Chef Shares 20 Reasons to Love/Hate the Job

Chef Paul Sorgule, who often writes for us here at FDL, shares some great insights into what it means to be a chef or cook in the industry today, over on his Harvest America Ventures blog. Something of a kitchen veteran, he has a real grasp of the psychology of the job and what it takes to excel.

So, we wanted to highlight his latest post: “I Love Being a Chef but I’m Mad as Hell.” In it, Sorgule shares 10 reasons he loves being a chef, but also 10 things about the industry that drive him crazy – fuelled by his unerring passion for the job.

Take a look below and if you think he’s missing anything, let us know over on our Facebook page.

1. I LOVE BEING A CHEF QUITE SIMPLY BECAUSE I HAVE BECOME COMPETENT  

2. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE I CONTINUE TO BE INTRIGUED BY THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO ARE SERIOUS ABOUT THE CRAFT  

3. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I CAN HELP TO MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY, EVEN WHEN THE ODDS SEEM AGAINST THAT  

4. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE I AM ABLE TO PAY RESPECT TO INGREDIENTS AND CREATE FOOD THAT IS BEAUTIFUL AND GRATIFYINGLY DELICIOUS  

5. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE EVERY DAY IN THE KITCHEN IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE A TEAM BRING THE IMPOSSIBLE TO FRUITION  

6. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE THE JOB IS BUILT ON THE SOLID FOOTING OF THOUSANDS OF DEDICATED PROFESSIONALS WHO PREVIOUSLY GAVE MUCH OF THEIR LIVES TO THE CRAFT  

7. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE I KNOW THAT I EARNED WHERE I AM WITH MY CAREER  

8. I LOVE BEING A CHEF BECAUSE I CAN CONTINUE TO LIVE MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE NOW THAT I AM PARTIALLY RETIRED, THROUGH THE SUCCESS OF THOSE WHOM I HELPED TO TRAIN AND TEACH  

9. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY BECAUSE THOSE COOKS WHO ARE SERIOUS AND TALENTED ARE UNABLE TO MAKE A DECENT LIVING  

10. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY BECAUSE THERE IS FAR TOO MUCH MEDIOCRITY IN THIS BUSINESS THAT DROWNS OUT THE EXCELLENT WORK THAT SERIOUS COOKS DO  

11. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY BECAUSE THE TITLE OF CHEF IS GIVEN OUT TOO FREELY TO THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY HAVE EARNED IT

12. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY BECAUSE FAR TOO MANY RESTAURATEURS LOOK AT THEIR KITCHEN STAFF IN TERMS OF LABOR DOLLARS RATHER THAN PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PERSONIFY THE VERY BEST SKILLS AND ATTITUDE OF A PROFESSIONAL  

13. I AM FRUSTRATED AN ANGRY THAT THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO PURSUE A COLLEGE EDUCATION IN CULINARY ARTS ARE SADDLED WITH ABSURB DEBT THAT CAN NEVER BE PAID  

14. I AN FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY THAT TOO MANY CULINARY PROGRAMS ARE MORE INTERESTED IN FILLING CLASSROOM SEATS THAN HELPING A STUDENT DECIDE IF THIS PROFESSION IS RIGHT FOR THEM  

15. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY THAT TOO MANY CULINARY GRADUATES ARE UNWILLING TO PAY THEIR DUES TO REALLY LEARN WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A CHEF  

16. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY THAT LINE COOKS ARE NEVER GIVEN THE CREDIT THEY DESERVE  

17. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY THAT AMERICA HAS FAILED TO RECOGNISE SERVICE AS AN HONOURABLE PROFESSION  

18. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY WHEN PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE INDUSTRY THINK THAT THE FOOD NETWORK AND SHOWS LIKE HELLS KITCHEN ARE AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF WHAT KITCHEN LIFE IS LIKE  

19. I AM ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED THAT CHEFS ARE IGNORED WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY, CHEMICAL FREE, GMO FREE, INGREDIENTS FROM FARMERS AND PRODUCERS WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR CRAFT  

