johnsmith45678

^ Hehehe, that's funny Is it even possible to be a baker/pastry chef and not be a morning person?

Oh yeah, and other things like throwing things away by lobbing them into the garbage can on the other side of the kitchen. I think there's a shot of Bourdain doing the skillet toss into the sink in an episode of A Cook's Tour.

Heh, yeah, we also did the "sword" thing, except using an 8 or 10 inch chef's knife. One time another guy who happened to walk behind the "batter" came inches from getting badly sliced. Did the baseball thing too.

That's sort of similar to the skill contest we had of trying to get just about anything to stick to a wall, if thrown hard enough.

Oh yeah, we used to get a lot of bruises from our towel fights. I thought of another stupid cook trick I got really good at - sliding full plates, glasses, etc. across tables, bars, passes, etc. so that they come as close to the edge as possible without falling off it.

Baklava...

In the years I spent cooking in restaurants, I developed, honed, and perfected several skills while killing boredom during slow times. I can: - Spin wait trays (including the big oval ones) on my middle finger indefinitely. I can also spin other objects. - Snap towels so hard that their ends "explode" or draw blood. - Poke two small holes in both ends of an egg through which I can drain it completely. So, what are your stupid cook tricks?

How does the math on this page add up to $60K?

As opposed to cheap cooks that can cook, or at least be trained in two weeks to follow written down recipes and the basic cooking skills with which to cook them. Teenagers, college students, and immigrants are the source of these cheap cooks who more often than not have no to little prior cooking experience, and they are behind many a successful restaurant.

My impression is that the MBA-types are more attracted to franchises, because they have a much higher guarantee of success.

What's a good (inexpensive) scale to get? (So I too can avoid the eighth circle of hell!)

Nor humanely kill them. Well, getting killed/paralyzed by poison or asphyxation (snakes, spiders, big cats) before getting eaten would be far less painful than getting torn limb from limb and getting eating alive (a la sharks, crocodiles, etc.) It's the act of killing a lot of Americans don't like. The bigger, cuter, fuzzier, more intelligent the animals is, the more disagreeable killing is. I seriously think it won't be long before we're growing meat to eat in labs. I think I remember seeing a cooking/travel show in Asia where they had cats hanging in food stalls.

Yep, I do #1 and #2. Well actually I don't sift unless the recipe explicitly calls for it, or for sifting the ingredients together, in which case I use a wire strainer. As for #3, I thought it was to break flour up so there weren't any big clumps, which I also thought had been eliminated/reduced nowadays due to anti-caking agents.

I would have no problems eating dog if I ever came across it. ← Even if it had been your pet? ← fair question, I don't know. I am not an animal person, you will never find a dog, cat or even fish in my house, so I will never have that option. People on farms eat their "pets" quite a bit, I have no problems walking in my sister's hen house and telling her which chicken I think we should have for dinner that night. My college roomate regularly won ribbons at 4H fairs for her sheep which were then slaughtered the next year.. If some people don't want to eat it, then fine don't eat horse meat. My problem comes when others start telling me what I can and can't eat. I eat whale a couple times a year though most of the western world frowns upon it and I will never stop eating foie gras. ← The farmers/ranchers I've known never regarded their animals to be harvested (pigs, cows, chickens, etc.) as pets. They don't usually regard their dogs, cats, etc. as pets either, rather they're work animals, but they wouldn't eat them.

What secret ingredient? I had meringue cookies the other day made by none other than Keegan Gerhard and they were damn good.

I would have no problems eating dog if I ever came across it. ← Even if it had been your pet?

For those of you that eat horse, could you eat dog as well?

← So what, exactly will happen to the flesh of the animals that will be "culled" or "put down"? assuming that they will still be "slaughtered", not pensioned off to live in green pastures lovingly tended by volunteer carers until they fade away in happy old age? Will they be buried in pet cemeteries? or is it OK for them to be made into dog-food, but not human food? I dont understand what this issue is actually about. ← How about animals (dogs, cats, etc.) euthanized in animals shelters simply because there is no room for them -- should that meat be eaten too?

I'd guess tomato paste is the same thing -- tomato sauce usually has herbs and other stuff in it.

Cooks wearing tuxes and gowns, now that'd be entertaining.

For the same reason Americans think eating dog is unthinkable. I'd rather horses not get eaten and live long and happy lives, but as the article said, the 90,000 are unwanted and would just be abandoned or "put down." Or we can spend $50M to feel good about ourselves by taking care of them all. Yeah, cute fuzzy bunnies will probably be next, followed by ducks, but I think chickens would be a ways away.

To Gordon Ramsay's credit, he's the least pretentious appearing chef I can think of -- all he wears is a short-sleeved dishwasher's shirt. No fancy monogram with his name or restaurant.

I hate stupid looking clothes. but my opinion is just that. there are alot of things I wouldn't be caught dead wearing in public, but to each their own. Now that I have a kitchen/office job....I can wear my custom made BLUE clogs!!!!!!!! Would I wear them on the street? f-no but the kitchen is like the bedroom, it's what pleases ME. ← Yeah, it's fun when you have to go to the store mid-shift from the restaurant -- you totally stand out and get stares. But I'd rather be wearing a chefs outfit than, say, a fast-food outfit. And I think any clogs other than black are UGLY.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060907/pl_nm/food_horsemeat_dc Anybody eaten horse?

So, how does everybody feel about those chefs/cooks who wear chili pepper pants, shiny chefs coats, and toques with flames? I think they're cheesy myself and think those individuals are just trying to call attention to themselves, and you just get the feeling they wouldn't want to do any dirty work for fear of getting their outfit dirty.