# Personalities........



## chefboy2160 (Oct 13, 2001)

Personalities and egos are a part of any biz but this one seems to accentuate it more as we are always working in the moment!
The interactions are sometimes the high light of the shift . As a young line cook I remember my swiss chef blowing up on the line as we needed more diced shallots and garlic for the line during a busy service period . He ripped the hispanic prep cook a new one in front of everybody in hearing range ! When the prep said in a calm voice , " chef , I have no more prepped for you because obviously some cheap SOB did not know what they were doing when they ordered and so we are now out " 
Wow , you could here a pin drop , the chef said of course we have more you just are friggen blind ! Well after the chef leaves the line for a few minutes he comes back and of course the prep cook was right and his excuse was that dumb a** produce company frigged up. No product and use onions and granulated garlic the rest of the night . The chef was never wrong! 
So what personalities have you met in this biz that have left an impression on you ? Clear skies , Doug..........................


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

THE RULES OF THE CHEF

•THE CHEF IS RIGHT.

•THE CHEF IS ALWAYS RIGHT.

•EVEN IF AN UNDERLING IS RIGHT, ARTICLE I APPLIES.

•THE CHEF DOESN’T EAT, HE NOURISHES HIMHELF.

•THE CHEF DOESN’T DRINK, HE TASTES.

•THE CHEF DOESN’T SLEEP, HE RESTS HIMSELF.

•THE CHEF IS NEVER LATE, HE IS RETAINED.

•THE CHEF NEVER QUITS HIS SERVICE HE IS CALLED AWAY.

•THE CHEF NEVER CARRIES ON RELATIONS WITH HIS SECRETARY, HE EDUCATES HER.

•THE CHEF NEVER READS HIS NEWSPAPER ON THE JOB, HE STUDIES IT.

•YOU GO INTO THE CHEF’S OFFICE WITH YOUR PERSONNAL IDEAS; YOU COME OUT WITH THE CHEF’S IDEAS.

•THE CHEF REMAINS THE CHEF EVEN IN A BATHING SUIT.

•THE MORE YOU CRITIZE THE CHEF, THE LESS BONUSES YOU WILL HAVE.

•THE CHEF MUST THINK FOR EVERYONE ELSE.


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Bearing in mind what CC posted I worked for whom I consider to be the biggest S.O.B. I ever met in one Agostino "Tino" Buggio the Exec. Chef of the Nicholas Restaurant in the Mayflower Hotel in D.C. (He is still there I believe) Italian born, French apprenticed. Spoke Italian, french, arabic, spanish & english. He had no problem shutting down the line in the middle of service regardless of how busy the dining room may have been. I have seen him take dishes out of the waiters hand and throw them across the kitchen because they weren't garnished right. He received top reviews including less than as well. He could cuss you out in any language and did. I was pissed at him one day and as we passed each other from front to the back of the line, he was taller than me, so I looked up and gave him the dirtiest look I could. He stopped and said in his thick Sopranos accent "don't f-----ng look at me like that, I keel you! Oh well another day, another friend. He threatened to fire me one day because I was sick and I tried to call in. I didn't want to be fired just because I was sick so I went in and talked to personell. Their reply was to show me the Tino file of complaints that was at least 1-1/2" thick. He wasn't happy that I talked to personell but he laid off of me from then on. I soon left and went on to my "glorious" career in Alaska. I went back to D.C. to visit and stopped in to see him. I told him that as it turned out as big an a-- as he was I ended up learing a lot from him. He looked at me and in that throaty accent said "ehhh ees not so easy eh? He then made me lunch of Black Tiger Prawns and Black Truffle Risotto. If life is made of memories that Tino fills a big spot for such a short period.
A couple of links to his cuisine and comments. 
Polenta Crab Cakes with Lobster Basil Sauce
(Serves 8)

Ingredients:
4 ounces of Polenta (Italian Corn Flour)
1 ½ cup of Heavy Cream
1 lbs. Of Crabmeat (Jumbo All Lump)
1 teaspoon Olive Oil (Virgin)
2 Whole Eggs
1 Shallot
1 ounce of Unsalted Butter (Plugra)
Salt & Pepper to Taste
1 teaspoon of Augustura (Aromatic Bitter)
½ teaspoon of Tabasco Sauce
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce

Sauce:
2 cups of Lobster Bisque

Pesto:
10 Basil Leaves
1 ounce of Lightly Roasted Pine Nuts
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to Taste

Method:
1) Pour 1 ½ cup of heavy cream and a teaspoon of olive oil into a pan, bring to a boil for 20 minutes and add the corn flour beating with a wisk or a wooden spoon for 5 minutes stirring constantly, set aside.

2) In a pan place 1-ounce of butter and a chopped shallot, add 1 lbs. of crabmeat, 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, angustura and salt/pepper to taste. Sauté quickly. Remove from heat and mix with the cooked corn flour, add 2 whole eggs and 2 ounces of grated Parmesan cheese.

3) Form and shape (the above mixture) into a round crab cake. Set aside for a few minutes.

4) To make sauce: In a pan bring 2 cups of lobster bisque to a boil and add the pesto.

5) Pan-fry the crab cake 3 minutes on each side with a tablespoon of olive oil.

6) To serve: Pour the sauce into a serving plate, place the crab cake in the center and decorate with a basil leaf. Serve hot. Accompanied with a glass of Chardonnay from Delhinger Winery, Sonoma County.

