Mikeb19

Hmmm, let's see. At the restaurants I worked in, side towels were always yellow or white, and I always would keep one over my shoulder (or in my hand), and another tucked into my apron, on the backside to the left. Obviously anytime I grabbed a pan it was with a towel (and it was always folded in half twice). Of course, sometimes it was hazardous trying to reach for a pan in the back of the range with a towel (sometimes they'd catch fire), so we'd use tongs to grab the handle of the pan with one hand, drag it to the edge of the range, and then grab it with the towel hand. The nice thing about using towels, was that they were reliable. As long as the towel was dry, you knew you wouldn't burn yourself. Since the towel was always folded, any holes in the towel didn't matter, there were more layers to protect you. In an oven mitt, often the insulation moves and theres spots where theres no insulation, so you burn yourself.

Where I live (Calgary), this is the situation. The AVERAGE house price is more than $400,000.00, and is expected to hit $450,000.00 or more this next year. Rental prices are equally rediculous. How on earth are you supposed to learn a trade when you can't even make rent? Recently, I've actually seen some cooks quit because they quite literally couldn't make their rental payments. I'm lucky - I'm on the high end of the pay scale in kitchens, and my rent is very low, but I'm still living poor. In other skilled trades, 5 years of experience means you're making $80,000.00 a year.

At the restaurant, we used to make an oxtail sauce sous-vide. Basically sear the oxtail and vegetables hard, let them cool. Put them in the bag, along with aromatics, a bit of liquid (veal stock), and cook at 160-170 degrees (I think? Was years ago) for 12 hours or so. Strain, then let cool. At service time, we'd cook our piece of meat in a pan with butter, let it rest, dump the fat, cook some shallots in the same pan, deglaze with alcohol, reduce until dry, then add the sauce and a sprig of thyme and some peppercorns, reduce a little, strain, mount with butter, and then serve on top of the meat. All of our puréed vegetable sauces were cooked sous-vide as well. Making stocks sous-vide wasn't an option, we'd make 30 litres at a time, every second or third day, theres no practical way of doing that much stock sous-vide. (not to mention we were already cooking close to a dozen different things sous-vide every single day, and the size and equipment in our kitchen was severely limited)

Food is food. Period. It really is all about ego, from what I can see in your posts. It's like the graduates from high end culinary schools, they think they know what's up until you really take them to school... People wouldn't know it by looking at me, a poor kid from the projects, but I was taught to cook by several French chefs who themselves were brought up in 2 and 3 Michelin star restaurants. As for pastries, I've worked side by side with a Team Canada pastry chef, as well as some incredibly talented French pastry chefs. At the end of the day, taste matters. A cook can create desserts every bit as tasty as a pastry chef in the middle range of restaurants, you really don't need a pastry chef unless you're a huge hotel, or are at a 2/3 Michelin star level. I've worked in restaurants that have won national acclaim and dozens of awards during my stay (not necessarily because I was there, however I certainly was a key team member). We didn't need a pastry chef (also won awards and got great reviews of our desserts). Elitism sucks, and I've had to deal with far too much of it. I came from a poor family, lived in the projects, had no knowledge of gastronomy or even dining, and never went to culinary school so needless to say I've been ragged on by many. Of course, I've also risen to the top of many award winning kitchens, and my references and connections can get me into nearly any kitchen I want in the world (although I must say, I'd rather stay in my hometown, chill with my friends, fine dining is less interesting to me these days). BTW, I'm not saying pastry chefs are worthless. Pastry shops are great, hotels and larger restaurants obviously use their services, I personally love making pastries, and have even worked as a pastry 'chef' (although I dislike the title, I'm just a cook in the end). But for many restaurants it's overkill, cooks can handle many pastry techniques. It's just like you don't need a CMC to run a pub.

