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HELP!!-I never planned to be HERE


Naftal

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I am a freelance writer and educator by trade. I was interviewing a local chef for an article I am working on. At the end he asks me if I'd like to cook with him. Stupid? me says "yes".Soo, on Tuesday, after he is done for the day, we are going to use his kitchen and cook two dishes, one being my choice and the other being his. Question: Aside from the obvious,is there anything I should do or not do so I do not make a fool of myself or my editor?

Edited by Smithy
Corrected title spelling (log)

"As life's pleasures go, food is second only to sex.Except for salami and eggs...Now that's better than sex, but only if the salami is thickly sliced"--Alan King (1927-2004)

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I think that sounds like it could be fun. You interviewed him, so you have a sense of what he's like. To me, it sounds like an open-hearted offer, but what do I know? I would suggest: whatever you decide to cook, let him shine. Your article is about him. The cooking is a continuation of the article about him. Does he have an area that he specializes in? (If so, cook something else!)

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Nice....

I agree with cakewalk and keep the focus on him. 

Other than that ......

 

1.  What can you make that is in season?

2.  Do you have a signature dish you make?

3.  If you don't know how to do something  do NOT hesitate to say so and ask for instruction. 

4.  Relax and have fun......

 

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Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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If there's a farmers market within reasonable driving distance from you that's open on Tuesday, I'd pick up an assortment of interesting-looking stuff then figure out what to do with it.

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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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It's not a competition, and he's a professional chef. Relax and keep it light and humorous. Laugh at yourself. That is a formula that I've seen work very well in the media when people are doing what you're doing here. Cook something that might be interesting to your chef and his fans, but not something that will be in direct competition with any of his specialties, as @cakewalk mentioned above.

 

Will you report back and even better, provide a link to the article?

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

A little late, but I don't want to assume that you know "the obvious," so how bout some professional kitchen basics:

1. Wear non-slip close toed shoes.

2. Wear long pants (or mimic whatever you know the chef to wear)

3. Wash your hands  always, often, forever and well

4. Don't touch the chef's knives unless they offer them to you

5. Be aware of your surroundings so you don't bump into something and ruin other projects the chef may have going on

6. Be honest about your knowledge. If they chef says, 'dice a mirepoix' and you don't know what dice or mirepoix is, just ask...most chefs love to teach.

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  • 1 month later...

It seems to be fun. You will get to know him better through cooking because there will be a great conversation between both of you. But please tell him already that you do not know cooking so that his kitchen do not explode. :D:P

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