Have to learn to make Pasta

[gerardj]

How do you know that? His technique may be the way his family makes pasta. How do you or anyone else know? Have you worked their line? Have you eaten there?

Not everyone makes things the same way. Just because a person makes things different than you do doesn't mean it's wrong, especially if they get a similar end result.

I don't dice onions in the traditional chef manner, but I DO dice onions in the way a respected chef does because that's the way she learned as a girl in her family's restaurant! And she and I get the same result as the traditional "correct" technique.

i know the same way an electrician, a butcher, plumber, baker knows when someone with no training is pretending to be competent, i know because i was trained in a 5 year apprenticeship starting in the sink. When someone puts that jacket on they should be minimally capable.

 

[Kathleen]

Learning the family way is training. Perhaps not formal training, but they have been taught. What I love about this site is that we have formally trained people and home cooks. I'm a home cook, obviously, and no baker, also very obvious. However, I will pit Gordan Ramsey against my Granny when she was around if he wanted to school her about how she made grits. Really, poor Gordan would not know what hit him.

Home cooks can be experts. Formally-trained experts can be experts. And there are totally incompetent people in both worlds as there are in all professions. Yanno?

 

[Jusa]

However, I will pit Gordan Ramsey against my Granny when she was around if he wanted to school her about how she made grits. Really, poor Gordan would not know what hit him.

Home cooks can be experts. Formally-trained experts can be experts. And there are totally incompetent people in both worlds as there are in all professions. Yanno?

I'm thinking a cast iron skillet or heavy old-fashioned rolling pin.

 

[Kathleen]

I'm thinking a cast iron skillet or heavy old-fashioned rolling pin.

Aw, no, Jusa. She wouldn't chance wrecking her favorite tools like that. Besides, she was a lady and would therefore use the appropriate "proper" fork. She was also a Kentucky girl so she would know where to place the fork so that he bled out humanely and in record time with minimal suffering.

 

[pictonguy]

Kathleen, while I agree with everything you said it has nothing to do with Joe Faro's ability or competence making pasta.

 

[gerardj]

Learning the family way is training. Perhaps not formal training, but they have been taught. What I love about this site is that we have formally trained people and home cooks. I'm a home cook, obviously, and no baker, also very obvious. However, I will pit Gordan Ramsey against my Granny when she was around if he wanted to school her about how she made grits. Really, poor Gordan would not know what hit him.

Home cooks can be experts. Formally-trained experts can be experts. And there are totally incompetent people in both worlds as there are in all professions. Yanno?

any granny who had to cook for family has done something a few thousand times, they are expert at it, I can spot when someone has not been trained nor practiced doing it enough to get the knack. Because I worked in certain kitchens i got to meet a few tv chefs, most couldn't cook, they were personalities. They hire people to show them how something is done then try to pass it off.

 

[Kathleen]

any granny who had to cook for family has done something a few thousand times, they are expert at it, I can spot when someone has not been trained nor practiced doing it enough to get the knack. Because I worked in certain kitchens i got to meet a few tv chefs, most couldn't cook, they were personalities. They hire people to show them how something is done then try to pass it off.

And there are names for people like that....Bless their hearts.

 

[gerardj]

And there are names for people like that....Bless their hearts.

over the decades i saw the networks try to hire my boss, he refused and they hired jacques pepin, they tried to hire me to assist "chef" Bernard, he had a tv show in the 1970's, in 1982 they tried to hire my partner to teach 'chef" Tell (this is the food i like to eat). She shot him down.

first they choose a face then they think they can just make them into an expert because they think its all about secret recipes.

 

[pictonguy]

over the decades i saw the networks try to hire my boss, he refused and they hired jacques pepin, they tried to hire me to assist "chef" Bernard, he had a tv show in the 1970's, in 1982 they tried to hire my partner to teach 'chef" Tell (this is the food i like to eat). She shot him down.

first they choose a face then they think they can just make them into an expert because they think its all about secret recipes.

I don't believe Joe Faro is a TV chef. I believe he might have just been a guest. Joe owns and runs a food business that deals in Italian food and culture. The only training was when he was young working in his parents bakery and has never actually cooked for any restaurant and suspect he isn't actually a chef, but I'm not sure, but it certainly looked quite obvious that his skill level was inadequate to demonstrate something as complex as "simple" pasta making. His comment about how he could break an egg with one hand and then demonstrated that ability, was pretty embarrassing I thought.

