"My test is tomorrow....can I have your recipes?"

On 3/1/05 9:10 AM, "Jon Doh" wrote:

Hello, my name is Jon Doh. I am currently enrolled at ____ Culinary Institute in Oklahoma City, OK. Tomorrow I have a final in my garde manger class. I was looking at your website and saw the Mystery Basket Composed Salad . It looks absolutely beautiful. Just by going from the picture I think I can figure it out, but I was wondering if I could use your picture as a guideline for part of my final? Also could you send me a recipe, should you allow me to mimic your work. Thank you so much for your time. Please respond to this email at _____@aol.com thank you

Chef to be

Jon Doh
---------------------------------

Dear Jon,

Thanks for the compliment. That salad is one of my favorite photos of my work.

The nature of a mystery basket is that there IS no recipe! I made it up on the spot. That was so long ago, I don't remember what I did, specifically. Each of the items was marinated in its own vinaigrette that complimented each specific veggie, I can tell you that much.

Consider this: If you aspire to be a chef, don't copy my work, be inventive and figure out how to make something attractive and delicious yourself! :-)

In my opinion, that's what defines the difference between “just a cook” and a chef. Cooks follow recipes. Chefs create them.

Good luck on your finals. Let me know how you do!

Last thing I ate or drank: latte. Today's latte had no gnats, so I enjoyed it a lot more than yesterday's latte!

Technorati Tags: Food and Drink in Los Angeles