hans sussers opinion

The ( culinary) world is a big, beautiful, interesting, evolving place, and it’s center is not necessarily in our own backyard :-)

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Hans Susser wrote on LinkedIn
about the vanishing need of butchery knowledge by chef‘s :

Dear fellow professionals,
It always amazes me how many americans think we are in the center of the world and only our practices make sense and are up to date. The fact is that in most countries around the world there is a paralel world of meat utilisation. While there are comercial slaughterhouses everywhere, the majority of meat and seafood is processed on a much smaller scale. Those chef’s who travel the world practicing their trade will be faced with the fact of seeing whole animals being delivered to their hotels and restaurants and then broken down on the property. Dishes are being cooked from every part of the animal,including the blood, feet, snout, heads, etc, etc. A chef would look pretty silly and useless not to be able to teach his staff to work more time effective, cost effective and cleaner while doing these tasks. Then you have the areas where game is a big attraction during the seasons and again, many hunters just take out the digestive tract and deliver the animal whole, pelt, head, innards, EVERYTHING 🙂
Imagine the waste which would occur (and it does) when the animals are not handled by knowledgeable folks.
Unnecessary craft and skills ? Not in my opinion, unless you plan to work in a environment without creativity. I am aware that sometimes we don’t have the opportunity to be creative to a certain point, after all, we need enough customers who are willing to pay for dishes they have never heard of or are not currently on the “in”list. However, if given the chance, we should embrace the opportunity to be well rounded chef’s who can carry on the traditional skills which will always be needed in one place or another, during one time or another.
While I have embraced the convenience and cost effectiveness of buying pre-cut meat and fish on many occasions and places, being able to break down the whole animal was a far more common requirement during my career. I have also worked with a professionally trained american butcher who was amazed by how much he could learn from me in all aspects of butchery, from the traditional cuts as they are done around the world, down to sausage making and breaking down seafood. So in conclusion, it is my opinion that if you work in an environment where certain skills are not required, please don’t dismiss them as being unnecessary and antiquated.
The ( culinary) world is a big, beautiful, interesting, evolving place, and it’s center is not necessarily in our own backyard 🙂

50.000 Hits In Just Four Months Of ChefsOpinion. Thank You All !

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Dear Friends,

Thank you all for your continuous interest and support of ChefsOpinion.
It makes me happy and proud that I can share my dishes and my culinary views with so many fine folk’s. Even if we are not always of the same opinion about a specific dish, style, recipe, or method, you and I share a never ending love and passion for all things culinary and appreciate an open dialog about it.
I would highly appreciate any suggestions and / or requests to shape ChefsOpinion even more to your liking. If not, I will just continue to do what I love to do and hope that we, as a community of culinary enthusiasts, will grow even larger and that we can enjoy many more dishes, opinions and ideas to come 🙂
Friend’s, if you can find it in your hard and if you think my blog deserves it, please be so kind and help me spread the word amongst your friends, colleagues and family. Thank you.

With best regards,
Hans.
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Life is Good !

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” The Classic American Diner – Does It Still Have A Place In Our Heart ? ”

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Dear friend’s of ChefsOpinion :

I would like to share this with all of you in order to :

a) Help my friend Daryl to get more opinions about his new project.
b) Find out how popular traditional diners are?
c) Find out what attracts today’s customers to a traditional diner?

Please, instead of commenting on the individual group pages, go to “ChefsOpinion”
and post all your comments directly in the comment box and / or participate in the poll.

Thank you all 🙂

Image Source: Alta CollectiblesVintage Reproduction

Hello Hans,

I like to hear what your followers think about American Diners.

My next location is an all stainless-steel diner built in 1950 in Elizabeth, NJ by the O’Mahoney company. It’ll be attached to new-construction that will house the kitchen and a second dining room. The menu will be built on New England and American cookery with a high comfort-factor, but, leaning on contemporary taste and sensibilities for quality and flavor.

My question is in two parts:
1. Location – This is a question asked as work on this project progressed: how does the location of a vintage diner impact or limit the curb-appeal of the restaurant. In our opinion, traditional pre-fab diners are deeply perceived by the public as stand-alone operations. With this in mind, a vintage diner can be positioned in a strip-mall/plaza development in such a way connects it to be connected to the new construction and allows the vintage diner to stand proud of the new construction, giving it the appearance of a stand-alone.
2. Menu – Diners, in their time, offered food that was highly contemporary. Their ingredients and methods were of the essence of their age and, in the process, a style was born. The strength of diner’s cookery style heritage is so strong that to open a diner without including some of that style is commercially risky. So, if you had a vintage diner on your hands, what would you do to bring the classic dinner menu into the 21st centaury to meet the expectations of today’s guests?

