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Passion or Ingredients - The Chicken or the Egg?

post #1 of 17
5/16/01 at 8:06am
Thread Starter 
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
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post #2 of 17
5/16/01 at 10:40am
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 ]
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post #3 of 17
5/16/01 at 12:50pm
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
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post #4 of 17
5/16/01 at 2:16pm
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...
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post #5 of 17
5/16/01 at 3:29pm
Passion comes first, way before the ingredients...for all the aforementioned reasons!

:p
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post #6 of 17
5/16/01 at 7:17pm
Passion (nice to be around my own kind)
you know the others think we're nuts or perfectionists.
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post #7 of 17
5/16/01 at 9:08pm
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.
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post #8 of 17
5/17/01 at 1:05pm
Passion and creativity. Absolutely.


Svadhisthana
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post #9 of 17
5/17/01 at 9:43pm
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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post #10 of 17
5/18/01 at 4:35am
Dear Devotay:

What a great question!

My vote goes for passion but good olive oil helps too! ;)
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post #11 of 17
5/18/01 at 11:40am
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.
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post #12 of 17
5/18/01 at 11:51am
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 ]
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post #13 of 17
5/18/01 at 12:55pm
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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post #14 of 17
5/18/01 at 4:32pm
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.
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post #15 of 17
5/18/01 at 9:09pm
Thread Starter 
Spoiled shrimp? Of course not. Frozen? Yes.

Great debate! Keep it up, gang!

Peace,
kmf
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post #16 of 17
5/19/01 at 7:53pm
I'll have frozen shrimp over spoiled shrimp any day!

:eek:
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post #17 of 17
5/20/01 at 12:25am
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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