Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
And did you actually compare a high-end restaurant meal to a painting? That would be apropos if paintings were made to be eaten...
Musicians are artists who create great music, and see and know how to put musical notes together. Painters work with paint, and composition. Writters are artists who see and put words and thoughts together. Yes, and chefs are artists who can see and imagine flavors, and who can expertly handle and craft ingredients.
Just as an expert painter can do things with a brush and some paint that most people can't, a world class chef can do things with food that most people can't.
Musicians are artists who create great music, and see and know how to put musical notes together. Painters work with paint, and composition. Writters are artists who see and put words and thoughts together. Yes, and chefs are artists who can see and imagine flavors, and who can expertly handle and craft ingredients.
Just as an expert painter can do things with a brush and some paint that most people can't, a world class chef can do things with food that most people can't.
That's all well and good. Like I said before, chefs are artists on commission. A chef with an attitude problem is still a douchebag. If a chef has a problem with the way I want to eat my food, I'm going to tell him straight where he can shove it.
Seems like on every cooking show, the contestants are lambasted for meat that is "overcooked". Seems as though they all like their beef red and bloody, pork glistening (ugh) and chicken juicy. Personally, I can't stand any meat that has any trace of pink or is excessively moist. Why can't professional chefs agree that the doneness of meat is subject to personal taste? And please don't tell me well done meat has no taste - it does, just not the taste of blood.
I thinks its reasonable that professional chefs can form the opinion that certain cuts of meat taste better when prepared one way over the other. I presume chefs are a crazy narcissistic bunch, and yet diverse in that each probably have their own way of creating dishes. Yet somehow if all these chefs through all these years manage to agree that a ribeye is best cooked medium rare, or pasta is best al dente, then i think there is some merit to it.
Maybe people would be less offended if you put it this way, Scoop:
Ordering meat well done allows the chef to use a piece of meat that he cannot use for his medium rare patrons, because it wouldn't taste right medium rare, but it tastes just fine well done.
Like the imperfections would be too glaring if you don't cook it longer.
But once cooked through, the meat is just fine.
Or maybe not saying, 'oh, this is something we would normally throw out because it's unacceptable for our standards, but we'll serve it to you because you don't know any better. And be thankful because it's still better than anything you could ever purchase on your own'. That'll work, too.
Would it bother Van Goh if I smeared some paint across his paintings? Would it bother a great photographer if I photobombed his well planned out shot? True chefs cooking food ... and I'm not talking about American chain restaraunt nastiness, I am talking actual restaraunts with real chefs ... are a form of artistry.
Now, I disagree with not giving the shakers to someone who asks for it, but I at least understand the reasoning behind it.
And we do. And the server will do so with a smile on his or her face. But we have every right to wonder why someone would pay for a hunk of tuna we just paid $3,600 per pound to acquire, and then ask for it cooked to the consistency of "Chicken of the Sea."
And we also have every right to take the least-attractive piece of that $3,600 per pound ahi -- because Chicken-of-the-Sea dude isn't going to be able to tell the difference. Thus we save the best pieces for the people who appreciate the effort we made sourcing this fish.
If you're paying nearly 4k a pound for a fish, your patrons are paying a damn lot more for their 'piece'.
Do you recommend a particular toilet paper for afterwards as well??
A lot of people just refuse to get it. Let's continue with the $3,600 per pound fish. This stuff is RARE. That's why it's $3,600 per pound. Cooking any of it is a waste. We'll do it. But we won't like it.
Now let's say that instead of taking a chemical sample of the Shackleton Scotch whiskey that was found in Antarctica a few years back, they offered a tasting. And one of the "tasters" was a rich but ignorant Larry the Cable Guy type who wanted to mix one of the only drams on earth with Diet Coke? Doesn't it stand to reason that something this rare should be enjoyed by someone who can APPRECIATE what they're getting?
The opportunity cost of serving food like this to some rube is that someone who can appreciate what we went through to procure and prepare the meal isn't going to get it. Most of the things we sell are available in very, very limited supply. It's not like a Picasso, where thousands of people can go have a look at it -- and some will appreciate it and others won't.
I deal in rare items. My rare items are edible. And yes, we think it's a shame when someone has deep pockets but the palate of a six-year old. There are MANY, MANY such people out there. Made it rich and would be happier eating at one of the el-cheapo buffets -- all the meat there is well done, and it's all they care to eat.
It is crystal clear that many people on this thread will never be labelled "connoisseurs." Yes, their money spends just as well as the people who "get it." And we'll even treat them the same way we treat everyone else. We will cook their food with the same skill and care that we cook everything we make. But deep down, we know that these people come to us because we're a status symbol, not because they have any idea what it is we're really doing for them. All too often, we're just something that rich dilettantes check off their list and brag to friends about.
If you'll let us, we can take you on a journey that will change your world. Or you can ask for extra salt, ketchup and A-1 sauce to go on your burnt piece of filet.
When I go out to most restaurants, I don't even look at the menu. I tell my server that I have no food allergies, nor food aversions, and let the chefs and cooks make whatever they feel like -- on the menu, off the menu, doesn't matter. I'll order like this, "Please ask chef to decide on a three-course meal for me. I'm big on raw foods and the classics. But it's up to him (or her)." These are usually the best meals I have eaten. I'll omakase at fancy places, local joints, and particularly when traveling.
I submit that it isn't US with the attitude. We're an adventurous, try-anything-twice kind of crowd in the kitchens. A lot of you are so rigid in your expectations that you will CONSCIOUSLY give up "great" so that you can instead have "mediocre."
Okay, I give-up - I'm a "rube." I promise to go through life having others define "acceptable." Should I ever disagree I will realize that I am at fault - for there are those who know better. Personal choice is just a brief folly, enjoyed by the foolish. I promise to go to all restaurants knowing that learned chefs are there to provide me with optimum nourishment and their advice and opinion is without question. Should I ever receive a meal in a restaurant that I feel is substandard I will realize that it is my simple palate that limits me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