20. I AM FRUSTRATED AND ANGRY THAT SOME LOOK AT THE LIFESTYLE OF A COOK AS SOMETHING THAT IS IMPOSED ON THEM RATHER THAN A CHOICE THAT THEY MAKE BECAUSE THEY LOVE WHAT THEY DO

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Chef Shares 20 Reasons to Love/Hate the Job

Try The Ultimate Recipe for Quiche Lorraine

Let's talk quiche. Perhaps the most famous of them all is the recipe for quiche Lorraine, named so after the Lorraine region of northeast France, where it originated. 

If you'd love make this French delicacy, we'd love to share our recipe for quiche Lorraine. This quiche makes an excellent option for lunch or brunch. The best part is that it can be served at room temperature, which makes it ideal to take along on picnics.

What You'll Need To Make Quiche Lorraine

At its most basic, quiche Lorraine requires just cubed ham, eggs, cream and cheese. Our version adds a few other gourmet ingredients which takes to over the top. You'll need:

• ham
• prosciutto
• onion
• garlic
• mixed herbs
• eggs
• Gruyere cheese
• cream
• salt 
• pepper

A homemade crust made with just four ingredients - flour, butter, eggs, salt - makes it absolutely irresistible.

Get the complete recipe for quiche Lorraine here.

Tip: Accompany your quiche Lorraine with a delectable green salad laced with pomegranate seeds.

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Try The Ultimate Recipe for Quiche Lorraine

Zurich, Switzerland: a City Tasting Tour with Daniel Humm

Zurich consistently ranks top in global polls for the world’s most liveable cities and, after a short break there, it’s easy to say why. There’s a relaxed feel generally, the air is clean, the lake sparkling and people seem to contentedly go about their business and daily life knowing that they have it better than many other places.

The city’s most famous culinary son has to be Daniel Humm, maestro at Eleven Madison Park in New York - the winner of theWorld 50 Best Restaurants 2017 - and he kindly recommended Kronenhalle and Odeon Café as must-visits. Here’s a look at them, along with three other dining options.

Kronenhalle

Kronenhalle has been a Zurich institution since 1924, with gold lettering marking the name on a slightly austere exterior, while inside it’s all warm wood-panelled rooms, lace curtains, stained glass, brass lamps and white linen tablecloths. The clientele seems old school and moneyed, happy to be served by white-jacketed waiters and waitresses in black dresses with white pinnies, dishing up Swiss classics, many tableside.

The strength of the Swiss Franc generally means that dining out is expensive, pretty much everywhere in Zurich. Here the lunchtime veal special comes in generous slices in a rich golden jus - pickled cucumbers and tomatoes cut through the richness in a potato salad that accompanies. It's one of the cheapest lunch main courses at 46 CHF - around 40 euro - but they do offer more meat or salad.

Kronenhalle
Rämistrasse 4, 8001 Zürich
Website

Odeon Café

Another Humm recommendation is again a historical spot which has been serving for more than a century. Café Odeon opened in 1911 and its breath-taking Art Nouveau interior is still a sight to behold, even after restoration. Everyone who has counted in Zurich has eaten there, from James Joyce to Einstein, picking from a menu that is high on comfort. That means Rösti Balls stuffed with Gruyèreand served with sour cream dip – luckily the nearby mountains let you walk it off. ‘Fischer’s Fritz’ brings deep-fried pieces of perch from Lake Zurich served with brilliant tartare sauce.

Odeon Café
Limmatquai 2, 8001 Zurich
Website

The Restaurant, Dolder Grand

Heiko Nieder oversees The Restaurant, the simply-named but stunning venue for some of Switzerland’s finest contemporary cuisine. Tasting menus at dinner allow Nieder and team to show why they are one of the most exciting tables anywhere, with impeccable Brittany lobster served with marinated rhubarb, cucumber, ginger, sorrel and vanilla. Another standout is steamed line-caught Arctic hake with basil, wasabi and woodruff. To finish, strawberries multiple ways with buckwheat, tarragon and Aji Amarillo are a sublime, light way to end an exceptional meal.