Reminds me of a restaurant I helped open once. It was a barbeque restaurant, on a crackhead infested street. It was done by an independant owner, at a VERY low budget (I won't say how much, but it was rediculously low, I was beyond shocked). Now, 2 years later, they're packed every night, cooks are making good money (comparable to the chains, much better than fine dining). I don't think the industry is going the way of the dodo, but I do think there are more fine dining restaurants than the market can handle. Also, reminds me of a tiny Donair place that opened in my old 'hood, again, super low budget but now they're huge, and making money (and they even pay more for staff than many larger restaurants). In job placement advertisements you can see ethnic restaurants, once notorious for illegal labour and low wages, offering more than the fine dining restaurants. I know very well that it IS possible for independants to make tons of money, pay staff well, and produce a quality product because I've seen it. Hell, one of the biggest chains in Canada was only a single, family owned restaurant a mere 20 years ago. I've even seen a guy make a decent living by setting up a small stand outside a health club with 2 induction burners, a blender and a mini-cooler, and serve up stir-frys and mixed drinks (non-alcoholic). He started off with a single stand, and I've seen several more since then. The biggest problem I've seen in the dozens of restaurants I've worked in, is trying to do too much. One such restaurant is a small bistro in the suburbs. They've got good press, but at the same time they don't have a chef, they have a single cook (usually a friend of the boss, usually doesn't last long), and are trying to do fine dining-type food (and I know they're not making money, also looking for investors). Another restaurant I worked at - we were doing food that was absolutely rediculous. The highest quality ingredients money could possibly buy (we'd use French grey sea salt in our blanching water, we'd bring in truffles, blonde goose foie gras - we were 1 of only 2 restaurants in the country buying that foie, Beluga and Oscietra caviars, etc..), the best preparations (chef was super talented, came out of the best restaurants in europe, the rest of our staff was incredibly skilled as well), and we got awarded huge by the national foodie press. Unfortunately we were also serving a bunch of rednecks who only wanted steak and potatoes, we had to keep prices decent and portions big which killed the foodcost, and staff didn't get paid. Lesson learned - you can serve the best food in the city, and still not make money (since then they've simplified things somewhat, are making more money, however staff are still incredibly underpaid and overworked). And I've seen many more poorly planned independants that could only survive because of underpaid staff, help from family and friends, etc... The whole fine dining glory thing doesn't apply only to culinary school grads either, it also applies to owners. Many think owning a restaurant is going to be all fun and games, that you can just open it and suddenly you're making money, and everyone wants to do fancy food. Anyhow, sorry for the long posts. Cooking is still a huge passion of mine, although working in fine restaurants no longer is. Honestly, I probably will end up back in the industry, although now I've taken a much greater interest in the business and financial side of things.

After roasting veal bones for stock (or chicken for dark chicken stock), we'd dump a bucket of ice into the stockpot. You could hear the bones cracking from the sudden change in temperature. We didn't add ice to the stock once it was going though.

At what point can a cook accept 10 dollars an hour when rentals start at 800 a month for a 1 bedroom? The market decides how much a particular service or good is worth, sucks when you're on the losing end, but that's life. Either that small operation makes some changes to become profitable, or they close up shop. I used to have passion for cooking. It disappeared once I realized I was still living in the ghetto, still dealing with all the shit that comes with that life, still broke, and I was basically subsidizing an incompetant owner by working for less than I should have been (and this was at a top restaurant recognized nationally). The majority of the cooks at that job were living with their parents (in their mid 20's!) - it's rediculous, a restaurant is a business, not a charity.

Just to give an idea of what people are offering around here: You can make 15 dollars an hour working at a Donut or coffee shop, a 16 year old kid can get 15 dollars an hour at a chain restaurant, and during the summer you can flip burgers and make club sandwhiches at a golf course for 15 dollars an hour (sometimes more). Hell, 14 year old kids in fast food restaurants start at 10 dollars an hour these days... Outside of the hospitality business, you can START a trade with zero experience, have your training paid for, get full benefits, and a 15 dollar an hour wage out of the gate (after 1 year goes up to 20 an hour, after a few years and you recieve your ticket it goes to 30-45 dollars an hour, depending on the trade). You can do just about any thoughtless manual labour and make 15-20 dollars an hour. For 15 dollars an hour all you should expect is someone to come in sober, and be able to learn simple tasks. I've worked in fine dining restaurants where the garde- manger cook was a homeless guy they brought in off the street, because that's the only person that was willing to work for their wage...

