Walking without Heston

Dishes every new chef should aspire to learn.

I was chatting with a young lad the other day. He had expressed an interest in cooking and becoming a chef. As the conversation went on, it came to light that one of the things that put him off was having to learn about "Liquid nitrogen" and "Water baths" etc. My jaw dropped!
I was confronted with a similar experience when I was teaching at the college. A student was quizzing me about molecular gastronomy. I was able to give a limited responcse, but this was a student who was struggling with peeling a potato. In both incidences the same thought was evident, "You don't need to know about that!"
I pride myself on being able to cook the simple things well. I will never win a Michelin Star or Masterchef, but I will fill your belly and entertain your mouth. This is my philosophy when it comes to cooking. My concern is that this is becoming a lost ideal in kitchens, cookery and training.
It is nice that the likes of Heston Blumenthal can inspire people to be chefs, but this can lead to disillusionment once in the catering industry. It's not all foams, candy houses and glamorous desserts. A chef should be able to do the simple things.
Going back to my earlier point about the young lad. I explained to him that I was once told about a list of 10 dishes every chef should know. I remember it as:

1: Chicken Stock
2: Basic white Sauce
3: Roast a chicken
4: Poach/Grill/bake Fish
5: Gravy/Jus
6: Leek and Potato Soup
7: Bread
8: Shortcrust Pastry
9: Creme Anglaise
10:Sponge cake

You get the gist?....

Getting these skills down should be a priority to any trainee/wannabe chef. Coupled with confidence at cooking and preparing vegetables. Leave the water baths and fancy stuff for a while. I'm not saying never. Just don't run before you can walk.

Old vs New

BOWN #38 The 2013 international final

Highlights from this years Bocuse d'Or. International Chef competition. Serious talent here....

Allow me to introduce myself!

Hi there.....


I'm Brian. I am __ years old. I am father of three, husband to one, chef to many! From here on in I will do my best (time permitting) to put up short food and drink related recipes and posts on this blog. I am in no way a writer. Just a guy who LOVES cooking for his friends and talking/writing about it. My puntuation and spelling is poor and just to make that point I will not correct my misspelling of "punc-tu-a-tion". I enjoy writing, I wish I was better at it, but for now just come along for the ride :-)

I have been a chef for just over 20 years now. Some of the regulars to the Greyhound may already know the landlord Dan and the fact that he and I trained together at Suffolk college back in the day. He has always been someone I have regarded as one of my dearest and best friends and I am really hoping that our friendship, his pub knowledge and my food knowledge can translate into lots of happy customers.

Back to my point....

You can follow my cheffy/foody/yummy twitter feed at www.twitter.com/knifeofbrian 

or my personal, cycling, triathlon, parenting and some foodie stuff (May contain nuts) at www.twitter.com/brix2tri

Or Simply add the Greyhound page on the Ol' Book of face!

I will do my best to ask any questions. Also if you have any requests for the menu..... just ask!

Catcha later

PS- I suppose I should add that ALL views and opinons are that  of DAN LIGHTFOOT  mine and not the Greyhound Pub :-)

BJP