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HOORAY NEW THREAD! And congrats Wrought, hope the new digs work out for you. Are you having to move for it, or staying in the same area?
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Jul 17, 2013 23:59
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Wroughtirony posted:I doubt anyone will give a poo poo that I can work both sides of the swinging doors. If they do, that's their problem, because I was born this way, baby. ;-) I've never worked in a place where BOH would get pissy if they knew a FOH manager had worked BOH somewhere else. If you made the switch in the restaurant, then maybe, but I always love having FOH managers with BOH experience because they're the ones that more often than not will back you up when they know you're getting poo poo on, but not take any excuses if there's no reason for delays/whatever.
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Jul 19, 2013 07:42
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Dr. Garbanzo posted:The kitchenhand I work with atm does nothing but dishes and never tells you when he is behind you so you go to turn around and he's under your feet once again. It bugs the poo poo out of me but theres nothing I can say or do because he's a co-owner of the restaurant. This is insane. That's not a "this bugs me" kind of a thing, that's a "hey there, one of these days someone's going to burn you with a hot pan or stick you in the kidney with a knife" thing. Seriously, elbow him in the jaw or something some day so that maybe he'll get the idea that what he's doing could seriously injure himself or someone else, before someone does get hurt. Unless it's a slow kitchen with a huge line or something, I can't believe no one's ever hit him with an elbow or a plate of food or something already.
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Jul 20, 2013 12:15
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Wroughtirony posted:I generally stick with "behind" or "right here" unless I'm doing something that the Canadians have made PSAs about. Just because I want to be the first one to post this in the thread, if anyone new doesn't know what she's talking about, it's this: Kitchen One All of them (The rest aren't kitchen related). These aired on cable TV in Ontario for a while. I spliced the kitchen one into my last job's training slideshow after teaching WHMIS 20 times made me crazy. It was awesome. Wroughtirony posted:I'm in restaurant management Thunderdome. Congrats, and the best of luck. Trying to save (what sounds like) a sinking ship can be pretty loving stressful, but I'm sure you know that and I know you've been through worse. Make that place work, and don't take poo poo from anyone.
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Jul 22, 2013 23:48
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Squashy Nipples posted:Hey, me too! :FISTBUMP: Of course, I don't work in food... You can reduce the number of steps to make it a bit easier. In one pot, put your milk/cream/whatever and chicken stock on a low-medium heat, just to slowly warm it. You can start this going as you're chopping up your veg. In another pot, saute the onions in all of the butter, don't take them out of the pot. Once they've sweated out but are not completely cooked, add in your other veg (broccoli, carrots, whateverthefuck) and saute for a minute or two, you'll still want them crunchy (the timing on this will depend on veg and how it's cut). You can add in your spices at this point too, or at the end. Now will give your soup a bit more depth of flavour, at the end will make the spices a bit more pronounced. Once you're there, add in your flour. Turn down to a medium heat, stir like a loving madman (don't burn that roux!) until it's nice and thick. At this point, your liquid should be warm (but still below a simmer) and you can start ladling (or use a cup or whatever is easy, I usually grabbed a 1L measuring cup) the liquid into the roux, while continually stirring, still over a medium heat. If it's warm enough it'll thicken near instantly, and you can basically just keep a steady stream of liquid into your roux. Take off the heat and finish with cheese and spices/herbs/whatever, and then salt and pepper to taste. If your cheese is super lovely and isn't melting properly (packed shredded parm, I'm looking at you), add it in to the roux just before you add in your liquid, give it a good stir to combine and melt. Short bullet point version: -Put pot full of milk/cream and stock on stove at med/low heat -Put butter and onions in pot, med/high heat, soften onions -Put rest of veg (and maybe spices) in pot, cook but leave a bit crunchy -Reduce heat to medium, add in flour, stir until thick -Ladle liquid into roux while stirring -Remove from heat, finish with cheese and spices/herbs, salt and pepper to taste If you want a quick and dirty cream/roux soup, that's pretty much it. Substitute veg for whatever you want. Replace some stock with beer and you have a beer and cheddar. Etc etc etc. Last place I worked we had a beer and cheddar soup on the menu (a little more extravagant than this one) and a 'white' sauce for our Mac&Cheese, and I had no problems doing up 20L batches in 20 minutes (not including the time my milk/cream would be on the stove but like I said, just throw that poo poo on and go do some other stuff for a bit). It'll come out nice and hot so you can toss it directly into your steam well, or cool it properly and store. It'll reheat and hold just fine. I saw our poo poo re-used sometimes 4 days in a row (which is loving terrible and illegal and oh god the nightmares) and it still looked just fine. Literally the only way you can gently caress it up is burning the roux, or not cooking out the flour taste enough. Burned roux/cream is very easy to taste, even if you don't know anything, and if both the roux and the liquid are hot enough that they immediately start to thicken when stirred together, chances are pretty drat good that the flour's been cooked out enough. Naelyan fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 19:42
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Invisible Ted posted:Fortunately no third degree burns, but gently caress that blister sucked. You know how we've all done that stupid thing were you see a knife falling and you either try to grab it or prevent it from hitting the floor with your foot like it's a spoon or a pot? Well, my candy thermometer fell into some sugar that was boiling like crazy to make pralines or something. While I was standing there. So what do I do? I see it. I reach for it. I grab it. An inch into the sugar. Two of my fingers and my thumb were completely hosed for a solid month. Because I'm super smart. Squashy Nipples posted:So, no opinions on using processed poo poo cheese? Processed poo poo cheese will probably end up by holding your soup together until the apocalypse comes because of all the poo poo in it. You're probably fine using whatever gives you the best texture/taste/price point.
