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Naelyan posted:We use Crisco in all of our pie/butter tart shells. Works just fine, and those things are flaky as poo poo. Just gotta make sure the shortening is nice and cold as you're cutting it into the flour so that you get small chunks. Crisco makes perfectly acceptable pie dough. However, be aware of other concerns, such as the use of bone char in processing cane sugar. This extends to brown sugar and confectioner's sugar as well. Many thickeners and starches use egg or gelatin as binders as well, and may not call them out well. I am firmly convinced that a cost-effective and edible vegan gluten free cake is humanly impossible. Ovo-lacto vegetarian is so much easier to deal with than vegan when it comes to baking.
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Jul 10, 2014 19:59
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Ahhhhh, Steritech (or whoever.) The last place I worked BOH was in a huge corporate dining room. We had an entire abandoned kitchen a floor above us. Steritech did/does not know about this empty kitchen. Steritech day would go as follows: The inspector would arrive at the front desk. The security guard was under strict orders to call the chef's office the second she was on her way to the upstairs waiting room and out of earshot. Having been notified of her arrival we would take every piece of small equipment that was not brand new or that looked even a little questionable (slicers, old dirty sheet pans, etc.) throw them on any available cart and send them up to the abandoned kitchen. Chef would get out the new tools he had been waiting for the occasion to put into use and put them where the old stuff was. Production of anything vaguely raw would be halted. A cook would be sent to walk (very slowly) to the waiting room to retrieve the inspector and escort her back to the kitchen by the longest reasonable-seeming route. All the while, anything that was not brand new or bolted down was being furiously relocated to the ghost kitchen, and there was a cook in each of the walk-ins double checking that everything was labeled. We always passed with flying colors. When the health department came? Same notification system but all we did was make sure everyone had a sani-bucket at their station. We always passed with flying colors.
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Jul 10, 2014 20:00
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Steritech is loving insane. We'd be due for a visit and would basically spend just as much time after close scrubbing down every single surface/cambro/knife/you name it as we would actually serving customers when we were open. A couple times I ended up staying until early morning because my manager was so anal about it. Rightfully so, since we never got a perfect score, which he was desperately hoping for.
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Jul 10, 2014 20:13
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Meanwhile I can't get my coworkers to mop the floor at the kiosk every night. I feel like they don't understand that we can indeed get shut down and all lose our jobs if they don't clean things to standard.
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Jul 10, 2014 21:31
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Liquid Communism posted:I am firmly convinced that a cost-effective and edible vegan gluten free cake is humanly impossible. Ovo-lacto vegetarian is so much easier to deal with than vegan when it comes to baking. Our pastry chef has this amazing vegan gluten free chocolate ganache cake that we charge a ton for. Almond flour, almond milk, coconut oil, I think he uses soy lecethin as a binder. I should really get the recipe for that. As for health inspections, man I do not want to talk about that. Engineering royally hosed us on maintenance/repairs, and the inspector didn't even check in, someone just found her in the upstairs abandoned kitchen. She gave us violations for equipment we don't even use.
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Jul 10, 2014 21:36
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Wroughtirony posted:health inspection stuff Hah, we do the same poo poo only the stuff goes on the roof. The Vacuum Sealer and the assorted immersion circulating stuff that we're not supposed to have is all on wheels to begin with so it's just 60 seconds from notice of inspection to stuff getting put out on the roof. Vacuum sealed food got thrown on a cart too, and inspection staff was always routed through the bar area first for time to get it out.
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Jul 11, 2014 00:06
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Vorenus posted:health inspection Back when i was still apprenticing at my first job (loved that place), we had a surprise inspection... an hour into a Friday night service. They prodded and pried and questioned poo poo and tried their hardest to find something, anything wrong. Such a hassle to have them around, getting underfoot and telling us we couldn't leave food out for x amount of time (something like an hour I think).. Said food which was about to hit a pan within minutes of being pulled out of the fridge. The one single thing they actually found which we had to change, after they'd searched and searched and bothered us and slowed us down for a good hour? Had to pull out the slightly rusty shelving from the coldroom.
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Jul 11, 2014 04:42
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Last time we had a health inspection the cook who was working solo that morning got in an argument with the inspector over whether or not you have to wash onions before you cut them. He doesn't think very highly of women so, according to eyewitnesses, he laughed at her like she was an idiot. That failed inspection cost us about $170 I believe.
