Kitchen Guy

Blog Topic: Where Do They Find These People?

Posted by Chef Jim on June 26, 2008  |  Comments Off

Having worked in and run a few restaurant kitchens, I can tell you that the language is every bit as salty as you may have witnessed on food-based reality shows on television. I can also tell you that many of the characters that work in restaurant kitchens are not exactly the most elegantly raised individuals.

But I find it truly hard to swallow the contention that the cast of characters currently competing for the job of executive chef of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant on “Hell’s Kitchen” are culinary professionals worthy of consideration for any restaurant job.

As a creature of television myself, I understand completely the producers’ needs to inject excitement, drama, mystery and entertainment into their programs. But someone claiming to be a chef at any level that cannot prepare a piece of prime beef or properly seared scallops – I’m wondering how they qualified to be on this show? Based on some of their other broadcast escapades, Fox set the bar rather low for what is acceptable television.

And if this crop of miscreants is the cream of the applicants, I cannot possibly imagine the caliber of rejects.

As for Chef Ramsay’s demeanor, I can tell you that he is a throwback to an era of authoritarianism in the culinary world, a leftover from the time in Europe when the only way to work your way up in a kitchen was to begin as an apprentice and take all the crap the chef could shove your way.

An executive chef or his or her immediate deputy must be in firm command of the kitchen, a point that Chef Ramsay continually drives home. In my opinion, though, debasing your staff usually is not the best way to get the best food from them. When cooks make mistakes during service, nothing gets solved and no one gets served if the chef/tyrant is screaming expletives. In my kitchen, someone on the line steps in to correct the problem. Then we move on and complete the service.

Mistakes generally are a result of the chef’s failure to teach the way he wants his recipe made. Furthermore, no one goes on the line until they have a complete understanding of the menu and all of the component parts of every dish on that menu. In better restaurants, the same is true for the wait staff.

I conclude that “Hell’s Kitchen” is not reality. It is a fantasy. And whoever the winner may be – I don’t think I want to eat in a restaurant they’re cooking in.

Video: Kitchen Guy’s Shrimp and Grits

Posted by Chef Jim on June 25, 2008  |  Comments Off

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Video: Spicy Lamb Burgers with Raita

Posted by Chef Jim on June 24, 2008  |  Comments Off

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In Praise of Peanut Butter

Posted by Chef Jim on June 24, 2008  |  Comments Off

I once freaked out a food writer for a major metropolitan newspaper by including peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on my “last meal on death row” menu. My answer to this macabre question became the stuff of legend in that city because of my reputation for preparing high-end, very pricey meals.

According to my mother, peanut butter and jelly is about the only thing I ate until I was 14 years old (along with a packaged snack called Tasty-Kake Butterscotch Krimpets, mass-produced at the Tasty-Baking Company in Philadelphia).

After all these years I have not lost my taste for peanut butter and I have been known to use it in some of my recipes. In fact, many chefs around the world use it to make peanut sauces for Chinese and Thai dishes. I’ll show you how at the end of this piece.

As I love peanut butter, there are cultures that abhor the taste – even the thought – of peanut butter. I spent some time in Sweden in my youth and found that Swedish kids (at least the ones I hung out with) actually gagged at the mere mention of peanut butter. In return, I used to feel the same way about one of the things that made their mouths water: eel.

The rest of this column will not be about which name brand peanut butter is the best. Frankly, the one you make yourself in your food processor is pretty darn good. It has exactly one ingredient. But you have to eat it rather quickly since it has no preservatives.

I truly regret that people who are allergic to peanuts cannot eat one of the most perfect foods there is. The oil from the peanut is naturally polyunsaturated. It’s one of the best fats to cook with because it has a higher smoke point than most other fats, so it doesn’t burn as easily. It also can impart a special quality of flavor and crispness to foods fried in it.

Why have I used my precious 350 words this week to write about peanut butter? Because every chef worth his or her salt loves perfection.

I’m Really Not Hard to Please

Posted by Chef Jim on June 24, 2008  |  Comments Off

g When I lived in upstate New York, there was a diner I used to patronize almost every morning before heading to my office – because it was in the same building as my office. It pained me to stop going there, but the short order cook apparently thought that the food should please him and not me, the customer.

I overheard the server and the cook characterize me as “hard to please,” so I took my business elsewhere.

What amazed me was that the owner of the diner – he was the fourth one in four years – would see me almost every day but he never asked why I no longer patronized his restaurant. I found that odd, but as I’ve observed over the last several years, service – read that, good service – is fast becoming obsolete. This is not just in restaurants. It’s everywhere. But for our purposes, since this is a column about food, let’s talk about restaurant service.

First, to waiters and waitresses alike: I and the people who accompany me are not “guys,” especially if we’re in a better restaurant or fine dining place. When I’m with my friends on the golf course or the poker room, then we’re guys. I’m really tired of waitpersons calling me a guy. Call me sir, call us folks. Don’t call us guys. Casual informality has its place. The upscale restaurant is not one of them.

When I inquire about an item on a menu, I really don’t care which item is the waitperson’s favorite. Chances are, our tastes are not the same. Just describe it to me and leave out the editorializing because, frankly, it doesn’t matter to me what your favorite is.

If food is not prepared to your liking or your taste and if you’re not sending it back, you are doing yourself and the restaurant a disservice. Professional chefs need to know if they haven’t met your expectations. Let him or her make it right. If you don’t tell the chef through your waiter that your meal wasn’t prepared to your liking, chances are you’ll be telling all your friends. And that will hurt the restaurant. I promise you 99.9 percent of all chefs (unlike that short order cook at the beginning of this story) want to know if your food wasn’t cooked right.

Space limitations prevent me from going into greater detail, so let me mention just one more thing: When I pay the bill, don’t ask me if I need change. We all know that waitpersons rely on tips for the bulk of their income. Asking me to leave all of the change from whatever amount of cash I give you to cover my bill is arrogant and just plain bad manners. Having worked once as a waiter, I’ll tip a minimum of 20 percent for good service. Don’t campaign for more because that invariably will lead me to leave less.

I never did get to tell that short order cook that I’m really not hard to please. In fact, I’m very easy to please. Just give me my food the way I ordered it.

Video: Chef Jim’s Braciole

Posted by Chef Jim on June 22, 2008  |  Comments Off

Video: Chicken A La Romana

Posted by Chef Jim on June 2, 2008  |  Comments Off