Why are chef hats tall?!
Answers: whats the point?
its an old tradition, the taller the hat the more seniority you have in the kitchen.
so the can hide chickens.
so the little rat from RATATOULE can hide up there :)
white starched hat with a tall crown .... French tradition states that the hat should have 100 pleats to represent the number of ways a great chef can prepare eggs
How did the chef's hat originate? Does it serve a purpose?
Cookie
Dear Cookie:
The chef's hat, or toque blanche (French for "white hat"), has been around for more than 400 years. Back in the 16th century, artisans (including chefs) were among the "free thinkers" who were often persecuted, imprisoned, or executed because of their views. To escape this treatment, some chefs hid in monasteries and wore the same type of clothing as the priests, including tall hats. However, chefs wore gray, while priests wore black.
But there are other theories regarding the hat's history. One source states the hat may have evolved from the stocking cap (casque a meche) worn by French chefs throughout the years. The color of the casque a meche indicated the chef's rank.
Sometime in the mid-1800s, chef Marie-Antoine Careme decided white was a more appropriate color for toques as it indicated cleanliness in the kitchen. Careme also believed the hats should be of different heights to indicate rank. Cooks wore shorter hats than chefs. Reportedly Careme's hat was 18 inches tall.
Interestingly, the number of pleats in a chef's hat is also a status symbol. Many toques have exactly 100 pleats, supposedly the number of ways a chef can prepare an egg.
A chef hat, also sometimes referred to as a toque-blanche, is part of a chef's uniform. The brimless chef hat covers the entire head of hair to eliminate any stray hair from falling into the dishes being prepared. Traditionally, a chef hat is quite tall, from 9 to 12" (228-305mm), which has vertical pleats that run around the body of the hat. Made of either stiffly starched fabric, mostly cotton and cotton blends, or of paper, the chef hat can come in either white or black.
Several versions of the origin of the chef hat prevail. One story goes that the chef for King Henry VIII was going bald and was beheaded after the king found a hair in his soup. Henceforth, all royals chefs were required to wear a chef hat.
Another tale states the chef hat came about during the time of the ancient Assyrians. Because a common method of the day for overthrowing an unpopular monarch was to poison him, only the most loyal and trusted men were allowed to become court chefs. As acknowledgement of their lofty position, chefs were allowed to wear a crown of sorts. Fashioned after the style of crown the king wore, the ribs on the side of the king's crown were depicted by pleats on the crowns of the chefs.
Traditional versions of the chef hat always include one hundred pleats. In keeping with the Assyrian hat theory, it is said that the reason a chef hat had one hundred pleats is because a master chef knew how to prepare eggs one hundred different ways. In that time and part of the world, eggs were considered to be symbol for the universe, and as such were highly regarded.
In today's world, not all chef hats have one hundred pleats. A chef hat can come in many styles from baseball caps to poufy pizza maker types, but chefs continue to wear some form of chef hat for hygienic reasons.
A chef hat is part of the accepted uniform in a restaurant kitchen, but others buy a chef hat as part of a costume, or for having a little fun at a backyard barbecue. If you are shopping for a chef hat, you can find one at uniform shops, restaurant supply stores, online cooking sites, or at cooking retail shops.
They are tall to allow for the pleats...101...not 100...for the representation of how many ways to cook an egg. It is said that a true chef knows all 101 ways to prepare an egg.
so the rat can sit there undetected, and give the chef cooking directions, of course!
glorydvine is correct. i checked it out myself.
BAKER271 nailed it
she has the correct answer
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/food/28216...
Along with the preperation of eggs thing there is also room for those with long hair to hide up there. And a rat as well.