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Jul 24, 2013 00:03
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I now have cable tv for the first time in years, so out if curiosity I throw on the food channel. The second thing I see is a loving Sysco commercial. Why in the poo poo does Sysco need commercials. Why are there Sysco commercials on a goddam tv station. I don't even what the gently caress.
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Aug 15, 2013 06:57
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bunnyofdoom posted:No poo poo. Now, not sure opf the legality of this, but no overtime pay (despite putting in a shitton of OT and having no days off for literally 3 months), no stat holiday pay, etc. Very illegal, for the OT part. Depending on what province you were in there can be certain legal ways to get out of paying for stat days with schedule fuckery and the like. Canada can suck sometimes too.
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Aug 18, 2013 01:05
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Warning letters from your current boss/work? Not at all. Depending on what they're about, you might not want to use that place as a reference, but if they're called about you they're legally not allowed to tell them anything more than your title, your time worked there, and your wage afaik.
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Aug 22, 2013 00:54
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No one wants to work with the guy who's getting visibly angry at everyone for stuff that is not out of the ordinary in a restaurant. Because no one wants that guy to flip out when he's got a knife or a pan full of hot oil in his hand. If something absolutely crazy happens, people tend to understand. I've walked out of a cooler after a REALLY hosed up service where everyone in the kitchen could hear me (through two sealed doors) screaming my loving lungs out. I got out, my second in command looked at me and said 'you good now?' and I said 'yup' and we went back to work. That said, that was after a year of NOT losing my poo poo over mundane stuff, or even most aggravating stuff. Restaurants are absolutely stressful, they're usually enough to make normal people flip their poo poo sometimes - restaurant lifers tend to have a higher tolerance for the normal poo poo, because they deal with so much crazy poo poo on a daily basis. If normal poo poo sets you off and you don't know how to deal, restaurants might not be the place for you, because there will never be a lack of stupidity and stress that'll make you want to lose your poo poo. I have said 'poo poo' a lot in this post. poo poo.
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Aug 22, 2013 01:38
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gyrobot posted:I see, thanks for the cooler advice, may try that next time I feel aggravated after work. AFTER work? Just leave, man. You should feel the stress just melt away as soon as your chef says 'gyrobot, you're done for the day'. Unless you're management your cares and give-a-fucks should literally just stop as soon as you're clocked out.
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Aug 22, 2013 03:12
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And as much as most of us don't like people being lovely at their jobs, if they're your coworkers and not your employees, not your issue. Let it go.
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Aug 22, 2013 05:03
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I haven't ever done any drugs harder than weed and some hallucinogens (not at work, that'd be loving terrible) and don't even do those anymore. I've never smoked. I've never had redbull outside of jagerbombs (or occasional 30-hour-roadtrips). I don't drink coffee. I don't drink soda at work. I don't even drink heavily outside of work anymore. Do I still get to be in the club?
