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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Chopping that much parsley is hilarious, because there's a robot coupe blade for that, which has got to be cheaper than wasting labor on chopped parsley. I don't work for that kitchen any more. That place was a dumpster fire that I couldn't see because the money was so good, especially when I became a waiter.
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Jul 24, 2015 18:52
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Calamari. Taking a 40 lbs box of whole squid, ripping out the tentacle, cutting out the mouth, removing the feather from the body and then slicing them... For loving ever. Also raw squid no matter how fresh smells like rear end juice and armpit sweat. Its loving horrifying and gently caress calamari forever.
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Jul 24, 2015 19:57
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Making gumbo from scratch with the roux and all that. Not really sure why; we use bagged gumbo now and if we ever went to a from-scratch recipe* I'd probably just walk out, go home, and start moving my stuff from my apartment to under a bridge. None of the prep we have at this place is hard; it's all very easy recipes, we just choose within the store to do it the hardest way possible within that framework. *This is frighteningly possible given that executive management can't decide whether they want fine dining, fucker-lickin' casual, or somewhere in between so they just throw concepts from all of those into one big blender and blame subordinates when it doesn't work. (corporate.txt) Also cilantro. I worked at Bar Louie years ago (don't work at Bar Louie unless you want inspiration to become the Stephen King of restaurant books) and we used cilantro in seemingly every single recipe. I'm pretty sure we were supposed to sprinkle some in the dang toilet before we flushed. Anyway, I hated cleaning bunch after bunch of cilantro because it was the eighth deadly sin to get so much as a nanometer of stem in anything and our cilantro came in off the truck as limp as anything I've ever seen, making it incredibly tedious to do properly. I just pulled some fresh, vibrant, wonderful cilantro leaves for a recipe at home last week and it was the easiest thing in the world but that limp stuff was terrible. Chef De Cuisinart posted:If only you knew about pectinex when you had to do that, LOL. I've only done box lunches once, for a hospital network event. Just over 1k people, I think, but we spent a couple days rotating shifts of making all but the sandwiches, which we made assembly-line style as people chose their meats at the actual event. Doing 300 solo in one day would be unimaginably horrible. Errant Gin Monks posted:Calamari. 
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Jul 24, 2015 20:02
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Vorenus posted:
Bar Louie in Austin? What's up Austin bro!
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Jul 24, 2015 20:42
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Bar Louie in Austin? What's up Austin bro! Bar louie is everywhere homie.
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Jul 24, 2015 21:09
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My first kitchen job was at a Red Lobster where I would have to split, peel and devein at least 50 lbs of shrimp a day. I'd run the shrimp through a splitter (kinda like a meat slicer with a track to guide the shrimp into the blade) into a sink full of ice water then fish them out and peel and pull the poo poo out of them. By the end, my hands would be so numb that I could probably plunge them into the fryer and often thought of it as a viable alternative to peeling more shrimp.
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Jul 24, 2015 22:53
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Rockzilla posted:My first kitchen job was at a Red Lobster where I would have to split, peel and devein at least 50 lbs of shrimp a day. I'd run the shrimp through a splitter (kinda like a meat slicer with a track to guide the shrimp into the blade) into a sink full of ice water then fish them out and peel and pull the poo poo out of them. By the end, my hands would be so numb that I could probably plunge them into the fryer and often thought of it as a viable alternative to peeling more shrimp. this was it for me too, and I only had to do ~20lbs every couple days. and also picking through jumbo lump crab. jesus loving christ it's so ridiculous and you're always going to miss a transparent piece of shell or something and get loving chewed out by mr james beard himgoddamn self
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Jul 24, 2015 23:09
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Well it's been a year and my restaurant experience may be coming to an end. We had an awesome slap fight between the head bartender and me about bussing. The bartender last night got mad my cook missed a table outside and threw the plate, the napkins and the uneaten food and some gum wrappers and poo poo in the kitchen triple sink and left it there. When I mentioned it they said "it's not our job, even though we receive the tips for you cooking and serving the food," the owner of the bar backed them up. So I told them I was a bit disheartened considering I do all kinds of things, make 6 flavors of simple syrups from scratch, make 300 Jell-O shots a week, run to restaurant depot to buy them supplies and drop off things at the other bar they own for them. I don't need to do this but I want to be helpful and it's not too much to ask the people receiving tips to scrape a plate and throw it in the bus tub. Anyway we have a meeting next Friday with me and the bar owner and we will see how it goes.
