ask me your cooking questions

[Anonymous No.10102116]

I'm a line cook at semi fine dining restaraunt and I see lots of people commenting on things they find hard to understand in recipes from YouTube cooks and bloggers and such. I remember having the same confused questions before I worked in a kitchen and I just want to help some cozy bros out, so ask and I'll answer what I can.
Pic related, something I made at home a few months ago, I know it's nothing special but just to prove I'm not actually a retard. Well not fully at least.

[Anonymous No.10102226]

>>10102116
Maybe this isn't the kind of question you were going for, but I'll give it a shot. What's the secret to good fried rice? I'm having trouble getting a good texture. My rice usually ends up kinda mushy when compared to a Chinese restaurant or something. I let my rice chill in the fridge overnight and I use an electric wok (which isn't the best, but it's what I have atm). I can never get that nice golden-brown color either, but I suspect that's a sauce thing rather than a cooking technique thing.

[Anonymous No.10102256]

>>10102226
I'll be honest with you ive never even thought about cooking fried rice but if I had to speculate, you probably need to undercook your rice a little since it will absorb more moisture while frying, which might help reduce the mushy texture. Also I would guess you aren't starting with a really hot pan. as far as colour goes I always assumed that was just a stock soy sauce blend.

[Anonymous No.10102274]

>>10102256

>colour
>ou

Move along folks, nothing of value to be gained from this thread.

[Anonymous No.10102283]

bruh this board is for the McChicken

[Anonymous No.10102294]

>>10102116
Do you know how to make a burger from scratch that tastes similar to a Big Mac?

How do you get fries to taste as yummy as McDonald's does?

[Anonymous No.10102335]

>>10102294
This is actually a question very relevant to me. Our restaraunt actually has a home made Big Mac on the menu. The bun is way different, made in house and is firmer then mc dicks but for the meat we use just straight local (I know that sounds cliche and gay) ground beef, no added fat or spices or anything. For each patty just flatten out two 3 oz pieces of meat. Then you just salt and pepper them and grill them in a pan, not on a grill. The sauce is the biggest part, I usually just go by taste but I think the recipe for it is 2 cups of mayo, 1/4 teaspoon of onion powder and garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of mustard, 2 teaspoon of relish, 1 teaspoon of vinager and a dash of Browne sugar. As far as the fries go I can't say how they do them, but I have actually harvested potatoes that are used in Canadian McDonald's.

[Anonymous No.10102370]

I'm a line cook looking to move up in the world. Normally I move jobs when a cook I work with quits and offers me a job but I want to move up on my own.
How would I get work in a more upscale establishment, provided I have good knife skills, education and years of experience?

[Anonymous No.10102378]

Whats the best way to get my mushroom sauce a thicker texture?
Mine is much more watery

[Anonymous No.10102402]

>>10102370
apply someplace nice
high end seasonal resorts are a good start. Then once you've got something decent on your resume and a recommendation from someone respectable you can go wherever you want.
what part of the country are you in?
Where ever it is, follow the money.

Also all the best restaurants are in NYC or Chicago or DC, so if your aiming for the top you'll have to move.

seriously like every respectable restaurant has a careers page, do you know how to write a decent resume?

[Anonymous No.10102413]

>>10102116
what's the easiest recipes a brainlet can make?

[Anonymous No.10102419]

>>10102116
whats a good way to stovetop cook bone in pork chops.

[Anonymous No.10102424]

>>10102419
bone-in*

[Anonymous No.10102430]

>>10102402
I live in maryland, so I'm close enough to DC but I dont think i'm near that level yet.
Money isnt an issue, luckily.
Should I just walk in and ask for an application? All my other jobs I had before I even applied.

[Anonymous No.10102444]

>>10102256
Thanks, mate. Good thread, thanks for helping an anon out.

[Anonymous No.10102464]

>>10102430
no apply on the website
applications are for fry cooks, write a resume and a cover letter
A lot of larger, chef driven places don't mind training people up, I've worked with plenty of people who worked in shitshacks before

write something nice, check it twice, send it
http://theinnatlittlewashington.com

[Anonymous No.10102467]

>>10102464
oh I'm not op

[Anonymous No.10102476]

>>10102464
>>10102467
Unfortunately, I ride a bike everywhere so DC is a bit out of my range

[Anonymous No.10102488]

>>10102476
well if you're riding your bike to the Applebees at the mall you'll be working at the mall forever.
usually resorts have housing and transportation available if you're willing to move

[Anonymous No.10102493]

>>10102488
I'll look into it, I was more asking how to get a job at one of the nicer places in town.
My city has quite a few.

[Anonymous No.10102518]

>>10102226
My mom is chink. This is how you to an authentic fried rice:
- Eggs and tons of oil are mandatory for the most classic Chinese fried rice
- You may want to add MSG and/or soy sauce. Just a little bit of soy sauce, like few drops, will be enough to turn it golden brown.
- You may add anything else if you want, afterall fried rice is a leftover dish that you make so you don’t waste leftover food.

