/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I'm relatively new to /ck/ and its the only board besides /r9k/ that has made me wonder whether some of the posters have legitimate autism, so have bump

I work in mediocre dining.

As a short order cook in a diner. I make good food though 2bh

>>8176739
Why is that lettuce so brown

I worked in mostly unimpressive dining charading as fine dining (it worked, people eat that shit up).

I quit recently, though. It just made me want to go back to the BBQ restaurant I used to work at. At least it was honest. And the food was better.

Tell me more about your work, OP.

How about you start, post something you made that you consider to be fine dining.

>>8176739
that lettuce is literally going to rot
gg anon

>>8176739
im a waiter at dennys ama

>>8177343
Where do you work?

>>8177346
dennys off 290

>>8176739
>E-21
I yes, I see you're playing the classic chef game of BENGO. Did you win anon? Did you invite the little old ladies in the restaurant to join you in this rousing game?

>>8177343
why is the food so shitty?

>>8176792
It's actually a rusty red color.

It's just the type of lettuce it is.

Plants grow in other colors too m8

>>8176739
>Anyone else here cook in fine dining?
>posts a picture of a lettuce head rather than any actual fine food he's prepared

seems legit

Used to work in a fine dining restaurant for 3 years in germany.
Most awful time of my life considering my private life was non existent and the kitchen bull was a raging psychopath with a napoleon complex (Fuck you Rudolf if youre here).
We once had a complete fucking yellowfin get delivered and one of the kitchen hands decided to let it just slip down the stair to the basement were we cut it up. one side of the fish was ruined because those stair were metal and rusty.
You can imagine how one side looked like. He got fired about 20 sec after he let go of the fish.

>>8176792
>>8177173
And all thee mongs who dont know any other salad than romana and arucola.
Thats is indeed a fine ass lettuce there.
I hated doing the lettuce prep tho, ice cold water to clean it in the early morning wasnt my favourite part of it, but the absolute worst was the size they wanted the lettuce to be pulled.
like REALLY fucking tiny. Worst possible shit to do in that kitchen.
Except maybe breaking down chickens with the fat asian who would keep singing weird chinese songs while doing it.

>>8177586
He dropped one piece of fish and got fired?

>>8177592
pretty much the WHOLE fish. Do you know how big these fuckers are and what they cost in fresh quality? We used the whole damn fish we even made our own bonito flakes and he head chef used the bones and all kinds of odd bits for soups and stuff. And he didnt just drop it. he decided to purposely drop it and let it slide down the stair to make it easier, the fish was on a big rolling tray thingy.

>>8177585
This is the basis of fine dining.

Even a great chef can only create okay food if their produce is shit.

High quality ingredients is fuckin important mang

>>8177634
Doesn't change the fact that this thread is shit.

>>8177610
Ah okay.

>what they cost in fresh quality?
I live in Florida so fish is cheap as fuck, so no. But I can't imagine if you have to fly the fish in on ice. What does fresh fish cost there (can you even get it fresh? How long from the boat to a German restaurant)? What types can you get fresh? Snappers and such?

>>8176759

are /ck/ and /r9k/ the only boards you've visited?

>>8176739
dude you need to fucking sand that board down. you've got mildew and bacteria all up in there.

nice knife. korin?

aaaanyhow. decent looking head there. we get our fancy lettuce from tanimura & antle. who produces yours?

>>8178063
A lot of the stuff on the board is from the lettuce.

This stuff was particularly dirty and bug ridden because it came in from our on property garden. Harvested about 90 mins before cutting. When the garden isn't producing we supplement with artisan mix from the same brand as you.

It's a 210mm mighty Mac.

>>8178103
>on property garden
they keep talking about letting us do a roof garden and it keeps not happening

>mac
solid choice. looks like my chef's korin, which is why i asked.

oh, oh. you know what i did yesterday? i opened a new bucket of feta. you know what happened when i put it back? i found the old bucket with all new wheels of assorted cheeses piled on top of it in the back of the shelf because SOMEBODY can't be bothered to rotate his stock when he puts the deliveries away.
i knida want to just tell the executive that his boy can't rotate stock for shit because every time i go to the plate storage he's got new bib syrup on top of old bib syrup and i can't think of a single reason for this beyond 'fuck it i dont want to', which means that I end up rotating it for him.

