene amounts of time counting and ordering stuff, and your staff gets very good at the small number of dishes you have, very quickly. This boils down to offering quick and efficient service to your customers, while not sacrificing quality. The downside being that you won't cater to everyone, and lose a bit of business because of that. Ramsay hits the nail on the head by trimming menus down as a first move. As for ethnic restaurants in foreign countries, they're hit or miss. Some do it well, some just open cans. Induction tops are also poor for heat control, which is a key element in many techniques and very important during busy services. Gas ranges are where it's at because heat control is very visual and the controls are easy to feel for when you just don't have time to stand there watch the flames. I haven't forgotten this one, but I don't have enough time to properly tell some of the stories I have right now. I assure you I will get back to this.
Just as I have suspected for a while, the Iron Chefs know the secret ingredient beforehand. What about on Chopped? I have this sneaking suspicion they know what's in those baskets beforehand. In the same vein as above, if Chopped is for real and the chefs don't know the ingredients, could you whip up a meal that quickly encompassing strange ingredients? What's the weirdest thing you've ever cooked that you'd think wouldn't have worked but turned out to be great?
From what I know from Chris Santos, whom is a judge on Chopped the chefs have no idea what's in those baskets. I wouldn't want to be on Chopped. It's like fraternity hazing for chefs and even worse for the judges. Chris said that about 75-80% of all the dishes he's tasted were just awful.
I consder myself an amateur chef, if there is such a thing. I tend specialize in sauces as I believe the sauce is probably one of the most important elements of a meal in creating that flavor. I have dined at many high end restaurants, and other than one case, I have not seen a chef serve a cream based sauce with poultry or beef, just with seafood. Can you think of a reason for that? Is it just my lack of experience? At this one exception, the chef had a roast chicken with lobster sauce. Sounded disgusting until I tried it. It was amazing. I haven't seen anyone else dp that.
All my friends who are chef's spend their career's fantasizing about having a job where they have weekends and evenings free, have done their own body weight in coke (usually over the course of the last week), hate the industry and refuse to attend any social gathering where food will be served unless the host promises that they will never have to participate in or witness any part of the preparation. They're also all fantasizing about the day that they'll own their own restraunt and get very upset when you ask them about things like new restraunt failure rates and how much they know about book keeping for tax purposes in a small business. The only exceptions I know are people who left other careers because they had some kind of kitchen fetish - and half of them are broke and miserable as well. Is the industry really full of bitter coke heads who only survive by fucking wait staff on the prep bench and pounding 'secret' seasoning into the special sauce when some bitch complains about how her burger was cooked? Or is it just a reflection of my friends?
I think you need to take into consideration the possibility that your social circle is probably "a bit interesting" compared to the norm. I've also got 2 chef mates, one is part owner of an exceptional restaurant "Black Cow". They are both passionate about their work, love to cook at social gatherings and are not drugged up malcontents. Working weekends does piss them off from time to time, but it would be the same as getting into Law and getting pissed off at having to read boring shit for hours, it's par for the course. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.blackcowbistro.com.au/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.blackcowbistro.com.au/</a>
Do you get to choose a primary focus in culinary school that you'd like to focus on, such as French cooking? Do they teach less formal techniques? Such as bbq?
I fucken' hope so, otherwise one of my dreams is now shot to shit. I've done it a couple times when competing in a couple local Iron Chef challenges. First off, it's fucking hard, and we were given a list of possible ingredients about an hour in advance, and only had to do a three course meal. Second, I was a rookie chef, just having finished school. There were two other chefs in the challenge and we were each given one assistant of our choice. I picked a good buddy of mine who knows his shit in the kitchen and has worked with me on many occasions. He doesn't know a lot, but he's ridiculously quick and hammered out the prep work which made our dishes possible. There was a surprising amount of extra ingredients that covered just about anything I could ever think of making, so props to the organizers for going all out, and the equipment we were using was properly maintained and reasonably new. Our challenge turned out to be a "Vanilla Bean Battle", which makes desserts a breeze, but really had me on my toes for the app and entree. In the end though, I started strong with a roasted parsnip and vanilla soup, which came out a bit rich for a starter, but really stunned the judges in terms of flavour and texture. I followed up with double-cut pork chops served with a vanilla and apple fennel slaw and pear and vanilla chutney, which were ok, but I flopped on the chutney. Lastly. I finished weak with poached pears stuffed with creme fraiche and glazed with honey and vanilla, which tasted good but didn't have enough vanilla flavor. All in all though, I think we did well despite not winning. Had a blast, and learned a lot about myself in the process, so that's a win in my books. Half and half, split by the type of restaurants in the industry. Proper kitchens have proper chefs that give a shit and who are given free reign to craft a menu themselves, are designed with a dining room that's manageable to serve thereby reducing stress, and are run by owners who want to make money, but also understand that they have to sink some of that back into their business sooner rather than later. Shitty kitchens have chefs that are just looking for high pay and who don't get to make a menu because it's already done by corporate or the owner wants to control every aspect himself, are designed with a dining room to maximize turnover and are far too large for the kitchen to handle which stresses the staff out because they are overextended, and are run by owners who get pissed when someone drops a coffee cup because they slipped on a wet spot, caused by a leak in the roof, that should've been covered by a rubber mat that wasn't and isn't going to be bought because they cost money and the staff can just be more careful to compensate. True story. These are obvious generalizations, but restaurants exist on both far ends of the spectrum. The burnt out cokeheads who live for cash, blow, booze and tail are the ones who usually take up residence in the latter. It's not even necessarily because they can't hack it, but rather because they got what sounded like a great deal, with high pay and benefits and a title, but after a couple years they realized that the place is a shithole, promises made went unfulfilled, but because they make upwards of $60k/year they can't ever leave. Therefore, they compensate. I almost fell into that pattern too, but I managed to bail before it got too bad. I didn't get to choose a focus, but I went a school that most never heard of. Red River College. Got to do a bit of charcoal cooking in school, which was a nice change from my usual propane grilling.
To answer your question: yes and no. The industry has it's fair share of substance abuse problems ranging from alcohol to cigarettes to pot to coke to heroin, but the professionals in the business usually steer clear of those vices (except for cigarettes) because those things will affect their performance and in turn their reputations. Personally, I haven't done any illicit drugs since I was 19. I saw some really great chefs ruin themselves and their careers due to substance abuse. I knew I was going to be a lifer, so I made the decision to cut the chord on those things and stick to booze.
Depends. There's a huge difference between a culinary college like CIA and a cooking school like ICE. At CIA you get to learn a vast number of formal techniques while also getting courses in the business end. At a cooking school, you are basically taught the focus of that specific school. You learn most of your primary focus working for other chefs at their establishments during your externship.
So booze does not equal substance abuse? Most chefs I've worked with have been raging alcoholics. Based on your opinion, what's the average of alcoholics in the "industry?"
Can you answer the age old question, propane or charcoal? I will need to buy a BBQ shortly, and wondering which direction I should go. But, my budget is fairly small, so can't go with the big green egg, or a charcoal/propane combo.
Alcoholics? Probably over 50%. It's an intense environment with ready access to booze, so... Charcoal. Always go charcoal.
What's the best way to stretch your money while still maintaining nutrition, and even more importantly, taste? Any recipes that y'all are particularly fond of, along those lines? I am really tired of rice and ramen.
I imagine it is probably heavily dependent on what is on the menu, but is there a job/station in the kitchen you hate more than the rest?