Hi there FacePunch.
As of this month, I am a fully trained chef who studies in Manchester in the UK. I have also got a placement here: [URL]http://www.thelowryhotel.com/dining/[/URL] (The Lowry Hotel) as a Comme chef.
So, are you having any troubles with your cooking? I'm here to help! When I noticed that we had a cooking sub-forum, I was excited to find out what people had trouble with, and how I could help. Ask me about the lifestyle of a chef, or if every Head chef is like Gordon Ramsey. (They're not, and Hells Kitchen is BS)
So here goes, ask away!
If you're interested, here's my blog: [url]http://theresachefinmysoup.blogspot.com/[/url]
How many times have you boiled over milk or cream so far?
[QUOTE=GreenLeaf;28360867]How many times have you boiled over milk or cream so far?[/QUOTE]
Quite a few times, especially with white sauces, which stick to everything when left to dry.
Does it make a difference whether you use butter or oil when making e.g. a steak? Because I'd say that butter makes it better, however, I don't know if that's just because I'm biased or something.
[QUOTE=SaWAH;28360971]Does it make a difference whether you use butter or oil when making e.g. a steak? Because I'd say that butter makes it better, however, I don't know if that's just because I'm biased or something.[/QUOTE]
Butter is used in French cooking to enrich sauces etc. So if you're frying off onions and garlic to make a cream sauce, for example, then butter is a good way to go. I'd personally use olive oil to fry a steak, because butter tends to burn if left in a heated skillet for too long, giving the dish a bitter taste.
Try frying your steak off in oil, then adding garlic butter afterwards. Really tasty.
Hope this helps.
Butter will give whatever it is you're making a better taste as well!
after, i think 20 years of working as a chef, my boss still thinks that it's a great idea to run off and do other things while a 10 litre saucepan of steaming hot cream on the brink of boiling point sits on the stove.
Do you mind if i answer a bunch of questions here as well? i've been a chef for 3 years! although more of a pastry and sallad chef, desserts and appetizers is my type of job!
I'd prefer it if you didn't answer questions for me, or else the thread won't make any sense. It's the 'ask a newly trained chef anything' thread after all. Thanks for the offer though.
How the fuck to I make a pancake without ruining it when I want to turn it over
[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;28361891]How the fuck to I make a pancake without ruining it when I want to turn it over[/QUOTE]
Use a palette knife if you own one to lever your way under the pancake. Because it's long and flexable, you'll get more leverage underneath whilst supporting it. Also, make sure that one side is cooked before you attempt to flip it, nothing worse than flipping it when its wet.
What is your favorite meal to prepare and serve?
[QUOTE=Slippery-Q;28362025]What is your favorite meal to prepare and serve?[/QUOTE]
I love making and serving fresh pasta, especially with a creamy sauce. Bacon or chicken carbonara is a personal favourite. Lasagne is really easy to make also with fresh pasta, as it can be removed in one long sheet without having to be cut into the desired shape.
What's the biggest amount of food you have made at once?
What position in the kitchen do you uphold?
[QUOTE=Lambeth;28366012]What's the biggest amount of food you have made at once?[/QUOTE]
We had to make 1000 savoury pancakes for a big party booked through the hotel, it was insane for about 3 hours, attempting to get around 6 pancake pans on the go at the same time to get them all done before the evening. Me and a guy called Derek had to fill and wrap them ready for the reception, so it was a really slow day.
[QUOTE=GreenLeaf;28367692]What position in the kitchen do you uphold?[/QUOTE]
I'm only a comme chef at the moment, usually on saladette duties.
how do you make your ziti?
what is a comme chef?
[editline]1st March 2011[/editline]
is it similar to a sous chef?
Does your new cooking skills help out in other parts of life?
whats the best thing to serve creme anglaise with?
[QUOTE=Devfrost;28374178]how do you make your ziti?[/QUOTE]
I've never made ziti! I had to look it up actually, haha. From what I've seen, it looks like some kind of pasta bake? I'd love to try it sometime, do you have your own recipe?
[QUOTE=Penguiin;28374198]what is a comme chef?
[editline]1st March 2011[/editline]
is it similar to a sous chef?[/QUOTE]
A comme chef is like the bottom of the pile in the kitchen, we chop veg and do the basic duties. The sous chef directly helps the head chef to plate up each meal, and is paid a lot more.