Corn syrup is basically glucose, which has moisture retaining properties - this is very important for keeping a uniform, soft texture. Many pros also add pectin mixtures (aka. sorbet stabiliser) to sorbets and iced creams to help retain moisture. In professional fine dining kitchens, the top pastry shops in the world, the top commercial iced creams, all use corn syrup/glucose. I recently purchased Pierre Hermé's newest encyclopedia "ph10" (as far as I know it's only been published in europe, and only in French), and every single sorbet and iced cream recipe contains glucose (as do most of his ganache recipes). Strait up, the use of corn syrup/glucose in iced creams has little to do with cost, and much more to do with creating a better product. Sure, some people like to use sugar only because it's "more natural" (aka has less scary names attached to it), but it's an inferioir product.

This is the reason I've turned down 2 exec jobs, and now am leaving the profession altogether (although for the interim I'm considering a golf course/chain restaurant job). The reason for the lack of decent employees: the wages suck. Why would someone want to bust their tail end for 10-12 bucks an hour in a fine dining restaurant, when you can get 50/year as a line cook at a chain restaurant (that's what many are offering for experienced guys - they've got the cash). If you move up to management, you can be looking at 60-90 grand a year. It's impossible for a fine dining restaurant to offer anything close to this, but for a restaurant that does 3 million a year in revenue, with food costs of 18 percent, not to mention all the liquor (many of these places are night-club type places after hours), they can. Fine dining restaurants just can't compete money-wise. And quite frankly, once experienced cooks burn out, have a family or a kid, it makes alot of sense to work in chain restaurants. I had a buddy who used to be an exec in a fine dining restaurant, but he ended up having an unexpected kid. So what does he do, goes to a chain restaurant. Lands the Kitchen Manager job (equivalent of Exec Chef), works 40 hour weeks, makes 90 a year. Can leave his job at the office, and spend time with his kid. Even guys like Thomas Keller, Ducasse, can't compete wage-wise. Top kitchens around the world are staffed with tons of free and minimum wage labour, only Exec and Sous level guys make any sort of money, even at the top end.

You're right, I did exactly that. I had no education, no job, no money, I was living in a housing project, either I get a job or I sell drugs and rob like most of my friends did (and many went to jail for it). How I ended up in fine-dining restaurants of all places was sheer luck... At the time, I really wasn't in the position to negotiate. Nowadays, I'm definitely at the upper-end of the payroll, and working my choice of hours.

I know this all too well. I'm getting the F out of the industry. As much as I'd love to go to Europe and be an apprentice again (if I could afford it I would, but stages in the higher end restaurants don't pay much, if anything), I'm instead going to head to University. Who knows if I'm done cooking, but I've gotta take a break, relax, chill...

