Gregory Morrow wrote:
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Sheldon wrote:
>>
>>
>>>TigBits wrote:
>>>
>>>>Hi group-
>>>>
>>>>Due to some recent major changes in my life, I'm debating a complete
>
> 180
>
>>>>degree change in my career, and I'm seriously contemplating a degree
>
> in the
>
>>>>culinary arts. I'm 35 yrs old.
>>>
>>>I know this is going to sound horrendously brutal but it's the truth,
>>>you are too old... by at least 15 years, more like 20. The truth is
>>>that at your age people go to culinary school to pick up a few pointers
>>>to improve their homemaker cooking skills some but will never be any
>>>good as a pro. If you've had years of professional cooking experience
>>>previously and want the degree to add to your resume then go for it...
>>>otherwise you'll be wasting your time and money, because I seriously
>>>doubt you'll last a week at any job above burger flipper. To first
>>>enter the culinary field at 35 to become a professional cook is
>>>tantamont to taking your first ballet lesson at 35 in hopes of becoming
>>>a prima ballerina. For either ideally one must begin at about age
>>>five. You can be the best home cook of everyone you know but put you
>>>in a professional kitchen you'd not know up from down. Home cooking is
>>>as different from professional cooking as night from day... the reason
>>>many food tv celebrity cooks appear so clumsy and inept is because they
>>>are pandering to home cooks, when in fact they themselves stink at home
>>>style cooking. People who cook for a living rarely cook at home, and
>>>they laugh at all the rage in expensive designer kitchens, because
>>>none, absolutely NONE are designed for professional cooking.
>>>
>>>Sheldon
>>
>>And all this is based on personal experience???
>
>
>
> It's all absolutely true,

Sorry. No. Very little of it is true. Cooking is no more a "calling"
than carpentry or plumbing. They're all crafts and skills. Virtually
anyone with a viewpoint that's at all methodical can become a cook. To
be sure, being a chef - actually being the "chief" of the kitchen -
requires a great deal of information immediately at hand. It requires
knowledge, much of which comes from experience. And a good bit of
theoretical information about every aspect of kitchen operations. But
one needn't grill 5,000 steaks to learn how to do it. One needn't bake
100 cakes to know how to do it. Professional recipes are technical
statements with precise measures where needed and precise steps where
needed. Learning the basic techniques employed in commercial kitchens is
maybe a two-year project.

Sheldon, full of crap as usual, equates *all* restaurant cooking with
highest difficulty professional cooking. As though the cook needs to put
out a tour de force every time. Cooks have to put out *identical*
versions of the menu items, not skyrockets and fireworks.

The simple fact is that I've had literally dozens of late-life cooks
working for me in resorts, country clubs and free-standing restaurants.
The ones who do it because they seriously want to will persist. Some
were outstanding, some were good, some were average and some were bad.
Just like the other employees, whether culinary school grads, European
apprentices, or scions of restaurant families.

> even the point about chefs rarely cooking at
> home...I know several accomplished chef friends, they have fairly bare
> refrigerators (but they have nice olio and vinegars and groovy wine and
> likker collections - as chefs they are often gifted with nice free stuff by
> the liquor and fancy food reps who visit their workplaces). At home they
> subsist on fairly plebian fare, e.g. generic haute dawgs, Stouffers frozen
> mac 'n cheese, crockpot chili/soup, Tombstone pizza, chop suey take - out,
> etc...one of these folx has NEVER even used his oven, it's pristine and
> factory - new after having had it for five years.

Maybe your friends. And maybe Sheldon's friends. But as a chef and
restaurant operator for 30 years, with many, many friends and
acquaintances in foodservice, the people you characterize are hardly the
norm. Do read "Kitchen Confidential."

> They are extremely slender because basically since they are around food
> constantly they just never have a big appetite...food reminds them of, well,
> WORK :-)

Slender cooks. What a startling new idea. Maybe take a look at the sizes
that chef coats come in.

> They'll make a big production out of entertaining about two times a year,
> usually around the holidays (they can get prime meats, etc. and it's always
> divine). Believe me the last thing they want to do when they haul their
> tired butts home is to spend ANY time in the kitchen (and they both have
> professional house cleaners do their house cleaning too, they do enough
> cleaning at work...)

Wow. This is one of the more skewed versions of what it's like to be
part of professional foodservice. Two is hardly a representative
sampling of the universe.

> [One year I snagged entrance to the Chicago Restaurant Show at McCormick
> Place (this is closed to the general public, it's only open to
> "professionals" in the food trade). I excitedly called one of them up,
> saying it'd be a fun thing to do. She said "WHAT!?" That's the LAST thing
> I'd want to do on my day off!" Lol...]

That person is not a professional, then. The job title doesn't define
professionalism. A constant quest for improvement does. A relentless
gathering of more and more information. Staying abreast of the latest
developments does. Finding ways to improve the products of the
operation. And finding ways to save and make more money. It's a business
and needs to be considered as such. Finding ways to make the grindingly
hard work a bit easier. That's what the show is about.

Pastorio

> OTOH I enjoy cooking for them and so entertain them fairly often. I'll make
> them whatever they want, and it's usually everyday hearty fare like fried
> chicken, Swiss steak, gumbo, simple stir - fries, etc. that they request.
> When I first met them I was all intimidated about cooking for them but my
> fears were baseless, they consider me a fairly accomplished cook...and
> knowing them cooking is definitely NOT something I'd ever consider doing for
> a living.