/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>11621169
Is it a pretty thankless job?
I often say to waitress (if deserved) ‘please tell the chef that was excellent’. But never know if it gets passed on.
Of course if it’s open plan I tell them myself. I think it just seems such a thankless job.
What’s the real story!

Not working in kitchens now, but did in the past. If you really want to move up and make a career out of it, go work for an upscale hotel chain like Hyatt or Four Seasons. It's probably best career track in the business because they don't cut corners on food or equipment, they offer better pay and benefits and if you're willing to relocate there's more opportunity for advancement. You might not always be cooking the latest and greatest haute cuisine, but even the burgers and fries are made fresh to order.

I work in a place that seats around 100 at capacity and is 95% from scratch. We all get along okay, but it's not exactly intellectually stimulating, and the pay and hours are shit, and the amount of work you actually have to do compared to some entry level $18/hr office job is absurd. It's basically for people who have never have a good life or people who have substance abuse issues (I fall into the latter category).

It would be kind of enjoyable in that it's kind of like performing on a sports team at a high level on a busy night, but the pay just doesn't warrant the amount of work. Tip your servers fairly, but if you like the food buy a round for the kitchen.

>>11621189
Most servers at a restaurant have no idea what the cook's names are. No one cares about them until something goes wrong then it's the end of the world. Otherwise they work and go home

>be me
>line cook
>show up for prep at 8:30 AM
>prep then cook
>finish cooking at 9:30 or 10
>go home, get drunk, go to bed
>do it again the next day
>repeat

60 hours a week is low.

>>11621232
In the past 3 resturaunt and 1 coffee shop I've worked in, all the BOH and FOH staff are on a first name baisis. Unless you work at a miserable chain resturaunt with a high turnover rate, sure, maybe. Otherwise you're pretty much talking out your ass.

>>11621270
How drunk though?
I get drunk to the stage that I need 10 hours to recover.
40hr work week ftw?

>>11621278
Drunk enough to not feel my feet aching from being going 12-13 hours straight without sitting down every day i work.

>>11621281
All you gotta do is step out for a smoke break at low points. Even if you dont smoke, people dont question it. Just go out side and sit for 5 minutes. When you're apparently pulling constant doubles like that, you should have at least 10 in a shift.

I don't know why professional cooks would even come here. People who come to 4channel are obviously more interested in home cooking, which is very different. This is not a pro site.

>>11621169
my friend worked in a chink kitchen with woks and those jet engines
said it was loud, hot and generally hellish

If you show up to work you're considered a good employee. If you show up to work sober you're pretty much a rock star

>>11621338
This

what happens when one apply for a job as a cook but doesn't know how to cook
do they just tell you to prep everything?

>>11621169
i've been NEET virgin until my late 20s, not even close to finishing college. couldn't do anything, didn't know how to do anything but i like cooking so i applied for a kitchen assistant position in a local 3* hotel. two years later, i'm chef de partie in a restaurant that made it into a michelin guide. not a star yet, but probably next year.

i've also gone from being a virgin to having a stable relationship with a girl who works in booking at my first work place while also fucking an 18 year old girl apprentice from culinary school who volunteers in my current kitchen.

hope i'll make it to sous chef before 2020.

>>11621169
I'm an Australian 3rd year apprentice working in a fine dining kitchen. The bosses are two chefs with 30 years of knowledge between them and I learn heaps from both of them. Currently prepping and cooking pasta but I want to get onto the protein section real bad. Work with a good team both back and front of house. Really wanna fuck the other apprentice thou, she sexy.

>>11621911
>Really wanna fuck the other apprentice thou, she sexy
she's probably fucking a line cook already, see >>11621904

>>11621298
Top news, pro cooks can also be interested in home cooking.

>>11621911
>protein section
Where you serve as a cum dumpster for the whole staff?

>>11621899
dont apply as a cook then, start as a dishwasher, show that you can show up on time and actually work and people will be more than ready to take you under their wings and teach you the ropes.

