since you are a boner-fried chef and all, do you have any advice for someone w/ no formal culinary training who's interested in teh culinary arts?
squid- wants to be an iron chef one day, yo
i realize that I am in no way, shape, or form NEAR qualified to respond to the name of mr ECH, however, as someone who was considering Chefitude as a trade skill (I still want to open my own bar/restaurant some day)...
you could look at your local community college, for starts. I know mine has an awesome culinary program. then, what you wanna do is get real good grades and stuff so youc an get to a prestirious school, like on the East Coast or something... even travel the world getting awesome culinary ideas to make you stand out and be unique, and then... well, take your dreams from there!
Akara:
Making up interesting words, such as prestirious...
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.
one of my ex's took path one
she now works for tim hortons
for the last 8 years
:lulz:
she did say she wanted to be an iron chef. that sounds like a lot of artsy-fartsy stuff to me... lol
Quote from: 30 Cent Solution on April 21, 2008, 12:46:27 AM
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?
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.
Quote from: 30 Cent Solution on April 21, 2008, 12:46:27 AM
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.
a friend of mine took path 1 and ended up at red lobster, now she's at some other restaurant that used to be a ruby tuesdays.
so obviously that is not the path i want to take. and i believe everything you say about externships, debt, etc...
i know a lot of basic kitchen ... uh... stuff.
always watching food tv, i do cook pretty well and i enjoy doing it. i mostly enjoy watching my friends and family go "Mmmmmmmmm"
i may have an opportunity coming up as well.
a friend of mine is looking into opening a diner (since we don't have any greasy spoons in our area) and southern fried comfort food is my specialty. she's had my food and loves it, so we'll see on that one.
thank you though for clarifying what happens with culinary school. i had a hunch it was like that, but thought that my friend was just a bad example cause she's lazy and has a poor work ethic.
Quote from: Akara on April 21, 2008, 01:40:12 AM
she did say she wanted to be an iron chef. that sounds like a lot of artsy-fartsy stuff to me... lol
oh come on.
i was obviously joking :p
Quote from: Nigel on April 21, 2008, 05:43:44 PM
Speaking as a mother,
trying to push another meme, Nigel? ;-)
Quotehow things react to being heated in different ways for different lengths of time.
this is very important.
i had never expected that to make so much difference until i read "Cook & Chemist" (dunno if it's translated to english, the book is Dutch, even though the title isn't) about the chemical reactions behind it.
cooked onions taste different than boiled onions, which taste again different than onions which have been roasting next to your meat in the oven for 2.5 hours. same for mushrooms, same for nearly everything. the important factors are temperature and duration here. it helps if you apply some basic physics to it.
another important thing to realize is that some aromas are better soluable in water, and others are better soluable in oil and alcohol. most "interesting" flavours are oil-soluable, btw, but these are also often the most volatile ones. that's why it helps to have a drop of oil or butter in a sauce or something you're cooking, to "capture" the flavour.
a good example is orange zest. the bitter flavour dissolves better in water, while the orange aroma dissolves better in oil. you can use this fact to separate them, puree orange zest, water and oil, let it sit for a while, filter/sieve and somehow get rid of the water layer.
(http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/Squidoid667/ABknifehand.jpg)<--my hero ~siiiiigh~
i don't know if you guys have the alton brown show in dutch-place, but he is awesome. he shoes you not only how to do things but why things do the things they do and what happens if you fail. it's vurry educational. plus he's hot.
btw- i don't often boil things unless it's pasta or eggs.
Quote from: triple zero on April 21, 2008, 06:04:33 PM
Quote from: Nigel on April 21, 2008, 05:43:44 PM
Speaking as a mother,
trying to push another meme, Nigel? ;-)
Speaking as a complete gaywad, I think it's a keeper.