[Anonymous No.10102527]

>>10102518
Does your mother know her own son is referring to her with racial slurs?

[Anonymous No.10102533]

>>10102527
Call the PC police

[Anonymous No.10102534]

>>10102370
Hey op here, I'm actually no help in this question, I was a waitor for 7 years and this is my first cooking job, I only got it because our chef recognized that he could teach me as someone who will work their ass off to cook rather then try and improve one of his dumb ass cooks to be better. and granted we aren't a Michelin star restaraunt by any means, we just try to do finest we can.

[Anonymous No.10102537]

>>10102378
You will have to be more specific, what is it that you do now that isn't working?

[Anonymous No.10102541]

>>10102534
That's what I'm looking to work at. I want to work at a place with a chef who cares and where my work can be put on the menu.
I feel like a big fish in a small pond. I outcook everyone I work with by a large margin and I want to be challenged.

I'm a grad of a not so great culinary school, and I've been a cook for years now. I guess I feel like I'm failing my potential working in a pub.

[Anonymous No.10102546]

>>10102527
Yes. I often jokingly remind her she’s a chink, and she goes “Yes I am, and it’s the best that could happen to me”.

[Anonymous No.10102550]

>>10102419
Let your chop get to room temp, and make sure that Moro is dry, moisture makes it hard to get that sear. Get a pan smoking hot with a high smoke point oil and salt and pepper your chop and drop it in. As soon as it hits the pan lower your heat and if your using an electric stove top actually lift the pan off the burner so the heat lowers a bit quicker. Cook until it's nice and golden then flip, let the other side brown up then I would just throw it in a 350 degree oven and cook it medium to mid well and let it rest for like 20 minutes. I honestly find pork chops don't need a lot of fuss because they are so delicicious on their own.

[Anonymous No.10102565]

>>10102541
daily reminder that hollandaise should be yellow, not white

[Anonymous No.10102567]

>>10102226
Legit fried rice is hard to do at home. Speed is the key in that you're cooking the entire dish in a span of 2 and a half minute or so. The issue is getting a high enough heat to cook everything at the speed that you need to, by which I mean you need moisture to evaporate the second it releases from the rice/veg/meat/whatever which is what makes it mushy. The heat required for this is largely impossible to replicate with home appliances. Best you can do is just cook everything separate, do the rice, and add it all together at the end.

t. many a family meal cook

[Anonymous No.10102570]

>>10102541
See that's where I'm no help because my chef knew me as a person and knew my work ethic before training me. I don't know how you could really branch out to other places other then knowing cooks and chefs in your area. I basically just succeeded from working as fast as almost literally humanly possible and just showing that I really care about the food we make. Also I should mention I'm only a year in, and if your a culinary grad you definitely know more about cooking then me, but maybe not a better line cook.

[Anonymous No.10102576]

>>10102565
How would one even create white hollandaise? Either I'm being memes or people are actually retarded

[Anonymous No.10102584]

>>10102546
LOL, it almost sounds like flirting!

[Anonymous No.10102585]

>>10102576
It's risotto autist. I told him his hollandaise should be colored more gently and in true retarded fashion he assumed I meant it should be white.

[Anonymous No.10102598]

>>10102570
I'm a pretty good line cook, I've been doing it for 4 years.
Thanks anyways though.

[Anonymous No.10102630]

>>10102370
If you can honestly say you have education and years of experience and you don't know how to get yourself an upscale gig, you're either lying or you're a shitty cook either isn't aware of it.

Regardless, staging is the name of the game. Pick a restaurant, find a number to call and ask for either the exec's, cdc's, or a sous' email. Tell them you're interested, have experience, and are looking for a job. If they don't respond, send another fucking email. No restaurant in existence will ignore a possible new hire forever. If they ask for a resume and shit, just throw something together and keep emailing. Your goal is to literally get your foot in the door and show them what you're made of.

Getting the stage is only half the battle. Once you're in, they'll likely pair you with a line cook and they'll toss some work to do. Pay close attention to whatever they tell you to do and do it to the letter, because regardless of what it is you need to show everyone in the restaurant that you can do that guy's job, maybe even better than they can. You need to do it quickly, and more importantly, precisely. If you fuck something during a stage, you're more than likely written off as useless and wont get hired.

Regardless, whatever you're asked to do will likely be low impact and not exactly integral to the operation. Unless they ask you to start cooking things. I can not express this enough: if you do not know how to do something, don't pretend you do. There are fucking hundreds of ways to do everything and no one is expected to be an expert at all of them so there is no shame in letting them know you don't know how to do something they want you to do. This only shows that you are 1) willing to learn something new and 2) not going to be an asshole who will talk a big game and be shit at their job. I have worked with countless people who are absolute garbage cooks who got the job on a lot of talk of working for so and so at such and such restaurant.

[Anonymous No.10102642]

>>10102630
No no no, you misunderstand. I havent really tried yet, I was asking first.
I've worked in nice places, I just didnt do anything to get the job. A person I worked with had always went there and they just took me with them.