The Restaurant, Dolder Grand
Kurhausstrasse 65, 8032 Zurich
Website

Kantorei

Kantorei sits in the heart of the old town, overlooking an ancient fountain and adjoining a 15th century house that was once home to three former mayors. Their meatloaf is not what many would expect and is more like a cured luncheon meat, but serves well as a light-ish lunch alongside a bacon, cucumber and potato salad and dish of Wholegrain mustard with a serious kick. Elsewhere the menu encompasses Swiss classics with occasional innovative touches.

Kantorei
Neumarkt 2 8001 Zürich
Website

Food trucks

At the different end of the spectrum comes the burgeoning food truck scene in the form of the Street Food Festival. The diversity of trucks and cuisines reflect the city, with every flavour imaginable from Peruvian to Tibetan, Australian to Japanese. This being Switzerland, it’s beautifully-organised and spotlessly clean, while a big circus ten features live bands and plenty of indoor seating. Outside is where the main action is, however, the challenge being how to choose what to eat next. My standout, a simple but delicious genuine Swiss goulash, served in a bread bowl. Fantastic.
 

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Zurich, Switzerland: a City Tasting Tour with Daniel Humm

The Week in Bites 27 August 2017

A Chat with Chef Anton

This week at Fine Dining Lovers we kicked things with off a chat with renown French chef Frédéric Anton.

Anton, who honed his culinary skills working for greats like  Joël Robuchon, will serve as mentor to the local winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef competition.

We wanted to know what he was like as a young chef and what he sees as the future of French gastronomy.

Read the full interview here.

Dining in Tbilisi

Next up we embarked on a fascinating culinary tour of Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia.

This underrated travel destination is full of pleasant surprises. From the stunning architecture to the fabulous food.

Join us as we explore where to eat in Tbilisi.

In the blog

This week in the blog we brought you tips on cooking with coffee flour, announced the lineup for the NYC Food Film festival and more.

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The Week in Bites 27 August 2017

Like a Painting: Food Still Lifes by Simona Rizzo

In an age in which Social Media is invaded by hastily taken photographs of food, Simona Rizzo's work goes against the current trend. The young Italian photographer offers a refined and accurate interpretation of food photography, whose evident aspiration is to recall the great masters of art history, such as Caravaggio.

Simona Rizzo approaches with passion the topic of food with her still life photography. We got the chance to meet her through her on-going project titled Nature morte, which she has been running since 2012. We have interviewed Simona Rizzo about her project, its execution, and her interest in food photography. Here are some amazing pictures of Nature morte, click on the images to enlarge.   

What first sparked your interest in still life photography and food?
My interest in food photography stems from a need or simple desire to try to create images that are able to effectively express the natural goodness of the ingredients I was used to cooking and eating every day. That of still life photography was a somewhat different matter: my interest in this genre (not only in photography) is a longstanding one. I believe it dates back to when I observed the Caravaggio's Canestra di frutta (Caravaggio's basket of fruit) for the first time when I was ten years old. I was unable to understand what it was about a simple basket of fruit that fired me with such enthusiasm to want to draw it. 

How did the idea of this project come about and how has it been developed?
At first, I wanted to experiment a new photography technique so I started to shoot simple objects using the light painting technique. This technique enables you to decide how, what and how much light to give to the scene, by creating "pictorial" effects that are often interesting. I was enthusiastic about it right from the start. I thought it was important and natural to exploit the expressive potential of this technique and to use it to enhance the compositional aspects in which light (and lack of light) are a fundamental element. Hence the project of my still lifes in pictorial light.

What are your main sources of inspiration in photography and everyday life?
The great still life painters of the XVI-XVII centuries, Caravaggio in particular, for the composition and organisation of space according to the rules of golden section proportions. And Francisco de Zurbarán of the Spanish school of the “Siglo de oro” (Golden Age) for his use of light and ability to render the physical characteristics of materials perfectly, such as their colours and textures.

