I always wondered about people who worked really cool jobs who said they kind of “fell into it” how do you fall into being a condom tester, truck driver or those guys who drive around the baggage carts on the runway (have you seen how tight those turning radius’s are?) It seemed more of being in the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people, that is until I became a cook.
I have always loved food, but cooking is not one of things that anyone had ever mentioned to me. I have heard throughout my years that I would be good in sales, business or writing, but not once has anyone ever mentioned cooking and until a year ago I had never thought of it either.
I do remember this one mashgiach job I had infrequently at the Hyatt Hotel in Rochester and how fascinating it was to watch these cooks do their magic, creating beauty where none existed before, but I wasn’t a philosopher back then and the corporate lifestyle seemed to politically correct to me – little did I know that restaurants are the exact opposite.
Then, thanks to a fan, God and a lot of random stuff – I kind of fell into it. They say that cooking is a very hard profession, it’s stressful, there’s a lot of pressure, the hours are long , the pay sucks and you always seem to be working when everyone else is off and that’s all true, but it may be why I love it. I love the fact that there’s always something to do and that I am standing for 7 or 8 hours straight being completely focused and active with my mind and hands – it’s so different from my previous two jobs which were strictly desk jobs devoted to spending inordinate times online doing nothing for a lot more money than I make currently.
I cannot tell you how relieved I am to have found something that I actually want to do, this has always been my biggest fear in life, I feared I would end up stuck at a job I hated because I had mouths to feed – what kind of life is that? I kind of wish I would have known about cooking sooner, I’m kind of late in the game, it may take me years to rise to the level of a chef. Heck, tonight I just learned the simple fact that chefs peel ginger with a spoon.
There are downsides to this whole cooking thing, sure I can go into your home and whip you up a good meal in a quarter of the time it take you to do it and it will probably be better, but the big downside is that as I’m learning more and more technique and ways to manipulate flavors and make things better, faster, easier and so on – I have begun to despise most people’s cooking. Last time I was in New York, I simply couldn’t eat certian food or enjoy people’s cooking the way I used to – it’s painful that I can’t compliment those I once complimented because it would be lying. It’s not a pretentious thing, it’s just how it goes I guess. The upside is that, I don’t go to people’s houses for the food anymore (I am sure you have noticed the lack of food porn or free food references on this site – ah maturity) I go to their houses for the people.
I just moved up to Saute from pantry this week, before I was the guy who made deserts, salads and appetizers, but now I’m up to the entrees, prepping all the sides and cooking the sides and some of the main dishes on the line. It’s hot, sweaty, there are flames flying out of my pan whenever I flip some veggies, but it’s quite enjoyable to be learning new technique and how to tell the difference the between medium and medium rare by poking the meat with my finger. That’s another skill that I hold dear, the ability to reach into a five hundred degree oven to pull something out or to grab a carrot out of boiling water to see if it’s blanched just right.
Cooking has, I’m sad to say hurt the blog, I used to sit around at work and have time to think about what to write, now I just don’t have that luxury, no idea where it’s all headed because I have great ideas all the time, but it’s not the same as before. Part of me wants to start writing about food, but part of me holds this peace and enjoyment sacred – part of my “don’t get too personal” policy that most of you probably haven’t ever noticed, but this blog is about 25% of me and 75% exaggeration to get you going. I have the thoughts, but I need to add some spice (working with Mexicans has taught me to love and work with the heat) Habinero salsa just doesn’t sound so scary anymore.
FYI: The restaurant where I work is having a super pimp wine pairing dinner on March 14th featuring Four Gates Wine (even if you don’t come – Binyamin’s Merlot is quite amazing). $125 per person and rumor has it we may be getting some pretty exotic meats that you cannot really get in any kosher restaurant.
It took you a while to find what makes you happy and you stuck to it. You can’t appreciate something that is great if you did not suffer through the horrible experiences. You can always write about the people who do not appreciate your creations. For example, a person sends the sushi back because it’s raw. The girl who won’t date you because your not a learner or a lawyer.
I had no idea that you were cooking. I used to cook professionally.
… and here’s another top 10 list for a future post: stuff that frummies/Americans/people almost never cook right. My big #1 would be FISH.
actually frummies are really into well done meat – whenever an order for something well done comes in I get looks from the sous chef (they are your people he says)
One of the things that seduced my mother over to the Dark Side was rare meat.
Now that I think about it, oh former mashgiach, what are the kashruth implications of sous vide cooking?
how do u peel ginger with a spoon?
