chutney

I'm a cook. I work in a medium size kitchen and we have no Chefs. We have different levels of cooks with the Head Cook being slightly higher than First Cook. Even our Cook's helper's supervise 3 to 4 "prep" workers. If I notice that a walk-in or refrig is running warm, I call an engineer. Help me from Union wrath if I were to tinker with a thermo-coupling, or even change a light bulb. My bosses who run the dining services are administors. The Head Cook is a jerk and really wants to be called a chef (which he is because people are suppose to report to him, or he is suppose to tell cooks what they should be doing) but all he wants to talk about is how good he was at private restaurant where he worked 10 years ago. Or before that at Steak and Shake. If he weren't such a jerk, I would call him "Chef". But for myself, what I do is cook. I put the best food I can on our customer plates. I cook because I love to fed people. I read internet forums and one of the most heated dissuasions is "whether some one is a cook or a chef." I like our method of naming because people don't get caught up in titles but can just cook. We cook real midwest food for less than $10.00 a plate and Cater parties for sometimes a hundred dollars a plate. Is the cook a Chef because the plate costs more? And not a Chef when it cost ten dollar? Maybe the word Chef is evolving in our culture, and now instead of the french "chief" it simply means a cook. Hopefully a good cook. And yes, Rachel Ray is a Chef.

The KA ia easy to repair. I got one for a couple dollars. It's a 5 quart Heavy Duty. It had a loose wire on controller. The baker I got it from kept the bowl so I had to spring for a new bowl. The only thing the mixer was used for was whipping creams and fillings. There were three big Holbarts to handle the heavy stuff. One of the mixers in the kitchen was about 5 foot tall. I would look into replacing mine with a viking. I bake cakes and batter. Baking bread I would have to read up and make sure the viking could handle it.

Mise en place, for when the family is eating at my house(about 25 people). Prep when I'm cooking for less than six. I try to cut on one board. I use bowls and if something can be combined together in a bowl I'll do that, or re-use veggie or "clean" bowl for later stuff. Sometimes I put onions in three recipes, I cut once and use one bowl until onions run out. I like to make sure I have everything I need. Last Christmas I bought a little can of baking soda(so I wouldn't have five year old baking soda sitting around.) This spring I couldn't find that damn little can anywhere. I knew that I didn't have the baking soda, because I prepped before I started cutting the butter in the flour for my buttermilk biscuits. Unfortunately, by time I remembered to buy more baking soda(big can this time) the buttermilk had gone bad. So it's mise en place(or prep) all the way for me.

I have stainless steel at work and that's enough for me. What I don't like is the wrinkled surface they put home refrigerators now. I liked the smooth enamel and a quick wipe to clean.

Yes you can sand them. My board is 24x28 and I wish I had a big wood sander to pass it through. The board is 3/4" thick, but the previous owners cut a lot of fish on it and the groves are quite deep.

My first post here. My first health-food store was in the college town I grew up. It was in a turn of the century house is was in the early '70's and in the middle of the midwest. I also was a member at the first "Whole-Food Co-op" in New Orleans uptown off of Carrolton. This was in an old corner store. I didn't realize at the time I should have bought stock.