This is my station from a brunch service.

>>8178132
gee anon, how come your chef lets you have FOUR towels?

>>8178147
Haha we actually get 6, ones under the cutting board and obv the ones under my knives.

Pictured is one of our newer dishes, the butternut squash soup that were rolling with for this fall. Jalapeno is cooked with the squash and gets blended in it. Its actually pretty nice.

>>8178165
wups

This is obviously from when the blue soft shells were in season.

We had 10 of the bastards left after that saturday nights special so for the sunday brunch service we said fuck it and put it on a BLT that we use in-house cured bacon on. Sold this bitch for 30 dollars, with fries.

>>8178132
Like how you sneak a cleaver into your knife roll. Chef doesn't give you shit for that, or does he not care what the fuck you do at brunch?

>>8178165
>6 towels
do you know how many dishwashers i'd have to kill to get 6 towels?

>>8178168
looks fuckin' great. i'm still trying to cop the recipe for this chickpea and spinach soup we had a while back. when the little bit of cinnamon in it hits and it's just... augh. i need that one.

>>8178177
Hahaha thats called a nakiri. Its for fruits and vegetables and shit. Its my main knife for anything other than meats.

>>8178177
not him but those cleavers are great for veg work. i'm getting myself one in the extremely near future.
also, why would bossman give you shit about your tools (assuming they're in good repair)? all my chef ever said was 'bring whatever you need to do your work.'

>>8178197
Its not a cleaver.

>>8177586
Sorry to intrude, but I really like making salads as gay as that sounds... but
I noticed leafs take room temperature water much better.
My theory is that plant matter doesent like the icy cold water either unless its ones that are used to it like radicchio and the likes.

Not a super big fan of this plating because the pimento cheese kind of caused that oil to pool a little bit on this plating. But it tasted super good. In house made toulouse sausage, corn cooked with garlic and lemon juice, with pimento cheese grits and then obviously the egg.

Now we do something similar but just plain yellow grits with sauteed bell pepper, red onion and wilted mustard greens instead of the corn, since corn is going out of season. I dont have a picture of it though.

This is from a 200 dollar tasting family style served tasting menu that we did for derby day that we hosted like 80 people. A couple NBA stars and a pretty famous hollywood producer took part in.

Those deviled eggs had caviar and smoke salmon on them. I helped put them together. Literally no idea what was on the other shit.

>>8178197
I'm not a pro, but I am one of those Chinese cleaver guys - I'm entirely dependent on mine. When I mentioned that to friends in the business some said chefs look down on guys who blow through prep with Chinese cleavers for fear it leads to lazy/poor knife skills.

>>8178228


>>8178229
ITS NOT A CLEAVER

>>8178233
wait fuck, one was bacon and caviar and the other was just smoked salmon

>>8178201
sorry. 'nihon steer nakiri forded wan birrion timesu'

>>8178245
lolol you racist fuck.

Cleaver=big ass piece of heavy metal thats better at getting right through all that connective tissue in meats easier.
Nakiri is just a straight edged, small thin piece of metal for more delicate cuts like what you need with fruits and vegetables. It looks similar to a cleaver because of its shape, sure, but its an entirely different knife.

Is 28 too old to get into being a chef?

>>8178255
If you speak Japanese. Chinese people just call it a cleaver in English. But yeah, it's a thinner blade and different angle than a western cleaver.

>>8178185
Yeah, it used to be unlimited until FOH decided to bitch. Fucking cunts. I used to hoard those fuckers. 6 is a nice number for sure though.

>>8178255
and henceforth all nakiri posted on /ck/ will be referred to as 'cleavers' forevermore

>>8178263
Absolute not.

>>8178277
Lol goddammit.

this is our line

>>8178263
>Is 28 too old to get into being a chef?
not really, no. just part-time a line cook job while you do a 4-year in hospitality management. after that, keep skating around kitchens for 5-10 years and you'll end up with some text embroidered on your jacket.