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Jul 24, 2015 23:22
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Bar Louie in Austin? What's up Austin bro! Nope. But based on a quick google of yelp reviews, they're all the same.
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Jul 25, 2015 00:35
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Well it's been a year and my restaurant experience may be coming to an end. We had an awesome slap fight between the head bartender and me about bussing. The bartender last night got mad my cook missed a table outside and threw the plate, the napkins and the uneaten food and some gum wrappers and poo poo in the kitchen triple sink and left it there. When I mentioned it they said "it's not our job, even though we receive the tips for you cooking and serving the food," the owner of the bar backed them up. So I told them I was a bit disheartened considering I do all kinds of things, make 6 flavors of simple syrups from scratch, make 300 Jell-O shots a week, run to restaurant depot to buy them supplies and drop off things at the other bar they own for them. I don't need to do this but I want to be helpful and it's not too much to ask the people receiving tips to scrape a plate and throw it in the bus tub. Wait, just like that? Over a loving plate? jesus christ dude
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Jul 25, 2015 08:07
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mindphlux posted:this was it for me too, and I only had to do ~20lbs every couple days. and also picking through jumbo lump crab. Use a blacklight, bro.
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Jul 25, 2015 08:11
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Willie Tomg posted:Wait, just like that? Over a loving plate? jesus christ dude I know right? But it's something I'm pretty much resigned to. The new head bartender hates having to deal with food and she is the owners wife's best friend so it is what it is. I would actually be happy calling it a day there and moving on. It's quickly becoming clear to me that they don't consider me a partner and they look at me as the kitchen guy regardless of the 20k I dumped into this thing. It is what it is. I thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience no matter how expensive it was.
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Jul 25, 2015 09:01
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Errant Gin Monks posted:I know right? But it's something I'm pretty much resigned to. The new head bartender hates having to deal with food and she is the owners wife's best friend so it is what it is. I would actually be happy calling it a day there and moving on. It's quickly becoming clear to me that they don't consider me a partner and they look at me as the kitchen guy regardless of the 20k I dumped into this thing. It is what it is. I thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience no matter how expensive it was. Every time I' worked in a restaurant where any kind of manager avoided dealing with food/kitchen issues the place has been a loving disaster. I can think of at least two owners I know whose attitude was "I'll watch over the service and just look at the kitchen from the outside." To work a few rushes BOH should be a prerequisite for any kind of industry supervisory position, just so that the "head server" or "head bartender" or whatever can have some perspective on how the whole machine functions before telling the BOH workers how to do their jobs. Ditto to any place in which the owner's SO has any influence on the operations. That actually might be the most corrosive influence I ever had to deal with.
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Jul 25, 2015 13:30
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Our owners SO will pop in from time to time when he's out of town, and we do just fine  (our owners are mostly hands off and run like half the restaurants downtown. They pop in every now and then for a bite and make sure everything is going smooth)Agreed on the having to work a rush BoH even if it's just expo, just to see what it's like and see that when we're slammed, and tickets are taking for loving ever it's usually because of something beyond our control like we have 7 people in the dish pit and we still have no plates to put poo poo on, or we have the grill full with 9oz ribeyes and have nowhere else to start cooking things. It's nice where I work because we usually have 2-3 FoH managers on and at least one of them is helping expo.
