# My style is so yesterday :(



## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

I swear if I go back to work it would be as a line cook. I barely know how to make a foam but these days when I look at menus I see a dizzying array of ingredients just for one dish, and people are serving more and more courses these days!

I used to be confident that I could go in and be comfortable in almost any kitchen. Now I'm not so sure! I mean as an example, how do I handle beef cheeks and where do I even get them,  and served with salpicon of something, two purees, and two different reductions, and crispy something wafer?

I guess technically I can do it, but man, the amount of "stuff" that goes on a plate these days takes 2-3 times as much preptime as the stuff I'm used to doing. Whatever happened to Steak Diane?  Anyone feel the same way sometimes?


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## laprise (Jan 4, 2006)

Yes, I am with you on that one...

one thing I really hate, is deep fried fresh herbs as garnishes... man I hate that! If I did that 20 years ago, my chef would have chewed me up pretty badly


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## chef_bob (Jan 13, 2005)

I think question is how many places are really doing foams and the likes. I know they seem every where when you read reviews and trade mags but how many people are actually producing them on a regular basis. My guess is that most places that the public consider fine dinning get through most weeks with out foaming anything except milk.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Kuan,

I believe it's a natural evolution of cooking technique.Chefs like Thomas Keller of Per Se and the French Laundry, David Kinch of Manresa's both in the US, and Gagniere, Poucad, Michel Bras et al in France all have taken food to new levels of which can be quite amazing. Granted, not all execute this "high" end cuisine well, as it is very persice.Multable course tasting menus are a wonderful way to dine. Kellers concept is " the law of diminishing returns"he wants his diners to savor those 1-2 bites and wish for just one more,just then, the next course arrives.If you study these chefs, and even better, experiment with there recipes you will find they are all about the ingredients and there freshness and not about being fussy.Kuan, I feel pretty sure that you would be able to walk into most 3*** houses, and with some training be able to prepare these dishes.Products like beef cheeks believe it or not have been cooked for many years as a "cheap cut"very similar to beef brisket in fact, but with more gelitine.At Chambord we would cook cheeks for family meal twice a month.When you think about the "luxe"ingredients used in these restaurants, (truffles, Foie, Caviar Kobe beef etc)chefs balance this out many times with lesser cuts.

What I like about Keller for example is how he is able to run two of the finest restaurants in the country, and also run Bouchon his bistro. The French Laundry cookbook is chock full of pure technique and refinement,and Bouchon is amazing bistro cuisine.


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

Kuan, I know how you feel. It's a bit daunting, and frankly, few can really pull it off. I think it's easy for a chef to lose control of quality when there are so many items. 

In my city, we too are seeing this trend. But of the top ten restaurants, only one or two chefs are really doing it. Ultimately its about giving customers what they want. And "fine dining" should do more than peak your curiosity; it should stick to your ribs. 

From an economic perspective, its not a very accessible trend. This too will pass I'm sure. I think we'll look back on this as having been a period of fruitful experimentation, and the industry will have no doubt been propelled forward by it.

I love veal cheeks. But I'd rather have a full plate of it, minus the wafer.


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## panini (Jul 28, 2001)

Anneke,
I'm just the opposite. I absolutely enjoy this way of dining.
I enjoy when the Chef/Pastry Chef/Wine Stewart is in control and you experience his or her theme or concept. I love to be teased!!!
Otherwise, I like to be in control 'as some here will attest to'. I will try to make sure that the table will have at least one of each of the specialties in all categories. One bite or two is fine with me.
On the other hand, We usually don't go out to replace a home meal.
Just me though.
BTW The few chefs doing this here are usually not hard to get a table. You need 2 weeks for a nice chop house. So I understand what you are saying


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Oh Kuan, how I can relate. I have been away so long, not that much has changed really, but I find myself going back to what I know which feels like I stopped advancing years ago. Fundamentals and classics will never go out of style, but without the day in and day out in upscale places I feel completely stagnant. I have to live vicariously through Cheftalk mostly and a couple of things on Food TV. I do enjoy Iron Chef Japanese only because its so much different than what I was trained with that I find it interesting, and as much as I dislike the American version of IC I do enjoy seeing what the current chefs are doing. Wily Dufresne may be a little over the top, but it was very interesting to see some of the things he was doing. I guess the point is that I miss the creativity and constant learning. Therefore let me state also that I would kill to be in a position where I could go and spend a couple of weeks with all of you working and learning.


