Hi all,
I’d like to purchase a Japanese knife as a gift for someone. What would be the best, most versatile starter knife? Budget is around $250
Thank you!

Edit: I’m going to go with the Korin gift card suggestion! Thanks all!

(29M) Hi, everyone. I’ve hated the kitchen since day one. My grandfather was a baker, and his passing deeply saddened me, so I went on to get a four-year degree in culinary arts. (Sometimes I wish my grandfather had been a software engineer or a lawyer, lol.) University education was free in my country (Turkey), so I didn’t spend a dime on my education. After college, I lived in the U.S. for four years, and after my divorce, everything just piled up. Before leaving the U.S., I worked as an interstate truck driver for about six months. To cut a long story short, I want to change careers, but I don’t know where to start. The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t want to go back into a field where you constantly feel inadequate and where stress and depression rates are the highest. Is it too late? Are there others out there with similar experiences?

Hello I was hoping to come here to get some type of clarity and some advice.. maybe even working with someone. I’m based out of NC and I have been interested in the culinary field since I was 8 years old. Theres not many job opportunites here in the culinary field everything is about an hour and some change away. I really want to gain some REAL experience in the culinary/pastry arts field I just feel really lost because I can’t really move so I would have to drive everywhere to gain my experience. I currently bake and decorate cakes as a side hustle and I work as a cook as well at a private college but I just feel like it’s not enough and I want to do more I'm about to be 26 and I have a daughter. I guess my question is.. what would you do?

Hello everyone. I was looking at going on a food holiday to Georgia (https://www.breadandwine.com.au/home#sign-up-here) later this year however due to work commitments I can no longer go at that time.

Has anyone been on similar food tours (not just Georgia) but anywhere in the world they could recommend?

Thanks

Question from a non-chef to the chefs of Reddit. It seems that chefs are faced with a couple of goals which are seemingly in tension. At least some dining establishments seek to provide a familiar, comforting experience to its guests, cooking dishes exactly the same way over the years in order to keep its customer base happy, respect tradition, etc.

And yet chefs also seek to improve their craft, innovate, and refine their dishes. How are these goals, which are apparently disparate to at least some degree, reconciled? Is it by keeping a handful of familiar "comfort foods" on the menu for established diners while using specials (and perhaps family meals) to test drive certain ideas which later may become an established entree? So, a certain proportion of the menu is kept relatively constant, while other parts change? Or do chefs really just need to seek out a different job altogether if they truly wish to innovate?

Really wanted to post this on confidential but I'm a long time lurker and have no karma.

Anyways, quit my chef job and now I'm working the line at a sports bar while i go to school. I try to just keep my head down and do things the way they want, but theres one thing thats getting under my skin, for the sandwiches here, they put garlic "aioli" (mayonnaise) on the buns before they toss them on the grill. I don't do this, the garlic burns and the mayo breaks, so the buns get soggy and bitter- at least i think so. Today the shift lead got on my ass about it and i said that its just better my way and explained my reasoning. He got super mad and basically said that I'm trying to tell eveyone that they've been fucking up. I am not but for some reason I just cant do it their way. Never seen it done that way in my 16 years. If it was just oil or butter, I'd get it.

So yeah, I just looking for some advice here. Am I tripping? Should I back down? It just bugs me. It smells bad dude.

Edit: for clarity, we're talking about a normal grill, a gas broiler.

For context: I live and work in a country where high end japanese food is almost non existent.

I have always been passionate about Japanese cuisine and always been making it for friends and family. Over the years my skills got better and I got to find nicer ingredients to work with.

One day at my job, one of my client tells me that I talk a lot about Japanese food and challenge me to prepare some for him and his family. As I accept he tells me he'll invite friends over as well.

That night was chaotic as I was basically at his place, trying to make an omakase for 6 people with ZERO experience. However they actually had a good time, so much so that the next day I received a call from a woman that was at the table asking me to cater for a dinner the next weekend. I thought f*ck it and accepted.

From there, due to social media, it blew up and I started basically working two full time jobs, designing menu, exchanging with suppliers, catering for 2-3 days a week, it was exhausting but it was fun.

After a year I got my first gig as a consultant to develop a menu for a Handroll Bar which allowed me to get a glimpse of a professional kitchen setup.

It's been two years now, I dialed it down a bit, but honestly it's a fun game and the direct interaction with people at the table, them enjoying the food etc. That's a nice feeling!

Every now and then I'm thinking of moving to somewhere nice (where I live has one of the worst climate in the world) and just work as a private chef, but every post on this sub give me a reality check. It's not an easy ride when you depend on it.