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Jul 11, 2014 05:02
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Republicans posted:Last time we had a health inspection the cook who was working solo that morning got in an argument with the inspector over whether or not you have to wash onions before you cut them. He doesn't think very highly of women so, according to eyewitnesses, he laughed at her like she was an idiot. This is why I'm glad the managers deal with the Steritech people. I'm the smartass who would say something clever and piss them off. I will say I'm at least glad we aren't in the neighboring county. The main inspector there is a dick on wheels. I have seen him go through a stack of over 100 full-size sheet pans and cite a store for water nesting for a few drops of water. As in, count the number of drops on one hand from the entire stack. Another place (apparently) after their grand opening told him that they were too busy to deal with him and he would have to come back another time to inspect. I don't know if that really happened, but I do know that for the six months I was there (and assuredly after) he made life hell for every person in that store. They had to send a corporate chef out to try and fix things and honestly I don't even know how they're still open. He would come in with the fire marshal, get the store fined on every possible violation, even stuff like stuff on shelves being so many inches below the ceiling. He would make his rounds like a prison guard, gigging every last thing. People took writeups over trying to wash dishes with him around. He managed to get the place shut down twice, once was something way way way out of date in the walkin, IIRC he was able to document that it was the same product being served on the line. The other was a temp check that basically said our walking was a nice crisp 55F. Honestly the place was kind of a shithole, I think the only guests they get anymore are college kids who want to mix bottom-shelf drink specials with silk shirts and popped collars and open blouses and closed fists. I may have posted this before, but in case I didn't: I have a coworker who at the age of 30 did not know that when you spill three pounds of melted butter on a stove you do not follow it up with a gallon of water. This is a thing that was a surprise to a fully grown adult. Vorenus fucked around with this message at 07:17 on Jul 11, 2014 |
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Jul 11, 2014 07:11
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Vorenus posted:I may have posted this before, but in case I didn't: I have a coworker who at the age of 30 did not know that when you spill three pounds of melted butter on a stove you do not follow it up with a gallon of water. This is a thing that was a surprise to a fully grown adult.  I'm struggling to think of why a gallon of water on a stove would be called for in any circumstance. but out of curiosity, what do you do? I mean there's nothing really much better than throwing some towels on the poo poo and then follow up with some solvents, right? (and then the water. the gallon of water.)
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Jul 11, 2014 08:32
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A friend of mine told me that his gf recently set the stove on fire after she spilled oil all over the stove top and then cleaned it up with water and paper towels and then thinking it was fine tried to cook again.
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Jul 11, 2014 15:45
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Man, why would someone spill three pounds of melted butter? Why?  And on the stove? Did this happen? Did that guy really throw a gallon of water on the stove? I'm so sad right now. That's six cups of butter. Six.
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Jul 15, 2014 02:40
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Our pastry chef has this amazing vegan gluten free chocolate ganache cake that we charge a ton for. Almond flour, almond milk, coconut oil, I think he uses soy lecethin as a binder. I should really get the recipe for that. I'd like to try and make that, if you would be willing to share the recipe.
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Jul 15, 2014 05:04
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OP up walked out on us and his $80,000 job to get poo poo stupid drunk at another store in the chain before he was arrested and had restraining orders filed, and basically just went full-on fuckin' natters. That's the third one this year. I really need a new job.
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Jul 15, 2014 09:28
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Black August posted:OP up walked out on us and his $80,000 job to get poo poo stupid drunk at another store in the chain before he was arrested and had restraining orders filed, and basically just went full-on fuckin' natters. That's the third one this year. by OP I hope you mean turkeybone I knew he was hardcore like that 
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Jul 15, 2014 09:33
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mindphlux posted:by OP I hope you mean turkeybone Hahahahaha. I wish. I meant Operating Partner, aka the Head Manager of our shiny shithole. I could totally understand a major chef going balls-out berserk and doing that, and then just coming back the next day. But no, this was a big cheese. He hosed WITH the head chef, and karma bit him in his bald rear end nice and hard, far as I'm concerned. I'm disgusted I ever respected him.