How did you define and develop the process of selecting the various components making up your images?
The intention to recover such an "ancient" topic as still life through photography is actually dictated by a desire to address universal themes which are just as relevant as ever today: the fragility of life and love, ephemeral beauty and the rapid and inevitable passage of time - Tempus Fugit. Citrus fruits, figs and dipladenia express the perfumes and colours of my home region, Salento, in Southern Italy. 

Have you encountered any difficulties in preparing and completing your project?
There were no real difficulties but there have certainly been some shots that have required a more lengthy and complex preparation. For example, the decision to include insects and butterflies in some scenes has called for the assistance of an entomologist.

Do you consider your work to be complete as it is or do you think there will be a sequel?
My project is not yet complete and is still being developed. More images have been conceived and designed in the form of "sketches" and these will soon be produced.

What about publications, exhibitions or future projects regarding food?
Certainly, one of the most important collaborations in this respect is already in course with Alidem. Besides, a recipe book project has just got off the ground, in collaboration with an important chef in Turin. ---Is there any particular project or food photographer from Italy or elsewhere who has attracted your attention or you consider to be an icon? SM I greatly admire the work of Julia Hetta and Sharon Core.

The Nature Morte by Simona Rizzo are part of the Alidem collection, a Milan-based Italian gallery representing a highly diversified group of authors, which selects and sells photographic works. Constantly being developed and extended, this collection is fruit of collaborations with curators, critics and business professionals.
 

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Like a Painting: Food Still Lifes by Simona Rizzo

France to Celebrate Gastronomy Nationwide

In a country like France, whose culinary reputation goes before it, it's only natural that the nation's world renowned gastronomy has the chance to be celebrated annually, in "Fête de la Gastronomie."

This year's eclectic selection of food centered events are due to unfold across the country from 22 to 24 September, where France will well and truly set the stage with numerous meals, tastings and visits to some exceptional places.  

Set to attract a staggering two to three million visitors to over 10,000 food events spread over three days, each will be an opportunity to capture the conviviality, pleasure and the joy surrounding French culture and gastronomy.

Fête de la Gastronomie 2017: The Produce

Each year includes a different sponsor, this year's is Stéphane Layani, who highlights the place of the product in making good food: "Without good products, we can not make good dishes .. I want to put the product at the center of the table and, with it, to promote the whole food chain, which begins with farmers and producers to whom we owe a lot, we must respect them: it is a difficult job to feed us everyday, "he reminds us.

Chefs and craftsmen will get the chance to put the emphasis onto the product and invite the French to help with local products and recipes through popular banquets, picnics and workshops.

Local and national museums will also be on hand and will open their doors for pedagogical paths around the heritage of tableware.

When? September 22-24, 2017
Where? Events will be held across France.

Find the complete city-by-city program on the official website.

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France to Celebrate Gastronomy Nationwide

Italian Granita: 4 Must Have Summer Recipes

If the summer sun is pushing you to take solace in the frozen section, and ice cream just isn't cutting it, try embracing the icy chills of a luxurious crunchy Italian granita instead.

Unlike dairy based gelato and ice cream, granita is the Sicilian ice cold semi frozen dessert simply made with water, sugar and various flavourings- meaning it's a dairy free, low fat, refreshing daytime cool down or the perfect way to end a meal on a refreshing note.

If you don't happen to have a bar that serves an authentic Sicilian granita near you don't worry, you can always easily make it yourself at home, without working up a sweat.

Here's our pick of Italian granita recipes to keep you cool when it's hot outside.

For the ultimate in cool and refreshing granita, try this Sicilian inspired recipe with fresh lemon.

Oranga, vanilla and coffee come with the hidden depths of Grand Marnier in this decidedly adult recipe.

If you thought a slice of watermelon was refreshing, try taking it up a gear with even icier notes in this watermelon granita recipe with the elegant addition of rosewater.

Too hot for coffee? This expresso fuelled granita is the perfect solution giving you all the flavour without the heat.

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Italian Granita: 4 Must Have Summer Recipes