Inspiration from the ingredient

So often we in the restaurant industry are sent by a supplier ingredients that are only adequate for our needs, the tomato that is still too firm and a little green or the salmon that has been "refreshed," frozen then thawed before shipment. In some cases we have little choice but to accept what is delivered -- for example, it's February and the tomatoes are crappy or fresh salmon is so expensive customers can't afford it at a price the restaurant can live with. So as the chef or owner you have to make the sacrifice and do what you can with what you are given or "86" an item from your menu. In the end you mold and coax all you can from the ingredient. It has been said recently by a famous chef turned writer and TV travel host that it is the greatest skill or talent of the chef to turn something mediocre into something delicious. I am on the fence with that statement and sentiment. Yes sometimes when the ingredient is not perfect a great chef can make it shine, usually not as the centerpiece but as a background performer. But personally I think a great chef can take a perfect or nearly perfect ingredient, do very little to it and create something sublime. Therein lies the true gift of a chef, knowing how to treat the perfect ingredient.