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Jul 15, 2014 09:50
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Last night at the fast casual place I'm (still) working at, the head server for the night came into the kitchen while we were cleaning to say things like "This Place Is A Mess" and "I'm In Culinary School Right Now And My Chef Wouldn't Tolerate This Floor" and "Next Time I Close I'm Doing A Walk-Through Before I Let You Guys Go Home." Anyway, I hope she gets marooned on an island
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Jul 16, 2014 00:36
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You should probably clean your kitchen better. She sounds like an idiot (pffft, like a server has say on when you go home,) but you clean your damned kitchen.
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Jul 16, 2014 00:44
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Little Blue Couch posted:Last night at the fast casual place I'm (still) working at, the head server for the night came into the kitchen while we were cleaning to say things like "This Place Is A Mess" and "I'm In Culinary School Right Now And My Chef Wouldn't Tolerate This Floor" and "Next Time I Close I'm Doing A Walk-Through Before I Let You Guys Go Home." Anyway, I hope she gets marooned on an island Tell her to ask her "chef" in school about gaining respect and earning your keep before having any sort of responsibility and telling people what to do. Even if your poo poo's all nasty and hosed up she's not your loving boss. Tell her to take her head out of her rear end, and if she wants to be in charge of the BOH she can work her way up just like everyone else. It's not like there was literal poo poo on the floor, am I right? What does YOUR chef have to say about how clean the kitchen is?
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Jul 16, 2014 01:14
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I'm job hunting and have never had a job in a restaurant. I see a dishwasher position available and that doesn't really sound like a tough job. Every time I hear about dishwashing though people say it's a terrible job, so what exactly does that position involve and why do so many people I know consider it an awful job? Would there be any chance of upgrading from dishwasher to cook? My goony rear end would never need to interact with customers as a dishwasher right?
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Jul 16, 2014 01:49
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Sergeant_Crunch posted:I'm job hunting and have never had a job in a restaurant. I see a dishwasher position available and that doesn't really sound like a tough job. Every time I hear about dishwashing though people say it's a terrible job, so what exactly does that position involve and why do so many people I know consider it an awful job? Would there be any chance of upgrading from dishwasher to cook? My goony rear end would never need to interact with customers as a dishwasher right? You make minimum wage to stand still for 14 hours a day until 4+ am while your clothes are soaked and the skin on your hands is totally hosed because they're constantly in hot water. What's not to love?
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Jul 16, 2014 01:52
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If you're going to be a dishwasher, buy some good long gloves that have an elastic band so you don't wreck your hands with soap over 12 hours. But really, don't be a dishwasher, learn how to use a knife, look for a prep cook position. e: Also, tell that server to gently caress right off. And if your kitchen is dirty, loving clean it you slob.
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Jul 16, 2014 01:54
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EAT THE EGGS RICOLA posted:You make minimum wage to stand still for 14 hours a day until 4+ am while your clothes are soaked and the skin on your hands is totally hosed because they're constantly in hot water. poo poo, that sounds like a vacation compared to my temp agency factory job which was basically that with constant heavy lifting and I did ok there. What about the potential for advancing to a cook position? Chef De Cuisinart posted:But really, don't be a dishwasher, learn how to use a knife, look for a prep cook position. Can I get a prep cook job with no restaurant experience?
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Jul 16, 2014 02:02
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Little Blue Couch posted:Last night at the fast casual place I'm (still) working at, the head server for the night came into the kitchen while we were cleaning to say things like "This Place Is A Mess" and "I'm In Culinary School Right Now And My Chef Wouldn't Tolerate This Floor" and "Next Time I Close I'm Doing A Walk-Through Before I Let You Guys Go Home." Anyway, I hope she gets marooned on an island Laugh. Because getting butthurt is bad for your health. Just laugh in her face and say nothing. (And then clean your poo poo up.)
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Jul 16, 2014 02:10
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Wroughtirony posted:Laugh. Because getting butthurt is bad for your health. Just laugh in her face and say nothing. (And then clean your poo poo up.) We do keep our poo poo clean, I swear! I didn't say this part because it would have messed up the brevity of my bitching but she really had neither reason nor authority to come in with the attitude. She just has this really cool idea that the fact that she's a culinary student puts her a few steps above the non-classically-trained cooks in the kitchen. If she pulls it again I'm gonna take it up with the kitchen manager, because gently caress that.