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Aug 23, 2013 17:34
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Manuel Calavera posted:That sucks Anecdotal, but I have had nothing but absolutely terrible experiences with chefs bringing in their friends and family as workers. The last place I worked, I was sous of a catering company for about 4 weeks, a new chef had started a week after I did. When I was hired I told them about a trip I was taking, so I went and did that, came back to being told that I was demoted while I was gone, one of the other staff was let go and one quit, the replacements were chef's bff from culinary school (which I knew about before I left, she was to be the other sous), another culinary school friend to replace me as sous, her son, her son's friend, and one of her culinary school instructors to consult. Massive clusterfuck. My girlfriend's (also a chef) worst cook right now is the one being paid the most (and while she's on salary, this cook is making more than her per hour, even if she only works her designated 50 hours/week) out of any cook in the restaurant, and was brought in by the current head chef because he worked with her a couple jobs ago and they're all buddy buddy. Whether or not the friend is a good cook or not, I've found that they almost always tend to get away with poo poo that other people wouldn't because of their outside relationship with the chef. poo poo is no good.
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Aug 26, 2013 16:04
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Mu Zeta posted:Just wondering how many of you guys work in open kitchens? That's all I've been seeing recently around here. And is it intimidating? I have in my last few kitchens, my current kitchen is not. I prefer open kitchens, it means I'm less reliant on servers telling me how busy it is out in the dining room, and I've found it's easier to keep people on task because they can't be as loud or gently caress around as much. My question of the day is a two-parter. First is, has anyone here had any success doing large-batch (talking like filling orders for multiple high volume restaurants) gluten free burger buns? Would you be willing to share your recipe? I've got a couple GF bread loaf recipes that work well, but they don't translate to buns at all. Second, on the same topic, has anyone here used Cup4Cup in large quantities successfully? I have a couple friends who have used it in smaller batches, but felt like it wouldn't translate up very well.
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Aug 28, 2013 02:42
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mediaphage posted:I can't really help you out with those specific questions, but wanted to point out that if cost was a concern (idk where in the power level you fall) that Ideas in Food's What Iif Flour might be an option. It's basically them reverse engineering cup4cup. Awesome, thanks. Gonna try this out when I get some time.
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Aug 28, 2013 20:57
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I was helping out a buddy of mine with a catering event a few weeks ago, he owns and is the chef at a little tapas place that does pretty awesome food. I don't remember why it came up, but I made a joke about using truffle oil to confit something. Couple weeks later he sends me a picture of truffle oil confit duck legs, and potato wedges fried in duck fat/truffle oil. That crazy loving guy.
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Aug 29, 2013 21:50
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Mithross posted:Fake edit: that said, no cook I've drank with is the would give you poo poo for not keeping up. Most of us seem to be of the "know your limit and you're ok" variety, not "drink as much as me or you suck" variety. This. Any cook who gets a server or a young busser or something completely beyond-their-limit-not-safe-anymore drunk, is an rear end in a top hat and no one likes them.
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Sep 2, 2013 18:00
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Much <3 Wrought. Now kick some (more) rear end.
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Sep 5, 2013 19:41
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Liquid Communism posted:They're adorable. One asked why so many cooks have knee problems. Last batch of school kids I had in a kitchen, they were in their second year. One of them saw me making caramel, and went all "  YOU CAN MAKE CARAMEL?!" In his second year. Yeah, man, it's loving cooked sugar.And then we showed them how to make stock for the first time. loving schools, man.