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Jul 25, 2015 13:56
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AA is for Quitters posted:Our owners SO will pop in from time to time when he's out of town, and we do just fine Yeah that's not what I mean by influence. Have you ever experienced meddling like "give my best friend a supervisory job" or "cook this food for me which I brought from outside the restaurant and serve it to me at the bar during the middle of your rush" or "I'm going to come into the kitchen and tell you how to do your job because I've fed a family of 4 for 13 years and so my skills are directly transferable to doing a wedding banquet for 190 people." It's terrible because it's literally impossible to win, no matter ridiculous the request, when you're facing the owner/manager's husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. Every time I've said no to something like that I've had the boss coming back to me 30 seconds later telling me to do it. It's symptomatic of bad management practices, really.
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Jul 25, 2015 14:42
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This wasn't that bad, but I used to have to slice like, five 6"-deep hotel pans worth (after slicing) of ciabatta every shift, and while I never cut myself with the bread knife the bread crust itself tore my knuckles open on more than one occasion. Prepping butter/jam ramekin trays wore on my psyche more but I'm glad that was the worst of it.
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Jul 25, 2015 15:36
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I think shelling fava beans is the most psychosis-inducing prep job I have done. I hate them so loving much.
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Jul 25, 2015 18:40
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CommonShore posted:Yeah that's not what I mean by influence. Have you ever experienced meddling like "give my best friend a supervisory job" or "cook this food for me which I brought from outside the restaurant and serve it to me at the bar during the middle of your rush" or "I'm going to come into the kitchen and tell you how to do your job because I've fed a family of 4 for 13 years and so my skills are directly transferable to doing a wedding banquet for 190 people." It's terrible because it's literally impossible to win, no matter ridiculous the request, when you're facing the owner/manager's husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend. Every time I've said no to something like that I've had the boss coming back to me 30 seconds later telling me to do it. It's symptomatic of bad management practices, really. Yeah GTFO if there for your own sanity.
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Jul 25, 2015 19:08
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AA is for Quitters posted:Yeah GTFO if there for your own sanity. Oh yeah I did, this was in the past (and all three were different places). Two of those places shut down (big surprise) and I have no idea the status of the third.
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Jul 25, 2015 19:37
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quote:
This too. Especially because our dishes take forever to come in, and dishpit keeps breaking ramekins. So we went from being able to do five trays to being able to do one and a half. So we have to do more halfway through the night.it sucks when you're getting slammed and servers are hounding you for more butter
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Jul 26, 2015 01:12
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If anyone's living in or willing to move to the DC area: this evening I learned of a personal chef position opening up for a loaaaaaaaaded family in McLean VA. Their departing personal chef is opening a restaurant on the west coast, hence the opening. One of my best friends is the wife's personal trainer which is how I came to hear about it and she asked me if I knew anyone... well maybe not personally, but y'all goons are good people. I don't know much about it other than it's crazy good money and that it's not a live in position. Oh apparently this would be personal meals and food for parties of 100+ stupid rich people nearly every weekend. PM me if you want me to put you in touch.
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Jul 26, 2015 01:15
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Shooting Blanks posted:Manager told her NOT to go through workman's comp? Is she privately insured? He probably just opened himself and the establishment up to a lawsuit in doing so, that was smart. Did anyone witness him say it? No fuckin kidding. She has a legit claim and should pursue it.
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Jul 26, 2015 02:12
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I had a weird food moment today -- I was at an engagement party (????) for which MY GIRLFRIEND is the maid of honor, and it was lunch/brunch time, and there was an omelet station. And I remember the times where I worked omelet stations random silly parties, and now I was a patron.
