Dear Mr ECH/30 cent solution

[Iason Ouabache]

The only thing is that it's made him a condescending little fuck with a massive ego. I want him to have a Throwdown with Bobby Flay...especially since he HATES Bobby Flay.

Everyone hates Bobby Flay because Bobby Flay is a douchebag.

saw most of her shows when i was a kid.
watched a lot of frugal gourmet and yan can cook as well.
in fact... i mostly watched cooking shows when i was a kid.
and now i still do as an adult.
I LIEK FOOD!!

I loved the Frugal Gourmet.  He got a fucking raw deal right before he died.

[LMNO]

The only thing is that it's made him a condescending little fuck with a massive ego. I want him to have a Throwdown with Bobby Flay...especially since he HATES Bobby Flay.

Everyone hates Bobby Flay because Bobby Flay is a douchebag.

saw most of her shows when i was a kid.
watched a lot of frugal gourmet and yan can cook as well.
in fact... i mostly watched cooking shows when i was a kid.
and now i still do as an adult.
I LIEK FOOD!!

I loved the Frugal Gourmet.  He got a fucking raw deal right before he died.

As I understand it, it was his assistant that got the raw fucking...

[Richter]

Hes' dead?  Bummer. 
That dude was up there with Fred Rogers as far as good personalities on PBS

[LMNO]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001976403_smith10.html

[AFK]

PBS also had the Galloping Gourmet, after he went into the healthy-cooking genre. 

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001976403_smith10.html

i didn't know he was dead.

[LMNO]

So, I assume you already knew he was a pedo, right?

[Jenne]

I watched Jeff Smith, Julia Childs and Yan Can Cook as well. 

The best TV chef character of all, however?

JUSTIN WILSON!



                                                   I GAYRAWNTEE IT!
                                                                /

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

So, I assume you already knew he was a pedo, right?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
IT'S NOT TRUUUUUUUUE!!!
 


and i liked justin wilson. i think he's a drunk   
(but he's probably just a cajun.......... same thing?)

[Jenne]

yeah...probably. 

[East Coast Hustle]

umm...

no.

there are 2 paths:

1) go to culinary school, learn useless shit like how to make ice sculpture, get yourself horribly in debt, and be instilled with the (patently false) idea that food is art and chefs are artists. This will make you a useless poser who will go through a series of "externships" (read: terms of indentured servitude where you are worked to death with little or no payment in return for something to put on your resume that no one will read). Eventually you will get burnt out by being everybody's unpaid bitch and you will get a job being a corporate shitheel at TGIF or Olive Garden selling boil-in-a-bag food to suburban yahoos for 35K a year and half-price meals.

2) go get a job as a dish-bitch or a busser or a prep cook at a decent but unpretentious local restaurant. show up on time every day, observe what the people around you are doing, work hard, and be the one they turn to when a garde-manger or a fry cook doesn't show up for work after a weekend bender. keep your mouth shut and learn basic shit like knifework, temping cuts of meat, timing sauces and broiler plates, etc. and if you're smart and work hard, you should be able to find a decent sous-chef or lead line position in 2 or 3 years' time. If you still enjoy the work by then, you'll be in position to learn directly from the head chef how to run the day-to-day business of a restaurant.

I read a couple Anthony Bourdain books.

The image you create above reminds me of them.

Are you actually Anthony Bourdain?

Or is he just a poseur?

I can't speak for everyone at my level of the profession, but the first time I read "Kitchen Confidential" I said "Oh shit! This guy is writing about me!"

[East Coast Hustle]

Speaking as a mother,

If you have a job and stuff to do with your time besides being abused in a low-paying restaurant job, buy "Fundamentals of Italian Cooking" (because it is a well-written and enjoyable book that covers many basics that can be extrapolated to any cuisine) and then just start cooking shit. Pay attention to how things taste together and how things react to being heated in different ways for different lengths of time. Start a little herb garden or windowbox so you have a good variety of different fresh herbs at your fingertips for experimentation. Watch cooking shows. Talk to your friends who like to cook, and have them over for dinner parties where you and a few others cook together.

Don't get hung up on expensive specialty ingredients. Learn to achieve similar, tasty results with less-expensive substitutes. Expensive ingredients are wonderful for special occasions, but IMO real mastery in cooking is when you can make a delicious dish out of $5 worth of whatever's-in-the-fridge. Learn to modify a dish until it no longer resembles the original recipe, but is still delicious.

Mostly, just have fun.

that's a good way to learn how to be a good home cook.

in a professional environment, someone will tell/show you what to do with the food. the important things are having a work ethic that would make a japanese salaryman cry and being able to do the same thing over and over the same way every time no matter what is happening around you.

also, it helps if you like to drink alot.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

repetition is what i do now
and i liek booze

[Darth Cupcake]

also, it helps if you like to drink alot.

These are words I live by, both in and out of the kitchen.

[Cain]

2) go get a job as a dish-bitch or a busser or a prep cook at a decent but unpretentious local restaurant. show up on time every day, observe what the people around you are doing, work hard, and be the one they turn to when a garde-manger or a fry cook doesn't show up for work after a weekend bender. keep your mouth shut and learn basic shit like knifework, temping cuts of meat, timing sauces and broiler plates, etc. and if you're smart and work hard, you should be able to find a decent sous-chef or lead line position in 2 or 3 years' time. If you still enjoy the work by then, you'll be in position to learn directly from the head chef how to run the day-to-day business of a restaurant.

I would just like to point out that this really does work quite well.

Well, the first two lines at least.  I've been helping out in the kitchen lately at work, since the bar is getting pretty quiet at lunch time, but the restaurant is busy.  Admittedly, its only pub-grub, you know, steak and kidney pie, fish and chips, easy shit like that, but the chef is probably going to be on holiday late October sometime and they're considering having me fill in for him during that time.

Its not a done deal, but they're already considering it, and I've only been there a month, so, you know...