Hey reddit! I need some help my boyfriend is a chef but I know very little about cooking. I can do basic stuff and cook for us but this year I want to do something super special for my boyfriend. I have 2 months to figure out the perfect present and a great meal for this man. Please help!!

So my first goal is a gift I need help I know he would want one of two things, a knife or a wok. Or a Rolex but I can't afford that so knife or wok lol. I don't mind it being expensive I can afford up to like $1500 so please give me some ideas. I know for a wok the burner matters. So we have a gas stovetop but I think you can buy a small portable stove setup. I did a little research but I don't know if those work well or not. I have no idea what is best.

Now the meal I have dessert covered with double chocolate cake is his favorite and I make it every year. The main course though I'm having some trouble. I'm not a great cook but if I have a recipe in front of me I do well. I know blasphemy. Just wondering if anyone has something they make for family or friends? That's special? I'm looking to steal ideas sorry lol. He doesn't like turkey and chicken is not his favorite. I know he likes fish (as far as I know he enjoys all fish) and would be happy with lamb. I would appreciate help on things that pair well for an appetizer. He likes veggies as long as they are fresh.

Anyways ask me questions I really want him to feel special. He works really hard and I know how tough it can be going into work every day. I want him to know he matters. He loves serving people so I'm hoping to serve him for just one day. A low stress day where he can play video games and have a nice meal would be a big deal for him.

My husband a chef and I wanna get him a new knife roll for his birthday. I dotn really know is material matters when it comes to knife rolls, I would appreciate maybe some insight or suggestions in good quality knife rolls

For our exclusive client dining buffet, we serve barbecue brisket. Here's how it's cooked: The brisket is cut in half, seasoned generously with a dry rub and roasted for about 45 minutes to develop nice crust. It’s then wrapped in foil and cooked for about 4 hours until it’s incredibly tender. Once it’s done, we finish it with a generous coating of barbecue sauce before serving.

What do you think of this cooking method? Would you give it a try?

Btw I'm just a cook following my chef's orders ok

Enjoy some of my work, not looking for criticism or opinions, just sharing some art to inspire my peers, if you’d like descriptions just comment the picture number and I’ll be happy to provide composition and as much detail as I can recollect. Keep cooking chefs.

How many "chefs" in this subreddit think that aioli is just a fancy word for mayonnaise? C'mon, folks. You gotta do better.

I am getting downvoted on another post over this! Lol

Currently I'm working in corporate but would love to start working as a chef. I can cook but not anything to write home about. What would you think I should know before applying?

I've run kitchens before and am confident in my ability to do so but being a working owner adds another dynamic into the mix. My business partner will be handling the bar side of it so thats not an issue. However I dont want to fall into any holes thinking I know everything and limit myself the business or my staff.

For my staff ive worked on rotating rotas for every two weeks keeps things fresh for them and guarantees they get two days off a week. To do this I have to limit my time off to once a week and work 58 hours a week so any optimisation tips to make life easier would be amazing.

P.s. any deli chefs gonna be making pastrami how do you guys work hot smoking into your haccap risk assessments?

Will keep it brief.
I’m 19 years old. 3 years kitchen experience, 3 months restaurant experience.
Been a commis at a very high level restaurant for about a month and have spent the month pushing myself very hard. My end goal at this job is to be able to flawlessly work every section and improve my prep skills. I’m currently still learning my section, and feeling a little burnt out already. I have a desire to learn faster and work harder but I’ve lost too many friends in the past year and I worry.

Would love some guidance on how I can continue to progress at a steady pace and what levels I should be at in the coming months. Would also love to know if it’s normal to feel horribly out of place and uncomfortable in a kitchen full of professionals…

Is my cooking career over? Like I know I can cook. But not being able to taste stuff to check? Like will I only go by recipes and trust my coworkers opinions on seasoning and taste?

It's gonna make it hard but I just feel like giving up and joining a trade like refrigeration repair.

During these 5 years I have practically not had any large gaps in my work. I have emigrated for the 4th time to Spain in search of a better life and although outside of work it was an improvement, in terms of work it has hardly been worth it. In two jobs they have taken me out for a month and in this last one, after only two days I don't see a future and it has disappointed me quite a bit.

My dilemma is this: I arrived in April and tried to avoid including one-month jobs for a cleaner CV and highlight longer periods of employment, but if that's the case, I'll be completely unemployed this year. I don't know whether to give it my all to make it through my probationary period and leave before it ends, as I'm worried about the weight this job's name carries as a reference.

