PENMART01 wrote:

> All goes to prove what I've said inumerable times, if ya don't have the
innate
> talent then all the best cooking schools in the world can't help, yer
totally
> hopeless and will NEVER be a good cook... cooking is an art form... just
like
> a painter, sculptor, musician, even an athlete, ya gotta be born with the
> talent. You can learn *about* cooking but you cannot learn to *actually*
> cook, those culinary schools, ALL of them, are a total rip off, they prey
on
> vanity same as a vanity press.


Agreed. I know some pretty good professional chefs and none of 'em went to
a cooking school. They started out early washin' dishes and peelin' taters
and bussin' tables and then worked their way up in the resto biz...

These chefs have job applicants coming to them all the time, their entire
relevant cookery experience is more often than not, "attended such - and -
such Culinary School and graduated with a degree", and on top of it all
these newbies want to start out as a sous chef at 40K a year or some
such...and on a 9-5 schedule with weekends off, *lol*...

One chef I know hired one of these types, they were acquaintances so my chef
friend gave her a break and a chance. The first day the newbie was asked to
make a creme anglaise, she couldn't do it. At the end of the month she was
out the door*, and eight years later she is still working the cold pantry at
some middling hotel which is the job she got after getting canned by my chef
pal...of course the fact that daddy paid for her expensive culinary
schooling might have had something to do with her lack of initiative,
too...a lot of these culinary school attendess are just bored yuppies who
have an entitlement mentality in any case...

[* another reason for her termination was that one day she called in sick.
That night my chef friend went to our corner bar after work, and the "ill"
person was there sipping drinks and watching the Big Game and having a great
time. I mean we all hung out at the same place and we all know each other,
how DUMB can ya be...*lol*)

If you wanna get in the chef bizness you'll know this at a tender age and
you'll know you'll have to get crackin' at a pretty early age in order to
get somewhere...

I've been complimented many times about my culinary abilities (which are
better than average, but not all *that* great); I've had many folks say to
me, "Gee you'd make a great chef, why don't you do it for a living?". My
retort is always, "I like sex too, but I wouldn't want to do it for a
*living*..." ;--)

--
Best
Greg