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Sep 10, 2013 00:39
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Tweek posted:Let me guess. Former cops or accountants or desk-jockies who decided mid-career they wanted, "a change of pace"? No, I've had my fair share of encounters with those people too, but this particular group was all younger kids who entered culinary school right out of high school. snolliemonsters posted:Hi Guys, I haven't posted in here in a while. Looking for some advice, i've been cooking in Paris for the last 6 years and i'm considering making a move to Toronto. If there is any Canadian cooks on here that that could give me some advice it would be greatly appreciated. Obviously I could google "chef job market in toronto" etc. but I guess advice from real people working in the industry would be much better. I might also buy you some beer if I eventually make it there so please help! I live about an hour away from Toronto and am often in the city to dine, to run catering events, or just to do random poo poo. Do you have any specific questions? The job market there is like anywhere else in the country, good if you have the experience and the skills necessary to be better than the next guy. It'll pay better than those horror stories you read about in this thread of people living in NYC (or to be honest, most of the U.S.), but Toronto is a drat expensive place to live and you're certainly not going to be making a ton of money working as a cook, even a sous or something. Livable, for sure, but you won't be buying any yachts or vacationing 3 times a year. There are definitely some good fine dining restaurants (and they're only getting more plentiful and better as time goes on) if that's your style, and an absolute TON of casual-fine restaurants/pubs/cafes where you can definitely be proud of what you're putting out or learn some management without having to deal with all of the fine dining poo poo. Toronto also has a pretty decent food truck scene and I personally know a few people who run one full time and easily live off of it. In Ontario, you make overtime if you work more than 44 hours a week on an hourly wage, I've worked salaried positions where anywhere from 45 to 70+ hours a week was expected of me. I understand France used to be all about 4 day workweeks and taking 2 hour breaks and poo poo, I think the culture has changed in that regard? and I have no idea what kind of hours you're used to working in the culinary industry, compared to the rest of the country. So yeah. Hit me up if you have any specific questions. If I don't know the answer myself I can probably fire off a text to someone that does know. PM me or email me at hanoskij@gmail.com. Naelyan fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Sep 10, 2013 |
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Sep 10, 2013 20:32
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A couple jobs ago, I was helping to open a new restaurant, and at the end of our first day of training (before open) we broke down and did a scrub of all the new equipment in the kitchen. I took the brand new, shiny Alto Sham drawer thing. I took out the top drawer, grabbed it by the back with one hand to place it on a counter, and slit my palm open. Apparently they don't bother sanding down any edges before they send that poo poo out. Lesson learned.
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Sep 14, 2013 12:57
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Yeah, it doesn't matter how much poo poo you know, every bake shop wants poo poo done THEIR way, because customers expect consistency and if you're just starting out your recipes are not going to be better than theirs. Like Liquid said, a decorating portfolio is a pretty common thing (because you can be good at baking all you want, but some people just can't decorate for poo poo (me)) if you're good at it, but your best chances are showing a willingness to learn and keep asking "How do YOU want this done?", even if it's something you've done 1000 times before.
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Sep 16, 2013 07:13
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heyfresh888 posted:I quit working for [any chef anyone has ever heard of]. I'm make more money doing nothing. Sounds about right. Was it a good experience at least, though? I met him at a talk he did in Chicago once, he sat down with me and the people I was with for a couple minutes to talk, seemed like an ok guy.
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Sep 17, 2013 10:06
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Mu Zeta posted:How the gently caress do you get hired at Starbucks? Have no experience in anything so there's a chance you'll put up with their poo poo for more than a few weeks because you have no other options. edit: for reference, I've been in the industry for 5 or 6 years now, all at good places and have built myself up a pretty decent resume between being a line cook / management / baker / caterer (for other people and freelance on my own) / pastry chef / pretty much I've done a bit of everything, and I'm still making about 1/3 of what I was as an engineering co-op STUDENT, as in still in university and didn't know poo poo. Don't ever expect to be paid well. Naelyan fucked around with this message at 10:28 on Sep 17, 2013 |
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Sep 17, 2013 10:23
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Bjay9 posted:My main point behind this whole paragraph, don't try and find a job in Southwest Ontario right now. They're nearly none existent. I dunno man, I've had a few people who do hiring come to me lately asking if I know anyone looking for a FOH position in KW/Cambridge/Guelph. All the university towns should be busy as poo poo and all the lovely part time students that they hired that aren't working out are either quitting or getting fired at the end of this month. If the place you're interviewing with doesn't work out, try every place within walking distance of a university and if you can show you can handle volume, you should have no issues getting a job.
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Sep 25, 2013 05:39
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Good to hear, and good luck. If I hear of anything in London I'll post it here for you, but outside of "Beertown is always looking for good people!" (gently caress the Charcoal Group, though the GM there is a pretty cool guy, and the two friends I have that bartend there are doing pretty well) I haven't heard much from that way lately.
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Sep 25, 2013 06:33
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Bjay9 posted:It is honestly all about knowing someone. I've yet to receive a job where I didn't have some connection to the person who was hiring me. Or just be superman, that helps too. Unfortunately this. If you're new to a city and you don't know anyone (which has been me, a couple of times) you basically have to use the 'shotgun approach', in which you hit literally every loving restaurant that's even remotely in your area/skillset with a resume, and be willing to prove (with an unpaid trial shift, usually) that you're not poo poo. And then hope and pray. After that, even if it's a Pizza Hut, do everything you can to go for drinks with coworkers and network as much as you can. I started working in the city I'm in (top 10 largest cities in Canada) about 3 years ago. When I started I literally knew two people in the entire city, neither of which are in the industry. Three years later, I can't walk into a bar or restaurant without seeing someone I know or being able to find a mutual acquaintance with my server/bartender (that likely works there, or is there drinking/eating because they work nearby) and the last time I was looking for a job, I literally wrote "Anyone know of a place that could use my skillset? I'm looking for full time work, current poo poo isn't working out." on facebook and had three job offers by the end of the day. I even came to this thread for some feedback on which one I should take. And I'm not even that good.
