Jeffrey's World: Hiring a Personal Chef, Bonus Material
We should all live in Jeffrey Steingarten's world. As food critic for Vogue, he's got one of the best food-related jobs out there, exploring the universe of very fine dining on his employer's dime. For the March issue of the tony fashion magazine, Steingarten was asked by his editor to hire a personal chef for two weeks and report on the experience.
Bonus material: The Great Bread Debate—"soft, squishy British bread" vs. "incinerated, burnt, crusty bread." And, the last of the outtakes from our video microseries.
View other entries from Serious Eats Original Videos.
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19 Comments:
I think all official portraits of Jeffrey Steingarten from now on should have him in his bathrobe. It just seems like the right thing to do.
Lia Bulaong at 3:40PM on 03/13/07
Sky King is such a sweet pup.
Cathy at 3:54PM on 03/13/07
I'm waiting for my invitation to dinner. Nice look inside the world of hiring personal chefs. Enjoy Jeffrey!
deirdre at 7:20AM on 03/14/07
I'm always the last to find fun and informative sites--just found out about Serious Eats from a foody friend of mine-love Jeffrey.
Luca at 12:04PM on 03/14/07
Liked the videos!
DJ Cook'emup Fresh at 8:41PM on 03/14/07
Does anyone else find Jeffrey arrogant? He gets a $5000 personal chef paid for by Vogue, then stands in his shadow questioning his process. He should be honored to have such a celebrated chef working in his rodent-festered, broken-down kitchen. No matter what, Jeffrey is an entertaining character. Looking forward to the remainder of the series.
Morgan at 9:20PM on 03/14/07
Morgan, pick up the March issue of Vogue his piece about the experience is in, you might find him more sympathetic! It's a truly great read.
Lia Bulaong at 6:12PM on 03/15/07
Hey Adam -- since we're in 'Jeffrey's World' could we ask Kathryn, his former assistant, to give us some insight into what it was like to work for JS? Sometimes he seems like such a teddy bear -- other times more like a lion.
He has a reputation of being the impossible boss. But at the same time, it must be the ultimate food education. Love to hear from from someone who's actually had to hold down the job. Kathryn, can we talk?
deirdre at 7:59PM on 03/15/07
Deirdre: It may not be exactly Kathryn dishing on Steingarten, but today I posted an outtake in which Liebrandt gives his spin on working for the man.
Adam Kuban at 12:19PM on 03/16/07
Deirdre: Serious Eats's mastermind, Ed, just let gave me a clip of a video he has from an earlier Jeffrey series he was going to develop -- about the search for JS a new assistant. I think it might be up your alley. There's a bit at the end in which Kathryn talks about her days assisting Mr. Steingarten. I'm coding it up and getting it ready to publish here.
Adam Kuban at 2:01PM on 03/16/07
I enjoy watching your video segments! Excellent website.
omiemac at 2:32PM on 03/16/07
Thanks Adam. I'd love to see more of these Jeffrey videos. You really don't see him on-air anywhere, except occasionally on 'Iron Chef.' And he's a great character for television. Am I the only one watching these videos?
deirdre at 3:33PM on 03/16/07
Deirdre, I'm watching too! I'm a big Iron Chef fan (but not necessarily a Steingarten fan). Regardless of how much then man knows and has eaten, I often find his comments on Iron Chef arrogant and condescending. I think he sometimes fails to filter his own personal taste from what should be a balanced commentary of the unique flavor and creativity to a dish (or lack thereof). So I was curious to see how he would react to a chef in his own home and couldn't believe the clip where he hovered over Paul! I will check out the Vogue article to see how JS sums up the experience, but I'd love to hear the "truthful" side of Paul's experience as well (maybe he can post it here?)
Jeana at 4:54PM on 03/16/07
Deirdre: I just added Kathryn's take on working with JS to the player above. Hope it's the type of insight you were looking for.
Adam Kuban at 5:24PM on 03/16/07
That's the real video I want to see: Jeffrey in search of his new assistant! Imagine the fireworks in that process. In upcoming episodes of 'Jeffrey's World' could we hear stories from some of the other former Steingarten assistants? How often are you going to post 'Jeffrey's World?' I love being a fly on the wall in the life of this eccentric.
Morgan at 7:45PM on 03/16/07
Morgan: We'd like to run Jeffrey's World once a month, if possible. It all depends on how busy Mr. Steingarten is and whether he minds us buzzing around as flies on his wall.
We also have a small outtake from a very early series we were going to do about the search for JS's new assistant. He has since found an assistant, but we have a short video from the initial search.
Adam Kuban at 8:02AM on 03/19/07
Those video are wonderful!!! I just love them!!!!
Sara - Piperita at 11:21AM on 03/19/07
I like that you all post videos on your site. It makes the experience much more colorful and entertaining. Also you don't find much video content on other food blogs. Keep 'em coming
Tony at 4:33PM on 03/19/07
WONDERFUL!
More anytime
Thanks
ParisBreakfasts at 5:52PM on 06/24/07