I’d also like the leave open the topic of “Diners” in general. I’ve been working on this project for about 8-eight months and I have yet to talk to anyone, another professional or a novice, who does have a reaction to the idea of a Diner. So, let me know your thoughts!

Thanks!
Daryl
D.T. Mc Gann
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” What Does It Take To Earn One, Two, And Three Michelin Stars? “

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What does it take to earn one, two, and three michelin stars?
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Image Source: BlogHer

Well, when I read this story by Julien Vaché on HUFFPOST, I thought of an article I wrote a few months back about “passion“.
After dealing with thousand’s of young cooks and culinary students, as well as with young “chef’s” and many so-called “culinary educator’s”, all of which proclaim a deep passion for the culinary profession, it did not take me long to realize that the word “passion” is too often confused with the word “like” .
While real passion exist’s among all the groups mentioned, sadly it is rare and hard to find.
Real passion often requires tremendous sacrifice. The story about L’Auberge du Vieux Puits and it’s chef Gilles Goujon is a perfect example how one man and his family have achieved their ultimate dream through sacrifice, hard work and perseverance.

My deepest respect to a true culinary hero !

Bon Appetit !
Life is Good ! (Eventually, sometimes, for most of us, anyway 🙂

Read the story HERE
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” Schweinebraten Madness ” ( Lot’s Of Butt )

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It was alway’s a mystery
to me why Americans call a pork shoulder a pork butt.
However, pork butt (shoulder) seems to be one of the most revered
cut’s of meat around the world, at least in cultures where religious
motives don’t forbid the consumption of pork. ( I wish there there would
be the same restriction on consumption of dog meat, in ANY religion).
Since I live alone with Bella for the time being, cooking a whole butt would
have been too much for one meal, even for Bella and I. 🙂
So, I had it on three consecutive evening’s and I id not get bored of the
repetition by the same main ingredient at all, even though I did not
transform the meat into different dishes, such as stir fry, salad, soup, etc.

The first night I enjoyed it straight from the oven, accompanied just by
apple sauce and sour dough bread. The meat was still slightly pink, although
the butt was in the oven for five hours. I usually don’t like pink pork meat
because of it’s texture and temperature, but these slices were piping hot and
the texture was great.

The second night I made potato dumplings to go with it, to mop up the unusual
jus I made from the drippings and served it with horseradish cream and chimichurri.

The third night I just could not resist but have pasta , again to mop up the jus
but also because after three day’s, serious pasta-withdrawal symtoms started to appear.
All in all, three day’s of great dinners with a minimum of effort but a maximum
of satisfaction. ( Chew on that, Mick Jagger 🙂
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First portion, day one

Second portion, day two

Third portion, day three

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Ingredient’s :

Pork butt, skin and fat scored,
(knuckle removed for another dish)
Kosher salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Onion powder, to taste

Method :

Rub butt on all sides generously with the seasoning,
roast at 425 for thirty minutes, turn down to 260 and
cook for four hours. Turn up heat to 425 and cook for
another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for
at least 30 minutes in a warm place before slicing.
If you like to cook your meat to a complete well done,
add another one to two hours at 260 degrees, depending
on the size of the butt.

Jus :

Deglaze roasting pan with white wine, strain and remove
to a small sauteuse. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, rasted garlic paste,
scotch bonnet hot sauce, maggi seasoning and apple sauce and simmer
until well combined.

Potato Dumplings :

Ingredient’s :

Potatoes, Boiled, riced, dried overnight
Egg, whole
Egg, yolk
Salt, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Nutmeg, to taste
AP flour, as needed

Method :

Mix all ingredients without overworking or the potatoes will get soft and gooey.
Form tennis ball sized balls, add to boiling salt water, return to a boil for one minute.
turn down heat and slowly simmer until dumplings are cooked through,
about 45 minutes.
You might want to remove one and cut in half to make sure they are done.
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Ingredients for potato dumplings

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Dear friend’s, here we have a typical example for the reason why I usually
don’t include measurements in my recipes . It is almost impossible to give the
EXACT proportions of the ingredient’s of the dumplings. There are too many
variables, such as the exact size of the eggs, the ratio of the yolk to the white,
the exact moisture content of the potatoes, the amount of starch in the particular
potatoes used, etc. Those variables are the reason why folk’s who rely on
following recipes to the dot will usually be blessed with very mixed results.
Remember, most recipes in savory cooking should be used as guidelines,
mixt with practice, practice practice. That’s one of the reason we have so
many young chef’s failing to do simple dishes to perfection, because without
practice and a thorough understanding of the influences of temperature,
moisture and many other factor’s, cooking great and near perfect dishes is mostly
a game of chances (as sadly proven around the world on a daily basis in a sea of
lousy restaurants) with food prepared by what I call recipe cook’s who, in most
cases, don’t understand the basics of our great profession.

