Chef/Writer Spencer

No...I will not employ crackheads. I will employ pot heads--only if I've worked with them before and know they're capable of the hours, heat, and cooking well. There, I think, Tony and I agree. I think Tony's blanket statement that pot makes you lazy, sleepy etc. is based on the fact that the last time he ran a kitchen Strom Thurmond was making cohesive arguements on the floor. Ask Tony about drug abuse and conducting operations on an independently produced television show and I'll bet you get the post of the year.

Uh oh. Here comes the backpedaling.

Invento...totally off topic but there's a pattern forming here. Go back over the last three pages of your posts and you've gone back and edited almost all of them. Are you second guessing your position? There something oddly Dr. Smith of Lost in Space fame about you...and I think I like it. I can't explain that, just a feeling.

How astute! Let's say you've paid your dues when you land your first naked blender ad.

As opposed to what? Curly leaf parsley is fine for garnish, but not much else. I see no Philistine here. Jim Alright I have to say something... Curly parsley and Italian parsley taste identical. The Thomas Keller model is flawed on this one. It's bullshit. The difference is about 59 cents a pound.

We all love our Fat Guy don't get me wrong...but that last post read like the ingredient list for a Totino's meat lovers deluxe. I got vertigo half way through.

How did this troubling thought pop into your head? Maybe read a book.

All of this is making me want to get my shovel sized razor blade out and snort right on the line.

Hate to say it--because Ramsay's one of my heroes--but after seeing what happened in the press after the vegetarian affair, it wouldn't be a stretch to attribute some of his reaction to damage control.

Cut down on the ritalin and it may have the same effect.

Not staffed by people trying to escape horrors of poverty necessarily. People cook professionally for a million different reasons...some of which are only discovered after hauling whale heavy garbage loads to the curb year after year like in my case. Some people find an element of romance, camraderie others are there because they're too fucking ignorant to sport a suit and tie and join the docket waiving intelligencia who only allocate Friday and Saturday nights for a good "pisser". There are some pocketbook queens who think that one day they'll be a better patissier than Jacques Torres and ruthless mercenary types who skip from job to job when the video cameras are installed. Drugs and alcohol, while prevalent in the industry, are not ruining our kitchens by any stretch. They're an accepted evil, as normal as morning coffee. The fact that yes, there are a disproportionate number of partiers in the industry, I think, belies a lifestyle choice, not a demographical statistic based on some governmental report.

It's all good amigo.

That's the first passionate post you've contributed in quite a while there Finch-o--I will congratulate myself for stirring you to arms. But hey, I'll let Tony Bourdain mis-spell my name but you haven't earned the right. It's SPENCER dude. It looks like you read my posts, focused in on the dirty words and thus formed your lynch party. Who's shouting and screaming? The first edict of American kitchen management is human frailty is fodder for the masses. We never claimed to be pious and diplomatic--though I'd say 75 percent of American kitchen display some semblance of hushed predjudice, management worried that the MAN will eventually drag verbal offenders into legal entanglements. If you think cooking professionally is supposed to be some Redcoats lining up, raising their muskets in unison and enjoying a pefunctory nut pat at the end of the war I direct you to the kitchen of the man who inspired this thread in the first place--Gordon Ramsay. The only difference between him and an American badass is he's constantly having to fight the PR war when he says something idiotic. I enjoy being a Minuteman...

Damn Steve, rockin' good man. Just one question---marengada?

I've worked Kosher functions, and while being a royal pain in the ass, I found value in the traditions.

Gotta be kin to the center of hell.

I think you will find the laws somewhat different in the UK than in Memphis. That is what they were discussing. Oh I realize that Craig. I'm just admiring our neophyte's style. He's another ranter/speak first-think later/Jack Kerouac of the kitchen. There's passion in his posts, and a modicum of sense in his words. I can relate to the urges he pukes forth.

Glad to see I'm not the only mouth frother here. Go get em Malachi. Let them figure it out. Never cowtow to the simple minds--even if you're point is so complex that it alludes....

Those poor dolphins.

I said I hate dealing with alcoholics...and I meant at work. But, you're right again oh sage of the underbelly, there are non-culpable drunks, who know when to imbibe and when to kick ass. As far as outside work...most of my buds are big time boozers.

I haven't read the book, but you were glad it wasn't pithy? Why? Perhaps because Pepin isn't pithy.

No of course not Tony...I just have, like a lot of people on this thread have, strong opinions on way or the other. Crack heads are what you said they are...and in fact introduce a predictable quotient of violence to the mix, which when combined with fire, knives and cash registers make for a deadly combo. Just from my personal experience--other than MY OWN problems--I fuckin' hate dealing with alcoholics. I have that sinking cold water feeling everytime I realize one of my cooks has hit the Wycliff. Luckily with this club gig, two thirds of my staff are Christians and the other third abstain from anything that could be considered mind altering. Yes, a martian landscape for sure. We're a tight unit much like you describe in KC but we don't dabble. My experience with alcoholic cooks is extreme...pulled brass knuckles, no shows galore, bullshit elaborate excuses, had to send one guy to the emergency room (brotha Tim) because he was shakin' so bad with the DT's that he filled a saute pan with oil to saute some skatewing, picked it up when it was hot for some unbeknowst reason then proceeded to shake the fucking thing onto his arm. He was doing the cool chef flip thing with a portable deep fryer. Most of my experience with these flotsam types was when I worked in corporate chicken tender barns and mexican joints---when I too was a drunkard. In fact, when I decided to clean my shit up, when I got married and my first kid was on the way, was when my cooking really hit it's stride. Yes, I still smoke the occasional joint, not with my cooks of course, but balance any detrimental effects with 15 mile long bike rides (every fucking day at midnight), weight training and healthy food. I think, if you're the kind of responsible guy who can hit a J but keep your shit in line, then pot isn't harmful. But I know a lot of folks think differently. And I respect that.

word

Maybe he chose a controversial shape, but to give Tony a little credit, at least he admitted he was leaving out Memphis (and I suppose St. Louis too ). I Mea culpa times two. And you know what? As I was drifting off to sleep last night I realized my square analogy sucked. That ain't no square. Maybe a shizquare?