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Jul 16, 2014 05:14
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Little Blue Couch posted:We do keep our poo poo clean, I swear! I didn't say this part because it would have messed up the brevity of my bitching but she really had neither reason nor authority to come in with the attitude. She just has this really cool idea that the fact that she's a culinary student puts her a few steps above the non-classically-trained cooks in the kitchen. If she pulls it again I'm gonna take it up with the kitchen manager, because gently caress that. Tell her to ask her chef how many of his students are still in the industry.
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Jul 16, 2014 05:46
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Little Blue Couch posted:We do keep our poo poo clean, I swear! I didn't say this part because it would have messed up the brevity of my bitching but she really had neither reason nor authority to come in with the attitude. She just has this really cool idea that the fact that she's a culinary student puts her a few steps above the non-classically-trained cooks in the kitchen. If she pulls it again I'm gonna take it up with the kitchen manager, because gently caress that. Oh I'm not saying she had any right to call you out and of course I have no way of knowing if your poo poo was clean or not. I'm just advocating a broader view of the situation. She'll get hers, and soon.
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Jul 16, 2014 17:14
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Sergeant_Crunch posted:poo poo, that sounds like a vacation compared to my temp agency factory job which was basically that with constant heavy lifting and I did ok there. What about the potential for advancing to a cook position? Work isn't a vacation. Basically working as a dishwasher will get you accustomed to how things work in the restaurant before you're trusted with the food. If you're an tough, fast worker who knows how to cook, go for it. If you're a timid pushover, maybe try something else. I recently stopped washing dishes where I work and started only doing prep shifts because holy gently caress I'm not doing that poo poo for 8 dollars an hour anymore. I've been paid more to work slower, easier jobs. gently caress, the last line cooking job I had was easier than that loving dishwashing gig. I've considered asking everyone in the back of the house to walk out to protest the wages during rushes before (after I became a cook there and started getting paid 9 like the rest of the line cooks). I've been there for almost 2 years and I'm getting the starting wage to check in the food/supply orders and sign checks and show the constant new people where the gently caress everything is. Is that normal? I'd be so stoked to do this lovely loving job if I was making 11. If I don't get the raise I need in a month I'm gonna have to walk, and I'm gonna try to time it so it fucks them over harder than it ever hosed me over to bike across the city in the pouring rain before dawn in the middle of January before my 10 hour shift followed by riding back across the city in the damp dark. The ungrateful fucks. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, Sergeant_Crunch, knock yourself the gently caress out. As for me, I'm gonna clean myself up tomorrow and look for that new job thing. It's time to type up that resume. Not every restaurant is hell, but some are. Some...some really are.
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Jul 16, 2014 18:36
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Wait, you took on more responsibility without demanding more pay up front? Never do that. It's the industry, raises are always 'right around the corner' until you quit.
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Jul 16, 2014 20:57
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mindphlux posted:by OP I hope you mean turkeybone Hahaha. If only. Nah I am living the dream right now -- I'm upstate for my two weeks mandatory vacation. Summer vacation that is.. it's one week as well in the winter. But I make less than 80k for sure (for now).
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Jul 17, 2014 06:19
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Willie Tomg posted:Fixed for every degree that isn't CS, engineering, or nursing. Hey now, nursing will break you before you ever leave school. Those 6 months are spent finding out if you can be put back together the right way  But reading this thread has made me really glad I decided against culinary school or a career in food. I absolutely love cooking, but there's no way I could deal with the poo poo I see mentioned in here.
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Jul 17, 2014 18:48
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Liquid Communism posted:Wait, you took on more responsibility without demanding more pay up front? No, what they did was start paying me 8.50, and then everyone's starting wage went up to 9. I was being paid 7.50 for dish, and when everyone's starting pay went up, dish pay went up to 8. I'm fairly certain the drunk guy who was doing prep before me was being paid 9.50 because there's a dollar pay increase after a year, and that was before everyone's starting pay became 9. I was sick of many things, but the most degrading thing was clocking in as dishwasher when I washed dishes and clocking in as prep cook when I was doing my prep cooking. That poo poo made me feel like I was less than nothing. My raise really is right around the corner or they're gonna be out of a guy who can actually do that silly job and put up with their bullshit. They don't ask me anything about cooking. It's the weirdest loving thing. They don't want any of my (good) advice. I'm humble, I don't brag about the things I know. I don't want to step on anyone's toes because I don't like belittling anyone. They're in charge, and if they want to know what I know about restaurants they'll have to pay me more. I swear the head chef asked how done hardboiled eggs have to be for devilled eggs. It's like, come on man, did you even read that recipe? gently caress. No. Wait. Why don't you just know the loving answer to that one? And the beans come in cans for whatever reason. That poo poo just don't make sense to me. The restaurant's always busy so the owners and bosses seem to be afraid of change, but the potential to make an assload more money is astounding. The only good thing I can think of is that the place has a reputation for being brutal among cooks in the city, so at least I have them on my resume.
