Did the kid at least have a cool story about his koji? Because that seems to be the trade off now. You can talk about fermentation for an hour but God forbid you know how to cut an onion without turning it into mush. I came up the same way and yeah the knuckle smack was real, you learned fast or your fingers paid for it. Here is the thing though, a robot coupe can't feel the difference between a shallot that needs a fine dice and one that needs a rough chop, and it sure can't adjust when the product is soft. I still make new hires do knife work too and I get the same eye rolls, but I would rather train someone for a week than fix their bad habits for a year.

Right, because nothing says "I saved money" like spending your whole Sunday babysitting a pot of beans... I do the same thing though, so I can't even clown you for it. My trick is a spoon of cumin and a bay leaf while they cook, plus throw in a dried chile or two. Also salt them at the end, not the start, or they stay tough and you sit there chewing like a cow. And save that bean water, it's basically free flavor for soup later. Six dollar bacon, come on, half an onion and some garlic does the job fine.