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Passion or Ingredients - The Chicken or the Egg?

#1
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5/16/01 at 8:06am
  • Joined: May 2001
  • Location: Iowa City, IA, USA
  • Post Count: 303
Which is the more important aspect of a quality dish? Is it the passion that the chef puts into it or the quality of the ingredients.

Just to declare my stand at the outset of the debate: Passion rules. A chef who's got the love will get the best ingredients, or if not, make the mediocre ones great. No love and you'll probably go for cut rate stuff, or if you luck into quality ingredients and don't care, the food will **** anyway.

Any thoughts?

Peace,
kmf
Peace,
kmf


Visit Edible Iowa River Valley"In the long view, no nation is healthier that its children, or more prosperous than its farmers." -President Harry Truman, at the signing of the School Lunch Act, 1946Join Slow Food HereJoin Gather.com here
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#2
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5/16/01 at 10:40am
  • Joined: March 2001
  • Location: Montreal
  • Post Count: 507
PASSION!!!


:rolleyes:

Let me explain: Even with the best of ingredients, mediocre results might occur if the passion isn't there!

[ May 16, 2001: Message edited by: pooh ]

I cook'n bake with passion...

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#3
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5/16/01 at 12:50pm
  • Joined: November 2000
  • Location: Ohio, USA
  • Post Count: 104
Passion.

I agree totally. Even with mediocre ingredients passion inspires the improvision of said ingredients into something so much more. If you have the freshest and best ingredients then passion can lead the way to spectacular results.

Definitely Passion!!!! :D

Lorraine

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#4
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5/16/01 at 2:16pm
  • Joined: October 2001
  • Location: Texas
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Passion. You can tell when someone is cooking because they HAVE to and when someone is PASSIONATE and CARES! The finest ingredients always help, but...

Sweet Dreams!!

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#5
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5/16/01 at 3:29pm
  • Joined: March 2001
  • Location: Montreal, Quebec, CANADA
  • Post Count: 2,823
Passion comes first, way before the ingredients...for all the aforementioned reasons!

:p

K

«Money talks. Chocolate sings. Beautifully.»
«Just Give Me Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt.»
«Coffee, Chocolate, Men ... Some things are just better rich.»

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#6
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5/16/01 at 7:17pm
  • Joined: August 2000
  • Location: St. Louis Mo
  • Post Count: 7,182
Passion (nice to be around my own kind)
you know the others think we're nuts or perfectionists.

cooking with all your senses.....

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#7
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5/16/01 at 9:08pm
  • Joined: April 2000
  • Location: Montréal
  • Post Count: 3,617
Passion help in any job. You can not created a fantastc dish with poor ingredients. So I'll have to say that first you need ingredients of the best quality. Then use your passion to transform them into something spectacular.


When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.

- Desiderius Erasmus
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#8
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5/17/01 at 1:05pm
  • Joined: May 2001
  • Location: Central, Illinois
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Passion and creativity. Absolutely.


Svadhisthana
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#9
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5/17/01 at 9:43pm
  • Joined: December 2000
  • Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
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You need to love your food and follow "fresh is best" as the 11th commandment. So in my opinion you need to mix both passion and quality, to create a really great dish.
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#10
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5/18/01 at 4:35am
  • Joined: October 2001
  • Location: The World Is My Home.
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Dear Devotay:

What a great question!

My vote goes for passion but good olive oil helps too! ;)

"Olio nuovo e vino vecchio"

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#11
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5/18/01 at 11:40am
  • Joined: April 2000
  • Location: Montréal
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My first thought when I read Devotay's question was Jeni's story about the spoiled shrimps. There is not enough passsion to turn bad shrimps into a great dish, make that an edible one.


When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.

- Desiderius Erasmus
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#12
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5/18/01 at 11:51am
  • Joined: March 2001
  • Location: Montreal
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It would never enter any chef's mind who is truly Passionate to use spoiled food to begin with, Iza.

:rolleyes:

[ May 18, 2001: Message edited by: pooh ]

I cook'n bake with passion...

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#13
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5/18/01 at 12:55pm
  • Joined: October 2000
  • Location: Lk Barrington Ill U.S.
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OK, lets no talk spoiled shrimp, lets talk powdered mashed potato mix. A chef with passion can use milk, roasted garlic, herbs, whatever to make the best whipped potatoes. While a chef who doesnt care may start with Idahos finest, and screw it up.
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#14
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5/18/01 at 4:32pm
  • Joined: April 2000
  • Location: Montréal
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The point I was trying to make is that the best chef in the world can not turn bad shrimp into good one no matter how passionate he is. Hence my choice of ingredients over passion.


When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.

- Desiderius Erasmus
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#15
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5/18/01 at 9:09pm
  • Joined: May 2001
  • Location: Iowa City, IA, USA
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Spoiled shrimp? Of course not. Frozen? Yes.

Great debate! Keep it up, gang!

Peace,
kmf
Peace,
kmf


Visit Edible Iowa River Valley"In the long view, no nation is healthier that its children, or more prosperous than its farmers." -President Harry Truman, at the signing of the School Lunch Act, 1946Join Slow Food HereJoin Gather.com here
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#16
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5/19/01 at 7:53pm
  • Joined: March 2001
  • Location: Montreal, Quebec, CANADA
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I'll have frozen shrimp over spoiled shrimp any day!

:eek:

K

«Money talks. Chocolate sings. Beautifully.»
«Just Give Me Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt.»
«Coffee, Chocolate, Men ... Some things are just better rich.»

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#17
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5/20/01 at 12:25am
  • Joined: March 2000
  • Location: Elk Grove ,CA, USA
  • Post Count: 388
Passion. I've seen great ingredients ruined by someone that does not care or does not know what they are doing.

The ingredients should be wholesome, and should fit the setting. Having worked from fine dining to institutional I have seen secondary cuts shine in the hands of a real cook and top quality Angus beef and Maine lobsters transformed into mediocrity.

Nothing will make poor ingredients great, although I've seen average ingredients become pleasantly acceptable by proper techniques and a fine palate for seasoning and flavoring.
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