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Jul 18, 2014 01:49
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Alobar posted:I swear the head chef asked how done hardboiled eggs have to be for devilled eggs. Well Alobar... so tell us - how done do hardboiled eggs have to be for deviled eggs? 
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Jul 18, 2014 06:20
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mindphlux posted:Well Alobar... so tell us - how done do hardboiled eggs have to be for deviled eggs? Let's consult the Moh's Scale of Hardness in this matter. The real question is the platonic ideal in regards to how much salt you can dash upon a hard boiled egg, or how many should go into a salad, or the ultimate balance of paprika-to-egg ratios.
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Jul 18, 2014 06:38
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Pretty sure the only proper deviled eggs are made with quail eggs. Make sure you're doing at least a thousand of them too. It'll be fun, I promise.
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Jul 18, 2014 06:57
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Sergeant_Crunch posted:poo poo, that sounds like a vacation compared to my temp agency factory job which was basically that with constant heavy lifting and I did ok there. What about the potential for advancing to a cook position? If you can dice a 5 gallon bucket of potatoes for home fries sometime this morning without chopping a finger off, you're basically good to go as a prep cook. Prep cook is a monotonous loving job but there's much worse things than monotony and if you've been temping at factories and/or warehouses then you've seen/felt a couple of them. Honestly some of my favorite culinary times have been with a knife, a disgustingly large pile of raw product, a neatly curated soundtrack and my poo poo completely free of people up in it. Dish pit... depends. There's dish pits and there's dish pits. Dish at an AM/Lunch cafe seating 70 tops? Neat! Scrub those teeny rear end plates! Dish at a hotel whose food and bev reciepts get into the millions? If it offered $25/hr with full benefits and annual raises I'd have to think about it. I might do it if they threw in a company car. Maybe.
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Jul 19, 2014 00:11
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Looks like I am back in the industry... I resigned from a director position at an IT company recently and decided to open a food truck, which when talking to a bar owner friend of mine turned into me also taking over his kitchen and helping him turn his bar into more of a gastro pub and basing the food truck out of that kitchen. Suddenly I'm busy again! The new launch should be in September.
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Jul 20, 2014 03:56
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Looks like I am back in the industry... I resigned from a director position at an IT company recently and decided to open a food truck, which when talking to a bar owner friend of mine turned into me also taking over his kitchen and helping him turn his bar into more of a gastro pub and basing the food truck out of that kitchen. What kind of food truck?
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Jul 20, 2014 04:49
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Republicans posted:What kind of food truck? Initially I was going for a braised meat and organ concept featuring pork belly and cheek, lamb breast, livers and beef hearts with seasonal veg and soups. As it is now becoming an extension of the gastro pub concept (which given the clientele will be a tamer more accessible menu) we are taking the same ingredient list and paring it down into things like pork belly banh mi, lamb breast french dips, pork cheek poutines etc. which should translate just fine to the truck and in fact might make it more accessible as well. Although I will carry chicken and quail in the bar I do not plan on serving poultry in the truck. Also the truck will not carry the burger menu the bar will have. We are still planning on making all pickles, mustards and sauces in house and he wants to begin infusing alcohols and bring in a mixologist to start creating a few drinks based into the menu concepts. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, and since I don't have to dump much money into a kitchen I'm able to save a significant portion of my severance to bolster my own finances while gearing this thing up. Edit: I guess I should clarify we were in the finance stage of the truck so we had business plans in place and investors lined up but hadn't moved forward yet with purchasing the truck or refurbishing one. Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Jul 20, 2014 |
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Jul 20, 2014 05:00
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I'm an adventurous eater, but even I would think carefully about buying organ meat out of the back of a truck.
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Jul 20, 2014 14:20
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