chefzadi

You analogy isn't lost on me. If I had wealthier parents my options would have been different. But I come from a big poor family. Since there never seemed to enough food I became "obsessed" with it in a sense, I also wanted to travel. My mom can't read, write or even speak French. I wasn't exactly on the fast track to the Sorbonne. My brothers chose different trades. They are actually artisans who do architectural detailing. Two of them did decorative work for a famous museum in France. But alas it's a dying art. One of them now drives a truck for a living. Another repairs cars. Anyway, my career choice took me allover the world. I was quite the bohemian as a young cook. Yes the work was hard, but I had a blast. For a kid like me it was the ONLY opportunity. By the time I was 31 I landed my first Exec. Chef job. I'm an instructor now. A well respected one, if I do say so myself. Yeah me, the little Algerian kid who was called a white nig***, I'm now considered "cultured" and edumacated. My 20 month old son is fascinated with the kitchen, he knows where everything is in the frigo and the pantry. He loves to watch me cook. So the question came into my mind what if he wanted to become a chef? Of course his process would be different from mine. But I would still tell him that in order to become a great chef he needs to start from the bottom and work his way up. Also, I think there is too much dwelling on certain kinds of restaurants and chefs. I almost took a job as a private chef. The work is quite easy and the pay is GREAT. Some culinary school grads go straight from school into positions like this, even the starting pay is pretty good. Some go into catering. Some want to be corporate chefs. Some want to start a personal chef business. Some already work at a place like Marie Callenders and they want to move ahead with the company by getting a culinary degree. Some have rich parents who will buy them a restaurant straight out of school...

I am very sorry that you had to spend your childhood like that. I am happy for you that you are past that. I hope that NO child of 14 years will EVER have to go through something like that in our future. Please dont glorify it. You HAVE no complaints about it or you HAD no complaints about it? I find it hard to believe that you have no complaints about it. I challenge you to look me in the eye and tell that to me with a straight face. ← It's common to start training in trade at the age between the ages of 14-16 in France. At least it used to be. Daniel Boulod started apprenticeship when he was 14, so did Wolfgang Puck. They all started at the bottom as well.

All this talk of dishwashers reminds me of what I heard a French-American woman say once, "In France we have the Algerians, over here you have the Mexicans" My parent's generation of Post-Colonials moved to France to do the hard labor jobs. I was born in France to Algerian parents. My first job in a restaurant? 14 years old washing dishes and polishing copper pots. I have no complaints about it. I still remember the process of polishing those pots. I was taught the proper method for even this. Where is the pride and joy in this? The end result, shing, gleaming perfection.

Nah, I have to teach it. If a customer ordered it today I would go into the dining room with a cigarette dangling from my mouth and a pure carbon steel Sabatier in one hand....

← Bella, bella, bella! Bella Pia. Big kisses on both cheeks and hands from me to you.

Okay. Yes, every part of the pig can be used, even the snout. In Lyon, they make sure to utilize every part of the animal. So it's a word game?

So it must be the snout.

I know culinary terms in French. But I need help with the English. I'm assuming Pig's squeal is the snout. Am I correct?

Chef Corelli- I too benefit from having a wife who has a greater command of English than myself. It's a good thing to be married to a beautiful, charming and smart woman. Thank you again Chef Corelli!

This is the recipe that I REALLY want, but the link doesn't work. ← Sorry about that, Nipponia changed addresses not too long ago so none of the former links work.... here is the new one: soba from scratch ← Thank you. Excellent site.

This is the recipe that I REALLY want, but the link doesn't work.

Marlene- Take it one step or stage at a time. Also be prepared to wash a lot of pots and pans. And sieves. LOL!

Best one I've heard all day. I thought the same thing when I first read the recipe.

I just read Keller's version. It's actually not that complicated. He is basically applying some Cuisine Gastronomique cooking and plating techniques to a rustic dish. There are steps that a homecook could bypass to achieve pretty much the same results, if not the same look.

Bourdain's recipe is more like mine. Althoug I don't add carrots and I use shallots instead. I also use meat from the rib (you can get a great deal on it at a Korean Market. It's in the meat case, 4-5 pound whole piece.) I only add parsley, no bouqet garni. I don't add bacon either. I also add much more wine. And for those who care about authenticity, versions without bacon are authentic. Ina- Please no canned broth. Clean, fresh water is SO much better than the tinny, salty taste that canned broth will inevitably give a dish. Keller- No comment.

I believe that this is the practice at El Bulli. Of course, it came from someone who worked in Spain who was friends with someone whose friend knew someone staging at El Bulli. At least, for the first month, 'you pay them' and the next month, you pay them "50%" and at the end of the six months, you can get a full salary. The explanation was bizarre and narrated to me as I was being seduced internally by paracetemol, so I am not going to pretend to understand how it is all worked out. My point is..it doesnt seem too unrealistic. ← Sometimes the "rules" are different for foreigners. I was recruited from culinary school in Paris to work at a three star restaurant for free. No pay, but the staff meals were exceptional though.

