"Burnt", The Pro's Opinion

I just saw the movie "Burnt" and I found it mildly entertaining. Anyway, given how Hollywood is so apt to botch the technical details of <insert discipline here> (i.e. Movies involving airplanes are always rich with technical faux pas), I was curious if any of you professional chefs have anything to say about this movie.

[Robin Garr]

This one missed me completely, Ray. Normally I'm inclined to watch restaurant movies, but I can't help noticing that Rotten Tomatoes comes down pretty hard on this one, only 46% percent rated it favorable for an average rating of 4.9 out of 10.

Critics Consensus: Burnt offers a few spoonfuls of compelling culinary drama, but they're lost in a watery goulash dominated by an unsavory main character and overdone clichés.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burnt/

This one missed me completely, Ray. Normally I'm inclined to watch restaurant movies, but I can't help noticing that Rotten Tomatoes comes down pretty hard on this one, only 46% percent rated it favorable for an average rating of 4.9 out of 10.

Critics Consensus: Burnt offers a few spoonfuls of compelling culinary drama, but they're lost in a watery goulash dominated by an unsavory main character and overdone clichés.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burnt/

Robin,

IMDB's user reviews has it at 6.6. I guess that my impression is closer to Rotten Tomatoes, but not quite as low. My opinion is around 5.5 on a scale of 10. Nevertheless, I was more getting at the technical aspect of the cooking that was in the movie and what professional chefs think.....along the same lines as me getting a kick out of how Hollywood often bastardizes the technical aspects of anything associated with aviation.

On second thought, cooking technique wasn't as exposed as I thought it was. Then again, what do I know? I am just a home cook that can toast a mean English muffin!

[Robin Garr]

Grippy grip

knifegrip.jpg (115.85 KiB) Viewed 4363 times

Well, one thing ... in this screen grab that I took from the trailer, his knife handling looks a little iffy. He's gripping the handle with all four fingers, and there's not really room for them between the handle and the surface. I'm thinking traditional Euro-style chef knife, though, and that looks like it might be a Japanese blade, so maybe I just don't know much.

knifegrip.jpg

Well, one thing ... in this screen grab that I took from the trailer, his knife handling looks a little iffy. He's gripping the handle with all four fingers, and there's not really room for them between the handle and the surface. I'm thinking traditional Euro-style chef knife, though, and that looks like it might be a Japanese blade, so maybe I just don't know much.

That's actually a utility knife. Which explains the blade being much smaller, the four finger handle grip, and the lack of distance between the board and the hand. This is something you'd use for slicing chilies, mincing onion, and other jobs a chef knife is too big and a paring knife is too small to perform as easily.

The "trivia" listings for the movie on the IMDB site are pretty interesting.

[Robin Garr]

This is something you'd use for slicing chilies, mincing onion, and other jobs a chef knife is too big and a paring knife is too small to perform as easily.

I know everyone's mileage varies, but I use my chef's knife for slicing chilies, mincing onions (and garlic) and similar jobs, and it works just fine for me.

This is something you'd use for slicing chilies, mincing onion, and other jobs a chef knife is too big and a paring knife is too small to perform as easily.

I know everyone's mileage varies, but I use my chef's knife for slicing chilies, mincing onions (and garlic) and similar jobs, and it works just fine for me.

I use my chef knife for everything except skinning/fileting fish. This is usually just one of those random knives you'll find in knife kits/home blocks that doesn't get much use but does have it's usefulness if one chooses to utilize it.

[Robin Garr]

I use my chef knife for everything except skinning/fileting fish. This is usually just one of those random knives you'll find in knife kits/home blocks that doesn't get much use but does have it's usefulness if one chooses to utilize it.

No argument here, Bob! I think you're right about it being a utility knife, too, although something about the curvature of the blade and the wavy shimmer on the metal made me wonder if it was a Japanese blade. Bottom line, I don't like to have my knuckles banging on the cutting surface as in the picture, but that's probably just me.

I guess no one here has seen it? Most reviews, even from chefs, react the the whole Gordon Ramsey aspect of the character and how dated that is. This one, however, gets detailed on the business end, in the kitchen, and other areas. Seems legit, though I've not seen it either.

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/a-professio ... vie-burnt/

[Robin Garr]

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/a-professional-chef-critiques-the-movie-burnt/

Good article! Thanks, Silvio. I love "First We Feast," except for the multiple pop-up ads.

Gotta quote this ...

CONCLUSION:
So does Burnt nail the chef lifestyle? Not really at all. Mario Batali and Marcus Wearing were culinary advisors on this film, and all I could think was WHERE WERE YOU GUYS? Burnt plays like a movie made by some bro that ate at Daniel once and really enjoys Gordon Ramsay shows. But the most disappointing part? People are going to see this movie and think that this is the way restaurants are. Now, that’s a shame.

I use my chef knife for everything except skinning/fileting fish. This is usually just one of those random knives you'll find in knife kits/home blocks that doesn't get much use but does have it's usefulness if one chooses to utilize it.

No argument here, Bob! I think you're right about it being a utility knife, too, although something about the curvature of the blade and the wavy shimmer on the metal made me wonder if it was a Japanese blade. Bottom line, I don't like to have my knuckles banging on the cutting surface as in the picture, but that's probably just me.

I ran into a couple of chefs that used the 6" utility knife as shown. You have to keep your hands back off of the board and counter in order to keep from hitting knuckles. Although not clear, the waviness would indicate a very expensive "damascus" knife.

Good article! Thanks, Silvio. I love "First We Feast," except for the multiple pop-up ads.

I only got one, must have an active blocker? Who knows.

Reread it, better the second time. Two fave paragraphs on the unrealism of it:

Sienna Miller’s character has a scene where she sheets pasta into noodles that are like four feet long, and a later scene where she burns herself so badly the entire kitchen stops what they’re doing. I’ve been cooking a long time and the most I’ve seen someone react to a cook getting burnt is muttering “uh, you ok?”

and

Then there was a “chef buying ingredients” montage and my hangover intensified and I kind of blacked out for a minute. If they wanted to make ingredient procurement more realistic, couldn’t this have been a “oh for fucks sake I ordered fifteen pounds of lamb necks and you sent me eighteen pounds of lamb chops and my idiot AM sous signed for it anyways.”

yeah, I love how the "ingredient sourcing" montage never features at least 10-15 minutes of the chef hunched over a laptop on GFS's website...