>>11621298
Because why not? Compared to work, /ck/ is fucking cozy. If I just wanna sit around and shoot the shit without having to be special or exclusive and whatnot.

>>11621899
I applied to a restaurant as a cook with no professional experience or formal education. Head chef interviewed me and liked my enthusiasm so I got hired on. Started working salads and frying, but quickly worked up to the stove and meats because its all easy shit, you just need to care enough to learn the recipes and work efficiently. It was an expensive Japanese restaurant, pretty fun for a bit but they couldn't keep a manager to save their lives. The best guy they were training ended up leaving for a super smash bros sponsorship the day he finished his manager training.

>>11621899
That was me. I was a server and fucking hated it but the restaurant was pretty good so I didn't want to leave it. I asked to be put in the kitchen and they immediately trained me on the line. It's a big chain so there is basically no actual cooking, but I am learning prep and I can do the grill, fryer, sautee and everything.
I'm thinking of leaving to find a job at an actual restaurant and maybe try to get into the culinary career track.

>>11621169
Did some catering, it's not bad work. Wouldn't want to do restaurant though.

To all ITT worried about experience: don't. I stayed with the same from scratch brunchery for three years, started as a dishwasher, got onto the line and made it to sous in a year, only left because I knew head chef wouldn't leave any time soon and I had an opportunity to be head chef at a private liberal arts school. Before any of this, I was a 23 year old NEET high school dropout with a drug problem. Seems to be the kind of people who excel in hospitality.

>>11621189
I get told this by one of the servers maybe biweekly, it feels really good and motivates me on a buisy day.
It's not as thankless and stressfull as I often hear others say, if you plan ahead and know when the peak times are you can take it relatively leisurely, and seeing customers return because they like the food you dish out is appreciation enough for me.

>>11623428
The kind of people who would be fired in any other job are the kinds of people who do best in kitchens. It's a different world

>>11622535
do you know who it was?

>>11623428
To all those with a college degree, be prepared to start at the bottom and see mcdonalds employees get raises and better positions.

>>11623661
Culinary school is such a scam but the prep experience would be nice. Like learning the proper way to use knives and stuff as well.

>>11621916
>tfw married to a babe
>new server at my restaurant is objectively a 10/10 and super nice
>want to fuck her more than anything on Earth
>not gonna cheat on my wife

>>11624518
Never give into your dick man, I still regret it 20 years later.
Stay strong

>>11624518
>>11624569
i'm just too thirsty, fucked over a dozen of young apprentices or servers

>>11623632
I don't remember his name, it was a few years ago. San Diego if it helps.

>>11625657
it doesn't, but thanks anyway fag

Bump for cooks

>>11621298
anyone know of an actual cooking board?
im sick of fastfood posters desu

Do better paying positions require you to have formal schooling?

>>11626392
no formal training is ever required in professional kitchens
you do need practical experience to get anything above line cook at a real restaurant though

>>11623682
>scam
>learning the proper way
?

>>11625657
Santiago? Lil'Fumi?

>>11621169
I lied on my application. Got put on as another cook in a Japanese restaurant, and I had to fake that I understood what I was doing until someone noticed and helped teach me anyways.

>>11621169
I oversee 10 kitchens at a well known ski resort.
AMA

>>11626426
I think the point is that you can easily learn all of those skills "the proper way" without paying out the ass for culinary school.

Want to learn knife work? Go buy a copy of Jacques Pepin's La Methode and a couple cases of cheap root vegetables. Practice.

>>11627224
Been nearly an hour.
I am recinding this offer

>>11627332
You should start your own thread. Sounds interesting.
Do you go through a lot of employees?

>>11627390
Oh, I'm sure he nailed the staff of all 10 restaurants at least a few times seeing how this is supposedly a ski resort.

just start sniffing meth
get a sleeve tattoo
be an asshole in general, snobby, I work in a kitchen, etc.
you're doing a job a monkey could be trained to do
the rest will all fall into place

kitchen workers are kept out of sight for a reason

>>11627224
Are you still here? I just woke up and saw this post.
What is your background like? Did you go to school or just work your way up? Do you usually hire and train peop who want to work or people who have gone to school?

