fbpx

Master Chef – Really?

By Beacon Staff

The televised travesty that is “Hell’s Kitchen” gives Gordon Ramsey, who truly is a world-class chef, a forum for screaming bleeped obscenities at ill-trained and under-educated pretenders who think they have the background and ability to run one of his restaurants.

It’s really preposterous to think that any one of these “cooks” could possibly be who they say they are, as they are identified as “executive chef,” or “catering company owner,” and the like. I fault the American Culinary Federation for not copyrighting the term “executive chef.” They actually have standards and a grueling test that you have to pass in order to hold the title, Certified Executive Chef.

I know, as I’ve witnessed firsthand, colleagues who’ve undergone the rigors of this exam.

And so it is with the title, Master Chef. Once again, we have Gordon Ramsay presiding over a competition among three or four dozen home cooks who compete for the title, “Master Chef.” Where else? On Fox, of course.

This time, Ramsay dilutes the importance of being a Master Chef by giving the raspberries to two of this country’s most vaunted culinary institutions: the Culinary Institute of America in conjunction with the aforementioned American Culinary Federation. They set the standards and administer the testing for the legitimate applicants for the title.

In fact, the well-known and highly respected author, Michael Ruhlman, published a book on the subject 13 years ago, “The Making of a Chef – Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America.”

He details 10 solid days of testing at the CIA for highly qualified chefs at or above the “executive” level, seeking the title of Master Chef. In the culinary world in this country, it truly is a signature honor and accomplishment to achieve. Ruhlman was permitted access to the testing procedure. He documented the goings-on by going through the individual tests himself.

It’s fascinating reading – probably more so for culinary professionals – but quite descriptive of the brutally exacting standards each of the applicants must achieve. These standards are so difficult that most of the chefs who qualify to take the exam wash out after two or three days. Some last the full 10 days but don’t get a passing grade. And very few get the title, which is why it is such a coveted honorific.

So back to Gordon Ramsay. He’s got another show on Fox, this one called, “Master Chef.” It’s already had one go-round and the network has announced there will be a second. Ramsay teamed with another top-notch chef, Graham Elliot (who may become better known to most Americans by his white-rimmed glasses than for his food), and Joe Bastianich, whose mother, Lidia, is a celebrated Italian chef. He’s also Mario Batali’s business partner – very successful in the food business. The three of them are the judges.

And so we have a few dozen amateurs – wannabes seeking the title of Master Chef. Truth be told, the competition appears to me to be much more legitimate than “Hell’s Kitchen.” At the very least, talented non-professionals show off their cooking skills and many of them are quite good. Others are, well, not so good. But this is Fox, so there have to be some clinkers in there; otherwise it’s not good TV. No drama, no comedy, no audience.

If I were the president of the Culinary Institute of America, or the chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Culinary Federation, I’d be in my attorney’s office filing papers against Chef Ramsay and the producers of this program.

It’s one thing – “Hell’s Kitchen” – where Ramsay actually owns the properties where he is allegedly promoting one contestant to “head chef.” But it’s quite another when a legitimate title, where real chefs strive for most of their professional lives to truly earn it, is usurped in the name of entertainment.

Call the winner Best Home Cook in America. Call them Top Cook. Call them anything.

But please don’t call them Master Chef. Read the Ruhlman book and find out what it takes to earn the title and why the best home cook in America is, in no way, Master Chef.