Does anyone here like chef's fiddling with food before serving? (1 Viewer)

[ambulancekidd]

I was watching a cookery programme this morning & as per usual they wheel out the gourmet chef, who proceeds to fanny about with the food, standing it up followed by the usual two or three spots of some raspberry sauce. In the end up the plate looked as if it needed cleaning rather that serving & I'm sure that the food (what little there was of it) must be cold by the time they eventually send it through.
So I've got news for this kinda chef, don't try serving that muck up to me, I'd be seriously tempted to launch it at him at a great rate of knot's. Mind you, there was so little on the plate that it'd float towards him.
Oh now that feels better, but I'd be interested to know what others of our fraternity think of this practice?

 

[Reallyretired]

Tend to agree. If I can see the plate there isn't enough on it

 

[berni109]

Like u say its a plate of food for gods sake and the people who pepare it are cooks.
All this celebrity this that and the other - I don't care who u think u r or what u think of u'r self - if what u produce is good and fresh and I like it I'll tell u but don't expect me to go down on my knees to worship the ground u walk on.
Must be older than I thought.

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[jollyrodger]

They'll be putting Carrots in Cornish Pasties next

 

[Camdoon]

Our nation is afflicted by obesity. Anything which makes people appreciate their food and perhaps eat less is probably for the better (except those who use food banks) than loading their plates.

 

[Doctor Dave]

I was watching a cookery programme this morning & as per usual they wheel out the gourmet chef, who proceeds to fanny about with the food, standing it up followed by the usual two or three spots of some raspberry sauce. In the end up the plate looked as if it needed cleaning rather that serving & I'm sure that the food (what little there was of it) must be cold by the time they eventually send it through.
So I've got news for this kinda chef, don't try serving that muck up to me, I'd be seriously tempted to launch it at him at a great rate of knot's. Mind you, there was so little on the plate that it'd float towards him.
Oh now that feels better, but I'd be interested to know what others of our fraternity think of this practice?

I quite agree, and I refuse to eat from a chunk of wood. On the rare occasions I eat in a pub I look at the menu and if an item includes "salad" I will always order it without the rabbit food. Sometimes this even gets a few more chips!

I can't stand the so called celebrity chefs on the TV either.


Dave

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[sylvester1954]

What really makes me crazy is when these chefs add FOAM !!! what on earth does that bring to the table...if I had that served up on a plate I would have to send it back to the kitchen wanting to know why they added cuckoo spit on to my plate

 

[Sheldon C]

Its the ones who run their hands through hair before proceeding to pick up each and every item before placing it on the plate that has me shouting at the tele.........Nigel Slater and Marco Pierre White are the two worst offenders, personally I wouldn't eat a boiled egg in their homes.

 

[ambulancekidd]

Our nation is afflicted by obesity. Anything which makes people appreciate their food and perhaps eat less is probably for the better (except those who use food banks) than loading their plates.

I don't think that this thread has a lot of bearing on obesity so lets try looking at this from a different angle, this habit of dribbling tiny amounts of sauce or ridiculously small amouts of whatever is wasteful & it always makes me mad to see it. They spend ages making some fancy sauce with the best ingredients then you cant bloody scrape enough off the plate to taste it. Furthermore when the odd occasion arises & we go out to dinner I want to see & taste the food, thereby enjoying it, after all, I've paid for it.
Your quite correct about obesity, but surely that issue should be taken up by everyday foods? Eating out should be an occasion, not an excuse for some tight fisted chef to mug you?

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[ambulancekidd]

Its the ones who run their hands through hair before proceeding to pick up each and every item before placing it on the plate that has me shouting at the tele.........Nigel Slater and Marco Pierre White are the two worst offenders, personally I wouldn't eat a boiled egg in their homes.

Exactly correct, now that is a disgusting habit that they certainly didn't learn in food hygene classes!

 

[Minxy]

I hate the 'paint brush' sweep across the plate, especially when they do it with chocolate sauce! Reminds me of my nephew's dirty nappies!

 

[ambulancekidd]

I hate the 'paint brush' sweep across the plate, especially when they do it with chocolate sauce! Reminds me of my nephew's dirty nappies!

Yukkkk, yes your quite correct though, that'd certainly stop me from wanting to lick the plate lol.

