http://aaronmoseskimbins.blog.friendster.com/2007/03/ajinomoto-cook%e2%80%99s-best-friend/
Ajinomoto , cook’s best friend
Behold all ye citizens!! Truth be told.., contrary to what impresion I might have told you in my past blogs, the world of chef’fing is not entirely and will never rule my heart’s universe.
Alora or well my amici, there are loads of reasons being in this business, but one i can tell you is that I went for the money, honestly I was thrilled with the opportunity and grabbed any chef job available there. (true reason for me for me still being glued here in Milan)
But let’’s first talk about these wanna-be cooks or chefs
which ever they preffered to be addressed.. Here are some true reasons or lies we‘ve been telling everyone about our great love for food and thinking somehow we could make food taste much tastier and better than grand mamas , I tell you…., my friends, we (chefs) have had so many fooled by the colourful and 
beautifully assembled 2 feet tall of whatever chef’s special dish, food decorated magically with an abundant of garnishes of carved supposedly to be food deco’ and made you think to either just stare at your special order or rather to just eat it regretfully, where most likely it’ll make you sick anyway, so I (know better) strongly advice you not to swallow any of these hand prepared touched all over and over(re-used/re-cylced) garnishes prepared by timeless amount of our sweat wipe fingers , sculpturing and torturing dead animal flesh and chemically engineered vegetables some dipped in eatable rain-bowed artificial salted or sugared food coloring ..!! or, unless they are laser or robotic-ally cut (name me one eatery) .. there are safe to eat
.
Hey guys.. ever seen or remember how your mummy used to (or still) cook in her own kitchen long long ago when you were still an annoying ,interrupting and non-stop full of ridiculous questioning kid? Yeah of course you do.., see how every time she dips the wooden paddle spoon into the pot or wok and steal a little taste between her still-in lip-sticked lips and then to re-stir the whatever ‘lauk’ again and taking another slurp on the paddle , only to stop adding cups of salt of 
ajinomotos until she finally thought she’s come to decision that would hopefully satisfy to the taste of your food-fussy daddy and her non-vegetarian children! (just like me.. and still am.. sorry mother). Well.., we, chefs or any Kitchener’s would do the same thing either , only that we like using our nose-pricking index finger to take that final poke to lick-taste and to give our masterpiece dish that finale touch-up before serving your meals.. and it seems to me that people would 
pay good money to eat like what i am about to reveal now. Particularly if they know that it was going to make their long well-planned romantic dinner date or partner so delightfully impressed. So.., have you ever wondered how we always keep the outer rim of the plate veery squeaky clean ’virginly’ unharmed by neither a droplet not stain of food? bah..! That’s because we had it wiped off lah with any nearest dirty table cloth our hands could grab on or at times we simply just brushed
it off using our blood stained , sneezed, coughed, sweated, shoe-wiped hand towel that was entrusted to every kitchener’s at the beginning of the the shift. (feeling disgusted already?) hahah! I guess that’s enough of some (never should’ve been told) confidential secrets of our domain!! I’ll be back for more next time.. stay tuned!
After coming back from a brief vacation in Venice.., I started my day like any normal day, by half past twelve the kitchen was humming like a well oiled machine. Pushing out intricate assemblies of haute cuisine in gusts of fire and steam ( work conditions described in previous chicken to kitchen blog) . My fellow cooks worked like demons, their fingers dancing gracefully over the ingredients in a blur of dicing and stripping and mixing. Despite the extreme pressure we under, and the urgency with which we worked, there was no yelling and swearing this time. 
with the exception of the head chef Giancarlo(new hunky gay chef) , who called out the orders as the waiters brought them in, we rarely spoke(more to like avoiding a personal heart to heart consultation from him in storage room).
‘Pronto’ .., in Italy it is customary to answer the phone by snapping ‘ready’ (sedia) reasons which are now obscure.. when the big boss wants some private moment with you, its rarely good news, problem with fellow colleagues, minor feud, paycheque problem, holiday request. But in my case , he wants to give me an unexpectedly much taller hat, a promotion ! which I first turned down , on which I thought was and early April‘s fool joke. I hung up.
I run the hierarchy now.. and the next level in the hierarchy are as follows.. the sous chefs and the chef de partie. While the sous chef worked the pass, putting the food on to plates, saucing , garnishing and checking it, the chef de partie were each responsible for a different part of the kitchen. The saucier was responsible for meat, desserts. Underneath these were the lowest of the low.. the commis, who did whatever they were told by whoever told them to do 
it.. It was a hierarchy as rigid and as immutable as a medieval society , in which everyone knew their place and knew , too that their continued existence in this place depended entirely on the patronage of the person directly above them.. and that’s me. haha.. I’ll torture them like how I was tortured before. So help them God.