Strait up, I'm just frustrated with the business, and that night I was frustrated with people I work with. Honestly, most days it feels more like my profession is babysitting than cooking. And to top it off, I'm babysitting cooks who are older than I. Not to mention today I had to change several recipes the executive chef wanted me to make because they were sub-par or didn't work, oh well, it's really my fault, I worked with him previously and still took this job. In a few months it'll be my dessert menu, that'll cause less stress, but until then... As for ethnic slurs... The best cooks I've ever worked with were mostly foreigners (French, Japanese, Chinese, for the most part, other minorities as well though). White cooks coming from upper class families, going to culinary school then coming into restaurants thinking they're hot shit not really knowing a thing are the problem. Cooks who come from a poorer background generally work harder than the spoiled brats that come up. Also, when I first started out in fine dining restaurants, it was a Japanese cook who took me under his wing, showed me the ropes, gave me advice, etc... You are right though, I should choose my words better - I don't think that way though, I've known so many people from every corner of the globe, every ethnicity imaginable, stuff like racism isn't even an issue where I'm from, but I guess it still is to others... Obviously there are many cooks who aren't idiots. I've worked with plenty (I apprenticed under a few chefs who had themselves worked for years in 2 and 3 star Michelin restaurants, as well as fellow cooks who had worked in many of the very top restaurants in the world, and even a few who have competed at the top international levels), although they're still by far the minority. The problem with the internet, it's tough to articulate some points often, and you can't see who you're talking to. Everyone who knows me personally knows that I'm definitely not a racist, and people know that everything I say I can back up. And if you thought I was being harsh, you should have heard my old chef (a Breton) rant about the quality of cooks in North America.... And finally, about cheapening the profession and stereotyping... I've given up ALOT to pursue a culinary career. I had the choice to go to any University in the country, in any field I wanted. I had thousands of dollars in scholarships lined up, and I gave everything up, left home, and started cooking. I worked my way up the hard way, working 80 hour weeks for a pitiful salary, and then coming to work on my days off to put in extra time in the pastry shop or to help make sauces in the morning. You name a task, I've done it. Anyhow, back on track. Speaking about wages, they're the way they are, because cooks are willing to work for them. As long as cooks keep coming along and taking low paying jobs, the pay will never get any higher. And culinary schools keep the lie going - that cooking is glamourous, and more and more people get into the industry, especially in the higher end restaurants. Tell these kids they'll be a chef in the future if they accept low pay right now, they believe it, and keep the cycle going.

A few people have stated some of the reasons for the disparity, but I'll add another. I hate to admit it, but it's the truth. Most cooks are monkeys, and most cooking can be done by monkeys. I mean honestly, what jobs really take skill in the kitchen? At age 19 I was a Chef de Partie in a fine dining restaurant, at age 21 I was a first cook, and now at age 22 I'm a pastry chef (after turning down a few exec jobs). I've worked every station you can in a restaurant, I've been a manager at several, and I've cooked styles of food ranging from classical French, Italian, Ukrainian to Barbeque... When I was a manager in one kitchen, I trained the 15 year old dishwasher to be a better line cook than the monkeys we got rid of... I remember days at another restaurant (fine dining), the chef would send every other cook home, and just the two of us would run the kitchen - and we were still putting out food that was above anything else the city has to offer.... The job I'm at right now, I don't have to deal with them, but the hotline staff are almost retarded they're so dumb... Cooking is manual labour - anyone can cook good food, you just have to follow procedure. If a chef can teach well, and push them enough, then any monkey can produce results. I've come into jobs so drunk I could barely stand up (in my younger, wilder days - I don't drink anymore though), and had the chef come up to me at the end of the night, and tell me great job. I've walked out of shifts before, come back the next day and kept my job. I've told chefs to go @#$% themselves, I nearly knocked out one chef with an elbow (he thought it would be funny to go around grabbing cooks' asses, I didn't) - he told me later he was actually out cold on his feet, but recovered quickly - and yet I still kept all my jobs. A few chefs were even afraid to confront me about anything (showing up hours late for instance), fearful I'd quit, because despite my behaviour and shortcomings, I'd get work done better than any of the monkeys. I even applied for one job, was told that there wasn't any space for me, but if I really wanted to work there the chef would just find someone to fire to make space for me. Recently a few of my old chefs have offered to set me up in restaurants abroad - anywhere I want in Canada, NY, or France, they'll try to find a place. But honestly, working for next to nothing in top restaurants isn't something I want to do. Anyhow, just a little rant - in my experience (most of) the cooking profession is a joke, I'm getting out myself. Oh, and do cooks deserve more money? They still work for their shitty wages, they still come in to work, so as long as they're willing to do that they don't deserve anything more.