Quote from: Cthulhu's Squidling on April 21, 2008, 06:23:31 PM
btw- i don't often boil things unless it's pasta or eggs.
stew? soup? sauce? potatoes? beans? carrots? broccoli? babies?
http://anonym.to/http://www.mediafire.com/?my3wrrolqzb
CS: i've just started cooking (mondays mostly) and i found this book to be indespensible for using as a guideline for whichever dish i'm preparing. it basicly gives a broad overview of things like temperature, meats, spices, etc and a very general way to use them
Quote from: triple zero on April 21, 2008, 06:32:15 PM
Quote from: Cthulhu's Squidling on April 21, 2008, 06:23:31 PM
btw- i don't often boil things unless it's pasta or eggs.
stew? soup? sauce? potatoes? beans? carrots? broccoli? babies?
babies!?
cmon man, those are for roasting. like game hens.
when i think of boiling the first thing that comes to mind is that "pudding" stuff that's tied up in cloth and boiled ... and... bleich
i forgot about mashed potatoes n stuff
never boiled a carrot. if it goes in a sauce or soup it gets simmered till it's soft, but i usually roast those with the babies.
Quote from: burnstoupee on April 21, 2008, 06:47:47 PM
http://anonym.to/http://www.mediafire.com/?my3wrrolqzb
CS: i've just started cooking (mondays mostly) and i found this book to be indespensible for using as a guideline for whichever dish i'm preparing. it basicly gives a broad overview of things like temperature, meats, spices, etc and a very general way to use them
thanks, i'll take a look at it.
CS:
Buy, study, and replicate all of Julia 1 and 2*.
That should get you well on your way.
* Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle — ISBN 0-375-41340-5
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two (1970), with Simone Beck — ISBN 0-394-40152-2
Quote from: 30 Cent Solution on April 21, 2008, 12:46:27 AM
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.
Door #2 is the correct culinary motorcycle. It's how my brother, the ADHD high school dropout who was told he had no future by his teachers is now making more money than my 50 year old father at the tender age of 22. He would often get into arguments with Johnson and Wales graduates that would result in him getting fired and rehired once the JWU fucks left about 3 times at the same restaurant in Narragansett before shipping off back to St. Petersburg. He now works as the assistant kitchen manager and menu specialist at the Derby Club's white-tablecloth at Derby Lane.
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.
Get that shit onto Food Network NAOW!
I watched a special on Flay last week over at the mom-in-law's. I'm way too tempted to write him a letter and be like, "Look, my brother has a massive ego, please to deflate. Kthx."
Yet another option: never attempt to "cook" (by cook I mean flavor, obviously it's advisable to physically cook raw meat).
Don't be a slave to your tongue.
Hunter- eats blocks of straight tofu.
I went for the "Marry a Hot Woman Who Can Also Cook in the Kitchen" option.
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on April 22, 2008, 06:17:22 PM
I went for the "Marry a Hot Woman Who Can Also Cook in the Kitchen" option.
Change woman to man and ditto.
-Suu
The best damn grilled cheese slinger in the East.
Quote from: Suu! on April 22, 2008, 06:23:14 PM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on April 22, 2008, 06:17:22 PM
I went for the "Marry a Hot Woman Who Can Also Cook in the Kitchen" option.
Change woman to man and ditto.
-Suu
The best damn grilled cheese slinger in the East.
Well now, I do make a mean grilled cheese, perhaps Mr. Suu and I need to have a Grilled Cheese Throwdown. :D
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on April 22, 2008, 06:28:06 PM
Quote from: Suu! on April 22, 2008, 06:23:14 PM
Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on April 22, 2008, 06:17:22 PM
I went for the "Marry a Hot Woman Who Can Also Cook in the Kitchen" option.
Change woman to man and ditto.
-Suu
The best damn grilled cheese slinger in the East.
Well now, I do make a mean grilled cheese, perhaps Mr. Suu and I need to have a Grilled Cheese Throwdown. :D
No that's me. He's the man of Pork Shoulder and all that is Puerto Rican and artery clogging.
And I will destroy you. Please. :thumb:
Yeah I am going to open up a shop that sells all pork shoulder in the many ways to cook it.
The shop will obviously have black windows and card you on the way in with a big sign on the outside that says, "ADULTS ONLY". Obviously.
