My prep cooks worked with me for almost 20 years. I wouldn’t call them newbs.
You were darned lucky if you could keep prep cooks that long. You must have run an amazing kitchen.
Sorry
They left and came with me when I opened my place. I always try to treat my team well.
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Any knife goes dull with use.
Hard not to take that personally. I have my dad’s scabbard of Forschners, F. Dicks and Russells that WERE handed down as heirlooms. Not that they were $30. They’re fine knives of good steel, rosewood handle scales and great heat treat and construction. They don’t dull any faster than my own custom blades (of various trendy steels), or my Bob Kramers.
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I guess that happens if you don’t use them.
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Pretty much any knife can, if well cared for, be handed down. My mother had two cheap old Eckos that were razor sharp and still terrific to use when she died, having used them probably forty years or more.
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Saying that a cheap, stamped knife is the same as any high quality knife is just not accurate.
What on earth are you talking about? Knives in a packing plant and custom kill/cut/wrap operation don’t get used? Try all day, every day. I think some of these blades were handed down to MY dad before they came to me.
I totally understand how someone might get more personal satisfaction from having (and taking care/pride) a bespoke, fancier or more expensive knife. I understand because I make, use and sell pricey custom knives.
Sure, but why sh!t on anyone who expresses an interest in nicer equipment? It doesn’t matter if it’s knives, or copper pans, or whatever. This is the Cookware Forum. People are here to discuss and learn about all the tools of the kitchen.
I agree. So why isn’t the discussion “Stay away from XX,” rather than “You’re a fool for wanting YY”?
I agree here, too. Nice tools – whether it’s a pan, stove, knife, appliance, or whatever – propel enjoyment. You enjoy the knives, pans, and other tools you have. It motivates and inspires you to cook for the enjoyment of cooking. The same with the rest of us who gather in this Forum.
I guess I just don’t understand someone’s motivation to belittle and berate others who are simply trying to find a bit more enjoyment out of food prep.
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Yes, sometime, people will do things that we may not understand, but that is ok. We do not need to fully understand something in order to be happy for other people. Years ago on Chowhound, I remember a young lady came on and she was so excited and happy about receiving a new Hello Kitty bento box, and sharing photos. I clearly remember that I do not fully understand the situation, but it did not stop me from being happy for her.
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Relax. Difference in opinion is normal and healthy, IMO. This forum is quite tame to some I’ve been on and quit. Charlie has a ton of experience, too. I respect you both for your experiences and related opinions. I think most on here do.
I’m sure you ran a good business, with your dedicated team as an example. You used the term “always” there. I’m not a chef, rather a lowly guidance counselor in a rural school district. 25 years here, and 5 prior in the big city. SDude: always is never correct and never is always wrong. The word implies an impossibility and just shows you’re getting worked up. Universal quantifiers like that tell me a person is stressed and doesn’t see resolution. You may resolve to quit here; but, because some disagree with you, it doesn’t mean they disrespect you.
Quit away; but I think you’re a valuable addition to our food talks. I don’t hit the “like” thing anymore. I like most of what you say, as do many others, I’m sure.
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Thanks for the nice words.
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I agree.
I know a few pro chefs, and at some point in my cooking journey I actually thought about quitting my day job, start as what we here in Denmark call an ‘adult chef trainee’ and spend 3-4 years on becoming a chef.
But my pro chef friends quickly made me realise pro chefs at the moment are romanticised and hyped up by the media so that regular folks thinks cooking as a professional is an ideal job.
Well it’s not. Far from it.
The regular society haven’t got a clue on how tough a pro chef job really is.
You’ll be under extreme pressure day in and day out.
The salary is mediocre for the hours you work.
You’ll get exposed to steam from opening ovens numerous times a day and this is far from healthy in the long run for your skin and your lungs.
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I have to respect that.
Far too few prep chefs are treated with the respect they deserve by their superiors.
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I promoted one of them before I left so he could take over the kitchen on a day to day- do the orders, write the prep lists and oversee production and cooking schedules. We still talk frequently and I have helped both of them get additional work- like special projects at other restaurants so they can both expand their skills and resumes. One Michelin starred place wanted someone to come do some smoked items and teach their team, I told my guys to go right ahead. Because being a chef doesn’t end at the kitchen door for me.
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I met a guy that said pretty much the same. He worked in 2 different Michelin restaurants but quit a few years ago.
What he describes was 12-14 hours workdays but only officially 8 hours work and therefore only 8 hours pay.
Low salaries, so he had 2 share an apartment with 2 coworkers to be able to afford an apartment in Copenhagen. And extremely intense and stressful environment with bosses treating there staff like shit.
I haven’t met any michellin head chefs myself. But according to him, being a great chef doesn’t means your also a great human.
Met him on a knife group on FB. When he was selling his Nenox knives. Today he’s a carpenter apprentice. And enjoys his new profession much more.
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Family and friends of mine like to comment that I should have been a chef, as they see me cooking all the time. “Hail naw!” says I. I like to be creative and I do love, as Charlie says, working the raw product into something appreciable. To be under the prep/cook gun for 10 hours would make me a bitter person. As a very amateur cook, we dream of the restaurant we own in terms of food prep and quality, whereas the bottom line, financially, is just that: the lifeblood of the place. Organizing the people, front and back, would be a mother pain IMA. Constantly fretting the details would kill me.
I love to make a perfect rack of ribs. I’m not ready to make 80 in a night. That’s one entree. Bless those who can take it. Probably the toughest industry to make a go of it, currently. I couldn’t’ imagine all the squiggly details one would have to focus on to make it all happen and profit from it.
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Presumably if your cooking tends towards Asian cuisines, your knife preference will lean towards very sharp cleavers, usubas, and nakiris and debas for fish and yanagibas for sushi. However, if your cooking is more Eurocentric, a chef knife will carry about ninety percent of the load and could easily go to 100% if your knife skills are up to it. So, for typical American and European cooking, if cost were no object, what would you choose if you were to have just one chef knife? I am going with a ten inch carbon steel Sabatier.
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