The former look better on your resume than the latter. It's also a different kind of learning experience. For whatever it is worth, many take a lesser salalry to work in a special restaurant for a year of two while they're still learning the trade. ← My question wasn't "why" but "whether". I'm asking, not just about ambitious chefs on the way up, but also those who are working more or less at the level at which they expect to continue. Put it another way: are there restaurants which publicly pride themselves on the care they take with their suppliers and their staff as well as with their ingredients? ← In France there are no secrets amongst cooks/chefs in the kitchen. The mentoring system is firmly established at the higher level restaurants. The hierarchy is clear and it is also clear that the one immediately above each staff member is to teach the underling EVERYTHING he knows.

The former look better on your resume than the latter. It's also a different kind of learning experience. For whatever it is worth, many take a lesser salalry to work in a special restaurant for a year of two while they're still learning the trade. ← I did this. It's common practice in France. There is a famous American chef who says he spent a year or something like that working in France at Michelin starred restaurants. My educated guess is that HE had to pay THEM for the privilege. No doubt in my mind though that he learned ALOT.

I work all over France working my way up the line. The pay was awful, horrible. I worked in London as a Chef de Partie, but that was years ago. The pay was better than France. Taking into consideration the rate of inflation I say it was about what culinary bear descirbes. When I first came to America I initially had to take a lower positon on the line to get my foot in the door. It was a French restaurant with highly regarded LA chef (I could cook circles around that guy and he knew it). My pay was just above minimum wage. I took another job as a Sous Chef in another French owned, French restaurant. $2,000.00 a month. As it turns out it's fairly common practice amongst French restaurant owners in LA to hire eager, fresh faced straight off the plane French chefs/cooks and pay them well below industry standards. A couple of months ago I met the new chef of a venerable French restaurant in LA. He had been in America for only a month. Another French chef and I looked at him and said the same thing at the same time "there gonna kill him." Another place I was Chef de Cuisine at, this time the owner was not French. He offered to import a Sous Chef from France for me. Even he knew he could get away with paying MUCH less for an import. The pay in Seoul PHENOMENAL.

Hi pjackso, Here are my vintage carbon steel Sabatiers (Man they look sad compared to that $900 knife! However, I can assure you you can very nearly shave with anyone of them) I picked them up one by one at junk stores and garage sales over the years. I don't think I have ever paid more than 10 bucks for any of them. As you can see they are from several different makers. The first and 5th knife are marked "Chef au Ritz" Paris. They are much better quality than the others. The handles are heavier and steel is finer. The vintage Elephant brand is common and only average quality, same is true for the vintage Loin brand. I can't say for sure if "Chef au Ritz" is the best Sabatier ever made but it certainly is much better than the rest of my carbon knives There is a guy on e-bay selling vintage knives and a week or two ago he had a "Chef au Ritz" 10 inch chef's knife: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZralph1396 he has a good selection and seems to know his stuff. Good luck and I hope I helped. ← NICE! Finely crafted things age beautiftully. The patina they take on tells its own story.

"Dishonest?" That's an interesting choice of value judgements. "Unorthodox?" Sure. "Cavalier?" You betcha. But "dishonest?" That implies a level of willful deception which, given the circumstances (me cooking dinner for me and my wife), seems a little overwrought. ← First and foremost, enjoy eating and cooking. As I mentioned before even in France at a certain level of restaurants two buck chuck wines are used. The whole point of the dish is that it is a simple and homey. Too much "talk" about eating and cooking sometimes takes all the fun out of it. Cook it the way you want at home and have a great time with your wife.

I don't mean to offend you, AfterBurner, but this scares the hell out of me. I truly hope your dish turns out to be palatable, but please don't call it boeuf bourguignon. ← Even in France it's common for more ordinary Bistro's to use cheap wine. It doesn't happen at the fine dining level. But it is done at the "mom and pop" type places. The taste is still okay. I wouldn't recommend using totally off wine. But I do encourage home cooks to replicate dishes within their budgets or with what they have at hand.

No doubt, Keller's version will be delicious. I'm from the part of France where the Rhone and Burgundy meet. It's such a simple, delicious dish with just a few ingredients. I'm beginning to wonder how and why it can be made so complicated. I think that I'll take a look at the recipe.

Correct!! Looking forward to seeing it on this thread.. Enjoy!!! ← I don't know about Keller's recipe. But traditionally the rendered fat from the lardoons is used to brown the meat. The crispy lardoon is reserved to be used as a garnish for the finished dish.

I've only heard great things about Ramsay as a chef. He has a loyal staff and he also has a scholarship program. He is dedicated to his craft and he is also a savvy business man. A young cook could certainly learn alot in his kitchen. I've never eaten at one of his restaurants, but I've seen some of his menus and plating. I greatly admire his lack of gimmicks, he doesn't bow to trends either. But when I first saw a blurb from one his TV shows, I though he was a comedian. LOL!