>>8178288

>>8178291

>>8178284
Just cos I've got patchy work experience, and not great quals and food, cooking and being funny are literally the only things I'm semi-competant at, but thought I might be too old for anywhere to give me a chance

>>8178293
also this fryer is the nicest fucking set up ive ever seen. ITS FUCKING SELF FILTERED. All we have to do at the end of service is take the filter out and rinse it rather than have to have one of those machines.

>>8178299
Man even the highest level kitchens give a fuck about one thing, and thats if youll do what they tell you and if you bust ass. Teaching someone to cook isnt hard at all. Its getting effort out of a motherfucker that they really value.

>>8177648
Not him but.. Dude a good grade yellowfin is the size of people. That fucker ruined thousands of dollars of profit because he was too lazy to carry shit.

>>8178303
Yeah I mean I have no expectations of being Heston Blumenthal or Alex Atala or whatever I just think that Its something I could potentially be decent at.

>>8178324
Buy yourself some decent knives and give it a shot. As long as you bust ass and the only words out of your mouth are "yes chef", theyll take you with open arms.

>>8178324
just do you. this is one of the few professions that give back exactly what you put in, which means that great effort is rewarded greatly and minimal effort is rewarded with being a glorified lunchlady in a hospital kitchen with a comfy benefits package and no upward mobility.

>>8178288
>>8178291
>>8178293
i don't own a smartphone, but even if i did i wouldn't have it out in the production areas. it'd be in my locker with my street clothes. how are you not getting fired immediately? my executive has fuckin' built-in radar for cellphones, as does the FOH manager.

>>8178346
>>8178346
Man, honestly at all of my other jobs it was the same. At this restaurant though as long as youre not ignorant about it none of the sous really give a shit. I run breakfast and brunch so I never really get to see the exec except for when im on my way out because he does dinner shit. Our breakfast/brunch sous is like 3rd in command and really really talented guy though and while hes kind of an asshole, its only about the shit that counts. Which is nice imo.

>>8178355
i mean i can definitely see a use for snapshotting recipes and presentation standards (as well as mise en place for the station changeovers) but i really just want to run instagramming fuckfaces through the dishtank with extreme prejudice.

>work at little asian restaurants in chinatown and like it a lot
>decide to study culinary at community college for a bit
>have had to tell classmates that stage/work at fine dining joints to get off their fucking phones and start cleaning after service more than once

There is something wrong here.

>>8178561
>There is something wrong here.
sounds like you're studying with the people that you'll be in charge of in a few years.

I'm kind of dickered right now (day off), but I'll tell a quick story.
>last week, serving a beautiful rabbit confit as one of daily specials
>woman orders rabbit, it goes out
>server brings it back
>says "she's convinced it's chicken"
>owner is standing there, says "just a minute"
>goes in and grabs raw rabbit and raw chicken and puts them side by side on a tray
>stomps out to the dining room
>comes back several minutes later
>"fire a goddamn rack of lamb (unintelligible cursing and muttering in French)"
>mfw

>>8178594
LOL

>>8177585
>working at some trashy place that doesn't fire people on the spot for taking their phone out of their pocket/purse
shit gets turned off or put on silent till your shift is over, if you have an emergency you can use the work phone, if someone else has an emergency they can call you on the work phone

>>8178619
>working at some uptight asshole restaurant that fires you for using a useful piece of technology that also plays music

Dont be stupid. Using a phone occasionally doesnt make the restaurant trashy. It just makes you and your bosses controlling assholes. It doesnt make your food or preparation any better.

>>8178619
So much this.
we're allowed to keep our phones in our pockets on silent or vibrate, and we can check them on our breaks. But, during work hours, we're only allowed to receive calls on the work phone, and only if it's actually important. The caller has to tell the manager why they're calling before he'll let us get on the phone. Kitchens are fucking busy, dangerous, trafficky areas, and no one needs any distractions.

>>8178635
except it's never once in a while, phone use when allowed is rampant, you have servers in the kitchen always on their phone, ignoring their tables, same thing goes for smoke breaks, one per shift and you check with a supervisor before going on it

>>8178644
Oh, and that said, we are allowed (with permission) to take pictures of finished plates, particularly if they're newly added dishes or specials. Those can come in handy later.

>>8178646
Oh well, our FOH isnt allowed to have their phones out ever. I guess I should clarify that. BOH though, thats different, youre always too busy to do anything on your phone anyway.