(He was always big on Bitters)

And 
http://www.scp.org/2003/dinner_index.html


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## dano1 (Oct 23, 2003)

The first French chef i worked for was a character. He was born in Lyon, apprenticed in Europe-old school type. I was fresh meat right out of culinary school and knew it all . At the time i thought that was the worst year and a half of my life. What a bastard! Couldn't wait to get out of that kitchen.
Worked for and interviewed with other French chefs over the years. They don't get to me. I've been raked over the fire by one of the best. Oui Chef! Non Chef! I know the routine. 
Now i run my own kitchen and people call me hard hehe. If they only knew...
I see my old chef once or twice year, not such a bad guy after all. And i remember everything he taught me.
danny


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## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

I worked for a summer at The Four Chimneys in Bennington Vt after it was sold by the guy who owned it for a long time to two rubes from NJ. They hired a French guy in his 70's to run the kitchen and he was one day making vichysoisse in the 20 qt using hot water and a Knorr Swiss mix. I walked by and sniffed, "I can make better vichysoisse than that" and he roared at me, "You tink you know so much some day I tell you go #$%^ yourself!" 

He was one of those guys who, at the critical moment of making the Madeira sauce, would say in that gravelly voice, Hey Joe, (everybody was named Joe) go to the freezer and count how many duck I have in ere." When you got back, the sauce was finished and he was perched on his little stool with the hat that nearly brushed the ceiling, smoking a Camel and smiling. 

What he didn't know was that 15 year old woodchuck gopher named chuckie was watching every move he made, and when the chef got appendicitis, chuckie literally put on the guy's hat and taught me everything he had seen. 

One night after he left I cooked for the reviewer for the Albany paper, somehow we knew we were being reviewed, and I made them green beans with aioli among other things, maybe something with bernaise sauce, and was devastated when I read the review because the owners gave him the other night chef's name, who wasn't even working that night, because it was more European. 

I remember what I made them 27 years ago because the reviewer complained that the aioli and bernaise tasted the same, after admitting in the first paragraph that he had a Rob Roy and "let a willing haze descend over his senses." Still annoys me, can you tell?


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

I once worked for a chef that fired me once a week, or so it seemed. About the time I would gather up my tools and start to walk off the line he would look at me, ask me where I was going, and tell me to get back to my %&*$ing station!!! I learned a lot from him though, and oftentimes miss those days!


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## genevieve.m (Jul 16, 2003)

The oldtimers have so much to teach and they are so differnt from eachother, I have always excepted less pay to work with the best;

The Frenchman (still working for him)
The social skills of a goldfish, strutts around like a rooster and isn't aware there are words like hello or goodbye.

The South African
Outstanding chef that blue it all on drugs. Would swap $100 for drugs for copper pots. Very fussy on clutter. When I moved on from his kitchen I realised I had reached a whole new level.

The Amsterdam trained pom
Overly interested in my bottom he was difficult under pressure. "Stop staying up f...... all night you can't consentrate on your work now get over hear and plate my mains". 
The beast featured in my funiest kitchen story. I learnt alot about coordination at high speed but I I think I did more than my share. He lost everything thanks to booze. 

The Yorkshire old man
Could spin out of control but great sence of humor.

The nympho gay man
Fresh out of school I learn't about all sorts of interesting things during my training. With out a doubt the most incredible sence of humor I've known, I still use many of his cutting one liners to this day.

These are the people who have helped shape me for better or for worse into the chef and person I am today, I will never forget them.:chef:


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## panonthefire (Jan 15, 2007)

I think that most of the experienced cook and chef on this forum as A crazy chef that rock is world, not only on the best way, but learned a lot about cooking and what it take to achieve high standard in a very competitive market.

The type of pressure we face as chef and cook at any level in a high end, fine dinning or world class restaurant and the hours we put in, some time with out eating, or the hours we should sleep and we dont, can bring out behaviors that can be seen as extreme by outsiders of the culinary world.

My old chef...this is the way I call him, was the person with the funniest personality I have worked with. On top of all that he was and still his the best chef i have been aroud. He is over 55 years old, he still works standing up, cooking, doing the line, making pastry... he can do mostly evrything from his hands. He is an Craftman.

The only problem i had with him (like everybody else), was that he could go crazy or bust your balls at any moment. He burnt me with a plate comming out of the salamander. When I asked hi why he told me that it was because I made to much whip cream prep. He could make me pass through a fine china cap 3x16liters of cream of vegetables and knowing that if he put a lot of leeks and celerie in is soup it would block the china cap. He admitted that he was putting more leeks and celerie to piss me off.

The funniest thing was when he was closing the hood on purpose. Since the kitchen was downstairs, during the off hours he would close the hood so all the smeel of the kitchen would go upstairs and then the maître D would have to go up and down the stairs to ask us to star the hood again.

Love or hate him, I could not ignore him and when I look back, I remember a funny, and real person and to top it all...the only chef in Canada to have is name and a recipe in the Larousse Gastronomique.


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

Quote
"My old chef...this is the way I call him, was the person with the funniest personality I have worked with. On top of all that he was and still his the best chef i have been aroud. He is over 55 years old, he still works standing up, cooking, doing the line, making pastry... he can do mostly evrything from his hands. He is an Craftman."

Pan otf,
I'm having trouble believing your old chef is over 55 And he's still works standing up?


I'm just an old chef playin with ya:lol:


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