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Jul 26, 2015 02:19
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Turkeybone posted:I had a weird food moment today -- I was at an engagement party (????) for which MY GIRLFRIEND is the maid of honor, and it was lunch/brunch time, and there was an omelet station. And I remember the times where I worked omelet stations random silly parties, and now I was a patron. Ugh, omelet stations. As a dishwasher, I don't have a worst prep story. But in my cafeteria-style place of work, I fuckin' hate the omelet stations. Fifty kajillion small cups coming from the kitchen, all with bits of ham and cheese shreds glued on with a veneer of egg. You rack up 20 of them, but ain't no rinsing, they're all face down. So about a quarter of them come out the dishwasher with schmutz still on 'em. Changing topic: I don't get to eat any the food we serve, because of the way our serving/KP/cook schedules run. (I can elaborate if anyone's interested.) So when I get home after an 11 hour shift fueled entirely by Gatorade and a pb&j I brought from home, I just want to eat my own body weight in food and go to sleep. Tonight I made hamburgers, and discovered that a 50/50 mix of ketchup and Angry Woman sauce is the best hamburger condiment ever. Who's the goon who wants to do fun things, but the patrons all want bar food? Steal this idea, please now I'm going to pass out, got another double tomorrow edit: if you're looking at the time and saying "man, what a pussy": I wake up at 4am for my doubles JacquelineDempsey fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Jul 26, 2015 |
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Jul 26, 2015 02:56
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Got loving caramel on my hand when I was making brittle. gently caress sugar.
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Jul 26, 2015 05:10
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Holy poo poo the month in which I come home for 8 hours, then go back to work every single day to gently caress up two or three stations instead of my usual one or two is finally almost over. the weekend for which i have held in my mind for an entire month as my reason for living is approaching and I just realized: im a nonfunctioning idiot who has nothing to actually do if I'm not at work
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Jul 26, 2015 06:12
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Omlette stations are the worst, at least we get paid for them now. I remember having to shell(?) like 150 pounds of chestnuts, that was annoying as hell.
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Jul 26, 2015 13:36
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I think the worst task I ever had was making 4000 box lunches for a golf event at a country club.
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Jul 26, 2015 13:46
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EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:My accountant was a butcher for like 20 years before he changed careers, and we basically just sperg about food the entire time we talk about anything. It's kinda funny. It's kind of hilarious in my new IT gig, I work with mostly ex-tradesmen. Just on my shift I've got a retired machinist fixing computers because his knees gave out on him, a journeyman electrician, and two other long-term ex-cooks. Much of the rest of the staff is all Guard or ex-military. It's kind of hilarious.
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Jul 26, 2015 15:27
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Thoht posted:So! What are the things you all hate to prep the most and never want to see again? Production batches of croissant dough without a dough sheeter or cold table. That poo poo is tedious, and you have to keep running it in and out of the cooler between roll-outs so the butter stays solid. I used to do a couple hundred pounds of it a week, and I don't miss it in the slightest.
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Jul 26, 2015 15:31
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Jul 26, 2015 15:38
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Over in the Anti Food Porn thread, this got linked: http://wewantplates.com/ As a dishbitch, I really, really want to know how some of these places deal with that end of serving food on weird things. Do you run giant rocks and skulls thru a machine, or do them by hand? What about the handbags and shoes? Like I'm gonna dunk this thing into the 171F sterilizing rinse water in the triple sink and get it out without 2nd degree burns and a hernia:   Seriously, though, if any of you industry goons know someone who works at one of these places that serves food on non-plates, I'd honestly like to know how dishpit handles that stuff. Suddenly, dealing with 56 kajillion salad bar cambros getting washed after every change of service doesn't seem so bad.
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Jul 27, 2015 01:18
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Simoom posted:Holy poo poo the month in which I come home for 8 hours, then go back to work every single day to gently caress up two or three stations instead of my usual one or two is finally almost over. the weekend for which i have held in my mind for an entire month as my reason for living is approaching and I just realized: im a nonfunctioning idiot who has nothing to actually do if I'm not at work I know the feeling. Next Sunday will be my first day in 8 weeks when I don't have to be at either job, and I have no loving clue what I'm going to do with it. A part of me wants to just stay home and drink heavily, but I work the next day so that's out. Maybe I'll get a one-day fishing license and head to a nearby lake, then I'm at least doing something else in addition to drinking. On the plus side, I was BSing with one of the chef owners at the bar next door after my trial shift on saute station, and he drunkenly said he'd give me a raise of "at least a dollar." I blew it off as just drunk talk, but the next day (payday) he said I'd notice an increase to my hourly on my next check. So that kicks rear end.