So, there you have it, my opinion.
Sorry recipe cooks, you must add practice to your recipe’s. No way around it.
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: First portion, day one

: Ingredients for potato dumplings

: Second portion, day two

: Third portion, day three

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Guten Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” The Best Outdoor Dining Spots In The U.S. “

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According to Bella, this is the # 1 outdoor dining spot in the U.S.
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However, according to the HUFF POST and Food & Wine,
the following are the best outdoor dining spots in the US :
Click here to read article and see photos
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” China Is Building an Army of Noodle-Making Robots “

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I came across this at “EATER” and thought my readers would enjoy this.
If these robot‘s cost only $2000, they could be a great, cheap gimmick on a coffeeshop’s pasta buffet .
Your comments please, or choose an answer from the poll below 🙂
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Image from “EATER”

Excerpts from “EATER” :

In the face of rising labor costs, Chinese restaurateur Cui Runguan is selling thousands of robots that can hand slice noodles into a pot of boiling water called the Chef Cui.
Runguan says in the report below that just like robots replacing workers in factories, “it is certainly going to happen in sliced noodle restaurants.”
The robots costs $2,000 each, as compared to a chef, who would cost $4,700 a year. According to one chef, “The robot chef can slice noodles better than human chefs.”
News of Runguan’s invention hit the internet in March of 2011, but they’ve since gone into production and are starting to catch on: 3,000 of them have already been sold.
But why do their eyes glow, and why do they look so angry?
Read more and see the video HERE
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” Word’s to ponder “

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“A home cook who relies too much on a recipe is sort of like a pilot who reads the plane’s instruction manual while flying.”
– Alton Brown

” What my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you.”
– Nora Ephron

“Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him of the entire weekend.”
– Zenna Schaffer

” My wife dresses to kill. She cooks the same way. “
– Henry Youngman

“Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.”
– Samuel Butler

“Get the F… out of my kitchen”
– Hans Susser, on many occasion’s.
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” Freeze Dried Herb’s To The Rescue “

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I was so fed-up !
I only go to the supermarket once or twice a week, so I buy a bunch of food and then decide later during the week what I will cook with it.
This works out fine with almost everything, except with herbs. I used to buy at least five or six different kind of fresh herbs once a week, but no matter what,
there was alway’s stuff to throw away after a few day’s in the fridge. I hate to throw food in the garbage, so now I am happy to have found a solution :
Freeze dried Herbs 🙂
Since I alway’s tried to use fresh herb’s in my food, I don’t really have much experience with the dried stuff. However, I came across some awesome items which I use now all the time.
In salads, soups, stews, sautees, you name it, I now usually use a good amount off freeze dried herbs, usually the LITEHOUSE brand, which I find superior to all others I have tried so far.
They taste, look and smell just like the real deal.
As for salad dressings,they sure have come a long way from their awful beginnings. (Sure you can still get any number of crappy dressings at a supermarket near you),
but here is what I have used and liked lately :
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Image Source: UGA

LITEHOUSE Freeze Dried Herbs

Chives
Basil
Oregano
Dill

LITEHOUSE Dressings

Thai
Sangria
Bleu Cheese
Fuji Apple Vin
Sesame Ginger
Jalapeno Ranch
Pear Gorgonzola
Raspberry Walnut
Pomegranate Blueberry

So please don’t think I like dried herbs and ready made dressings better than freshly made. If I have a practical choice, I still prefer the fresh herb’s and homemade dressings over dried and bottled products; But sometimes it is just more clever and sensible to use what you can better control and therefore avoid waste.

Please note that I have no affiliation whatsoever with the LITHOUSE brand, I am just a big fan of their products 🙂

Life is Good !
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” Smörgåsbord “

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Where else than in my house can you find a Smörgåsbord for one ?
Smörgåsbord is a scandinavian buffet, usually consisting of seafood,
meats, starches, preserves, bread’s; sometimes using both hot and cold dishes,
sometimes, for a more simple version, cold dishes only.
Here is the version I enjoyed for dinner last night :
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