Questions
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I butcher pigs at work and my dog sleeps on my bed. Is that inconsistent?
I'm a chef from Goa, which means pork is close to the centre of the food I grew up with: sorpotel, vindaloo, chouriço. In my kitchen in Dubai I break down whole pigs when we can get them. At home I have…
Started by Joel D'Souza5 replies -
What is “defeasible” reasoning, and why do people say most good arguments aren’t valid?
I read philosophy on the bus home. Last week I read that "most good real-world reasoning is not valid at all", and the word that kept coming up was defeasible. Here is my problem. In the kitchen I reason all day. The…
Started by Joel D'Souza4 replies -
Running a kitchen, I never pick the best option, just the first good one. Is that irrational?
Every morning at six I make maybe fifty decisions before the first coffee: which supplier to call when the fish is late, who covers a sick cook, whether the tomatoes are good enough or go to sauce. I never compare all the…
Started by Joel D'Souza5 replies -
Is a mayonnaise emergent? A cook asks about weak and strong emergence
Every morning someone in my kitchen makes mayonnaise: egg yolk, a little mustard and lemon, then oil, drop by drop at first. Get it right and you have something thick, glossy and pale. Get it wrong and you have greasy soup. None…
Started by Joel D'Souza5 replies -
When I stir stock the surface dips. What did Newton’s spinning bucket prove?
I run a kitchen in Dubai. When I stir a big pot of stock, the surface goes down in the middle and up at the sides. I never thought about it until I read that Newton used a bucket of water doing…
Started by Joel D'Souza3 replies -
Is the flame on my burner a thing, or something that keeps happening?
I run a kitchen in Dubai, twenty-two cooks, nine countries, and on a slow afternoon I was staring at a gas flame. It keeps the same shape and colour for hours, but nothing in it stays: the gas comes in, burns, and…
Started by Joel D'Souza5 replies -
My new cooks believe everything I tell them about safe temperatures. Do they actually know it?
Every few months a new commis arrives in my kitchen, often very young, and the first week is mostly me telling them things. Chicken has to reach a certain core temperature. Rice left out too long is dangerous. This knife is for…
Started by Joel D'Souza4 replies -
My rice cooker says ‘fuzzy logic’. Is that just probability with a nicer name?
We bought a Japanese rice cooker with "Fuzzy Logic" printed on the front, and it has become a running joke in the kitchen. The Filipino line cook says the rice is "fuzzy done". The pastry chef says everything in the kitchen is…
Started by Joel D'Souza4 replies