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[Tootles]

Half of these so called 'celebrity' idiots cant make their minds up if they really want to be chefs, or bl**dy plumbers! Half way through producing this 'picture on a plate' garbage, they whip out a blow lamp, and singe everything! I mean, a blow lamp? And then, they dont even cook the meat! just this slightly toasted blood bath, which resembles A&E on a Saturday night! Then, after fannying about against the clock, for what only reason I shudder to ask, they flob this Picasso lookalike muck in front of some moistened bint who once appeared in an episode of Gardner's World alongside Percy Thrower, who takes one look this offered offal, picks up her fork, and sticks a tiny bit into her Botox altered gob. Her companion, a limp wristed actor, infamous for coming out of a wardrobe with a fireman in a swimming pool 20 years ago, issues a silly sick thin lipped smile, before fainting into the loving arms of the shows producer!
I MEAN! What happened to PROPER Saturday morning telly! Get up, burn some toast, settle down with that and a brew, and watch Banana Splits! Or Scooby Doo, where are you!! I can tell you where he ain't, in some cookery studio! Or The Adventures of Tin Tin, maybe even Happy Days, with my hero, The Fonz!
So where did all this gastronomic Saturday morning crap originate from? Did Ainsley whats his name know someone high up in the Beeb? Or that swearing idiot, who cant cook but became famous by bullying everyone, a practice that all TV companies say they never allow, did he throw a wobbler on some station boss to get his way? Where is the pie chips and gravy, egg bacon beans fried slice black pudding and soda bread cookery programmes? Real food, not this sluice that Donald Musk, or whatever his stupid Polish name is, eats? No wonder he looks annoyed when Mother Theresa sends him a letter first thing! They should have got Martin McGuinness on these rubbish food programmes, after all, he was used to regurgitating sh*t.

 

[jollyrodger]

priceless
Liver/bacon ,peas & mash for dinner in a bit ,got to keep my iron intake up

 

[Cat53]

Unless they are wearing disposable gloves, hair nets and face mask all that bending over the food, fiddling with it to arrange it in little stacks, nearly raw and frothing is just disgusting and unhygienic.....hence why a certain celeb restaurant has twice been closed due to mass food poisoning. So ditch the disgusting boards, hats shoes, trowels cages that food is served up in. Give me a plate of properly cooked meat, with the food placed on the plate at arms length with ladles, tongs etc and not in a tower! Then and only then will I eat it!

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[jollyrodger]

Ainsley ,eat yer heart out!

 

[injebreck99]

Squiggle on a plate I call it, I often remark about "chefs" handling the twigs they serve up , I won't pay good money for that crap no matter who cooked it, my advice is, always make sure there is a good fish & chip shop on the way home so you can fill up afterwards.

 

[Neckender]

Fray Bentos pie Cadburies smash and tinned mushy peas.

John.

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[ambulancekidd]

Ainsley ,eat yer heart out!
View attachment 155557

Ah yes, a proper plateful.

 

[movan]

Agree .. hate fiddlers in the kitchen ... get really annoyed with the tv when the chef wipes his nose across his hand whilst preparing!!!!

Don't mind the side salads if done nicely and not just as ' can't be bothered so it fills the plate'. Anything to help the obesity crisis is brill .. except for diarrhea caused by germs.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Heathens the lot of you - stuck in the 70's when a steak'n'chips at the local Berni Inn was the height of British cuisine .

Good food, beautifully presented by skilled chefs is a delight on the senses, sight, aroma & taste.
Your spots of sauce are just that, all that is needed to keep the harmony of flavours - not quality ingredients swamped by packet gravy!

But - I agree, it has to be a balance.
Too often disguise of poor cooking of average ingredients is attempted by "fashionable" presentation in an outrageous justification of a premium price.

One only has to read @Robert Clark threads to see that even the simplest restaurant can produce excellent & attractive menu del dias for a bargain price .

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[Podney]

Why oh why do we now get food served on a lump of wood,or a lump of slate?
Why do we have to have fish and chips on a bit of paper,on a plate,as it just goes mushy and you end up eating the paper as well.
Why do we gave to have chips in a mini pretend chip basket/fryer thingy,or even worse a mini bucket?
Ghastly,ghastly pretentious tosh!
I feel a little better now.