I still remember(years ago) my head chef would come over to check us all that everything was proceeding exactly as it should. Occasionally he’d dipped his finger into one of my saucepans to taste what was in it.. He had never been known to show pain, even when the liquid was boiling, but 
course my sauce is always far better tastier than my other fellow cooks, they still couldn’t figure out how i wheedled such strongly flavour, or how i made them in the limited time available. Well the secret is easy, some dash of th famous Malaysians secret ingredients,.. Ajinomoto lah!! (not used in Italian cooking) which is safely stashed inside my sleeve, to give that little extra mmmmpphh sedap oh!! they never figured it out until now.. sshhh!
Bah my kawans! I’ ve got a story here.. once upon a time, one fine winter morning (last January), off a little street in the via Garibaldi, there is a bar known to those who frequent simply as Pippo’s. My friends and I were standing at the bar, drinking coffee, arguing about amore and calcio, waiting for pastry chef Gabriele to arrive from the bakery(pasticeria), and generally passing time at Pippo’s before jumping on our bikes/vespas to go off to the various restaurants around the city
. (on some occasions I have been mistakenly thought to be as one of them(pilipin) which is hard for some not to believe) whoa? Haven’t they seen a Dusun before? Reason for why I still stroll around in my brightly Malaysian-tagged cap to avoid racial discrimination or jealousy by other thousands of foreign workers migrating here from south and central America, east Europe, India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. So .. these two guys pulled out their chairs just next to this girl’s table, supposedly tying to get her attention lah konon.., rudely snapping their 
fingers, they called for the bartender and asked for a that employed us.., I received a sharp nudge in the ribs from chef Giorgio, who nodded significantly towards the window. Coming down the street was a gorgeous girl. Sunglasses tucked up on top of her head of blond-ed hair which, together with her tight worn off jeans, homo sexual designer jacket, and the latest must get D&G purse , marked her out as a local Milanese. Trailing behind her was a no doubted two Filipinos guys amongst the 300 000 of them working here doing odd jobsmenu.. ‘me scusi, memo perfavore?’ (excuse me, memo please) It was early in the morning and it’s so uncommon to ask for a menu at any bar!! So they called again for a menu only louder this time. ‘memo per favore!!’ The bartender just ignored them sipping away his coffee with us but not pretending to hear.., by now, all attention was at these two, again they insisted but this time one walked over to the bar asking politely, 
‘possiamo vedere il memo per favore?’ (can we see the memo please) and my friend, the bartender, replied in English.., I am sorry ! we do not have memo here,, but we do have menu if that’s what u want !! punya malunya itu Filipinos, after realizing their mistakes, they sat for awhile, hiding away red-faced from the staring girl, and soon disappeared .. .. well , memo or menu guys?
Ciao Karen, u wanted a simple pasta sauce recipe right? bah here’s for u and whoever who wants to try it..
Carbonara sauce . the true Italian way!!
Rempah Ribu.
1 telur ayam mentah, bawang puting dipotong dadu, smoked ham or bacon(halal?), daun basil. parmesan cheese,tomatoes cut cubed
Cara menyediakan.
Pada suatu hari, tuangkan sedikit minyak olive ke dalam ”pan’ dan gorengkan bawang jangan sampai hangus ok?, lepas itu buangkan daging ham or bacon yg sudah di sliced ke dalam pan dan kacau jgn sampai very crunchy!! padam kan api gas dan terus massukan pasta masak yang masih panas yang telah didihkah dlm air bergaram. so now kacau kan pasta didalam pan dan pecahkan 10 telur cicak itu dan tuangkan terus kedalam pan yg masih panas dan kacau sehingga nampak very creamy (jangan untill telur masak ok!). then masukkan juga parmesan(padano) cheese and garam and lada hitam and daun basil.
Beginilah cara carbonara pasta di makan di sini!! without cream!! cubalah.. semoga berjaya !!!
March 9th, 2007 at 5:16 am
i’m reading this in the office and you cracked me up!
*gasp* i’ve always used cream for carbonara!
March 9th, 2007 at 5:42 am
mummy doesn’t use aji-no moto…but i think not all chefs use dirty linen to wipe the sides of plates served to them..like me..i used clean linen oo last time…but i got extra spoon in my pocket/chopsticks to taste the foods la…heehe
baru boleh serve kan…i know someone who thinks he/she can speak italian but all lintang pukang…gali sia…ur carbonara sounds eyuucckk..got telur cicak…
March 9th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Dude, you seriously need to consider working as a chef in America. They pay pretty well and if you’re real good and original, you’ll also be very popular! A commi chef here gets paid $13/hour and works four days a week, and that’s with no experience needed. I’m starting to think Italy doesn’t have a health department, especially if they use their fingers or dirty cloths to wipe the edge of the plate, I think eating fast food over there is safer than a sit down restaurant! lol. You seriously should reconsider about not telling about the ajinomoto. There are some ppl that are actually allergic to that stuff, it’s pure chemical compound, monosodium glutamate can cause ppl even have cardiac problem! The mildest symptom I know of are headaches. So dude, better disclose your secret ingredient at least to your boss, so he knows and aware of the possibilities of problem that may arise because of this lil secret..;) Not to bust your ass further more though, but isn’t bacon (halal) an oxymoron? Unless you’re talking about turkey bacon. Which doesn’t have that pancetta taste don’t you think? Pecorino romano cheese is used over here more often for carbonara. Well that’s the extend of my two cents.
