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11-20-2001, 10:27 AM
|  | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Culinary Instructor | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: CT.
Posts: 5,087
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hurray suzanne!!!!
I feel the same way.
i worked with some hard core chefs who wouldn't tell me anything except if something was wrong. let me tell you I learned allot from that expereiance and have done a 360 in my way of dealing with questions.
When I interview someone for a job I always say "theres no such thing as a dumb question,except for the one you don't ask"
Anneke, I also know many excellent chefs who are absoluty incredible with there cooking skills ,and are also top notch in the buisness aspect of things. i think the last couple of generations of chefs reliezed through nessecety that to run a kitchen and/or restaurant you need to no the numbers.
Ask away!!!!
Trust me there are chefs thatwill listen and help
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Baruch ben Rueven / Chana
"If the sun refused to shine, I will still be lovin you. Mountains crumble to the sea, it will still be you and me" |
11-20-2001, 10:40 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Montréal
Posts: 3,617
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When I read your latest installement Anneke the first thing that popped in my mind, and I don't know why, is a Russian new year party. I can see the whole thing in blue and silver....
Before you say no let me say there are more to the Russian cuisine beside borsh and caviar. For instance did you know they make an excellent chocolate, their ice cream isn't too good though.
It's a thought...
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When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food.
- Desiderius Erasmus
Last edited by Isa; 11-20-2001 at 07:34 PM.
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11-20-2001, 11:32 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 1,755
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Glad to hear Cape Chef knows other wonderful chefs.
Sorry I feel a rant coming over me....
Every chef I've worked for told everyone the same thing "the only dumb question is the one not asked..." but honest to god so many chefs say that so they can pat themselfs on the back, it's sickening. They'll tell you they also have no prejuices and I'm here to help you.... But after a while you figure out what the chef really means: see no evil, hear no evil..... blah, blah it's about 'cover your own rear end' the guys who really care are very few, I haven't met one. And the very few who do care (I've met a couple manager who did care but)... their hands are always tied or they risk cutting their own throats.
The last Chef I worked for did EVERYTHING himself. Absolutely refused to let his sous particapate in anything at all (no inventory, paperwork, ordering, organizing, menu writing etc...). Didn't even tell the guy which day he'd take off (of the week) and he'd leave and go home and not tell anyone in the kitchen, yet alone the poor sous he was leaving.
He landed in his spot because he was the last guy standing. Then he came to the conculsion that if no one else knew any of the paper work, never got credit, limited their converstations (he actually forbid the kitchen guys from talking to the waitstaff) that he will be chef there for-ever. Then as a final clincher he ONLY hires his relatives! (I got hired by the manager and he never took me in as his staff)
Even when we had big events and needed temp. help he hired in more relatives (thank goodness for him, he came from a large Mexican family)
Yep, were all just human.
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"Bakers are born, not made. We are exacting people who delight in submitting ourselves to rules and formulas if it means achieving repeatable perfection", Rose Levy Beranbaum |
11-20-2001, 04:59 PM
|  | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Culinary Instructor | | Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Canada
Posts: 1,933
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Isa, funny you should say that for 2 reasons: the first is that my husband is Russian. The second is that one of the themes I'd considered was the water/ice theme featuring silver and blue. I got a little stuck on what that would mean for the menu though, so I thought of doing something a little Scandinavian. Russia could be interesting though. Few people realise that Russian cuisine was at one time very lavish as it was under the very strong influence of the French.
Other themes I've considered are French Cabaret/Mouling Rouge, Harry Potter (for families of course although this one doesn't really turn me on), and the CHinese year of the Horse. Except Chinese cuisine is not my forte. On the other hand, last year I volunteered for the Dragon Ball, and the food wasvery HongKong fusion; not a chopstick in sight!
As much as I like the blue and silver Nordic theme, I'm not sure how to advertise it and make it a selling feature. Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter, Chinese new Year, those things sell well because they are very straight forward. THe Nordic thing, I don't know: I have to find one very strong point to sell it on. MAybe a celebrity chef from somewhere cold... What do you think?  |
11-20-2001, 05:35 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Montreal, Quebec, CANADA
Posts: 2,823
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For what it's worth Anneke, I found something interesting concerning Russian cuisine. Click here
also here 
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K
«Money talks. Chocolate sings. Beautifully.»
«Just Give Me Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt.»
«Coffee, Chocolate, Men ... Some things are just better rich.» |
11-20-2001, 05:47 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Culinary Instructor | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: CT.
Posts: 5,087
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Anneke,
A couple of weeks ago i did a Moulin Rouge theme event at work.Somewhere on this site is the menu i ended up doing.
The guest had a blast and so did the staff
cc
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Baruch ben Rueven / Chana
"If the sun refused to shine, I will still be lovin you. Mountains crumble to the sea, it will still be you and me" |
11-20-2001, 06:35 PM
| | ChefTalk Moderator Culinary Experience: Culinary Instructor | | Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Canada
Posts: 1,933
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Aha! That's probably why the idea came so easily; I'd seen it before! Thanks CC, I'll check it out. |
11-20-2001, 07:51 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Montréal
Posts: 3,617
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A winterland fantasy to ring in the new year
Celebrate in the grandeur of the tsar...
Something along those line. There is always the nutcracker idea, very popular around Chirstmas.
The food would be spectacular Anneke, you could go in so many different directions.
__________________
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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