Cooks general

See
That second row from the right. A pan seared breast, which those are in the drawers. Lentils, melted leeks, crema, LJ, salt. Garnished with those radishes here and that sauce is a mustard jus thats sitting on the line staying heated.

Oh and mustard seeds which are third row over on the top and then chervril and fine herbs (terragon, parsley, chive, chervril). Which those fine herbs are top right.

chervil*

Heh, fair enough. I'm not trying to be a dick, btw.
I'm sure you can understand your section looks like larder/pantry whatever you wish to call it.

If you were on mains I'd expect to see a mise-en of sauces and veggies, that's all.

What's your role?

>dish no showed
>10 top shows up w/o reservation
>new waitress's first day, fucking up orders

it was hell
i am now plastered though and everything is okay

I run lunch at a fine-ish dining restaurant downtown where I live. There;s only 2 of us and a sous that run the service so we both get a couple mains and a couple of apps as well as salads that are sold as mains. Fairly limited menu.
Our pastry chef will put deserts together if they're ordered.
I run pasta side and the other dude gets saute which has the flat-top and fryer. He gets the burger and this weird version of a patty melt that uses a fennel sausage, and he tends to get just absolutely blown up/

Oh man, fuck that. We had a 17 top of straight up dude-bros show up randomly for their pregame for their bachelor party at our brunch service on sunday. Openly sexually harrassing the waitresses and everything. I think they racked up a 900 dollar tab including alcohol and everything.

Nice. Sounds like a cosy romantic place, especially with those small covers.

I have the unfortunate role of junior-sous, which essentially translates to "a CDP with a slightly fancier title that's now responsible for all the fuckups of everyone underneath him"

...I miss being a CDP.

Yeah, its a pretty cozy position. Full time mon-friday off by 4, full benefits.

Haha that sounds like our new sous. Our exec sous left and the PM sous took his position, so one of our better PM cooks got promoted and basically its just meant him having to come in earlier and do chef-prep and then still run a station for dinner service. I think this week he worked enough ours to be making enough under minimum wage.

hours*

It was so good I quit.

It's been a long time coming, but when the chef walks in and fires my only competent apps guy for not having his calamari in the window 90s after it being ordered (instead of... I dunno... putting his fucking phone down, muting that godforsaken timer, or being helpful in any way at all), and expects me to cover the slack while running the grill... fuck that guy. He can run the whole kitchen tomorrow. I'll snap up everyone by noon.

lol wat

One of my buddies is opening up a place. I was reluctant to help him out full time because... well... I had a full time job in a kitchen. Now that I don't, I'm in! I got four people from the old restaurant on board.

Taking the rest of the week off to prepare... drink... taking the rest of the week off to drink.

>not getting to work immediately

Good luck dude.

>Monday two weeks ago
>chill but steady day
>user we just sat a 22 and two 8s
>look at reservation sheet
>no covers for the night
>no prep was done already running low on the proteins
Some how me and other coworker got it all out in under 25.
Got fucking hammered that night.

bullshit day, worked 5AM to 5PM. currently at a disorganized catering company run by incompetent hacks. The kitchen manager threw the phone at the wall and walked out today.

There's nothing to really do until Sunday. We're going over menu items and testing out viability - going over staff (because I've worked with a lot of the applicants), bringing the 100%ers over for idea/food/drink sessions tomorrow... This is the closest I've had to a vacation in years. I don't sit still.

Man you fucks are making me value the shit out of my job.

Work for my church on Wednesday's so I got up and threw 3 Boston butts in at 8 this morning, slept till 4.
I love BBQ day.

shit, my neophyte-restaurateur friend has a smoker. I wonder if he'd be willing to dedicate its use to the restaurant.

All he can say is yes or no.
Might want to offer incentive.
Free meal a week won't kill your bottom line

The dude runs the joint; it costs him to eat there whether he decides to charge himself or not.

Still... proper pulled pork and brisket. It kind of fits in with the ethos so far - well executed, properly plated, satisfying food.

I'm excited to see his take on porkolt tomorrow. It sounds like he's onto something ridiculous.

My bad thought you were saying you had a buddy with a smoker not the owner.
Go for it!

The owner is my buddy... basically means I get to jump from sous/grill dick to co-exec, and take the rest of this week to come up with ideas.

He's drunk right now, but he's offering me the option to throw 5% of my paycheque toward being a co-owner, up to 49% of the value of the restaurant. He wants to keep his smoker, but he's made a few (drunk... why couldn't he wait til tomorrow?) calls to get a vertical "stack" built next to the ovens. The catch so far is that apps boy (the lad who got fired yesterday) has to stoke it the day before our soft open, on film, wearing goggles and a conductor's hat, smeared liberally with charcoal/grease.

I guess I'm batting 100 today.

>catch so far is that apps boy (the lad who got fired yesterday) has to stoke it the day before our soft open, on film, wearing goggles and a conductor's hat, smeared liberally with charcoal/grease.

Haha sucks for him.

Will you be doing off site catering?
How much commission are you going to get for that, or have you not gotten into those details yet?

Mike will be into it, he's a weird kid. He'll probably ask for a few shots to send his girlfriend. She's a weird kid too.

