solid silver stuff comes close.
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Itâs not the equipment. Itâs what you do with it, and how well you do it.
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No, itâs just a giant tell of an admission that equipment matters. Plenty more arrows.
Doesnât that apply to almost every endeavor in life?
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I mean⌠duh
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If you sub âlittleâ for ânothingâ, I donât disagree, although âinexperiencedâ is such a wide range of subjective judgment. Someone whoâs made 3 omelets in their life in a crappy clad pan would IMO be making better omelets in a better pan.
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You mean to exclude haute restaurants, hotels and culinary schools from using high quality cookware?
Equipment are tools. That may be a hobby to some, a business to others.
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Well, it is not unheard of for high end restaurants to use very inexpensive stamped knives, but they never let them get dull. Likewise, it is not unusual for a high end restaurant to use, CS, bare aluminum, or inexpensive clad. However, Kaleo, you are right they will not stock up with bare, no core, SS. Even a bare SS stocker will have a thick aluminum disc on the bottom. How nice to have the luxury of a commis tending things!
And to your original point, as an example of the difference, at least to me, in equipment that would have a serious impact on the quality or ease of cooking is not a forged versus a stamped knife, or an expensive versus a cheap knife â itâs a sharp knife versus a dull knife. Cost isnât everything, at least sometimes.
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Word. A sharp knife is the alpha and omega of cooking. Dull knives are just plain useless & frustrating.
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All good points. Iâll add to those the distinctions drawn between high-end home and restaurant cookware. While there is some overlap in the Venn, the latter puts a a priority on things like bulk cost, storage, safety rating, durability, uniformity, and scullery.
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This only (ahem) cuts so far. What about the exquisitely sharp, cheap, stamped, soft, hollow-ground knife that goes dull every time it hits bone?
Would a similarly sharp, quality, forged, properly heat treated knife of good edge geometry be more or less likely to produce good results? Would your answer depend on the userâs experience?
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Is @Claus still around? I would love his take.
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there is a very distinct and impactful difference when comparing the âprofessionalâ aka restaurant environment and the home cook environment - especially with regard to cookware.
in any/some/most/all restaurants - thereâs a whole slew of people working together.
each has a âspecialtyâ area. they are not as affected by âcheap thin pans that burn real quickâ - because their entire focus is on the singular task(s) for the dish they must deliver/prepare for/contribute to.
in the home, there is one cook. that one cook must keep all the balls in the air and not burn anything . . . cookware that more evenly spreads the heat, not so thin they burn the food in short order . . . the difference of a (more expensive) forgiving pan versus a $2 pan . . .counts.
or not.
I have one oven. it is always an âinterestingâ balancing act to prepare stuff that needs 450âF and stuff that will turn black&crisp over 375âF . . .
which in a restaurant with multiple ovens all running at different temps . . . is much less a problem.
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The problem with any enthusiast website, especially subforums devoted to equipment, is a completely warped sense of what is actually used by people who earn their living with equipment.
If you eat in a Michelin starred restaurant in NYC a significant portion of your food, if not all of it, will have been cooked in plain disk-bottomed stainless cookware or restaurant supply tri-ply.
The copper comes out for magazine/website photoshoots.
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Youâre trying to solve a problem with cookware that should be solved with better mise en place and overall better organizational skills in the kitchen.
Iâm pretty sure Iâd have a second ex- if I tried that.
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Iâm curious about what makes you think that that is important here. I donât frequent this part of Hungry Onion, but I donât recall that being suggested.
But maybe I am misunderstanding you.
I donât recall concerning myself too much, at least on a conscious level, with what is used by people who earn their living with cooking equipment. The closest I can remember is thinking how glad I am not to not be in that position.
As much as I appreciate them, and seek to appreciate them more, I am happy to be in the position of being able to sit down in their restaurants, rather than working in one. I used to think I would like that, but that didnât last long.
ETA, I appreciate the video you shared about food flipping technique.
Perhaps âfakeâ, but I am really enjoying âMaster Chef; The Professionalsâ, which devoted most of the show to UK chef demos that explain why they do what they do. Doesnât always translate well into my kitchen, but I usually learn something.
Now, Charlie⌠Do you remember the time you tried this on Chowhound? You droned on endlessly about how no starred restaurants used copper cookware. I took the time to post photographic proof that 7 of the top 10 restaurants on that yearâs La Liste did in fact use it (It may have been 10/10, I just couldnât find photos). Not content with that, you foolishly claimed the copperware in all the photos was only for display. So I posted more photos, some of your favorite starred chefs, actually cooking in it.
This time around, the spoof is that equipment doesnât matter, and now youâre segueing right back to this copper foolishness.
Itâs reminiscent of the old woodworking manual photos from the late 1800 to early 1900s where all the professional craftsmen demonstrating woodworking techniques were wearing vests, ties, cuffed and pleated gray wool slacks, and their Sunday shoes, and the shop and workbenches were immaculate.
Normally, they were wearing overalls, brogans, were hungover, hadnât shaved in a week, stank to high heaven, and had the ever-present roll up in their mouth. Or so Iâve readâŚ
When cameras are present, so is the copper.
I have never, personally, worked in a restaurant that could make it through service in all copper or would even try. I have worked in three Michelin starred restaurants and two others that went on to earn stars. All in France. Take it for what itâs worth.
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