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Jul 27, 2015 02:05
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infiniteguest posted:Use a blacklight, bro. holy goddamn I'm retroactively angry for no one at that place knowing about this.
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Jul 27, 2015 04:38
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Okay, I have been reading this thread for no kidding, for 6 hours now, its just that good...( this is my only day off this week..) I work for a grocery store that is lucky to have a prepared area in which they do employ CIA chefs, as well as peps that they think have talent... But reading posts I do relate to some of them, I work with some of these dumbasses, deal with stupid customers, and deal with trolls(before you ask, my hubby likes to do it once in a while, although never in SA)I have been laughing so hard at some posts, and been cheering for others!! Please keep this up, love hearing the messed up stories and yes, loving some of the drama.. So my personal thing.. I cook Asian food, nothing pisses me off more than is there msg in your food? Ummm..no, And as far as I know , there is no such allergies as an msg allergy, it will make you thirsty and at the most give you a headache, but that's the only thing...I work for a company that is very anti preservative, very local ingredients, and very family focused... With that being said the only msg is the natural occurring in the fish sauce we use for a few dishes.... And it seem only older peps are the ones who ask this, 20 somethings I think are not aware of this, that I know of. Seriously, the peps who bust their rear end to be in this industry and love it, more power to you, you have to be mascostist to work in it, others if you don't like it get out... Thank you guys for a much wasted but great day off, reminded me of why I got in this industry, I love cooking food so peps can enjoy it!
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Jul 27, 2015 05:20
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JacquelineDempsey posted:As a dishbitch, I really, really want to know how some of these places deal with that end of serving food on weird things. Do you run giant rocks and skulls thru a machine, or do them by hand? What about the handbags and shoes? They hose down the rocks and pleather, maybe dunk 'em in the sani sink if they're sticklers, let them air dry, and then lie about it when the inspector rolls around. It ain't rocket surgery. e; to be charitable, the rock is probably treated in food grade shellac. but yeah, nothing like an animal skull or fashion accessory can survive conscientious dish pit conditions. No owner or chef who serves a truffle trio on 20 kilos of igneous rock, or in a designer Dior, gives a gently caress about respecting the food or their customers. And: get this: no customer who goes in for it deserves respect. Willie Tomg fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Jul 27, 2015 |
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Jul 27, 2015 05:54
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Seriously what the gently caress is that poo poo?!? Am I suppose to feel important or special because I'm eating off a rock? Anyways. If you know someone who works for Pepsi please tell them their Lipton Tea bag in the box is complete poo poo. No idea why we keep using it. Complaint after complaint. Bring it to table and its sent back. For the love of god get actual tea bags!
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Jul 27, 2015 06:20
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A Man and his dog posted:Seriously what the gently caress is that poo poo?!? Am I suppose to feel important or special because I'm eating off a rock? nah, you're supposed to feel rustic. you're supposed to feel like a dirty primitive eating off a food-treated rock. and then paying top dollar for the priviliege. bullshit food pres like that is basically a BDSM club for sexually conservative urbanites with more money than brains. they don't really have the firmest idea of what they like, so they want someone they deem an authority to tell them what they really need. and then they want to be punished for it.
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Jul 27, 2015 06:59
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A Man and his dog posted:Seriously what the gently caress is that poo poo?!? Am I suppose to feel important or special because I'm eating off a rock? Eat Paleo
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Jul 27, 2015 07:36
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lovely cook gave 2 days notice. I'm glad he's finally leaving, but does he really have to do it when half the kitchen is out on PTO?
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Jul 27, 2015 12:31
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