[QUOTE=Zambies!;28376765]Does your new cooking skills help out in other parts of life?[/QUOTE]
I suppose I'm a better multitasker now that I've been working as a chef for a little while. Take today for example, I had to boil courgette (zucchini), turnip and carrot in three different pans, because they all have different cooking times.
I was an unorganised little shit beforehand, so this works for me now really well. I'm also used to working long hours, in hot kitchens, so every day tasks now don't seem as bad as they used to.
[QUOTE=Moocow8;28376912]whats the best thing to serve creme anglaise with?[/QUOTE]
Speaking from personal preferance, I love it with Sticky Toffee Pudding. Any hot puddings are wonderful with creme anglaise, even though I usually muck it up by reducing it too far and turning it into custard.
[QUOTE=Sneaky_Pete;28361014]Butter is used in French cooking to enrich sauces etc. So if you're frying off onions and garlic to make a cream sauce, for example, then butter is a good way to go. I'd personally use olive oil to fry a steak, because butter tends to burn if left in a heated skillet for too long, giving the dish a bitter taste.
Try frying your steak off in oil, then adding garlic butter afterwards. Really tasty.
Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]
But for a good steak you can't use olive oil, it doesn't get hot enough :(
[QUOTE=Killuah;28383467]But for a good steak you can't use olive oil, it doesn't get hot enough :([/QUOTE]
I wouldn't fry a good steak anyway, I'd use a dry non stick griddle.
What speed can you chop vegetables at? How rapidly could you dice an onion?
[QUOTE=TrouserDemon;28383985]What speed can you chop vegetables at? How rapidly could you dice an onion?[/QUOTE]
Urm..with a French knife, that's fairly sharp, in about a 45 seconds to a fine dice. Thats pretty damn slow though compared to some of the senior chefs. When you've worked with the same knife for 20 years some can chop an onion in like 15 seconds or less. I'd rather keep my fingers though than attempt that.
What's the atmosphere like in a kitchen? Is it the heated, tense rushing around atmosphere that it's always presented as in media?
What are options for careers upon graduating from a culinary university?
[QUOTE=TrouserDemon;28387028]What's the atmosphere like in a kitchen? Is it the heated, tense rushing around atmosphere that it's always presented as in media?[/QUOTE]
I don't appreciate programs like Hells Kitchen, in which the 'chefs' are hounded constantly by the head chef. Gordon Ramsey is really playing up to the cameras there I think. In our kitchen, its hot, crowded, and yeah its pretty tense. But that's because if your food isn't ready in time it's the customer who suffers. So I suppose, to an extent, the media portrays professional kitchens in a similar way as to how they are run in real life. I wouldn't believe everything you see though.
[QUOTE=Deac;28387144]What are options for careers upon graduating from a culinary university?[/QUOTE]
Over here in the UK, it's more about experience rather than your qualifications. You're always going to start at the bottom, and sometimes you may have to move from one restaurant to another in order to move up the ladder. In the US, I'm not too sure how the system works, but I think it may be similar. Employers also like chefs that have moved away from the professional kitchen, because of their ability to multitask and work under pressure. This is especially true of Head Chefs, who also do the stock count and menu plans.
How much respect is there between cooks? Do they treat new chefs like interns, i.e. maggots to do menial tasks, or is there a respect for the new people?
[QUOTE=TrouserDemon;28387805]How much respect is there between cooks? Do they treat new chefs like interns, i.e. maggots to do menial tasks, or is there a respect for the new people?[/QUOTE]
There's a lot of respect between chefs, because of the nature of the work. You are all one big team, and if we don't work together, then things don't get done etc. Say, for example, you are behind on your prep, if someone else is finished then they would usually give you a hand, to make sure that it's done. If I'm doing starters, and I'm behind, then someone else is going to end up late with the main meals and so on. So its really important that we all treat wach other with equality and respect.
Do you ever nick food from the supplies to cook for yourself at home?
[QUOTE=Kingy_who;28388314]Do you ever nick food from the supplies to cook for yourself at home?[/QUOTE]
Haha, no I've not. But I've eaten food that has been cooked but not sold. We get some ingredients that i'd like to take home though, because they're difficult to find. Stuff like Thai fish sauce or Habanero Chillis.
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