March 9th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
congrates bro..kau sudah jadi kepala besar dalam kitchen…ah…right hand man ah…?? congrates congrates….saya tabik dulu sama kau bro…jadi kepala chef sudah ah…
kau pakai ajinomoto tapuk tapuk..hebat kau ging…kami disini ndak buli oh pakai benda tue…kalau kena tangkap….kena tutup kami..no MSG allowed here in UK ging…
anyway..janganlah kau kasitau apa jadi dalam kitchen ging..nanti kena complain pulak…susah nanti…tapi memang betul…sama jak dalam kitchen aku…towel….hand picking…and all…
anyway bro..will be back home soon to kk…hope to see you around….
and i might try your recepi..it sounds tasty….
anyway..take care…
congrates for the promotion bro…..
TABIK CHEF AARON…!!!
March 10th, 2007 at 12:17 am
aduii lah…patut pun makin ramai italian jadi butak..TER makan aji-no-motor pulak! LOL. Anyway..well done aaron..tampaluri bule bogia!
March 11th, 2007 at 8:10 am
ciao. First of all.. Gratzie for your comments ..
Hey Zie, memang i planned someday to go over to the Big
Apple, city that never sleeps.. but that’s after i’ve ruled Barcelona, Paris and London.. tinguklah.. slowly..well for the Ajinomoto thing, that was like 3 years ago.. competing time bah.. i swear!! never anymore after that..
Not all kitchens are dirty.. just some bad experience i had before. and i heard that rats rule the kitchen in the States after closin time.. true isnt? hehe.
Hey coz Brenda, no wrong using cream for carbonara, suka hati ma..what do the orang Wales eat there? just potatoes? heh..
Hey Chef Zaldom.. bagus lah if u plan to balik kk for good.. maybe u can masuk bertanding macam si Vitos M. Koding.. BTW, salam si Queen Elizabeth for me ok?
Het Liz., i dont know if that myth of eating Ajinomoto can bald the head or not.. many malaysians like eating out right? what do you think that makes the food in all the restaurant sedap sedap? Ajinomoto lah of course!! inda juga butak!! mostly politicians saja butak!! terlampau garu kepala chop IC
March 13th, 2007 at 8:39 am
congrats on being promoted! i like THIS entry lah..so funny! hehe but i was grossed out when i reached the part where u mentioned that you guys use your kurik idung finger to lick & taste the food..eeuuww
March 18th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
That was Wendy’s with the rat problem, lol. Plus, America isn’t immune to “bribes”! If not it’s the capital of bribes! Slip a nice fat sum to the health inspector and all of the sudden you have a restaurant you can eat off the floor, after the rat craps and pisses all over it! The only restaurants that are open 24/7 are usually the mamak stall type one! Where got high class restaurant open 24/7. Plus the real kaya restauranteurs are the hot dog vendors and the mamak stall like kedai. They last longer than most of the high end restaurants. Even the Russian Tea Room which was a highly recognized restaurant tutup long time ago! Hell the lil austrian chef wolfgang Puck punya restaurant Spago in LA tutup years ago also! went bankrupt! So it’s not always the name and food, but also how to handle the restaurant..;) Elvy’s coming over next year with his whole family! lol Come along lah! I plan to show him the American food festivals etc. restaurant and of course have to drop by at Anthony Bourdains restaurant in the City. Before I forget again, Congrats on the promo bambino..;)
March 19th, 2007 at 5:00 am
ma dai Zie!!!! stop calling me a bambino !!! im a uomo vecchio now !!!!hope i can make it back to kk for elvy’s wedding. ciao
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Per favore! Siete tanto di un uomo anziano quanto i miei cani da tre anni! Realmente penso che i miei cani siano più vecchi di voi durante gli anni umani! Così siete ancora un ragazzo piccolo del bambino!
April 11th, 2007 at 4:35 am
No wonder the food prepared by chefs r so damn yummy… a little bit of shoe polish, booger, saliva n ajinomoto n presto…. yummy food! haha
April 18th, 2007 at 4:04 am
i was so regret to read tis dude!ekeke
April 19th, 2007 at 2:56 am
ciao catwoman.. that’s why i wrote it!! revealing the truth!!