The Training of Apprentices

How can we ever expect to have a thriving industry of young chefs entering our work place with enthusiasm and basic knowledge. Today here in Australia it is a shambles. The whole country has got no idea what is going on with the state that the hospitality industry is in. Chefs are in such high demand it's not funny, yet you cant find a good one anywhere. I can give proof to that statement too. I had recently run an add on seek.com.au for an apprentice chef award rates and a Sous Chef at $45,000-50,000 negotiable. I know it's not the best money out there but it is far from the worst We had one applicant for the apprentice position and seven for the sous chef position. Of which three were from over seas, two were only just qualified and two were out of the industry for years and looking to get back in. So there you have it a load of crap. Out of the seven only one would make the grade and coming from overseas would require a visa, which is not much help to our immediate future.

Anyway according to Julia Goodwin and her not so intelligent media people we should be doing fine as so many young chefs are signing up to become apprentices, yeah right pull the other one it's got bells on!! Full read on want a slice of masterchef Julie Goodwin

I have been trialling out some apprentices these past weeks, courtesy of some agency. To say they are of any use would be a lie. I have had 1st 2nd and 3rd year trials and the difference is nothing they are all crap.
I can only put this down to lack of training from qualified chefs out there, the lack of quality control at the training institute, the total inconsistent teaching and learning curriculum Australia wide and worst of all the wrong working kitchen/restaurants that apprentices are allowed to be placed into.
How the hell can we expect young chefs these days to learn the right way to produce food if they only open packets of ready made heat and serve foods?

We need to have in place a industry standard and that needs to be high enough, not to allow the abuse of young chefs, cheap labour basically to be enrolled into business that do not have the sound infrastructure of a good kitchen brigade that produce good quality food from raw materials and not packet quick fix commodities. On that note also, the suppliers these days should keep those so called great new products to the schools and clubs that can put them to good use knowing that they are not teaching a new bread of chef the wrong way. But I guess the supplier doesn't know a good sauce from a packet sauce or for that fact a good restaurant from a slop shop either so I rest my case there.

It is plain to see that the industry is fucked and if we it isn't changed soon then it's not going to worth dining out any time in the future because it will be just packet this and that for dinner, and as MasterChef Australia has just demonstrated anybody can cook and become the next best thing since Jamie Oliver. Somebody needs to do something.

I am open to any suggestions on how to save our industry so that when I retire I can still go and dine out with sound knowledge that I am getting a good meal from good fresh produce, created by qualified chefs. A dying breed...

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Want a slice of MasterChef Julie Goodwin

'Everyone wants a slice of the chef' was the title of yet another full page spread about MasterChef.

NO. Not everybody. Get your facts right. I certainly don't want anything to do with that sort of crap.

Even worse is that according to the Sunday paper Julie Goodwin has four publicists, a celebrity agent, a looming book deadline, a magazine column, frantic TV and radio appearances--and random strangers asking for advice. What the fuck is going on, she is a nobody for peat sake, before this show started she was a house wife and runs an I.T. business and at tops, a hobby cook.

How many chefs out there would be dying for a little help from the media to get ahead?
What about those who bust their balls day in day out for Michelin stared chefs just trying to break into the limelight?

Oh well I must admit that I would have loved some one to grab up myself years back just to help get ahead grab some publicity. But then I'm not MasterChef even though I have busted my balls for the last 20+ years cooking for the public, yes I guess some of the 4.9 million of those that reckon that Julie is the best thing since sliced bread, Fuck you. You are a bunch of people that probably think that you will win the next 90 million on the lotto, yeah right.

I don't understand how these producers come up with this stuff, it's just so fake.

Quote 'cooking schools are filling up with students, kitchen-supply shops selling out'. Fuck, where do you get that information? It's just a big joke, we will see in a few months time, how it is and in a few years, how it is. You are just trying to mask how bad it really is and trying to make out that it's easy and anybody can do it! FRO. Quote 'we had no idea the snowball effect it would have'

Julie Goodwin's cookbook, with the working title 'Our Family Table' will be published by Random House around April next year. Apparently that means Julie has seven weeks to compile, write and test 100 recipes. She said that they've lined up someone to help with the food testing, quote "but I'm not going to send someone a recipe if I haven't tested it myself" I wait with baited breath to see whats in this book, baked beans on toast or roast beef and Yorkshire pud, or battered fish 'n' chips. Oh well, I wont be wasting my money on it that's for sure. Just as bad as that bullshit '4 ingredients', a classic I saw on Martha Stewart, ginger tart was the title. It was ginger biscuits, condensed milk, and banana topped with whipped cream. What a crock of shit, that's ginger tart my ass ladies! Why don't you go and climb back under that rock you came from?

As for all you young starters out there, I hope that you don't expect us to wipe your backside after you crap yourself when the service gets going and the chef demands perfection, Julie won't be there to help. You better wake up to reality quick or you will get eaten by yet another fake dream.

Remember, chefs are not just TV stars, we cook for a profession, it's our life and not a one night stand. It's in our blood. You don't become a MasterChef just by winning a house wife cooking show and you won't become a master chef overnight, I and many others have been striving for perfection for years and still wouldn't dare give ourselves the title of a MasterChef.

Here you can read more about MasterChef Australia

Image credit :MasterChef photos

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