>>11627440
You forgot
>be Mexican

>>11627233
>Want to learn knife work? Go buy a copy of Jacques Pepin's La Methode and a couple cases of cheap root vegetables. Practice.
thanks anthony bourdain

>>11626433
I only knew him by his real name which I forgot. He's asian.

I'm about to about to go on a job interview for a dishwasher/prep position. Any advice?

>>11621169
I'm a cook for a nursing home/rehabilitation. Despite having quite a number of people living here, our budget is ridiculous, a lot of the food we make is frozen premade stuff that we have to try make taste better.

I have mixed feelings about this job. On one hand it's great because we work miracles with the food and make most of the people here happy.

On the other hand we always have that group of residents who are never happy with what we provide and have the pickiness of a five year old. I wish we were given the time and man power in our kitchen to make awesome homemade food but, corporate is a piece of shit.

>>11621169
>Do I like the job?
absofuckinglutely
>Is it really shitty
also yes
>>11621899
Find the best restaurant you can and walk in the door between services (3-5pm)
If you need the money, start as a porter. Otherwise take an unpaid 'stage' in the kitchen.
GL GG
>>11627233
this is the way
learn2sharp. grab 20kg potatoes/onions and do a kilo a day into different cuts (julienne, batons, brunoise, turnee) and see how quick you can get
>>11627724
push, work tidy, be nice
if you manage those you're ahead of 99% of the rest

I started as pot wash, did various prep/FOH jobs and now cook in a 3* Michelin joint. It's pretty intense and precise work but a good crowd and I am learning a fuckton.

>>11621214
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing. I'll be seriously looking into it.

>>11627842
What is it that you like about it and keeps you there if it's such a shitty job?

>>11621169
I used to be a sous-chef for a fairly upscale wine-and-cocktails focused resto-bar. I got tired of being screamed at for following instructions verbatim (took me three years... so maybe I was into it at one point). Helped a friend start up a catering business, kept on that for a while, and moved on to A/V and stage/tour managing. I still help my buddy out when I have time, because I love cooking things that people love eating, but it just never paid the bills the way I wanted it to, and sometimes the stress/deadlines are on the impossible side of possibility.

>>11627470
I went to CIA.
Best chefs I have ever worked for and with did not go to culinary school.
It takes a certain personality to be successful in this business.
My suggestion is to get an entry level position in the best kitchen you possibly can.This will mean not making shit for at least a year, having zero ego, and probably re-location (depending on where you currently live.)
You will know very quickly (as will everyone around you) if you are meant for this line of work.
I hire and train people who give a shit about making great food. That's literally the only thing that's important.

>>11621270
>60 hours a week is low
You're telling me. We're so loaded up with people doing christmas parties etc where I work that I haven't dipped below 90hrs in over a month.

>>11621169
Don't do it. It's 100% not worth it.

>work fuckloads of hours
>said hours are nonstop. No breaks, ever.
>said hours are spent standing the entire time, on a hard floor, which will eventually fuck up your feet, knees, and/or back.
>said hours are at times that almost guarantee you won't be off at the same time as anyone who isn't a cook. Expect to see your friends, family, and significant others almost never.
>doubly so on holidays.
>you probably won't get to eat anything while working- you'll be too busy- which is why many cooks have incredibly shit diets. They don't want to cook during the 8-10 hours a day they have off of cooking, and the only places open to eat by the time they get off work are fast food places.
>work is simultaneously boring (most of the time) and incredibly stressful.
>high risk of injury, both immediate (cuts, burns etc) and chronic (back problems especially)
>pay is incredibly shit
>tips are also shit, if you even get them- expect to make WAY less money than the servers despite working far more hours
>even if you are really good, work hard, kiss all the right asses, and stick with it for many years and become a sous/head chef, your reward is just more work and higher stress for still very low pay.

>>11630077
This desu. Also, your manager will likely be some douche who wants to be a leader so badly but have failed anywhere they go (hence why they end up in a kitchen).

