Englisch BHS, Maturatraining mit Audio-CD
12 Reading A head chef’s view Read the text about an Irish chef, then choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for questions 1–7. Put a cross ( ) in the correct box. The first one (0) has been done for you. 02 A head chef’s view Clare Smyth le school in Northern Ireland at the age of 16 and a er graduating from catering college took up internships in California and New York. She then worked in a series of high- prole restaurants and rose through the ranks of macho chefs to her present position as head chef at London’s Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Here she has held 3 Michelin stars since 2007 under the ery celebrity chef who is as famous for his language as for his meals. Smyth does not mince her words either. At a food conference recently she accused David Cameron of ignorance, adding that it would not be the rst time a politician talked nonsense. e prime minister had claimed in a radio interview that he would prefer to take Barack Obama or Angela Merkel to Nando’s, rather than to Ramsay’s establishment, because it was “better value for money”. 37-year-old Smyth is a chef with exceptionally high standards and one who leads by example. Her stints in the kitchen over the years have been hard. “ ere was a lot of harassment in the kitchens. Chefs didn’t get as much exposure as they do now. You were in the kitchen 18, 19 hours a day and you just worked non-stop. Now sta are treated with more respect and it’s a much more attractive industry to work in.” All of this is good news for the ve nalists in the Irish Young Chef of the Year competition, for which Smyth is a guest judge. ey were selected from a total of 40 entrants following a rigorous process that included an interview as well as the practical round. e coveted title comes with an all-expenses paid work placement with Smyth herself at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. e theme of this year’s competition is “the origins of contemporary Irish cooking” and the chefs must cook two courses in two hours. e brief is le open to interpretation, the only restriction being that they must include two in- gredients: black sole and Wilkie’s chocolate, both of which are products of Northern Ireland. Vegetables can be prepped in advance and chefs may bring their own stock, but everything else must be done within the two-hour time frame. “Competitions are extremely dicult” says Smyth. “ e chefs need to express their creativity and their technique. But above all they’ve got to cook a delicious plate of food. Chefs tend to do more than is needed, and over-complicating a dish detracts from it. Having the condence to edit a dish and cut it back is crucial – you shouldn’t have more than three £avours on a plate. You can put a twist on them or exaggerate them, but that’s the magic number!” “Many young chefs who come out of college are eager to make their mark as soon as possible, but it takes time. At rst they are in kitchens learning techniques and probably not eating out much. As they get older they travel and dine out more, building up a £avour bank of memories. By the time they get to around 30 they’re much more mature in their approach to food because of their life experience.” “ is industry is very competitive and success is not achieved overnight. To get to the top, your reputation at every stage of your career is impor- tant. at’s what gets you promoted. Your guests need to know that what they are coming for will be the same quality year in, year out. My boss lost a Michelin star because one of his restaurants was judged to be erratic. But if the industry is to attract high calibre chefs, the reality is that the public will have to be prepared to pay for it.” Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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