"A Moose in Love" > wrote in message
...
Yesterday, I saw a fairly famous Canadian 'chef' on the tube. He was making
french toast. He put a real spin on the dish. The maple syrup sauce looked
outstanding et. Wonderful stuff. He owns a few 'higher end' restaurants.
But to watch him, he looked so incompetent. He had no speed. He wasted
movements.
I mean he wasn't incompetent, but he lacked the speed to work in a
restaurant kitchen. I worked as a pro for a few years. Then I started an
apprenticeship. At a 'higher end' Toronto hotel. What the head chef did to
all new recruits was to put them in the coffee shop to see if they'd break
or not. In the coffee shop, you were in the shit every bloody minute. I
passed. Then he put me on lunch banquets. Me, and my partner were in the
shit every bloody minute. 6 or 7 lunch banquets every day; small banquets,
but each of them with different items, and not much time to get it done.
All within a few minutes of each other.
Maybe at some very high end hotels/restaurants you can get away with being
slow. But not usually. Speed is of the essence. Skill of course counts.
You can't get away with wasting your movements.
One of the apprentices at the above mentioned hotel, was put in the
downstairs coffee shop. On his own. He drove a truck before starting as an
apprentice. It was pathetic. He called up on the intercom for help, but
the sous chef basically told him to shove it. He begged for help to no
avail. No way that help was coming. I mean the poor guy didn't know much
about pro cooking. He got canned eventually.

I didn't see the show but it's possible that he intentionally slowed down
what he was doing so the viewers could get a better blow by blow lest they
want to recreate what he was doing. I put some maple extract in my French
toast casserole to amp up the flavor.