5 shocking chef's secrets

One of the first questions people ask you when you are introduced as a chef is "Have you ever spat in the food?". There just seems to be a fascination with what goes on behind the closed doors of the kitchen! Now i can personally say that I have never done anything remotely like that although you can be pushed to the limit by needy customers especially working for the rich and famous. There are countless stories, a lot of them being a mixture of urban myth and the inevitable exaggeration the story receives as it gets passed on from person to person but the following stories are all 100% true as I have witnessed them with my own eyes! These are my top 4 favourite stories of annoying customers and funny kitchen incidents and how they have been dealt with over years....

4.This is one that never goes down well but believe me happens a lot on a day to day basis! Even Gordon Ramsey said it on Hells kitchen (although he later retracted it as a joke!) and I have seen it happen countless times all over the world. Basically vegetarian soup usually tastes like nothing so chefs add chicken stock to make it actually have flavour. Terrible practice and totally shocking to our vegetarian friends but believe this happens a lot!

3.Nothing shocking actually happened here but I was cooking for Posh Spice and she ordered a bowl of fresh berries with sweet mascarpone and she sent it back 4 different times. First she wanted the mascarpone removed, then the anglaise sauce, then the icing sugar and finally the lazy bony waif sent it back cause she didn't want the piece of mint on top, I mean come on, lift your manicured finger and lift it off yourself you lazy $"$$!

2.Working in a very prestigious Michelin star restaurant one of the senior chefs made the ultimate mistake of over cooking a steak that had been requested rare. I watched as he removed it from the oven and tried soaking it in blood on a tray he had in his fridge to try and make it appear it was rare and get past the monster of a head chef who was plating the dish. He got it past the chef only to see it return 2 minutes later, I'll let you figure out what happened next!

1.The chef bought the fish on Friday but it didn't sell over the weekend so now its Monday evening and he wants to get rid of it. He washes the smell off under running water for 10 minutes then puts it on the menu with a spicy rub to mask any remaining smell! Horrible but seen it at least 100 times! The rule i go by is if i wouldn't eat it myself i wouldn't serve it.

The good news is that 99.99% of chefs are well trained professional operators who ensure you get the best food possible but like any industry there will always be a few rogue operators out there! The difference with other industries is that even though their actions might effect you directly you don't have to put it in your mouth and eat it!