In the beginning were the woods...!
The first time I had anything to do with cooking was at school in the late 50's.
I was an unwilling member of the School's "Boy Scout" troop, and occasionally we had to waste a weekend "camping" - within the school grounds, and within the rule book of the Baden-Powell organization.
Part of this thing was to show that you could "create" fire, with two bits of wood, and then cook something which should resemble a pancake wrapped up in whatever you could find! This was to protect it from the fire, because we weren't allowed to have pots and pans!
Survival they called it! If that is surviving, I prefer not to...!
It was an all boys school, and when we weren't getting our backsides thrashed by warped and twisted masters, we were burning pancakes in the woods!
Exhaustion is the result, and many are the Chefs who are obliged to abandon their honourable profession at a relatively early age.
I was an unwilling member of the School's "Boy Scout" troop, and occasionally we had to waste a weekend "camping" - within the school grounds, and within the rule book of the Baden-Powell organization.
Part of this thing was to show that you could "create" fire, with two bits of wood, and then cook something which should resemble a pancake wrapped up in whatever you could find! This was to protect it from the fire, because we weren't allowed to have pots and pans!
Survival they called it! If that is surviving, I prefer not to...!
It was an all boys school, and when we weren't getting our backsides thrashed by warped and twisted masters, we were burning pancakes in the woods!
This first introduction to cookery was recalled later in life, when I first made the Greek dish "dolmades" a sort of rice mixture, or meat and rice, wrapped in vine leaves and cooked. You see, everything has been done before - somewhere!
Only after my career in the British Army, then the British Civil Service did I finally really take up my secondary career as "Cuisinier", and after a programme of training lasting 3 years, I set off, with my wife, on a World Tour, starting in Britain, over Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and those lonely oil rigs in the North Sea!
Everywhere was a place of learning, food and drink became a way of life, because when one is in the trade, one is automatically invited to Hotels, Bars, Restaurants of colleagues, and one invites them in turn.
I managed to go from 85kilos to 119kilos in about 2 years, simply from these "pro" invitations and pre-tasting the dishes prepared under my own supervision.
In this trade, you don't get a lot of sleep.
You're up at 3am to get to the Central Markets by 4am, then back to where you work to start the "mis en place" for lunch, service finished, you've got around 3 hours of rest (sometimes) before the "mis en place" for dinner!
Exhaustion is the result, and many are the Chefs who are obliged to abandon their honourable profession at a relatively early age.
I wouldn't recommend the metier for anyone except totally devoted and stupid people....Like myself....!
iwmpop (mr le marquis) **** Juillet 2010.
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iwmpop (mr le marquis) **** Juillet 2010.
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