>>8178653
don't know why but it seems like foh people are almost always lacking a sense of urgency when it comes to getting things done.

>>8178653
BUT were allowed to check them or like, you know pull them out to look at them and music is always allowed except up on the line during a busy service.

>>8178660
And then complain when they just averaged 50 an hour for the service?

>>8178661
we're allowed to also but could technically be fired over it since, we don't have a set of rules for foh and a different set for boh.

I used to work in a professional restaurant. Nothing fancy, just one of the better (but far from the best) restaurants in a tourist town. I did my apprenticeship there but got disillusioned by some practices and went back to school and started college after I did my final exams of my apprenticeship.
It's been 5 years now and I miss working in a kitchen. Fuck.

>>8178676
Yeah my restaurant is chef run so like, FOH managers literally have no power over us. So their managers set the rules for them and chef sets the rules for us.

Cell phones have lots of uses these day as other pointed out.

Also don't forget Google because sometimes you need to know something now.

>>8178263
Yes, especially if you're shit. Young chink line cooks will smoke your ass and make you feel like dirt since they're pretty much half your age and better than you.

Seen it happen numerous times

Op here, this just went on the menu today.

Herbed fingerlings, compressed squash, romesco, arugala, chevre herbed hazelnuts.

Fucking good shit mang, and easy on the pickup.

>>8178976
speaking of autist shit creations

>>8178976
>herbed
>herbed

I don't call every fucking dish I make "herbed" simply because herbs were used in them.

Quit with the bullshit words.

You might as well say "gourmet", "homemade", or my personal favorite, "FRESH".

line cook here, was wondering if its worth getting a ceramic knife for lettuce? also any good manufacturers to look for ( im a henckel guy, not a big fan of the handles on most jap knives)

>>8179008
I think herbed is an appropriate term if the herbs are the dominant flavor of the ingredient.

Coulda said confit fingerlings or roasted hazelnuts but that doesn't describe the component as well.

Besides, all these descriptions are just random shit I posted on 4chan, not an excerpt of our menu.

>>8178976
That sounds like shit for bipsters, anon. Please try again.

>>8179032
The best knife for lettuce is your sharpest knife.

Lettuce bruising is all about smashing and agitating the greens. Duller the knife, the harsher on the greens it is, the more bruising you'll have.

No need for a specialized knife.

>>8179041
We're not a hipster place, more like a rich old wine lady place.

The pictured salad sold at $19

>>8179049
>hmm , i remember hearing one of my previous chefs tell me that the steel promotes oxidization, leading to our lettuce browning quickly, either way, i just had my knife sharpened the other day so i should be fine than

>>8178895
>measuring yourself against someone else
thats fuckin' retarded, man.

>compete with yourself and you will grow
>compete with others and you will grow frustrated

>>8178895
British so don't really have to worry about that

>>8179049
This.
When I was just getting started in professional cooking, my parents bought me some knives, including a "lettuce knife". What a worthless piece of shit that thing was. I threw it in my box of stuff to donate to thrift stores and never looked back. A good, sharp chef's knife will do most jobs with ease. Although I do love my fillet knife and my butchering knives too. But other than those, I exclusively use my chef's knife for fucking everything. I have a bunch of knives in a knife roll, but I rarely touch them.

>>8178173
Did you sell all 10 at that price?

>>8179278
Not a single one until like an hour left in service and then they were all gone within 30 minutes after the first one was ordered.

>>8179041
clearly you don't know what you're talking about

>>8178976
>compressed squash

Nice health-code violation.

Looks dope a f though.

>>8179278
Sold probably 12 or 14, but we only did 40 for lunch, so that's pretty damn good.

>>8179314
wat

>>8179310
Is it a health code violation? Could you explain further?

Genuinely curious.

>>8179317
Well, by compressed im assuming you used a vacuum sealer? Is that correct?

>>8178976
sounds good breh

>>8179317
>>8179318
dont feel like waiting for a response. However, if a vacuum sealer was used, in low oxygen environments, c-bot and listeria bacteria thrive in those types of environments. If youre in a professional kitchen where the risk for cross contamination is high, vacuum sealing can legitimately end up killing someone. Because of that most city healthcodes straight up ban vacuum sealing to the point that a machine being on site is grounds for an automatic fail.

