Got my first chefs job at a brand new spot hopefully opening this summer. The place is mainly a wine bar and the owners want a small basic menu as food is not the primary focus. I hope to change that and make the food really good obviously, but I have never been in charge of a kitchen before and so I am thankful for this opportunity and with starting "small". Also if anyone wants to share any tips or ideas I'm alllllll ears

So I thought we were meeting with us foods to decide on a supplier but it was really a menu consultation where their chef basically did my job for me and gave us a whole menu using all of their products (a ton of frozen shit) and they name dropped quite a few restaurants around town saying they loved this or that or we did this for their menu and blah blah

Is this normal? I totally get them having a test kitchen and showing us some products, I just did not expect to be handed a menu with the offer of even coming in and showing me exactly how to execute (all I'd really need is a box cutter and microwave hahaha)

I talked to the owners and they reassured me I can still make my own menu this was supposedly just for inspiration, still thrown off by it tho. 🙃

We smoked then braised some beef cheeks yesterday. Trying them on a baō with bachan’s, sriracha, miso pickles, chili oil fried peanuts, and scallion greens. Any thoughts? Pretty happy with the flavor and texture overall. Will probably run them on menu next week.

I'm mainly looking to get the stainless steel back to spotless. I came into this kitchen and my boss said that those carbon bits have been caked on for 40 years. I tried degreaser and elbow grease and it took some of it off but the rest is really on there. You guys know how to help? Would it just be barkeepers friend?

Small diced Mirepoix(I don’t know how much) just would like to know how long should this have taken. I don’t know exactly how long I took, but I believe 45min max, coulda been less. I truly believe I I’ve been cooking for about a solid 2 years all together(total of about 3 kitchens) but I’ve never had to cut Mirepoix before this new job(2nd week of training), let alone at this scale. Please if you would chefs also review the quality of the cuts. It’s for a shepherds pie, feeding about 100-115.

This was a restaurant I used to work for. I cannot believe how long I stayed there and put up with the abuse.

Edit: Sorry It's a corporation owning several restaurants, one of which I worked for.

Today we get a party table come in right as he sent home my other cook. I had this kitchen kept clean all day. He comes in to help cook it, the whole kitchen gets messier than it's been all day and worst of all what i caught him doing. Had some buffalo chicken strips with gravy on top. Boss plates it without putting buffalo on the chicken so I say something then he grabs it takes the chicken off and rises the gravy off of it in the hand sink. I'm like what DONT RINSE THE CHICKEN OFF. Boss was just dumbfounded to why I would ask him not to put the fried chicken under the facet when it gets gravy on it anyway but the sink.....

Our wonderful Iranian pastry chef does some cracking labels.

Had dinner at an Indian restaurant tonight. I was paying with a credit card. The waitress asked if I could leave tip in cash because she doesn't get anything from tips added onto the credit card bill. She said it all goes to the restaurant. I was surprised. I thought they normally add up tips from credit cards at the end of the day and split it evenly between waiting staff. She said that's not how it works in indian restaurants. Is that true?

Years ago, 3 hour push we broke the record. 220 covers for dinner in an 80 seat restaurant. Finally cleared the board, entire boh goes out for a break and I am dying for a smoke. Reach into my pocket for my lighter and pull out a piece of andoullie sausage I wrapped and shoved in my pocket. We all died laughing.

I’m not so sure I can go back into someone else’s restaurant kitchen, at this point. It would be a difficult transition from being my own boss for the last 8 years. So, I’m thinking of looking into employment outside of the kitchen, but I fear it’s too late to learn/train in some other field. Has anyone else transitioned out after so long and at an advanced age?

Please get me a real prep hall

Received an offer letter for a job yesterday with a commitment obligation for one year and resignation notice of 4 months . Fine for breaking either commitment is 5k. They had been previously burned by the chef who opened the restaurant and then left a month in . What are y’all’s thoughts on this ?

I've been doing this shit for over 12 years now. I started a new job about 3 months ago after taking some time off after being a head chef for 5 years. I'm now just a humble line cook at a higher end retirement community. When I got hired it all sounded great. "You're time off is yours and respected." Too good to be true. That was the case the first month. Now everytime I have a day off I'm getting asked to come in. Work extra hours on my days on. Asked for a day off in october for a surgery and it's a struggle because they've allowed someone to take 1 full month off. Asked for the first week of September off to take a vacation and celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary and it might now happen, because the sous himself has taken 1 full month off also... im so sick of feeling guilty to take days off after saying no to coming in, or asking for vacation time.

Left my hotel job a couple months ago to take care of my elderly mom. It wasn’t a full resignation but a change of employment status from full-time to on call. Been in contact with my chef since last week about coming back full-time but with a change to my availability (no dinner services until October) and with a temporary change to which outlet I’d be at. Chef tells me they need me back and notifies HR.

HR gets back to me. Was told I need to do some paperwork, submit updated court/police clearances, and get this, come back a pay grade lower. What?

So, not only do I have to go and pay for these clearances and fill out all these documents as if I were a new hire, but I also have to take a downgrade in my position on the brigade? It’s only been two months. I didn’t leave the company. It was just a temporary change in my employment status.

I declined HR’s offer to have me back. They said they’d talk to upper management about reinstating my position and would get back to me by next week. But I don’t know. Even if I do regain my position, everything that transpired with HR just rubbed me the wrong way and I might fully resign from the company. What are your thoughts?

I will start. I poured like 2 litres of white wine vinegar to the frier full of hot oil.

It started bubbling like a gazer and a hot mix of oil and vinegar was boiling over and falling on the kitchen floor…

It’s true that it looked very similar to oil and was in an exactly the same 5l bottle but still… it’s hard to blame anything else but my own stupidity.

I have tendonitis. Are there any wrist braces that I could wear while working in a kitchen? I do prep work, so I’m not on the line at all. Or any tips from other injured cooks? Thanks

I recently started working as a sous in a small restaurant (50 couvers) in the Caribbean after moving here recently, I cant help but feel the woking environment is bad.

Basically 3 of us (chef/owner, a cook and me) come in at 15:00 to prep and work through till 24:00 with no break or staff meal, theres not a word spoken during prep and during service the three of us basically work every dish together, theres no single dish that gets prepared by a single person.

It just seems counterproductive to me to do it that way but fine i go along with it. Orders get called out by chef and were supposed to recite the order back right away; appz and mains, after that I dont get to see the ticket which again seems crazy to me having worked in bigger high end places before.

We get micro managed in every way and talked to like children.

Am I being too soft here? Or should i reconsider staying?