Hell's Kitchen

[hoyaguru]

So I watched this reality show called "Hell's Kitchen" which had its finale the other night. The whole concept was about this "World Renowned" master Chef named Ramsey, who is supposed to be this great chef from England. The winner was supposed to win his own restaurant. The thing I don't understand was the role of Chef. This guy is supposed to know more about cooking these unique dishes, but it turns out tht he doesn't actually do any cooking, he just orders everyone around and tells them what to cook. What's the sense of spending half your life learning how to cook, becoming a master chef, and then not cooking? And then all of the customers that come to the restaurant based on this chef's reputation, they are probably under the impression that they are going to have a meal prepared by this guy, they have no idea it's just a bunch of flunkies preparing their food. It's like going to a concert to see a master pianist, only to have him stand there and order someone else to play the piano. Is this how real restaurants are run?

 

[Drakkon]

the Master Chef sets the menu, he spends hours away from the main kitchen prepareing and creating his own recipies which he can then pass down to his sous chefs who will prepare them for main service along with the regular chefs, the master chefs job is to observe and make sure his dishes are prepared to the expectations he has. Most kitchens (from what ive worked in, nicer kitchens) the master chef actually does some cooking on the line, usually in relation to the dessert or main dish and preparation for service especially making the plating tlook nice..

 

[miri]

No offense but its apparent you have never worked in a restaurant, or at least a high class establisment. Chefs are like kitchen managers, they design the menu, train the sous chefs, order the food, and basically overview everything being done. Although chefs do cook on occasion, 9 out of 10 times your food will be cooked by a sous chef or some $8 a hour line cook.

 

[Tommunist]

Originally posted by: hoyaguru
So I watched this reality show called "Hell's Kitchen" which had its finale the other night. The whole concept was about this "World Renowned" master Chef named Ramsey, who is supposed to be this great chef from England. The winner was supposed to win his own restaurant. The thing I don't understand was the role of Chef. This guy is supposed to know more about cooking these unique dishes, but it turns out tht he doesn't actually do any cooking, he just orders everyone around and tells them what to cook. What's the sense of spending half your life learning how to cook, becoming a master chef, and then not cooking? And then all of the customers that come to the restaurant based on this chef's reputation, they are probably under the impression that they are going to have a meal prepared by this guy, they have no idea it's just a bunch of flunkies preparing their food. It's like going to a concert to see a master pianist, only to have him stand there and order someone else to play the piano. Is this how real restaurants are run?

he checks the food for quality - only after years of experience can one make the proper decisions all the time on this. sure they could have someone who doesn't know how to cook run things but a lot of sh!t3 would make it out to the customers.

 

[Jzero]

It's like managing anything else. The higher you get up the ladder, the less "hands on" work you do and the more time you spend on executive stuff..

 

[hoyaguru]

Originally posted by: miri
No offense but its apparent you have never worked in a restaurant, or at least a high class establisment. Chefs are like kitchen managers, they design the menu, train the sous chefs, order the food, and basically overview everything being done. Although chefs do cook on occasion, 9 out of 10 times your food will be cooked by a sous chef or some $8 a hour line cook.

Nope, never worked in a restaurant. Just seemed kind of weird to have the guy who can cook better than anyone else standing around telling less talented cooks to make everything.

 

[purbeast0]

i really enjoyed the show. i have a lot of respect for those guys. i never really actually realized how difficult it would be to run a restaraunt.

the show was a great show as well.

:thumbsup:

 

[UNCjigga]

That's why celebrities and big shots are always ordering stuff not on the menu at these high-class restaurants. They know the headwaiter/maitre'd will not refuse their request, and once the head chef learns who is dining and what they want, he will make it himself to get it right. So unless you're a bigshot or a celebrity, the head chef will never prepare your food. You can't honestly think that a chef can prepare hundreds of meals a night all by himself?

 

[miri]

Originally posted by: hoyaguru

Originally posted by: miri
No offense but its apparent you have never worked in a restaurant, or at least a high class establisment. Chefs are like kitchen managers, they design the menu, train the sous chefs, order the food, and basically overview everything being done. Although chefs do cook on occasion, 9 out of 10 times your food will be cooked by a sous chef or some $8 a hour line cook.

Nope, never worked in a restaurant. Just seemed kind of weird to have the guy who can cook better than anyone else standing around telling less talented cooks to make everything.

Well, a lot of master chefs need to work daytime hours to insure food deliveries are proper and that everything is ready to go for the evening shift, and to oversee the prepping of the food for the nights service and that the kitchen is staffed properly. So an example would be a chef would come in at 8 AM and leave at 6-7 PM Monday through Friday, leaving the cooking up to the sous chefs. That is why restaurants have sous chefs and line cooks. One chef cant work 8 AM-1 AM 7 days a week and work every station in the kitchen.

 

[everman]

It's basically an executive position. He has a global view of everything going on and making sure it's done right.

The show itself was ok, More commentary on the food like Iron Chef would be better.

 

[bleeb]

Originally posted by: everman
It's basically an executive position. He has a global view of everything going on and making sure it's done right.

The show itself was ok, More commentary on the food like Iron Chef would be better.

 

[zerocool84]

ahahaha master chef is just like any high up position, when your making that much money why would you be doing all the hard work??? just like managers at any store, they USED to be the hard workers, now they dont have to be.

 

[Lonyo]

Plus the show is all about the contestants, not the head chef.
Why should th ehead chef cook all the food when the contestants are supposed to be learning about cooking and stuff so they can be chefs themselves?!?
It's a gameshow, which does not 100% reflect real life. He has to train the chefs and make them do the work because that's the point of the show.

 

[loup garou]

Surprisingly good show. Except for the annoying, typical reality show 15 minute per episode recaps and drawn out, ridiculous "drama" and cuts to commercial before a major event. Tivo/Mediacenter made it bearable though. The announcer was great, more like a Discovery channel voiceover than some obnoxious British guy/broad most reality shows have.

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: hoyaguru

Originally posted by: miri
No offense but its apparent you have never worked in a restaurant, or at least a high class establisment. Chefs are like kitchen managers, they design the menu, train the sous chefs, order the food, and basically overview everything being done. Although chefs do cook on occasion, 9 out of 10 times your food will be cooked by a sous chef or some $8 a hour line cook.

Nope, never worked in a restaurant. Just seemed kind of weird to have the guy who can cook better than anyone else standing around telling less talented cooks to make everything.

Sous chefs and cooks are talented enough to cook the food... but may not be ready to design an entire menu or know everything there is to know about ingredients. And BTW, where do u think executive chefs started? At the other end of the line as a normal cook.