>>11630045
What the fuck man I would suicide if I had to work that much

>>11630242
When I was going to school I worked as a cook part time to pay the bills. To get the most hours i would always work doubles the few days I worked. Back to back 12-13 hours days on your feet literally the entire time with no break is absolutely soul crushing.

>>11621270
Whats so bad about working one hour?

>>11624518
>>11624569

Preach. Stay strong anons

>>11621169
you have to be a VERY specific kind of person, or have no other option. those are the only ways you are going to find any kind of worth out of this industry. you want to be the former, but the vast majority of people are the latter.

>>11627724
Big rubber gloves: Save your hands.

>>11628637
I enjoy the simple physicality of it
the process of turning ingredients into a meal which can improve one's day or life
if you've ever eaten food after which you cannae help but smile after eating then you know what I mean
I'd rather like to give that

>>11621169
Did some generic fast/food and chain places in Chicago and moved on as a dish wash at a moderately successful place in the city. You get weird looks from the line cooks for not being hispanic/black for that position in the city. Displayed a lot of interested in what the cooks would make for themselves towards the end of the shift, moved onto prep and then line before too long.

Brush up on your Spanish. Learn the key kitchen vocabulary so you can understand what they're yelling at you to bring over. Learn to deal with aggressive homeless folk if you're gonna try and work at a chain. "Yes sir" Is going to the the only thing you're going to say for approximately 10 hours a day when you start out. Invest in good shoes and/or inserts, try to stay hydrated.

I honestly couldn't keep up. I loved the people I worked with, and I was fond of prep and line work because I'm autistic and find the repetitiveness soothing. But it couldn't pay the bills, so I went back to school.

>>11621169
Worked in the industry for ten years.
Hours sucked, people were generally shit heads.
I enjoyed cooking and being creative. My last job was being a prep cook and working with two chefs to create new dishes and garnish ideas. It was pretty chill. But they moved the restaurant to some hipster country location, paid me off and parted ways.
I'm now a welder.

>>11626351
just start a bread with content

>>11630627
You know what I meant. 12-13 hour shifts

>>11630077
Thiiis, I have been at it for six years, even when I ran my own catering business the pay is shit, the work is long and shitty. I love making good food, but the industry is poisonous and will take everything from you.

>>11627842
>3 star Michelin joint
Paystub or get out.

>>11627842
>3* Michelin joint.
OK what restaurant?

If I choose this line of work, will I be able to have a life outside of my job?

>>11635380
Not much of one.

>>11635380
your job is your new life

>>11621189
Yeah, often if the place isn't that busy I'll go over to the chef and thank him myself. If you cunts make a good feed I wanna make sure you and your manager know it, can't trust some teenage server girl on minimum wage to care enough to pass the message on.

>>11635380
No, it will legitimately swallow your social life because you will always be working when everyone else is off.
Over time your friends and relationships will only consist of other restaurant workers because you're all on the same schedule, and you won't see your normie friends at all because they all have shit to do on Monday afternoon when you're off.

>>11621169
its a rabbit hole profession, the work is awful for half the pay of any regular typing job

>>11621292
Even in a busy kitchen, you can go out for a smoke when it's not busy? No one gets mad? Shit works differently where I'm at.

I worked shortly as a prep cook at a higher end restaurant and hated it. The amount of planning ahead you had to do just to get your prep list done in time was daunting for me, and it wasn't planning either it was mostly just instinct so you kind of had to have the knack for it. I understood Mise and all that but just when I thought I was getting good at it the Chef and Sous would be like "yeah now we need you to minus 5 minutes from each task". It takes a certain type of person to do that type of work imo. Especially since during rush hours we'd have all hands on line for like an hour and then the Chef would still want me to finish my list and be out on time since restaurants can't really afford to be giving out massive amounts of overtime. I get payed the same wages (plus lots of overtime if I want) at Kroger and the work is sooo much easier and way less stressful. I understand why people are attracted to that type of work because of the challenge and how much knowledge you gain that is usable in any kitchen but it just wasn't for me. I'm lazy and would rather put in less work while getting payed the same