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| Sandy the chef | |
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| Topic Started: 24 Mar 2014, 03:49 PM (164 Views) | |
| Helena | 24 Mar 2014, 03:49 PM Post #1 |
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I'm curious what your specialty recipes were, and what you enjoyed most about being a chef. Are there any recipes that you are known for? |
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| Sandy | 24 Mar 2014, 05:53 PM Post #2 |
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I'm not really sure I had a specialty recipe, or meal, not after becoming a head chef.. Once I started that job at least half my days were spent doing office type work, you know the stuff, ordering stock, doing rosters, getting staff in to cover for sick staff, hiring and firing, the list goes on.. With the kitchens I was running, they were the bigger ones, so we had pastry chefs etc as well, so while I could do pastries and deserts adequately well, they got left to the pastry chefs as a rule.. I like to think I was pretty good at presenting entrees and main courses though, and would do my own little take on a number of meals.. I guess if I had to single out one or two meals that were sort of mine, they'd be a lasagne which I experimented on quite a bit on the family first, and a good old beef stroganoff which my partner and kids got a bit tired of after all my experimenting to get the flavours right, and a bit different from the usual while still being like they should.. They say a good chef is 99% inspiration and 1% persperation, so doing your own take on a recipe, or recipes is quite important.. If it works well it'll mean you always have a job, and earn good money doing it.. Not really sure what my favourite part of the job was, besides the cooking, I guess it was being creative and not being scared to try something different while cooking, it can be kind of fun taking a meal or recipe and tinkering with it to see if you can improve on it or not, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, or it needed refining.. A couple of things I wasn't so keen on was having to sack staff, the hours were pretty long too, they saw me doing between 14 and 16 hours a day, so I missed a lot of my children growing up as a result.. If I still had my health, I think I'd go back to it though, I enjoyed the work even though it meant long hours because I used to enjoy putting out a good quality meal to the customers.. If anyone asked me if they should become a chef or not, my answer would be, 'only if you have a passion for food, and be prepared to go the extra mile to give something good, and possibly a little unique to you'.. So it has to be more than a job, and doing the job has to be for more than just earning a good salary.. |
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| funnysis | 22 Jul 2014, 12:09 AM Post #3 |
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I bet you were a great chef and had a signature dish. |
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| Sandy | 22 Jul 2014, 04:07 AM Post #4 |
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Surprisingly enough, there wasn't really any such thing as signature dishes when I started my training over 40 years ago, the emphasis was on knowing your job back then and being able to do a good job of all meals we made.. We were encouraged to experiment with meals a bit, or think of new ways of preparing and presenting a meal.. The old saying of 'a good chef is 99% inspiration, 1% persperation' is quite right though.. I did have a couple of meals I'd dreamed up on my own, but they never got done much, mainly because they cost so much for all the ingredients, as a result it was only the really well off folk that could afford to pay for them.. The meals got made a fair bit in one hotel kitchen, but that was only because we had a few famous people stay there.. People like Cliff Richard and The Shadows used to stay in the one hotel and would sometimes get one of my dishes, mainly because they knew I'd be working if I knew they were staying for a night or two while doing a concert.. Most of the people I knew that were famous or well known used to travel a lot, so they preferred a good meal that was like they'd have at home rather than something flash and fancy.. It was really only people like the royal family that wanted something flash and expensive when they stayed, they got all the good meals at home, so expected something good while they were in the country, they were quite.. fussy too, if something wasn't quite right, it got sent back to the kitchen.. All the singers and musicians used to prefer good meals that were like they'd have at home seeing as they traveled so much.. I guess we all like an expensive flash meal or two while we're away though, but if we're away from home to long we like things like bacon and eggs or a nice piece of steak or something too... |
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| funnysis | 23 Jul 2014, 01:56 AM Post #5 |
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Sounds like you had a good time being a chef. I wish I could meet someone famous lol.... That would just blow me away. You sound like a wonderful chef. |
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2:04 PM Jul 11