8) :D
Quote from: LMNO on April 22, 2008, 05:56:51 PM
CS:
Buy, study, and replicate all of Julia 1 and 2*.
That should get you well on your way.
* Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle — ISBN 0-375-41340-5
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two (1970), with Simone Beck — ISBN 0-394-40152-2
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!!
and :lulz: :lulz: :lulz:
at the rest of the thread, mostly
Quote from: Suu! on April 22, 2008, 07:13:05 PM
The shop will obviously have black windows and card you on the way in with a big sign on the outside that says, "ADULTS ONLY". Obviously.
Quote from: Mr.Suu on April 22, 2008, 07:11:27 PM
Yeah I am going to open up a shop that sells all pork shoulder in the manly ways to cook it.
quickly glancing over this thread
thats how i read it
that's how it was supposed to read.
the other way was a typo
Quote from: Suu! on April 22, 2008, 06:08:45 PM
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.
Quote from: Cthulhu's Squidling on April 23, 2008, 04:15:24 AM
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.
Quote from: IasonOuabache on April 23, 2008, 07:34:27 AM
Quote from: Suu! on April 22, 2008, 06:08:45 PM
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.
Quote from: Cthulhu's Squidling on April 23, 2008, 04:15:24 AM
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...
Hes' dead? Bummer. :sad:
That dude was up there with Fred Rogers as far as good personalities on PBS
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001976403_smith10.html
PBS also had the Galloping Gourmet, after he went into the healthy-cooking genre.
Quote from: LMNO on April 23, 2008, 03:35:12 PM
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001976403_smith10.html
:cry:
i didn't know he was dead.
So, I assume you already knew he was a pedo, right?
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!
/
(http://bizarrerecords.com/galleries/cajun/WilsonWhooo.jpg)
Quote from: LMNO on April 23, 2008, 04:47:31 PM
So, I assume you already knew he was a pedo, right?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
IT'S NOT TRUUUUUUUUE!!!
:x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x
and i liked justin wilson. i think he's a drunk :lulz:
(but he's probably just a cajun.......... same thing?)
yeah...probably. :D
Quote from: Payne on April 21, 2008, 02:03:32 AM
Quote from: 30 Cent Solution on April 21, 2008, 12:46:27 AM
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!"
Quote from: Nigel on April 21, 2008, 05:43:44 PM
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.
repetition is what i do now
and i liek booze
Quote from: 30 Cent Solution on April 29, 2008, 01:42:49 AM
also, it helps if you like to drink alot.
:mittens:
These are words I live by, both in and out of the kitchen.
Quote from: East Coast Hustle on April 21, 2008, 12:46:27 AM2) 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...
That's how my brother got to be a chef.
Meanwhile, all the Johnson and Wales bitches I've worked with have gotten fired for not listening, stealing shit, coming in late, and pretending they're rockstars when they get paid about $10/hr.
I gave up.
Soulless banker ........
Turns out I'm actually cooking tonight.
Oh well, at least half of it is pre-prepared. And everyone will just order fish and chips or steak and kidney pie anyway, which is easy as hell.
Good luck!
Cheers, it shouldn't be too hard though. There have been some very quiet nights recently, chances are I'll end up cooking twenty or less meals.
And by cooking, I mean taking cod out of the freezer, throwing chips in the deep fat fryer and microwaving the steak and kidney mix before pouring it over the pie shell.
Sounds easy enough--mind the grease, though...that shit can burn if the fish or the potatoes get too wet! Glad they're giving you another avenue to work in, Cain.
No-one died from my cooking, which was a bonus.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!
\
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sfQzIpvw2LM/SdC2A16zT8I/AAAAAAAABng/LeEP-GKFyY4/s400/the+fonz.jpg)
Quote from: Suu on September 14, 2009, 09:54:01 PM
That's how my brother got to be a chef.
Meanwhile, all the Johnson and Wales bitches I've worked with have gotten fired for not listening, stealing shit, coming in late, and pretending they're rockstars when they get paid about $10/hr.
even the CIA and Cordon Bleu douchebags openly mock anyone who came out of J&W.
It's like the DeVry of cooking schools.