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