 

[gerardj]

I don't believe Joe Faro is a TV chef. I believe he might have just been a guest. Joe owns and runs a food business that deals in Italian food and culture. The only training was when he was young working in his parents bakery and has never actually cooked for any restaurant and suspect he isn't actually a chef, but I'm not sure, but it certainly looked quite obvious that his skill level was inadequate to demonstrate something as complex as "simple" pasta making. His comment about how he could break an egg with one hand and then demonstrated that ability, was pretty embarrassing I thought.

its all fun to me but if they put the jacket on ....
I used to crack 700 eggs into 5 gallon buckets for omelettes, cracking one at a time would have taken a while.

 

[medtran49]

i know the same way an electrician, a butcher, plumber, baker knows when someone with no training is pretending to be competent, i know because i was trained in a 5 year apprenticeship starting in the sink. When someone puts that jacket on they should be minimally capable.

And anybody can pretend to be whatever they desire on the internet. Bless both of your  little hearts!

 

[Meryl]

"Practice makes perfect".

I understand if you want to be a 5 star chef, you should take a specialized course and achieve the necessary qualifications but if we're only interested in home-cooking, then it's just a matter of experience.
When I came to live here, in a culture where "good quality cooking" is extremely important, I felt a bit out of place. I had never baked a cake before and I could just about fry an egg! Being pure Italian myself, a bit embarrassing. I learned over the years, from my MIL, my husband, cookery magazines, TV shows and from my own personal interest. As long as the result is the correct one, and the taste is good, the ingredients are precise, then it doesn't matter which procedure you use. You could watch 100s of different cooks making the same, identical recipe, and each and every one of them will be made in a slightly different way, isn't the "personal touch" an attraction, anyway?

 

[pictonguy]

And anybody can pretend to be whatever they desire on the internet. Bless both of your  little hearts!

I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am here or anywhere and my pasta is on the first page of this thread for everyone to see. I've been making pasta for 55 years and I know a thing or two about it, you can either believe that or not, I really don't care but one thing is a given, if someone is pretending to be something they're not they get found out immediately, cooking is not rocket science. As a professional chef I have a problem when I see an imposter that gets it so wrong that it's comical, like it was purposely done for our amusement but then find out it's a serious attempt to give instruction on how to make pasta. I understand you and obviously a few others didn't pick up on that, but it's simply not something I could stay quite about and again I'm sorry this caused you grief, it was not my intention and my intention is to always contribute to informing and getting people excited about food and cooking and one thing I'm very experienced in is pasta. If my conduct is seen as something not acceptable I certainly have no problem leaving, at 70, life is too short.

 

[Badjak]

OK,
The plan is to make pasta tonight.
Just for me.
I checked my info
Imperia says 350 gr flour / 2 eggs
My memory (we used to make lasagne) says something similar and my book says 100 gr flour / 1 egg and thats what I am going to try.
Just flour, egg, salt.
Knead by hand, cut by hand.
Assess and see if I should use the optional olive oil next time.

I used to run a small lodge kitchen and years back decided we should have lasagne on the menu. Bought the roller and not hindered by any knowledge, me and kitchen staff got to work. What a mess!
But we got there. I got something acceptable the 2nd try, my staff took a bit longer. Then after a while, they could make meters of lasagne, whistling, almost hands behind their backs
Needless to say, they were quite proud (none of my staff had any formal education, and most couldn't read or write)

 

[gerardj]

I don't pretend to be anything other than what I am here or anywhere and my pasta is on the first page of this thread for everyone to see. I've been making pasta for 55 years and I know a thing or two about it, you can either believe that or not, I really don't care but one thing is a given, if someone is pretending to be something they're not they get found out immediately, cooking is not rocket science. As a professional chef I have a problem when I see an imposter that gets it so wrong that it's comical, like it was purposely done for our amusement but then find out it's a serious attempt to give instruction on how to make pasta. I understand you and obviously a few others didn't pick up on that, but it's simply not something I could stay quite about and again I'm sorry this caused you grief, it was not my intention and my intention is to always contribute to informing and getting people excited about food and cooking and one thing I'm very experienced in is pasta. If my conduct is seen as something not acceptable I certainly have no problem leaving, at 70, life is too short.

Understand , I'm done in this place. Adios.

 

[Kathleen]

@gerardj and @pictonguy I don't think anyone was saying anything negative about the two of you! I took that comment to be about those who were discussed not achieving what they claim to achieve. Things can get misconstrued online, so I hope you don't disappear.