That's not true. Most restaurants (even prestigious, michelin star restaurants), the executive chef will work on the line. Not everywhere though. Depends of the place. But what you are referring to is mostly executive chefs in hotels or big institutions... this is almost only paperwork/supervision work.





I'm not elitist , i traveled all around the world and eaten in fucking cheap joints in asia in the street, small carts that looked like shit (where you can find amazing food).. but my philosophy is that even in a food cart lost in the middle of thailand, or a 1 michelin star dim sum joint, the secret to good taste is gonna be fresh quality ingredients.. to me imitation crab isnt.. i don't really like tilapia but at least it's real fish so i respect more the product then imitation crab..
But in the end it's you who puts it in your mouth, so if you like it that's your thing, was just saying my opinion about it..

And about making flavourful dishes... yes you don't learn that at school, you learn it over time .. i do believe my food is flavorful and of good quality.. i wouldnt serve something i wouldnt eat myself. But i dont consider myself a top chef. To be honest i'd go back to lesser job later in top restaurants, somewhere else in the world, to learn more stuff. I just got offered the job couple months ago, wasnt sure to accept but it's going well now so meh good salary.... i was sous-chef there before and chef got fired cause he threw a knife at someone hehe

This post was edited by hofx2 on Feb 10 2013 12:15am

you sure seem that way on the boards, talking down anything you deem below your standards. while fresh quality ingredients are key to good food MOST of the time, that doesnt mean that 'bad' ingredients cant sometimes be good as well. for example, take blue cheese, which is basically just spoiled cheese. its spoiled in a controlled manner, but its still just spoiled cheese when you come down to it. as well as many other types of cheeses, and i could bring many other examples besides cheese as well. rotten shark is considered a delicacy in iceland. etc, etc. some things on their own may be 'bad' (although the shark is eaten straight...) but if you know how to work with them, you can create something brilliant out of them.


throwing a knife is pretty bad, dont think ive seen that one...

I wouldnt consider a good blue cheese a bad quality ingredients though... it's good bacteria inside, just like a lot of other preparations/ingredients...

thats only because youre used to working with it. to someone who's not familiar with it, it can be disgusting.


and again, thats just one example. the point is that something which might at first seem not good can be made into something worthwhile if you use it the right way.

This post was edited by ReturnFormer on Feb 11 2013 01:36pm

Actually there's nothing wrong with re freezing things, as long as you do it properly, and thaw it again safely. In fact using fish that has been frozen is much safer than using fresh fish. Freezing kills most bacteria. Problem is using frozen fish for sushi will give you shitty sushi, the texture and flavour just wouldn't be there. That's why it is so important to use sushi grade fish, since it isn't being frozen it has to be of the top quality to ensure that there will be little to no risk in eatig the fish raw and unfrozen.

Also I really have no problem wih hofxs attitude. It's almost a necessity if you want the business to be successful. Also it depends on how you got trained. I was trained more old school, like fuck the individual, if you gotta burn your hands to get the food out, then you burn your hands and get the food out. Theres no room for soft people in a kitchen. My boss was a huge asshole, but the food he cooked was delicious and the passion he put into it was very noticeable.

Now the chefs I work with that have graduated from the local culinary school are useless people who can't cook on a line to save their life. Sure they can cook at home, but not in a fast paced high stress environment. Seems to me like most culinary programs don't prepare you for the real world and I've really started to resent people fresh from culinary school.

Tl;dr use sushi grade fish for sushi or dont put fish in your sushi, and I'm starting to turn into an asshole at work.

While you can thaw and refreeze raw product properly, I would not recommend it with Sushi, or a product that is going to be served raw. On something that will be cooked after the refreezing, I don't mind as much. Not to mention you will be losing quality as you have lost moisture

The only way I would resize a larger frozen piece, would be to cut it while completely frozen, and put the rest back into the freezer

As far as your point about frozen fish, unless you are catching the fish yourself, and killing and cleaning it right before you roll, then it should ALWAYS be frozen. If it is not frozen as soon as the fish is killed and cleaned, then it has a much higher risk of carrying a foodborne pathogen. Unless as previously stated, if it wasn't frozen, I would not accept it as Sushi grade, and would not serve it at home or anywhere else

I agree with you completely about having that mind set when running a business or serving guests. But that's not what this thread is about...

This guy is experimenting with rolling Sushi on his own for himself and friends or whoever, he's not serving it at a restaurant for guests. There is no need for an elitist view here about what fish isn't good enough to be put into a roll for yourself. You make what you like, and as a true Chef you should support anyone taking the initiative to take the culinary arts into their own hands, not put them down

I'm sure you don't eat Kobe Beef at home, just because you serve it at your restaurant and would never plate imitation crab (as it should be...), doesn't mean you are going to spend $100 on top quality ingredients to make a few rolls for your own enjoyment

Get real, the guy came in here on his high horse, trying to show his 'expertise' on Sushi claiming to be an Executive Chef at a prestigious restaurant, when he's a glorified Sous Chef, if even that. How he's too good to roll it at his restaurant? I would sure hope so, or the place would have flopped long ago. This thread isn't about the worlds' best Sushi, or the worlds' best Chef, it's about someone rolling their own and enjoying it. He just came off as a snob, simple as that

Let's see the rolls he makes at home out of his own pocket.. Chefs make a modest salary, c'mon now

This post was edited by PurpleBuds on Feb 12 2013 05:45pm

for a business i agree, use only the best/freshest. (in general. fake crab is popular around here, so id still use that in a business here.) this wasnt for business, though.

This post was edited by ReturnFormer on Feb 12 2013 06:54pm

Yeah I did kinda lose the point of this topic with my last post, was talking about purely in a restaurants case. For home cooking ya do whatever the fuck you want.

I do guarantee you tho purp, the top sushi restaurants in North America are not using frozen fish, nor is the chef catching the fish himself. I could guess where they get their fish, but that's all it would be, a guess.

I didn't quite literally mean catching them yourself, it was a bit exaggerated I admit, just live fish until it is cleaned, cut, and rolled

And the frozen fish was more for home use. Sushi restaurants have their own means to verify vendor reputability and acquire fresh product, unbeknownst to myself. I wouldn't take home any 'Sushi-Grade' fish that wasn't frozen though

This post was edited by PurpleBuds on Feb 12 2013 08:43pm

Oh yeah absolutely. I def wouldn't eat raw fresh fish if I bought it at a supermarket.