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## anneke (Jan 5, 2001)

Panini,
I agree with you. I'm just talking about the veal cheeks. I REALLY love them!
My ideal dinner would be a series of 25 tiny bites of awesomeness. But not many people agree with me on that. 

I never thought my gastronomic A.D.D. would be trendy...


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## danbrown (Feb 19, 2004)

I agree wholeheartedly with Cape on the evolution of cuisine and techniques. The problem is that a number of chefs, and cooks, use their knowledge of modern techniques to ostracize (sp?) old school chefs, myself included. I'm not quite cutting ecge with my work, but I'm always working to bring myself ahead of the trends in any way I can that still works towards the business. I doubt I'll get liquid nitrogen or a circulating water bath this year, but I'm going to keep putting them on my requisition sheets!!

Anytime, man, just let me know when you'll be in CO.

DB


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Heh, funny.  Which brings up another intersting question. I wonder if our styles evolve from the way we love to eat.


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## peachcreek (Sep 21, 2001)

Kuan, are you confusing being out of date with being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, technology, instant acsess to exotic goods that piles up on what now seems an hourly basis? I don't know about other people, but it is a lot to assimilate and learn and every day I fall more hopelessly behind. And we are people who spend hours a day thinking about and practicing foodservice. Man, it give me a headache. Talk about a way to feel inadequate.
But to me its just a big free-for-all. The old notion of foods are falling by the wayside. People are creating, inventing, and reinventing and really who is to say who is right and who is wrong if the food is great?


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

I dunno man...I don't really see anything in the culinary world as being "outdated."

I mean, people are always going to need meatloaf. If you can make a killer meatloaf, presented in a little bit of a different way than people are normally accustomed to eating it, it can be great. Doesn't need a bunch of stuff if its great.

I mean, foams and emulsions and "degustations" and stuff are all well and good, but most people can't eat like that everyday. 

And, man, beef cheeks are killer. One of the best pieces of meat. It's like potroast but 5x better. SO succulent it makes you want to cry. My 3rd favorite thing of beef to eat behind 1) Short Ribs and 2) Ribeye steak.

Personally I'm not into the whole "foam" thing. I don't like all that fussiness. Not saying it's bad, just not my taste.


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## david chenelle (Nov 1, 2004)

First off I love cheeks. It is nothing new as a matter of fact it was considered peasant food for eons. Throw a faddy foam on it w/ a couple of puree's and don't forget the balsa-wine a whatever-veal glace reduction (you can figure it out) and some fried chip and voila, Haute Cuisine. All I see are old standby's with a new twist. Foams are pretty much a fad to me. Flavored air with a life span of seconds. Hardly real food to sink your teeth into. Yes, I am guilty of serving them.
I am running meatloaf tomorrow against the filet. Reason? Filet is costing me $11.51 per portion with plate cost inclusive and I can only charge $20.50 per plate. I work at a yacht club and regardless of what you hear, these members as well as all members of any private Yacht club have a common thread in them. Namely, they are cheap as* bast*rds They love meatloaf though (and I make a dam* good one, thanks to my years of Garde Manger) so that costs only 3.50 per portion w/ plate cost inclusive and the selling price of $13.50. My plan is that the expensive filet at only 56% food cost will be offset by the meatloaf at 26% food cost. If I sell twice as many meatloafs then the food cost will wash out to somewhere at a 36% food cost. Of course I will be selling chicken, a burger, pasta, an entree salad, swordfish, a sandwich and the soup IS........ French Onion Soup. I just had to do that per the hot conversation of last week. With all of that included my food cost should end up at 30%. I usually nail food cost all of the time.
ciao,
David
PS meatloaf comes with a roasted garlic demi glace topped with gorgonzola. 

Filet is served w/ Peppercorn Demi glace and topped with crispy fried onions. (Gotta get that fried item in).