>>8179318
Yeah, squash peeled, sliced thin, bagged with olive oil, s+p, and vacuumed.

Is that a no go or what?

>>8179340
Oh, well it only remained in the bag for an hour at most and will be used or tossed within a few days.

I had no idea it was a problem. Always assumed concerns about anaerobic environments were usually just for things being preserved for longer periods of time like confit garlic or canning.

>>8179344
>>8179340
If it makes you feel any better we do it at my restaurant anyway but we hide the shit out of the machine and keep the vacuumed shit in the mini-fridge thats upstairs in the managers office that health code doesnt inspect.

Most recently we used it to compress watermelon with simple syrup and basil.

>>8179353
Which is totally correct, i dont actually have a problem with it, i just know that it probably takes balls for your chef to advertise that its been compressed.

>>8179354
>>8179356
Maybe it's different where I'm located in the US. We serve many things compressed, and we just recently had our health inspection and our only negative mark was a milk crate of bagged items a steward carelessly left on the floor of the freezer.

>>8179368
Yeah, probably. I just have a hard time imagining a lot of cities not marking it as a violation.

>>8179377

Seattle here, it's a mark. Have to hide the bags, hide yo vac, etc.

>>8179059
>$19
>""""""fine dining""""""
pick one

>>8179340
never worked a property that had ever acknowledged that the city had banned sous vide preparation on the basis of botulinum or listeria related fatality.

>>8180314
Sous vide is different because of the application of heat.

things

interesting article by the times about wages for pastry chefs

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/business/economy/pastry-workers-restaurant-job-training.html?smid=tw-share

>>8176739
I have been teaching myself to cook for the past 3 or so years and have gotten pretty good, I seem to have good instincts for it, and I have done some research on how to best make use of spices, seasonings and sauces.

I visited this board for the first time today hoping to find a few gems and expand my repertoire and so far I have been nothing but disappointed in you all, you have the most vapid and elitist points of view on cooking.

The point of cooking is to make food that is enjoyable, the method is irrelevant if the end result is presentable and delicious.

No one eating your food cares how you cooked it. No one eating your food cares what kind of salt you used. No one cares how you cook your pasta or if you salt the water. That is only relevant to the cook.

The only thing the people EATING your food care about is if it TASTES good and if it LOOKS good.

Learn to look at the big picture you consistent FAILURES

>>8182125
Why'd you decide to bitch at this particular OP? He seems pretty innocuous compared to a lot of other posts.

>>8182302
I cook in fine dining as requested, he is likewise tired of the inedible garbage you people parade around here as if it is fine cuisine. My story is that the majority of you are terrible cooks posing as something better than you actually are.

>>8182011
>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/business/economy/pastry-workers-restaurant-job-training.html?smid=tw-share
ahahahaha

>sugar monkeys

back to the sugar-dungeon with you

>>8182331
my pastry chef is a fuckin pro though

>>8183351
SO IS MINE. THAT DOESN'T MEAN HE ISN'T A SUGAR MONKEY

>>8177350
290 houston? I'll see you some time.

bump

>offer to work dish 3 to 11 because someone called-off
>get stuck on tank rather than 3-sink
>gently remind the other two dishtards that i'm leaving early and they should prepare for that eventuality
>they don't
>i jam as much as i can and bail at 11 after the chef leaves
last time i offer up my day off to help either of those people

>>8178272
I only get 2 towels fuck

I do not envy fine dining cooks

I love cooking, I really enjoy cooking for my family and friends and it's one of the reasons my wife married me but I spent just under a year as a line cook at the (once) new Alamo Drafthouse in Austin.

Cracking out 4 hours of prep followed by 9 hours on the line making 200-300 pizzas a night and then spending 2-3 hours cleaning a giant kitchen in time to get 6 hours of sleep, maybe 2-3 hours to myself in the morning and then do it all again killed my drive to become a chef.

I ended up with a lot of great experience cooking and understanding what real work was and I have immense respect for anyone who can do the same thing with much higher standards of quality.

>>8185706
I think that the difference is that fine dining cooks can fulfill their passion in the dishes they serve, even if they didn't necessarily come up with the idea behind the dishes, just because the food is that good.