Is it only open to Americans, or can anyone enter? (I'm Canadian) I've got experience in top level restaurants (I was made Chef de Partie in a top fine dining restaurant when I was only 19, in a French kitchen no less...), I'm still quite young (22), and I've got great hotline and pastry skills (currently working as a pastry chef). Also knowledgeable when it comes to molecular gastronomy, as well as several different traditional cooking styles. Whats the prize anyway?

It's funny, I'm sitting here right now wishing I didn't spend 5 years of my life cooking for a living. I've been working in fine dining restaurants since 2004, including the top 3 in the city I live in (according to most reviews, publications, and popular opinion). I've worked for chefs who themselves had worked in 2 and 3 Michelin star restaurants. I've cooked for countless celebrities and food critics, I've had a recipe published, and had my photo attached to a newspaper review. I've even started getting offers for executive chef jobs, and am currently working as a pastry chef. I'm only 22 years old, so by most peoples standards I'm doing pretty well in the industry so far... (especially without an education) But then theres the downsides... Long hours (nearly 3000 a year) - and they're not easy hours either, always working at a torrid pace. The money is terrible, most people can't even imagine. Even for executive chefs it's not great money (there are exceptions) - and the chefs who ARE making the big bucks usually didn't cash in until late in their careers... Kitchens get very hot, 100+ degrees F, needless to say it's uncomfortable. The stress levels are out of control, long hours, the heat, dealing with waiters (who themselves are stressed by the customers), bad customers, dealing with cooks (many of whom are alcoholics, drug addicts, culinary school students, etc...) - altogether it's not a fun place to be. Want to raise a family? Good luck. Odds are you'll never see them, and might not even be able to support them on your salary. Honestly, the most fun I ever had cooking was on those slow days (20 or less customers), where it was only the executive chef and I working... We were doing food that could easily get 2 Michelin stars, and we worked so well together there was no stress. Of course, that wasn't typical. Often it was busy, the rest of the brigade was working, many of whom weren't very good cooks. It felt more like babysitting than working, since I was in charge at night when the chef wasn't around (the sous-chef worked opposite shifts). Strait up, cooking at home is much more fun. The life of a restaurant cook, well, sucks. I'm getting out of the industry myself, before it's too late.

Even French haute cuisine has it's roots in peasant cooking. IMO, perfect vegetables, game, and fish cooked perfectly is luxurious. You don't need rare ingredients to cook well. What is haute cuisine anyhow? How do you define luxury? What makes a truffle better than a turnip? Anyhow, it's nice to see chefs looking at their own regions, history, instead of trying to copy French and Italian food...

I can only speak about my personal experiences, so here goes. I'm still quite young, 22, I work as a professional cook (and have since I was 18). I'm in great shape (6'1" 190 pounds, around 8 percent body fat, very muscular). Anyhow, I'm pretty strict about my diet, I eat ONLY natural foods, but I will eat somewhat higher fat items (butter, bacon, fatty cuts of meat, olive, nut, fish oils, etc...). I also regulate my portion sizes according to how much physical activity I do, and try to eat a balanced diet (this includes the occasional burger, but a real burger, not fast food garbage), everything in moderation (including alcohol consumption). Seems to be working, I'm in great shape, I've seen a doctor maybe 2-3 times since I've turned 18 (didn't really need to, but wanted to get back to work ASAP). Now, some of you will say I'm still young so it's easy, which is somewhat true, however EVERYONE I grew up with, they all eat lots of processed foods, junk food, drink pop, etc... And they're all in much worse shape than I - always seeing the doctor, higher body fat, even my buddy who logs many more gym hours than I is in much worse shape due to his diet. Many are even fat/pushing obese at their young age... Now, I look at my grandfather, and his family. He comes from a Ukrainian farming family, eats traditional Ukrainian food (and has his whole life), no processed food. He's 84 years old, without a single physical ailment, and is still strong as an ox. He has lower blood pressure than most middle aged men. His father lived to be 93 years old, the average life expectancy of my Ukrainian ancestors of that generation was around 90 years. All of them ate a peasant diet, no processed foods. My French ancestors, same story. Grandparents are both 83 years old, still going strong. They've eaten a traditional diet their whole lives. Their parents lived into their late 80's and 90's. I still remember visiting my great-grandfather when he was 93 years old (he died at 94)... I look at my parents and others in my family of their generation, who eat plenty of processed foods, and already you can see the effects of their diet and lifestyle. Middle aged with medical conditions already, many are obese... Nowadays people are living long lives, but that's due to medical science and sanitation, not diet. A diet consisting of natural foods IS better (note - this doesn't mean the hippie-vegan health nut diet some people try to push on us...).