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## butt3r_chick3n (Oct 22, 2005)

Omg that meatloaf sounds good. **drools**


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## greyeaglem (Apr 17, 2006)

A while back, I was having a discussion with one of my peers who accused me of only knowing the "old stuff". I admitted that current trends are not my strong suit because as a female who started in this business in the '70s (culinary school or not) I was relegated to working in diner-type places. My reply to him was that they can come up with all kinds of over the top things that seem interesting, but you can trot out your best, and I can set a medium-rare porter house with sauteed mushrooms and fried potatoes next to it and the average person will take the steak every time. What more do you need to know? If someone asks me what style of cuisine I specialize in, I reply "American diner classic". Recently on Iron Chef America, one of the chefs presented a cheeseburger and fries as part of his menu. One of the judges said "I could eat this every day". Nuff said.


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## nowiamone (Jan 23, 2005)

Trendy is a great dining experiance, but our strong point is great basics. Right now (height of our summer tourist season) we have a King crab cocktail. It's generous, good crab, and attacticely served. It well outsell all of the trendy things I put together. Halibut with necterine salsa, will never outsell my beer battered, deep fried; the bistro steak special with the balsmic reduction and stack of of sauteed crispy onion rings never, out sells my signature bone in rib steak. I laughing say "that my customers like to have the specials to read, before they order their usual."


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Nicely said, that makes me feel better! I guess you're right that when the dust settles all we really want is comfort food. That and the basics will never go out of style.


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

LOL. I'm definitely not one to hold it against anyone for evolving, creating something abstract or trying something new and I will definitely step outside the box myself sometimes but....
"I believe you should dance with the one that brung ya".:bounce: 

I could make comment on some of the things I've seen and tasted but then again the username kinda says it all. 

Hey Kuan! One of my favorites. I've served Steak Dianne at every place I've run that served high quality steaks. Always a great seller.:smiles:


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## cliveb (Mar 16, 2005)

And someone was saying to me last week:
" You know, the very BEST vegetables just have salt, pepper and melted butter"...!


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## diane (Mar 24, 2006)

I never knew anyone who didn't want to sit down to a Sunday Roast lunch or dinner. How old fashioned is That. Or a 'ladle all you want' casserole bursting with veg and meat and gravy. And crusty bread for mopping. Colcannon and corned beef with sweet mustard. Yorkshire Pudding with roast beef. A sirloin on a very large plate, or eye fillet, surrounded with roast veg. of all sorts, yorkies, a dish of peas. Pan gravy in a thermos jug and some horseradish. 

I like the 'old fashioned food', I don't like foams and stacks, and jiggery pokery. The idea of several Small courses is attractive for a now and then thing, though. Some of what people call cutting edge is just down right silly IMHO.


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## diane (Mar 24, 2006)

And I am delighted to see beetroot making a comeback, prepeared any way.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

As far as I'm concerned beetroot never went 'out' of style. Guess it depends who you ask. It's just another part of the new 'trend' - as French chefs run out of new ideas they look to eastern cuisines and steal some of the ideas... Look at many cutting edge menus and you'll see plenty of middle eastern and north african spices, as well as other food preparations.

The other day I was reading an article in the NYT online talking about how 'sour' is the new flavour trend... I don't know how it can be a trend if it's one of the key flavours of many world cuisines. I know in Ukrainian cuisine (what I grew up on) sour is a very important flavour. (beetroot is also a staple vegetable - see above paragraph)

While I do like some of the ideas of modern cuisine, overall I think it's more flash than substance. Over-reduced sauces (a big pet peeve of mine), stacks to the moon, melon soup, salads with fruits in them, foams (although I do like them if they have the consistency of chantilly cream, I just can't stand the ones with no substance whatsoever), and especially orbs made from alginate and CaCl - I think these kinds of things are going to be relegated to the 'silly fad' section of history. 

The good points of modern cuisine - lighter sauces, smaller portions, a new appreciation for technique, and my favourite - using vegetable purées as a liaison for sauces (although it seems this is falling back out of favour - now alginates, guar and xanthum gums are taking over...). 

