Posted by Gerard on December 02, 1997 at 05:38:09:
In Reply to: Cont'd from Karen Upright posted by cuoco on December 02, 1997 at 00:25:01:
: Everyone seems to be a chef nowadays. All these magazines with all these great chefs blah, blah, blah!!
: We've had a few guest chefs ( the so called famous ones) come to our kitchen and produce their menus and oh yes, the signature dishes. You want crap, well that's what ended up being served. As for working the line, they'd end up in the juice all night. Only one chef impressed me. She was an elder french
: women from Buzet, France. She's owner of what they call Brasserie, different from ours. Excellent classical dishes like cassoulet, yet extremely flavourful. Not like these wankers who put 50 different flavour on the same dish so that it looks great with different colors, multiple layers, but tastes of everything yet nothing.
: It was really funny how the majority of these American chefs( no pun intended toward Americans) would get really embarassed when I'd ask them who thier agents were. It seems to be the trend. Everyone wants to be famous! They all want to be in the limelight.
: That is why I feel the word chef has lost all its meaning. It seems that if you have lots of money or daddy who buys you a restaurant and promotes the hell out of it, you've earned the right to be called CHEF. It's great for business, but it really bugs me when the regular working Joe who finally saved enough money to go out for dinner, pays the big bucks for a plate of crap, because all these zines said so and so is "A GREAT CHEF"
I enjoyed reading that, you're English from the lingo I see.
Writers are to fault for all of this, they are the ultimate phoney wannabe's. They promote the style of cuisine that makes them look like expert chefs (which they think they are), so competence is being defined downwards which elevates the writer.
A signature dish of one very highly touted restaurant here in Boston is roasted chicken...yawn.
The critics in Boston call Julia Childs a chef too.
I called it existential cuisine 15 years ago, nothing clashes, everything works because its on the same plate. Apricots with chicken and marmalade in the sauce ..sure! I saw it done at a place I worked , the chef moved on to become food editor of Gourmet magazine. I never saw a kitchen set up so idiotic, convection oven right up against the wall ,you couldn't open the doors!, the refrigeration right next to the stoves.
I watched Martha Stewart make a wedding cake with Childs, never laughed so hard, it looked like a parking garage as they oohed and ahh'd.
Wanker's is right, poseurs and phonies everyone one of them.
Cheers...your round.
Gerard