I took from this, be persistent and ask questions, is that about right?

[Anonymous No.10102652]

>>10102642
>so to get a job I should apply for a job?
dude I'm starting to put the pieces together here just go for it

[Anonymous No.10102653]

>>10102642
Yes, yes, and yes.
I don't know if you live in a big city or anything, but culinaryagents.com might give you some good info.

[Anonymous No.10102656]

>>10102116
hey OP, I've been trying to make a mushroom cream sauce for pasta and it just...is a failure. In taste mostly. tastes like shit. Where can I look for a decent recipe at least? Everything I find is basically 'use this canned shit' and I don't wanna do that.

[Anonymous No.10102664]

>>10102656
fresh mushrooms cook in butter on stainless till they stick to the pan add garlic deglaze with like sherry or whatever add more butter sprinkle flour add cream wa la

Salt

[Anonymous No.10102665]

>>10102652
My normal routine is to get a call saying I have a job if I want it, it's still a new thing to actually want a job and to have to work for it.

>>10102653
I've never heard of that site, I'll look into it. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.10102674]

>>10102664
Sherry? Wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks a bunch anon.
Also stainless pan of the year every year

[Anonymous No.10102683]

>>10102665
I understand your situation now. I know from experience how much cold calling restaurants for a job can suck so don't worry too much about it. Just do this >>10102630, stick to what you know, and don't get discouraged if you don't land the job.

Also, if they tell you outright that they aren't going to hire you, whether its they don't think you're right for the position or they don't have the space for you, always ask if they know someone who might take you. The culinary world is a surprisingly small world and everybody more or less knows everybody.

[Anonymous No.10102691]

>>10102683
I'll look around. I really appreciate it. I have a few places in mind already I'll look into.

[Anonymous No.10102694]

>>10102674
fresh mushrooms, NICE mushrooms, maybe expensive mushrooms, that's the key. Sherry is just a go to, its pretty classic. I also recommend fresh herbs right at the end. My advice is basic because good Italian is honest and simple.

[Anonymous No.10102705]

>>10102656
Unfortunately, trying to find good recipes when you don't already know how to do things is a serious chore as all the shitty sources are always the most publicized and the good ones are barely talked about. Cook books are always a prime source of information assuming you aren't reading a shitty one.

Best one I can recommend for general cookery, like making a mushroom sauce, would be alice waters' art of simple food or julia child's joy of cooking. Both are written in a way that doesn't assume the reader is an expert but doesn't dumb things down to a level of pouring canned shit on top of other canned shit.

Also, America's Test Kitchen is a pretty good source for recipes due to their in depth explanations on how and why to do things a certain way. Unfortunately, they're behind a pay wall and they fired Chris.

[Anonymous No.10102798]

>>10102116
nice of you to answer in detail op,
my question would be how well you can scale up recipes you do at home for a restaurant.
Basically im still thinking about opening a pho place one day, since im not in the US and it didnt really arrive here yet. But i still remember having a talk with a cook and he basically said that the recipes i do at home wont even taste similar after i cook them at a restaurant in 200litre pots, is that true?

[Anonymous No.10102853]

>>10102798
That issues usually comes from what you end up using for the scaled up product compared to the original. For example, lets say you use a specific brand of anchovies in a ceasar dressing you make at home. You need more anchovies to make more dressing that you need for your restaurant. Issue is, maybe for the amount of dressing you need to make that brand is too expensive and you need to use something cheaper. Or maybe the maker of those anchovies doesn't produce enough product to supply a consistent shipment to your restaurant. End result is you use something else your homemade dressing tastes a little different.

Now do that for every single ingredient.

[Anonymous No.10102878]

>>10102853
you got any experience with large amounts of clear soup in specific? Id imagine the main problem would be the heat distribution in a giant pot like that. Thanks for the answer

[Anonymous No.10103478]

Should I cook eggs with oil or butter?

[Anonymous No.10104771]

>>10103478
Butter, you fucking scrub.

[Anonymous No.10105923]

>>10103478
if you like your eggs with flavor, butter or bacon fat are the only way to go.

[Anonymous No.10107207]

>>10102567
>>10102518
Thanks, anons. Y'all the realest.

[Anonymous No.10107231]

>>10103478
If you like them soft boiled then use butter in the water.

[Anonymous No.10107558]

>>10102518
this all sounds like some good advice, but what if I wanted to make breakfast fried rice with bacon? do you fry the rice with the pork renderings or drain it and use something else?

[Anonymous No.10107573]

>>10107558
fuck yeah bitch
but honestly, cook the bacon in the oven, collect the drippings, cook some onions, mushrooms, peppers in the bacon fat pretty low, take em out, get it rippin, hit the rice in it real quick, then fold everything
cook eggs separately, in butter, French omelette style. Slice and fold in with everything else.

[Anonymous No.10107702]

>>10102274
Fuck off, OP's trying to be helpful while you're just a cunt.

[Anonymous No.10108714]

>>10102335
using straight local doesn't sound gay.