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Sep 25, 2013 23:16
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Black August posted:Ok ok I won't go, I was told by a co-worker that he knew a guy who'd hire if I had that as a baseline experience, that's all. I'll just keep aiming for a waitstaff job somewhere else starting tomorrow, hopefully I can get in somewhere before the holidays. If you trust the guy, it might be worth the $100 to get the job. Just don't ever tell anyone after you get hired that you went to bartending school.
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Sep 30, 2013 00:58
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Black August posted:Would you all say it's most worthwhile to pursue a career in the hotel side of things, then? I see that said a lot in the thread, and it makes me wonder if I should focus mainly on hotels for seeking out a server or bartender position. They're way harder to get into, but that's because they offer benefits, better money, stable hours, an luxuries like paid time off and sick days. They'll always pay you for your overtime. Basically you just don't get dicked over like you do in some places.
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Sep 30, 2013 23:29
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breakfall87 posted:So the past year and some change I've been the pastry chef/head baker at work. I supply two restaurants and a third on Sundays. Just this week we open a retail bakery and chef/owner decides that all pastry/bread prep needs to come out of our kitchen. Hello tripled workload and 17 hour days. Did some math, making a dollar below minimum wage. Hoo boy. Along with that decision, did they not decide to hire some loving help? Goddam.
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Oct 2, 2013 05:04
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Yup.
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Oct 16, 2013 12:38
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Dr. Garbanzo posted:My question is wheter I should simply drop my resumes at the fine dining places in the hope that something comes up or if I should just go for whatever is floating by work wise? Drop resumes off at the fine dining places for sure, but just because overall the food at a place isn't as good as you're used to, doesn't mean you can't learn something. Look for places that'll let you expand your skill set. Maybe a place that does butchery in-house, or a place that does all of its own baking, or a high end ethnic place. That way even if it is a bit of a step down, if you're ever looking to move up in the future again at least you have a reason and some skills to show for that step.
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Oct 16, 2013 17:26
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dino. posted:Are you making GBS threads me? Of course it's not a mistake. This. If you're ever strapped for cash, get a part time job as a server at some lovely chain where they literally expect nothing from you and you'll make more per hour than you do currently anyway.
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Oct 29, 2013 03:08
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Look into some of the bigger catering companies in the area. I made a ton of money when I 'took a couple months off' this summer by just being another set of chef hands at catering events. Saw a ton of awesome food and was able to work with some pretty awesome people, too.
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Oct 31, 2013 22:04
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I feel like any degree with the word 'business' in the title will give you better options than music performance, but I could just be jaded towards the arts and their useless degrees.
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Nov 3, 2013 02:22
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Yeah. Great man.
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Nov 6, 2013 03:54
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Well yeah, I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't love it. Cuts don't happen until you start to juice lemons.
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Nov 15, 2013 22:37
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I'm in the 'I went to school for engineering and was making $40+/hour as a student working for the government and left that for a minimum wage line cook job' boat. Every once in a while I have a bad day at work now, and I think to myself 'remember working for the government, with 3 day weekends every other week and set hours and good money and easy days? Well, at least your current job doesn't loving suck like that one did.' I am so broken. Cheffing 4 lyfe. edit: Yesterday got an email from the chef of a catering company I contract for occasionally, asking me to come run one of the kitchens for an event for 4500 people. Woooo! Take that, days off from my normal job. I gots catering to do. Naelyan fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Nov 17, 2013 |
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Nov 17, 2013 00:04
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 12:28 |
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29.5 hours of work (couple different jobs), 2 hours of sleep, then 20 more hours of work. loving ENERGY DRINKS gently caress YEAH. I've drank more espresso in the last 24 hours than I have in the rest of my life combined. vv Nice. Did not know. Naelyan fucked around with this message at 00:11 on Nov 24, 2013 |
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Nov 24, 2013 00:04
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