I never would have thought of it either and there are dozens of little tricks that are so common place I wouldn’t even think of them as tricks anymore.
but how do u do it? & why?
Peeling with a knife can take a longer and waste ginger.
Actually the spoon method wastes a lot of ginger, but I was pickling ten pounds of the stuff, so by the time I peeled and mandolined, it was a long time.
The spoon method I was taught uses a grapefruit spoon as a grater.
very nice hesh
The correct spelling is ‘certain’ not certian. You misspelled that word several times. So here…
Reading your current post lead me to believe that you are (learning to) cook(ing) in a non kosher establishment. That’s until I clicked on the restaurant link. At any rate, good for you, you like what you’re doing. FYI: I like most of my steaks medium. I dig rare, but raw does me better. Yes, there are cuts that actually taste good raw. BTW, I am ‘one of yours’… It is all a matter of personal taste and preference. I can understand why someone would like their steaks well done; that is where your prejudice kicks in…
Personal preference can be wrong
Sorry. Led is the past tense of lead.
Since you asked our advice,Heshy…this should improve your shidduch chances. As much fun as this site is,no shadchan asks` Nu,does he have a blog ?` Let`s just say that I never thought that you worked nights as an ER doctor.
Take the resto job and run with it.
has the restaurant become bf-friendly yet? I never went before I moved because the baby was still nursing, and then the woman was asked to leave… Anyhow, hope that’s changed! Let me know and I’ll spread the word, because I was not the only one crazy excited that this place was opening.
That woman you speak of is gone now and yes I have heard similar stories, but that’s not how we operate
At least you can be sure the baby is getting a 100% kosher dinner. Everyone else has to trust the mashgiach
ha ha! Too true!
When you were keeping it a bit more on the down-low precisely where you worked, I was CONVINCED I knew from inadvertent hints dropped here and there where it was, especially from scattered comments about fixed-price menus. I was very much convinced it was French Laundry.
Did you know that Thomas Keller has a long line of seasoned cooks willing to work prep at the French Laundry for free? You thought I was working the line at the best restaurant in America – besides the commute would be killer.
C’mon Mahla, The French Laundry is the penultimate destination in Napa if you have a lot of shekels and patience to get a reservation 4 months or so in advance. If Heshy was working there, it’s unlikely he’d find the time to write this blog. If he was working there, I’d bribe him for Parker recipes.
I used to work in a high end seafood restaurant in Lafayette Louisiana (heart of the Cajun country..no frummies there I recall)…love the southern cooking and learned how to make a perfect blackened redfish (not easy to find in CA…so salmon works fine).
Excuse my Parker faux pas, I meant Thomas Keller. BTW, Heshy, just curious, do you only drink Kosher wines or do you sometimes try some of the nice CA reds?
There are some super nice kosher California reds if you know the right people. Maybe I should do a post on all my winemaking buds who do 1000 cases or less.
Four Gates makes phenomenal pinot and merlot – while Covenant Cab is super tasty and good enough to be the only kosher wine on the list at Spago and French Laundry. The Weiss Brothers make some super fine Syrah down in Santa Barbara and my friend Jonathan Hajdu has his own label and does Grenache, Petite Verdot and Syrah.
If you need contacts for some of this stuff, email me, it sells out fast and only by word of mouth.
I’d like to see the Kosher CA red list. We have the Baron Herzog Winery a stone’s throw away from the Valley and their reds are decent (their steaks, especially are great), but not great (unless you spend a lot. I tend enjoy most CA reds in the $20-$40 range. At our local Chabad, we tend to get stuck with the predominant Herzog wines which can easily be found in the local stores. I have enjoyed Israeli reds (Yiron Cab) as well.
I take it you work at a Kosher high-end Bay area restaurant as you noted they served a Covenant Chardonnay with a fish that looked like sea bass to me.
A post about great CA Kosher wines would be nice as it would be fun to have some when I organize the “Best Cholent in LA (it may end up being best in San Fernando Valley)” cooking contest later this year.
“its not a pretentious thing”…. right. that whole paragraph was a sesame ginger glaze of pretension- you should read it again.
I didn’t read it that way at all.
I’m excited to hear there is a real kosher restaurant in the SF area. No longer will we need to rely on schnitzel in Chinatown.
Really getting into something has its drawbacks. You know too much to enjoy poor quality. Most people make twenty meals a week and can be adequate cooks. You make that many in a day, and they have to be good.