I might be doing some catering, but it won't be a focal point of the restaurant. He's locked down a really good location - made the previous owners an offer they really couldn't refuse, and basically is going to do an upscale version of what they were doing for maybe a dollar more on the mains. The advertising's already begun, and we had people knock at the door while we were going over things today despite the place being really obviously not open. He's going to murder this.

I want to go over things tomorrow, when he's sober, but it basically sounds like quarterly profit sharing. The profit shared depends on my percentage of the total ownership. We'll have to set minimums, but the idea is that if we get into the black past whatever minimum point, 50% of the profit goes back into the restaurant, and the remaining 50% goes to the "investors" (James and myself, with the possibility of another co-exec if she says yes), with the possibility of sharing with the staff if we're feeling magnanimous.

Batting 100 is really bad. 1/10
Batting 1000 is what you're talking about

I'll bat whatever the hell I want.

Sounds like you got it figured out better then most new restaurants. Had a owner once who won big at the casino and always wanted to open a restaurant.
Needless to say it went shit quick.
Hope the best for y'all.
Its fun and exciting to open, but that first week of fixing the bugs and getting the line moving like it should is a bitch.

James worked at a few places with us (me and the thing with two X chromosomes, should she agree to be part of this). I worked with him in concert/convention production for a few summers - made a killing but couldn't handle all the driving. He sold his portion of his company to the other two guys, walked away with a few million, went to Vegas with 500K, left with twice that, and decided he'd like to work with we poor cretins again.

He's even got an exit strategy if this isn't looking good in six months - open a new production company, steal as many people from restaurants as he can, make me and the wench as wealthy as he is and we can retire and roam the earth in our mid thirties.

No one actually calls them butts. Also, leaving shoulder to smoke unattended for that long is shitty technique lol.
This sounds like bullshit.

James lucked out hard. He's semi retired in his late 20's - He basically wanted to own a restaurant before he turns getting jet lag and skin cancer into a full time occupation.

As for the 5% buy in. He's promised me 75K, probably frozen for a while. 5% of that, quarterly, is hardly financial security. Our first three months will probably not be profitable. If, by 6, he's not happy, he reinvests in audiovisual equipment and drags my ass along for the ride.

There is a dent line in those pans for a reason, don't overfill them.

Lol okay man

"Nominal capacity" is more for portioning/measuring than anything else. The pans/containers/cambros and their supports will take much more punishment than the weight of foodstuffs.

It's not a weight issue, but a temp issue.

Those dont stay in those pans for more than 3-4 hours but then back into deli's on a sheet tray in the walk-in.

In five restaurants over eight years, I've had one issue with this - tarragon infused pickled diced tomatoes for a special, in a plastic 1/3 pan with a false bottom, out of temp once.

Nothing stays above that line long enough to fall out of temp.

This was my set today

I'm about to graduate college and I'm not sure I'll get into my chosen field right away, so I might have to get a transition job to live off of while I hunt for opportunities. I like to cook for myself and others, but I don't want to make a career out of it. Would working in a restaurant be a good idea? What positions are there besides server, busser, and cook?

Cauliflower soup

Just be a server, dude

Im bored so im just posting pictures of dishes that we serve because fuck it.

This is the salmon toast. Fresh baked wheat bread from a local bakery that gets delivered every day, grilled, boursin, sliced avocado, cured salmon thats sliced super thin, greens tossed in our anchovy dressing, and 6 minute eggs, espelette spice. We had a ton of heavy shit on the menu so this is our attempt at something lighter. Its been selling pretty well.

I'm gonna be honest with you, my social skills are lacking

You're so fucking lucky you can just leave a stack of clean rags like that on your station. Anywhere I've ever worked those would be gone within 15 minutes when I had my back turned.

Dishwasher

This
It takes a special kind of retard with a tendency toward Stockholm Syndrome to want to be a chef/cook. Culinary art it usually is not - more akin to factory work more often than not... but set in the middle of a war. You'll get berated as a server, but it's not really your problem - it becomes the kitchen's problem, like how the chef's wife's infidelities are the kitchen's problem, much like the cocaine he's using to "cope".

I dunno about arbitrarily drizzling something that particular shade of off-white on a white plate.

This is our fried chicken dish, out of focus. Hind quarter thats been brined for 24 hours in a pretty traditional french chicken brine. Served with pretty standard cucumber salad. English cuc, radish, cracked castelvetrano olives, chopped onion mascerated in RW vin, dill, house yogurt, lemon juice and salt. The chicken gets deep fried and gets a drizzle of some spiced honey thats complicated AF to make and then some fresh picked thyme.

Everyone gets 5 towels to start and as long as youre not ignorant about it you really have free access to the towel stash. No one steals towels.

You know, chef today complained about the color of the dressing today too. For whatever reason the last batch is way darker than it should be.

Aint that the god damned mother fucking truth.

The first thing Jimmy Jamz brought up at the dinner food jam today - RE-FUCKING-SPECT.

If you can't show proper respect to the people you work with, you have no business working with them.

Looks like theft is going to be treated as such... which is another win for me today. Jimmy's brews are another win. These things have to be swimming in the 9% range, but they go down like 4's.