>>8182307
you cook in fine dining as requested? lol wtf does that even mean. home cooks make me laugh. you may be a chef in your own home but have no place arguing with people who actually practice the trade. it's hilarious when we get people like you that apply in our kitchen. watch em crash n' burn

>>8185706
for me personally, what makes me gravitate to fine dining places is the high standard of employees. being a part of the brigade. you don't get stuck carrying some shithead's weight that management won't fire. There's no pussy footin' around in a nice restaurant and it makes the days that much better

Are salty dishwater pirates allowed?

I have some good nightmare dishpit stories if anyone is interested.

>>8185961
sure. fire away.

>>8179368
It does vary, but most places it's at least a violation, and as said earlier some places just having the machine is an automatic fail.

>>8180433
Not really. Odds are your heat level is never high enough to get out of the 'danger zone' so in many cases cooking sous vide is considered even worse than just straight compression.

Old duck dish, I really liked how simple this one was, but the colours were so nice.

pork dish with some asian influences. Stirfried cucumber, cucumber powder, steamed bun.

>>8185961
Man, dish is always welcome. The kitchens real MVP.

>>8186468
Did you plate that?

>>8176739
I'd rather look at autistic shit creations than fucking lettuce

>>8186321
>Be me
>First night of work
>Friday night, festival going on near restaurant
>200 ticket night (40-50 is normal on a busy night for my kitchen)
>No experience in a kitchen, no experience dishwashing
>Come in to work
>They throw me in the pit, no explanation beyond "wash shit and put it away"
>Pit has only a 3-bin sink and no washing machine
>Hand wash like 25 bus tubs straight, while cleaning pans and cooking stuff inbetween
>Fucking launch into it and just go all the fuck out
>Work from like 5pm to 2am straight washing shit at full speed, no idea what i'm doing, no breaks
>Finally calms down
>Feel like i'm going to die from exhaustion
>Go join fellow coworkers in the kitchen
>Get free food and a couple nods of approval
Was a good night. I've gotten waaaay better since and I could get out by 1am on a night like that now. Apparently the last couple dish fags they hired all quit after one night like that so I got instant respect even though I fucked up a lot.

>>8188118
Thanks. I have a lot of respect for the chef and the cooks though, they can juggle like 10 tickets at the same time without fucking up.

On a side note, I got bumped to prep tonight for the first time ever. They hired some new dish fag and put me on prep work since one of the normal prep guys is gone for a few weeks. It was fun but I had some minor fuck ups a couple times.

>>8182125
any dipshit who can read and with slight kitchen knowledge can cook a meal and make it look presentable

it takes a COOK to prepare and fire a board of tickets with multiple courses

and yes salt matters; too much you ruin the food
fine dining waiter reporting, thanks cook bros, lmk if you want a coffee or a soda on my way back

I used to work as a line cook until I realized what I loved about cooking was making food for my family and friends.

>>8188869
Try to keep the place you work clean and don't be afraid to ask questions when its not busy. Good luck faggot.

Head chef had to go down to Chester to help his brother move out of his family home so I ended up doing 80 covers on sauce and the pass by myself. And we started a new menu this weekend.

It was a fun night.

>>8189680
Dump some pics I guess

>>8189689

>>8189691

>>8189692

>>8189693

>>8188869
Man fuckin, its one way or the other with new dish guys. Either they bust ass and it works or it doesnt and nothing is ever clean or where its supposed to be.

>>8189624
>lmk if you want a coffee

we're not allowed to suck down the illy brand coffee from FOH any more because we were burning through 1-2 $95 canisters a day

>Either they bust ass and it works or it doesnt and nothing is ever clean or where its supposed to be.
you would never even notice because i would be the one fixing, replacing, re-cleaning and generally ass-wiping & babysitting the retarded dishmonkeys. this is also why i'm on garde manger more than dish now.

>they don't inspect the plates after they pull from the machine and again before they stack them for service
ITS NOT THAT HARD GUYS WHAT THE FUCK
EVERY TIME IM ON GARMO I HAVE A STACK AND A HALF OF DEAD PLATES FROM EVERY SINGLE RESTOCK BECAUSE YOU CANT BOTHER TO INSPECT YOUR WORK