Cooking show host pet peeves

moomies · March 25th, 2006, 01:17 AM

I thought about this a while back when I saw Jamie Oliver on TV. He was making a smoothie and he dipped his finger in the blender to taste. I thought that was soo gross. And he also used the same finger to scrape out some peanut butter from the jar without washing it (he was making peanut butter/banana smoothie). I guess it was sorta ok cuz he was making the smoothie for his own son but I just think it's really unsanitary for chefs to be licking his own finger and using the same finger to touch other food esp if they are on TV!
I also get peeved when other chefs don't wash their hands after handling meats and they continue to touch other items. They should know better about food safety and food-bourne bacterial diseases like salmonella.

Am I being too picky?

muchlove · March 25th, 2006, 01:20 AM

Rachael Ray is really bad about washing her hands... she mostly just sticks them under some running water for 2 seconds and then dries them off on a towel and carries on with her cooking. It grosses me out.

calendargurl · March 25th, 2006, 02:32 AM

they're always doing that on Iron Chef. sticking all their fingers in the food and licking them or they even lick the spoons and then continue stirring the food with it. GROSS!

it always bugs me too when a chef is sweating profusely i'm always afraid the sweat is dripping into the food. they need sweatbands or something

A*O · March 25th, 2006, 04:15 AM

Oh come on! You are hygiene/germ nazis in your own kitchens?? TV chefs are not cooking for you to eat the stuff, they are showing you how to do it.

calendargurl · March 25th, 2006, 04:38 AM

but after I see them do it I just imagine, what if I'm at a restaraunt and the chefs are doing that to MY food?

merricontrary · March 25th, 2006, 07:35 AM

i love me some martha, but she bugs me with her: "now just go to your pantry for the minced goat eyeballs that you canned last season".

if it aint in the goya aisle, i aint got it.

twitchy · March 25th, 2006, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calendargurl

but after I see them do it I just imagine, what if I'm at a restaraunt and the chefs are doing that to MY food?

From my waitressing days I know that that is the least of your worries when it comes to your food. You probably don't want to hear more. I used to bring my own lunch!

merricontrary · March 25th, 2006, 08:32 AM

word, twitchy.

moomies · March 25th, 2006, 08:56 AM

Plz, do tell. I want the truth!!! I CAN handle the truth.

merricontrary · March 25th, 2006, 09:24 AM

well, i, for one, used to help myself to Your Food as it was sitting on the line waiting to go out. thanks for all the fries!

dirty plates/glasses/silver...on weekend runs, you're forever behind on dishes. just swipe a fork clean and go, man, go.

i never actually spit in anyone's food, but i know the line cooks would.

Food fell on the floor all the time. replate and go.

sent something back bc it was gross or had a hair in it? um. we're just gonna replate it and give it right back to you.

that's just off the top of my head.

darksithbunny · March 25th, 2006, 09:27 AM

Funny! My Grandma and I were watching a cooking show the other day and we both said to each other at the same time, "Did you see what he just did?"

He had licked his fingers, I mean put them in his mouth and sucked on them and THEN served the food to audience members and TOUCHED their food!!!!!! ewwwwwwww.

merricontrary · March 25th, 2006, 09:36 AM

i'm pretty sure that proper chefs do this all the time.

(and by 'proper chef', i mean someone who is Properly Attached To A Restaurant and a Maker Of Fine Cuisine, not a line cook at applebees.)

twitchy · March 25th, 2006, 09:39 AM

OK, just remember, you asked for it.

There was a government incentive program designed to employ more mentally disabled adults where part of their wages would be paid by the government. The owner was a total cheapskate and often boasted that this was the only reason he had hired two of the cooks. One guy was really nice but the other guy was filthy, surly and would stand over the grill drooling. He seemed to have a constantly running nose that he never bothered to wipe and it would drip onto the grill. Drip. Sizzle. Drip. Sizzle. Sometimes snot, sometimes spittle

Busboys would put ashtrays into the dishwasher with other dishes and not bother to clean out the butts first. Kiss your tips goodbye when a customer finds a cigarette butt in the bottom of his coffee. I also once found one in the mushroom gravy.

Five second rule was frequently applied to food that found its way onto the floor. Sometimes those seconds could be really, really long.

Ingredients were purchased as cheaply as possible. This means foods are largely comprised of fillers, chalk, starches etc. Cheese could be formed into balls and would bounce like silly putty.

Flies. On everything.

Watering down drinks.

Oils used for frying long after they ought to have been thrown out. Really rancid oils.

And of course, the deliberate tampering of food of people who complain.

moomies · March 25th, 2006, 10:54 AM

May I ask what kind of restaurant you worked at Twitchy? I'll make sure I'll never eat there...

My friend once complained to the waiter that her fries were not "fresh" and asked to be replaced. And I was thinking in my head, "OMG, her food is gonna get spit on or dropped on the floor or rubbed in someone's crotch!!" Ignorance is bliss so I never told her what could have possibly been done to her new fries.