[Sca-cooks] Rant: And speaking of cooking equipment...

[rattkitten]

Hi folks boy has this been a fun read...
I had to finally chime in...

I currently make my living as a Chef.  I have never gone to Culinary 
School, what I know I learned from SCA,  from Restaurants, and just 
figuring it out as I went.  Do I consider myself a "Professional Chef"? 
Certainly.  If I don't know how to do it I can get the information and 
then I know.  I walk into a kitchen every morning and basically make at 
least 2 meals a day.
However I DO NOT consider myself a "Trained Chef".  I still have to 
order all of the food, plan the menus, watch food cost etc... I have 
just never been to school.  That aside... I would say that once you have 
been in that position, in the biz... then yeah you could consider 
yourself a Chef.  If you think of yourself as retired or simply not 
working... fine but I would still consider you a Chef.  And would 
probably tend to call you for advice... hmmm can't imagine who I am 
thinking of... eh Unka Corwyn...(Called him in the middle of cooking 
Gilded Turkey on Thanksgiving Day for I think the 3-4th year in a row...)

My point here is you probably are what you consider yourself to be. 

Michael Gunter wrote:
>>  
>> I really think it depends on your viewpoint. I have made my living
>> cooking for people. If I still did that by working as a chef,
>> catering, writing books, or even if I spent most of my working career
>> as one of these then maybe I would still consider myself a professional.
>> But I don't get any money for my cookery anymore. I can have a
>> professional attitude about my cooking and teach classes and all of that
>> but now I'm a hobbyist.
>>
>>     

See and to me he is still a Chef... just cause he knows more about this 
stuff than I do... LOL


>> I also think what Master Adamantius was partially ranting about is the
>> fact that cooking shouldn't be an "expensive hobby". With decent gear
>> that lasts a while you should be able to make pretty much any dish in
>> a professional manner. 


Hear Hear!!!! We could go on with that Rant until the execs at Food TV 
took notice.... Cooking does not HAVE to be expensive...
It CAN be but it certainly does not HAVE to be.  I survived for many 
years with my 10" Chicago Cutlery Chef's Knife and a Chicago Cutlery 
Paring Knife.  Not to mention the biggest mish mash collection of pots 
and pans the world has ever seen.... but I was happy and cooking.   Now 
I have my Henkles, and my Ceramic Knife, and Berghoff Pans, but I also 
have my "Thermalloy Browne and Hale" Restaurant Supply Store Saute Pan 
that I must admit is my "go to" cooking item right now.   None of which 
cost $400.   I refuse to buy into the Uber Chef's Line of Pots and 
Pans... Granted some of them are rather fine and have great qualities... 
but I have just as good in my kitchen and the set only cost around $250 
for I think a 10-12 piece set. 
>> $400 stock pots are the results of the industry
>> taking advantage of these new enthusiastic real hobbyists thinking they
>> have to have the very best of everything in order to justify their lack of
>> real world experience.
>>     

Shucks I was thinking that it was because certain Chefs feel the need to 
stamp their name on a set of Pots and thus drive the price up.  And 
don't get me wrong I still like some of those Chefs shows... but I am 
not going to go and buy their pots just cause they like them.  I buy 
what works for me.  As most of us probably do. 

Besides I am sure most of us on here would agree... it be better to 
spend $40 or so dollars on the pot... and then spend the other $360 on 
the food to go in that pot... bwahahaha...


>> My great-grandmother's 150 year old skillet/dutch oven combo cooks
>> better than the best All-Clad. Lodge gear, when properly seasoned, is
>> about the best cooking stuff you can find and is very cheap. Of course
>> I would love to have a set of Le Cruset or All-Clad because it DOES cook
>> well. I'm also looking to spend far too much money on a very nice chef's
>> knife. But I don't have to have the very best and latest titanium/copper/
>> diamond encrusted cookware that Rachel Ray is schilling for me to consider
>> myself a cook.
>>
>> I think that may have been a part of Master A's rant that we overlooked.
>>
>>     
> But I don't make money when I cook a feast, in fact, I often spend a
> bit of my own cash. They may pay to cover expenses and maybe benefit
> the group hosting the feast. But I get nothing out of it other than the
> satisfaction of using my art to make people happy.
>
> Therefore, I'm still a hobbyist who shares with 100 - 500 of my closest 
> friends.
>
>   

Now you want funny.... I have always termed it this way...
"I am really crazy.... I am a Chef for a living, and my hobby is period 
cooking.  I also tend to read a lot of cookbooks, and subscribe to 
cooking Magazines." And added on to that today... "Nope I have never 
been to /Medieval Times/ nor do I plan on it.  The reason I am not 
interested in going there is that I Majored in Theatre in College and 
trained in Stage Combat so I tend to pick Staged Fights apart.  The food 
is not really what they ate, and I can probably get better at other 
restaurants. If I really want to see a staged jousting event I tend to 
go to the Renaissance Faires as I do at least find them fun. However I 
do enjoy the period foods and those kind of things and that is why I am 
a part of the SCA." 

Now did Adamantius have a reason to rant? Certainly.  I would take 
offense and would expect my wife to do the same with any clerk that 
assumed that just because I am a male that cooking is a "hobby" for me.  
However I would also expect my wife as well as myself to laugh at the 
clerk that was trying to sell myself or her something that I neither 
needed nor wanted.  And would also expect myself or my wife to 
immediately shoo the idiot away and find a clerk that understood that I 
knew what I was doing and what I was shopping for that day. 


Hell Master A go to the store find said $400 whoseewhatsit, find said 
clerk, and bonk him profusely on the head until the "problem" is "Solved". 

Of course I have also worked retail as well so I do not put to much 
store into sales people that are pushing/pimping the latest and greatest 
whatever.... I generally tell junior to buzz off and that I'll call for 
him/her when I am ready for him/her. 

Expensive Hobby!!!!!!!!!!!!   BAH!!!!!!!!!

Tell junior to shove his Bobby Flay Cookware up his you know what.

A very impassioned,
Nichola

Tirade concluded.


> Gunthar
>