Kitchen Confidential

There's a couple of weeks left before classes actually start so I decided to pick up a book for some advanced research hahaha if you can call it that. Anyways, the book is "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain. First off, let me say that I love the guy, his shows are funny and informative at the same time. I mean, I had an idea of how dark and seedy the culinary world was but then, hey, it was the 80s (or was it earlier? I forget hahaha)

The book itself would discourage any chef-wannabe who thinks that being a Chef is all glitz and glamor and preparing one dish at a time for a panel of judges or a table for two. Oh yes, you'll get to a point in your career where you'll be preparing less and less and getting paid more and more, but that's years down the road.

“Cooking is a craft, I like to think, and a good cook is a craftsman—not an artist"

With that thought, I think back to all the people who I've taught recipes to down the years who  tweak those time tested recipes by adding something completely uncalled for and then call themselves "Chefs". These people don't have any training, they don't even cook that much, heck, if you don't teach them a nice recipe, they'll probably never come up with good dishes by themselves... Oh, I'm ranting, but to that point, I'm no chef, but I've honed my skills and some recipes to perfection to which I can probably say I'm a half-decent cook, but these people? I'd like to take a cast-iron skillet and whack them a couple of times for good measure.

And as usual, I've completely gotten off-track, but still, it sounds like a chapter to Bourdain's book. Sometimes incoherent, but utterly true.