Sorry but I really can't respect or take most food critics out there seriously. I've cooked for plenty of critics at various restaurants (always a good review), but you can definitely tell that critics have biases... The best restaurant I ever worked for (food-wise) always got lukewarm reviews. No one ever criticized the food or the service (they actually praised it), but somehow through artistic use of the english language, the reviews always ended up sounding rather negative. I worked at another restaurant, we did great French food. The critics loved us as well, it seemed every week we'd get another rave review. Simply couldn't do wrong. Of course, some of the comments did make us wonder if the critics knew WTF they were talking about, but they were always happy (as were all our customers) so we weren't about to complain too much. On the flipside, I worked (very briefly - I couldn't take it) for a rather well-known fine dining restaurant that, IMO, served very poor food. But you could tell by the reviews that the chef was buddies with just about every media type in town. Even if the meal was poor, the review would just be dressed up again through creative language - something that doesn't taste good is "creative" or "challenging", for example. This restaurant even won an award for a style of food it doesn't cook, which definitely raised a few eyebrows... In my experience, critics are for the most part cronies, not to be taken seriously. I've eaten at some jokes that people call a restaurant, that were raved about by critics. And my favourite restaurant, one that always serves great food, with great service (puts many fine dining restaurants to shame), is a tiny Chinese restaurant in the 'burbs that's never even listed in any publications (but is almost always full).

European books are more expensive because the knowledge in them is more valuable. They CAN charge more. I hate to say it, but theres nothing in Thomas Keller's books of interest to me. Same goes for every other book I've seen by American chefs. When it comes to gastronomy, the Europeans are still far ahead, despite what the critics say... Sous-vide cooking was being used in France decades before the word even popped up in the U.S... I've been through alot of kitchens (well over a dozen), and honestly, the best chef I ever worked for was a Breton (the chef I first apprenticed under). The techniques I was taught when I first started out were more advanced than any of the techniques I've seen in any restaurant since... In my own book collection, which book do I refer to most often for a technique or recipe? L'Encyclopédie Culinaire du XXIème siècle, by Marc Veyrat. Worth every penny (all 400 dollars worth).

My favourite cookbooks to read are the following: - Lucide & Ludique, by Pierre Gagnaire - Encyclopédie culinaire du XXIème siècle, by Marc Veyrat And I know this is kind of cheating, as it's not really a cookbook, but "La Cuisine - c'est de l'amour, de l'art, de la technique" by Pierre Gagnaire and Hervé This is a great read.

I'm a little in shock... was this organic chicken raised on vodka and flown in from St. Petersburg... or was it just stuffed with white truffles? ... well, at least it was "damn good" chicken, Kiev or no... ← Whats wrong with Chicken Kiev (Kyiv)? Chicken breast (Suprème de Volaille) appears on many menus in 'haute' restaurants (for much more money), whats wrong with a chicken breast stuffed with butter and herbs?

Cooks don't make real money, anywhere.

Alain Ducasse's Grand Livre de Cuisine

The biggest, and most frequent menu atrocity - calling the Main Courses "Entrées"....