 

[Tootles]

Heathens the lot of you - stuck in the 70's when a steak'n'chips at the local Berni Inn was the height of British cuisine

Not quite. I'm stuck in the 50's, when good food was scarce, it was all eaten, and not played with, to make it look like Blackpool Tower, or The Popes hat. You needed your food because you needed to work, and by 'work', I dont mean the bastardization of the word as it's used today, I mean like 14, 16 and even 18 hour days. So a big plate of good hot food, hopefully containing meat of some sort, with no tooty fruity yogurt 'to follow', meant that people had the strength to earn the next plate, for themselves and their families.
All today's waste. Crusts cut off bread, because people are to soft to use their gums to chew, fat cut off meat, because IT'S NASTY! Bacon pressure filled with water. People who wont eat spuds if they aren't 'the right shape', or have a few 'eyes' in them, or a bit of blight that just needs cutting out. Carrots that get slung because they are to 'ugly' to look at. My God, we have really degenerated into mealy mouthed food cretins, where food is just to look at, and not to satisfy a working mans hunger. And if you do 'stoop' to eat decent food, then your judged as 'obese' by a nation of stick insect women, and slack assed men!

 

[Langtoftlad]

Not quite. I'm stuck in the 50's, when good food was scarce, it was all eaten, and not played with...

...but back then you didn't "go out" to eat.

To justify the cost of 'dining' in a restaurant, it has to be better in all respects than one can do oneself.

The 50's were a time of scarcity, the 21st century is thankfully less so (until Brexit bites ), but the OP was about their aversion to "fiddled about with" food.

I contend that a plate of food produced by a skilled & creative chef isn't fiddled about with.

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[Tootles]

...but back then you didn't "go out" to eat.

To justify the cost of 'dining' in a restaurant, it has to be better in all respects than one can do oneself.

I think that where we differ here is purely on a social level. I (personally) would never frequent a restaurant, because I eat to satisfy my hunger, and not as an exercise in sociability. My idea of eating out is the chippy cafe in the town center, or a nice pub serving food that hands haven't played with to make it look 'pretty'. Also, to be robbed blind because some chef who is supposed to be famous owns the joint, is not my idea of food value for money. I'm still strumming over your point that food has to be 'produced by a skilled & creative chef' to make it edible.
And so, I'm a working class cretin. And your the guy in the bowler hat. I can live with that, because it saves me money, and I eat well.

 

[JJ]

If the menu has the word "drizzled" anywhere in it, the food is going to be overpriced and non filling.


JJ

 

[JJ]

Our DOUBLE WHOPPER® Sandwich is a pairing of two ¼ lb* savory flame-grilled beef patties topped with juicy tomatoes, fresh lettuce, creamy mayonnaise, ketchup, crunchy pickles, and sliced white onions on a soft sesame seed bun.

Served with a small side of piping hot, thick cut French Fries or golden Onion Rings and a small fountain drink of your choice to make it a meal.

Nothing "drizzled" here...


JJ

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[Langtoftlad]

I think that where we differ here is purely on a social level. I (personally) would never frequent a restaurant, because I eat to satisfy my hunger, and not as an exercise in sociability. My idea of eating out is the chippy cafe in the town center, or a nice pub serving food that hands haven't played with to make it look 'pretty'. Also, to be robbed blind because some chef who is supposed to be famous owns the joint, is not my idea of food value for money. I'm still strumming over your point that food has to be 'produced by a skilled & creative chef' to make it edible.
And so, I'm a working class cretin. And your the guy in the bowler hat. I can live with that, because it saves me money, and I eat well.

Cretins can be working class or bowler hatted.
I take your point about eating purely as a means of refueling as opposed to being a leisure activity... one of life's few improvements over the past half century plus is that we have choices.
I must protest, I never said a meal must be produced by a skilled & creative chef to be edible... of course a competent cook can produce an excellent plate of food.
The point I was trying to make is that a talented chef can elevate & transform ingredients into a work of art. But too often what we are served is but a pale imitation.
Fancy plates & painted (or drizzled ) sauces cannot disguise mediocre cookery.
But when you do come across excellence - at whatever level, it's a joy.

 

[GeriatricWanderer]

We had lunch today in an "Oliver" pub.

Plates loaded with piping hot well filled meat pie, 4 veggies, lovely spuds and plenty of hot gravy.
Only just able to eat it all but the waitress took away 4 very empty plates.
I doubt any of the diners would have been happy if we'd been presented with"artistic creations" for lunch.

The pub cooks to satisfy the customers not to try for a Turner Prize.

 

[Langtoftlad]

​

Nothing "drizzled" here...
JJ

Oh dear - not even your beloved Burger King is "drizzle" free .

http://www.burgerking.co.uk/menu-item/breakfast-platter

"Our Breakfast Platter has all your signature favorites, including a mingling of warm scrambled eggs, crunchy Hash Browns, savory sausage, a warm muffin or toast, and three fluffy pancakes drizzled in sweet syrup"

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