[headless chicken]

How many of us out there consider your selves perfectionists?
Will you rant on and on about how the sugar that was supplied to you was much too coarse for use in a cake?
Does it bother and irk you that you weren't provided with proper tools to create?
Do you look at your finished product and just stare for hours on end looking for faults?

Sometimes in this business, it does pay off to be a perfectionist but some people just over do it sometimes to the point where they're disecting everything until its perfect. Are you one of these people?

I don't consider myself a perfectionist but it does bother me to **** if something goes awry wrong and I don't know why. I'll spend days to weeks pounding my head on the wall until it hurts

so I can understand and be able to avoid future issues. I for one am not a perfectionist but I think I'm boarderlined.

 

[shroomgirl]

Hard question I put no, but waveredbetween well yeah sort of , I'm really picky about product.and I'm kinda sorta fussy about operation procedure....hate thoughtlessness. But I can make do in the woods with a burner, and I can cook with very little equipment with whatever is at hand, so your definition of perfectionism is not me.....though I do have others that would say I'm type AB

 

[miahoyhoy]

I had to say yes.
If it's my food then it's my name and it's my reputation.
Now for staff and family that's a different story.

jon

 

[chefkell]

I used to be...when it was someone elses restaurant. Now that I have my own I've made comprimises to make money. My last gig was a hotel restaurant in Dallas. The Food grossed 1.2 Mill a MONTH (mega bnqts) of which my little fine dining in the sky contributed about 4%. The Exec let me know that I was merely an "Amenity". I actually costed my stuff out before I left, 14 cooks, 2 sous and a 87% food cost...there I WAS a perfectionist.
I can't afford to be now.

 

[miahoyhoy]

I know what you're saying Kelly,

I did the same type of thing for a hotel in Denver. My outlet was alowed to run 45% food cost because it was the "gem" of the establishment but we couldn't charge more than $35 for an entree.
Now I'm at a country inn in Vermont my food cost is theoreticaly 33%. I say theoreticaly because the innkeepers eat b-fast, lunch and dinner there and between them and the more than occational visit from their grown up kids they eat alot of profits. I get payed well, I tell them they are eating profits, they understand and don't mind.?>?,/?
As long as they don't try to make me cut corners I somehow bear it. It does drive me nuts on occasion.

Anywho. My point is that I am still a perfectionist with what I have and I have a feeling you are to. To run a restaurant that has returning guests you need to be. If your cesar salad is different every day because of slacky cooks not following the recipe the guest will stop ordering it. Consistency is key.
I change my menu weekly but for that week the items need to be consistent. That is where my perfectionism is needed. Also in the style of service. We have casual service with fine dinning cuisine. Casual does not mean sloppy it means relaxed so there is even more perfectionism.

God! Did I type all of that?!?!?

Jon

 

[chefkell]

I'm with ya Jon,

I'm as close to a perfectionist as my clientele allows me to be. If they want their steak burnt...I burn it

Interesting you mention consistency. I agree with consistency, but I take the ragged edge of that sometimes. I change my menu daily, but not everything changes...a new dish here or there and and 86 item disappears, but I have very few "stock" recipes.

I prefer to train my cooks to understand the balance and chemistry of a dish.

Caesar Salad for example...Romaine has the flavor of cool water, so when you taste the dressing it should kick your teeth in. The dressing IS the flavor and your cutting the Romaine into that so it needs to be overly large when you taste it alone. Now why are the croutons there?..texture. You want to hear the crunch in your ear when you bite it. The parm? Texture again plus the added salt...one more dimension in there.

Now training these yo yos in a day doesn't happen and they make PLENTY of mistakes along the way, but I'm very proud to say I've jumpstarted a lot of promising culinary careers.

Consequently, the consistency is not as good as most places, but I think my clientele understands what we're trying to do (cause we have an open kitchen and sometimes EVERYONE knows ) I also think weather plays a big part in how a particular dish comes out that day.

To leave it that open begs for trouble, but it's incredibly rewarding as it allows me to have the greatest effect for my expression on a daily basis.

I have no idea if that was relevant to perfectionism, but it felt good writing it