Give me a bowl of borshch, a plate of vareniky, roast chicken with pan juice and kasha or holubsti with vegetables anyday and I'll be happy (and some raspberry soup for dessert). I can honestly say that nothing I've had in any restaurant can compare to my grandmother's cooking (thankfully she left behind her best recipes), and that even my own cooking is better than I've had in most restaurants save a few - of course I've also cooked in the best restaurants, cooked dinners for magazine and newsaper reviews (never a bad review yet)... End of story - it's funny, everything that I've seen and been through in my life both professional and personal makes me feel old - not to mention talking like some older guy about the 'kids' today... (speaking of which...)


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Nope, beet salad, dressed simply with oil and vinegar, maybe some chopped parsley, accompanied by sliced cold poached beef tongue, a vinaigrete with lots of chopped capers and sour cornichons. Oh, and a cold beer....


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

Personally I feel that the intricate preparations have had a very bad effect not only on food quality, but also on the economics of running a restaurant and the industry in whole. You need more cooks to do less - and honestly, theres not much difference in taste - in fact, as preparations get too intense often cooks forget to make it taste good. Also, since you've got more cooks, each one has less chance to learn, some get lazy, you rely on apprentices more and more, details get missed, etc... 

Also, as you staff more cooks, economics dictates that you need to pay them less - you lose your staff, people quit the industry, and you've got a situation like you do up here (Calgary) - restaurants are actually closing not because of a lack of customers, but because they can't find cooks. As a last-ditch attempt many restaurants are also paying new cooks double the wage they would have made only 2 years ago, throwing signing bonuses out there (I never thought I would see the day), but still the industry is hurting for staff. The restaurant I've worked at for the last year and a half needed to simplify the menu considerably because of a lack of cooks (staff is half as big as when I started), but honestly, the food still tastes as good as ever (just less complexity). I remember reading of the Troisgros brothers running their restaurant single-handedly with only a few apprentices, or Tetsuya Wakuda in Aussie-land cooking by himself in his restaurant (in the beginning anyway), that is a far cry from the 20+ cooks many top restaurants now staff to 'keep up'... 

Your example of beefcheeks is a good one, but I happen to like them  Treat them as you would any other braising meat. I've actually had the pleasure of making dishes with over 10 components on each (that's right, TEN components - six pans from my section alone), do 50 of those in a night (not even including other courses) with only 3 cooks (only 2 on hotline), and you'll want to shoot yourself (don't even want to know how the sommelier felt about that either). Nothing worse than running out of pans in a 25 cover evening service... While complexity is impressive to some, flavour still remains the goal.


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## mikeb (Jun 29, 2004)

Sounds good to me.


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## jaundiego (Jun 1, 2006)

Man, look...food need not be complicated. Your guests have no idea what you have gone through to bring them a delicious dish. why break your own b*lls for nothing? Just make your food taste good! Unless they are watching you cook their food, just do waht you do well without the scrutiny of uneducated eyes. "Feed the pigs", man!


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## dano1 (Oct 23, 2003)

very classy...where do you work?


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## bandregg (Jun 25, 2003)

Everyone can learn new techniques given time to study and practice them. I would suggest that given training on new equipment like freezing griddles and frozen nitrogen baths a cook who can make perfect scrambled eggs or hollandaise from memory won't have any problems. In the case of most of these new skills it's really a matter of mastering the equipment.
As to multi-course dinners served with a few bites of each dish, a good friend of mine ate at WD-50 while doing some research for his new restaurant. Afterward we were talking on the phone and he said, "You know, I'm eating a cold roast chicken sandwich right now. Left over from last night's dinner. And it's really good. It may be better than what I ate in New York, because you know, sometimes you just want more of something that tastes good, and I can make another chicken sandwich."


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## diane (Mar 24, 2006)

I heard on tv the other night that 75% of Americans have an outdoor grill, and 44% said their favourite grill food was steak. Speaks volumes doesn't it.


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## steve a (Mar 13, 2006)

There are classics, trends and fads. Eventually one moves from one category to another or drops off the face of the earth only to be "refound" by someone else.

Just my 2¢.

Ciao,


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## chef curmudgeon (Jun 22, 2004)

After over 50 years in this profession I still am open to new ideas and methods. However I get real ticked off with culinary elitism, hot foods on cold plates, cold food on hot plates, and slow service from not remembering who it is who ultimately pays the bills.


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