This the burger which comes off of saute which I dont work for lunch but I do for brunch.

Take a pic of the opposite side of the line.
Interested.

Health Dept hates the plastic inserts where I live. They say they don't get as cold as the SS ones. They say a lot of things, though.
Our health dept is... fucking brutal.

These fries are absolute bullshit to prep

Hope it tastes better than it looks

Ive got a picture of the whole thing

This is a pic of my side of the line with the french top and the pasta well and the plancha. You can see the other cold table thats saute.

From the other side looking towards my station. This has the flat-top and the fryer and the saute pan flames.

Please note that the plates dont go there anymore.

This is a pic on the otherside from a brunch service I ran.

We also get a goddamned window.

They don't transfer heat/cold nearly as well as metal ones. They're also nearly impervious to everything as long as you keep them in good shape. You just have to adjust temps accordingly - keep the stuff in the base from freezing and the tops from breaking 4C/40F.

I've always run at 1C. Things that don't get used much stay covered on one section, or stay in the base or walkin until the rush.

That's...

fuck, what's that called? It's in Mississauga right? By the mall? I ate there the last time I stopped in Toronto.

Hahaha in the US. Kentucky.

Looks exactly like the view across from the joint in Mississauga ON.

I'm glad J-san wasn't on his restaurant kick back then. He'd probably have bought the place on a whim and gambled it away or traded it for coke.

What is this thread? One guy posting pictures of a kitchen?

Looks breddy cozy.
Fuck you!
(also, quads)

For sure. It's nice to keep it well stocked with full backups of liquid and viscous goods as cold "batteries". I mean, if they go into the prep cooler cold, that is.

yeah, and 14 other people talking. 15 with you.

im bored. And thats the kitchen I work at.

I missed being bored.

... how the hell did I do this before? Please god let sleep take me soon.

Do you cook?

12-16h/day + cleanup, 6 days a week.

For two years until this morning.

Sounds fun.

Because head chef fired your app guy?

>work at place that sells french dips
>au jus is the powdered shit, just add hot water
>held hot in airpot
>pantry guy noob has ingenious way of not dirtying a saucepan to make it
>puts powder in airpot
>adds urn water
>unwraps a straw
>inserts it into the airpot
>blows through straw to mix ingredients

>server keeps his personal dinner under the heat lamp/pass through
>takes bites of it inbetween running food
>been told numerous times not to by chef
>still does it when chef isn't around
>get mad
>take his fork and put it in the deep fryer for a minute
>tong it back onto his plate with seconds to spare
>"ow FUCK!" -him
>"oh, yeah, that heat lamp gets stuff pretty hot, huh?" -me

I just started tossing his plate after that. Fucker.

>young user, working at a Perkins (like Denny's, chain restaurant)
>just got promoted from dishwasher to "baker"
>making quickbreads in the early AM for breakfast service
>it's all thaw/proof/bake add toppings
>tfw run out of tub of icing to frost cinnamon rolls
>dafty aspiring chef me, I got this one, yo
>grab soft butter from the line
>mix with powdered sugar, thinned with milk
>start to top the rolls with it
>keep tasting it while topping rolls
>hmm distinct flavor, can't quite place it
>w/e
>fill display case
>hours later dons on me
>let don finish
>then it dawns on me...
>soft line butter = garlic butter for garlic bread

It was slow. Got off early. Next week is my last week. Kind of sad cause I helped open the place, but I'm taking off on an adventure.

You don't mess with a shoulder at all while its smoking. Fucking with it with mops or whatever and opening your smoker letting off heat is why east coast/west coast bbq tastes like shit

See it happens

I agree, but I think you two might be talking about using different smokers.
Pellet fed with a auto temp setting, and Komodo and Green Eggs don't need to be watched. But the barrel type with side box and others do need babby sitting. I'm sure you both know this.

So now its "spice infused". Sell it nigga.

>No one actually calls them butts. Also, leaving shoulder to smoke unattended for that long is shitty technique lol.
Yes they do. Wanted to go for 10 but I'm lazy
Low and slow bitch

Not changing.
I will never eat at your shit hole

Yeah but you do have to attend to the fuel and temperature control and smoke level if you're not rolling with an electric setup that regulates everything on its own.

Wat
>fresh deli containers and 9th pans at leas the once a day isn't clean enough for you

Lol k.

For no reason (sorry, because 2.5 minutes had elapsed from chit time to window during a slow rush). There's a reason I snagged four of his best before noon - he sucks. I'd have taken more just to hurt him, but frankly I think I can do more damage by letting a lot of them stay.

Yeah, it happens when you have way too much of something on the line lol. We could have gotten away with a 1/9 pan with half of one for backup. It was fine for 5.5h, until it finally crept up to 3.9C (I checked before the 2h mark because I couldn't believe it stayed cold that long). Back under it went, next to the fan, and all was well.

Saving

>Breathing into food.

jesus fuck tell me where you work so I can get as far away as possible

any Austrlian chefs here? thinking of moving abroad from Sweden.

hows working in Australia in general?

The powdered au jus is what does it for me.

...