The last time (or the first time, depending on how you want to think about it) I blogged about how a cook’s job is never done, I left you with some frantic passages which tried to evoke the energy and freneticism of the kitchen. The idea was to give my readers the sense of what it’s like to work in a kitchen and have a million things to do at once. In retrospect, that tone of voice was probably just me trying to emulate the lovely Shuna Lydon, an outstanding professional chef who also has a blog, which she lovingly named Eggbeater. She has tons of wonderful posts on her blog. The difference is that she actually knows what she’s doing, and is able to use that almost frantic, energetic tone extremely effectively.
Me? I’m just a monkey with a spatula.
In fact, I just read her blog post from Christmas after I finished typing that last sentence, and I’m floored. I don’t know what to say anymore. My ramblings and rants are pretty meaningless in comparison, I think. Ah well.
I was originally going to write a little bit about how I think a good cook makes use of everything and anything it can get its hands on. For example, say you have a chicken. You break it down to get the meat and save the carcass for stock. Maybe you remove the meat from the legs and thighs for stir fry or skewers and use those bones for the stock as well. Grill the breasts or something. Use the skin for a galantine. Use the giblets for garnish or to fortify the stock or a sauce. Liver pate or something.
Truth be told, I don’t even know what I’m talking about anymore. I’m calling it a night (it’s actually 3:15 AM, Wednesday morning, and I have work in less than 5 hours. I just thought I’d get a jump on some blogging so that I could schedule these posts to update automatically).
Until next time, practice your craft, everyone. And eat more pork.
Restaurantouring 