And then there were 8…

At this point in our education, that is, approximately 3 months or almost 40 classes in, there is a certain skill level that you should possess. At this skill level, knowledge of certain culinary techniques should come naturally to you. For instance, cutting vegetables, particularly the sizes and shapes, should be easy, maybe approximated to a degree, but still common knowledge. Everyone in class should have the ability to cut the perfect julienne. Time wise this may be an issue, but you should still get a relatively uniform, nice cut.

One guy just received word that he will not be moving along with us to level 3. Quite frankly, I’m not surprised, and to be even more frank (who is this frank character?) this is not only best for the class, but for him as well, if he truly believes he wants to be a chef.

I’m sure it’s his overall performance, but I personally believe he doesn’t learn as quickly and absorb this stuff as well as someone should (Every time we need a 1L measurement he verifies with someone in the class that there are 2 - 500mL measuring cup loads in 1L). Not to mention, I’m sure he doesn’t apply himself the way some others do. Interestingly enough, he just went out and bought a relatively expensive Global chef’s knife, and a bunch of other gear, including an apple corer which I noticed him packing up even though we didn’t core any apples. I found that pretty humorous. The fact of the matter is, the most expensive knife on the market will not make him a better chef. Our somewhat mundane, barely at-par school provided knives allows some of us to cut as well as any Wusthof or Henckel. I do know he bought the knife in a response to his being labeled as “dull” by Chef Tom. All he had to do was sharpen the sucker.

Anyhow, after a discussion over a few beers with some other classmates (for the most part we all feel a little bad – some less than others – but we all agree it’s for the best for everyone and its not undeserved), we concluded it’s also his attitude. In the locker room after class he usually starts with something like “Man, Chef ripped me a new one today! I don’t know what he was talking about, my dish was as good as the rest of yours, and yadda yadda…” and usually ends with “well fuck him, we’re not gonna have him after this level, and he’s just a dick, yadda yadda…”

That’s the attitude of a know it all who clearly doesn’t know a thing, and can’t accept constructive criticism, which is a synonym for “the truth.” Or maybe a Staten Islander? Sorry, don't want to offend anyone.

Until this point, everyone who has left class has done so on their own accord, primarily related to excessive absences (perhaps due to a prolonged illness, or not, but it wasn’t the result of being asked to leave or redo a level). This is a nice wake up call, hopefully for him, but also for us. This is serious. Although we paid good money to be here, it’s an accredited educational institution. That’s to say, you can fail an economics class in university, and you can fail a level in culinary school. Class isn’t necessarily a competition amongst each other, but you have to at least set the bar to be as good, or better, than the best guy in class. And that will raise all of us up if we at least strive for that.

There are predictions that one other girl will be asked to repeat a level, maybe level 3. I don’t necessarily agree, but time will tell.

We went out and had a few beers and a bunch of laughs at this guy’s expense. But we also concluded that this is best for everyone, especially him. One guy who was out with us has been his partner for a while, actually two of the guys have had him as a partner. Both strong students who have been brought down by this guy, and chef understood that this guy was the common denominator in both cases, so it didn’t affect their evaluations.This is serious stuff, and if we want to be good at it, its starts here in school.