FRIED COFFEE

As a young apprentice, or cook’s helper,  it was my goal to earn the right to wear a chef’s coat with cloth, french-knotted buttons.

My training in classical French method and technique came via some of the best kitchens Chicago had to offer, working under true professional Chefs.  Some seemed to be lacking the ability to provide warm fuzzies and hugs, but all had talent and dedication.

Over the ensuing 30+ years I’ve met many Chefs, some school trained, some who apprenticed, and some who did a career change or grew up in the business. The ones that I respected had a deep love and reverance for the profession and wore the uniform with pride.

I use Google Alerts as one of my news gathering tools and in one recent deposit in my mail there appeared two items about a Chef.

One, from FoodMayhem.com. was about Chef Gina Puzzanghera, ( see her blog here) of The Nourishing Kitchen of NYC who is serving up equal portions of compassion and nutrition.

The second was a story that ran in the WSJ about  Chef David Chang and his new cookbook,  which, according to Katy McLaughlin, is “laced with profanity.”