Len's News, Notes, and Stuff

Different Cuisines Require Different Skills

Gor­don Ram­say, from what I can tell on tele­vi­sion & via video clips, is a good chef.  He knows what he’s doing in the kitchen. But, of course, his train­ing and expe­ri­ence is in west­ern cook­ing tech­niques. While cook­ing is cook­ing in the­ory — there are really only so many things you can do to food — how to make one cui­sine well is dif­fer­ent from any other kind of cui­sine. Each type of cui­sine requires its own skills and knowledge.

Sushi is con­sid­ered sim­ple. That’s why there are so many sushi fast-food joints every­where. Doing it right and doing it well takes skill, though. Doing it quickly takes even more skill.

Gor­don finds this out first-hand:

Chi­nese dim sum is one of those things in the world that doesn’t get much respect. In part it’s because chi­nese food doesn’t get much respect. Chi­nese restau­rants com­pete with one another on low price, and they treat their chefs like s***. As the say­ing goes, if you don’t respect your­self, how can you expect any­one else to respect you?

But, hav­ing said that, mak­ing good dim sum takes skill. It really does. Once again, Gor­don found out first-hand:

Food comes in nearly-infinite vari­ety, and cuisines around the world can very so much from one another — not just in the eat­ing expe­ri­ence, but also in the skills and tech­niques required to make it good!