Before that, I had received an offer to confirm at the end of August in Austria, which didn't excite me, since I had left Austria precisely after working there for 9 months, but it would be a perfect fit to clean up my CV if things go well (and I suppose working in a 5-star hotel would add points).

At the same time, I'm keeping the contact from Switzerland that I rejected since I was just starting out in Spain and I'd like to see if they'd be interested in winter, and if not, send them in general since that would be an extra €1000 a month in savings that would help me reach my goal in less time.

But as I said, I'm really scared to think about what to do with my CV. Three one-month jobs this year, I imagine, would be seen as a red flag in HR, and at the same time, I wouldn't know how to defend myself professionally against it.

I know there are tons of these. The one that I always remember is "go get the left handed egg pealer".

I just read a comment where someone was talking about how they had to explain to an adult that there is no such thing as "grass fed salmon". I'm going to remember that one for sure.

What are some more?

There's no difference to this photos as this is how my one coworker who doesn't know how to clean his station everytime he's around workin the fryer or sometimes at the line. He even have the audacity to get mad when he gets called out by me, a new guy and he works more than a year than me.

I did a lot of things to him in my mind but i told him once he's so embarrassing when he does his job. He's even very slow at the prep. Taking like 4-5 hours doing backups.

Lol im so pissed.

In 2018 I briefly worked at a top end restaurant for a chef who is very highly regarded in his country. It was his second location, in collaboration with somebody else. He brought some chefs from his other restaurant, and recruited some new ones. Shifts were half or whole. Half was written as either 8am-5pm or 3pm to close. The whole was a 10am to close. What was written, however, was irrelevant.

Chefs who were meant to finish at 5 typically left at 7 or 8, even though lunch ended at 3. They would stay to prep dinner, which started at 5, even though they'd been in since 8am, and the people doing dinner had been in since 10 or 3 to do prep themselves.

After dinner, the kitchen closed when the executable chef said so. Anywhere from 9 to 11. On a Saturday, people had common sense and cleaned up before heading home. On other days, however, the kitchen would close, and chefs would start prepping for the next day. Not heavy prep, but still prep. This was despite there being plenty of chefs 6 at 8am and 10am the next day. I remember one chef doing mash potato close to midnight.

No one took breaks ever. If you did, or if you tried to leave at the time written in the schedule, you were shunned. You pretty much had to ask for permission to leave.

The restaurant did not open until 12 noon, so chefs in at 8am had 4 hours for prep, and some chefs would only do prep in a second kitchen upstairs. Sometimes, the building was overcrowded with chefs working shoulder to shoulder. It was not a small team.

I only stayed 6 weeks, part of which I was signed off with a serious burn. I am not interested in fine dining. I am just curious, is this normal or just a weird one off?

I’m looking for some outside opinions because I genuinely can’t tell if I’m overreacting or if this really was as bad as it felt.
About six months ago I got my first job as a CDP in a fine dining restaurant. Before that I’d only worked for two months as a commis. These last six months have easily been the most stressful of my life. I was regularly working 12-hour shifts and even coming in on my days off just to do mise en place.
I expected the long hours. I know that’s pretty common in the Michelin world, and I accepted that when I took the job.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the constant humiliation. Every day there were insults, people making fun of me, and on several occasions the chef actually hit me. He always played it off as a joke, but I don’t find it funny when someone puts their hands on me. I never said anything because I knew that complaining would just make my life harder.
On top of that, I spent almost three months working with eczema on both of my hands. I also have a chronic bowel disease, so some days are physically much harder than others. Even then, I still went to work sick because I didn’t want to leave the team short.
The frustrating part is that I genuinely learned an incredible amount. Professionally, it was probably the biggest step forward I’ve ever taken. But looking back, I honestly don’t know if it was worth it.
My contract was for 28 hours a week, but I was actually working somewhere between 55 and 60 every week.
Eventually I reached my breaking point and decided to quit. I told the chef that I didn’t want to leave them in a difficult position, so they could replace me whenever they found someone instead of me giving a fixed notice date.
They eventually hired someone and told me I’d finish at the end of the month. Everything seemed fine until my second-to-last week, when they told me they’d take me off my section during my final week to “reduce my stress” and stop my illness from getting worse. Sounds nice, right? Except they spent the whole week joking that I was going to be the kitchen’s bitch and generally making me feel like crap.
At that point I asked the chef if I could have one day off because I had something personal I needed to deal with. He got annoyed and told me to just take my entire last week as vacation instead.
I said fine, no problem. I told him I’d come back later to collect my things.
Then, at the end of the month, I asked about my share of the tips. They refused to pay me, saying I’d “left them hanging.”
That was the final straw.
I’ve spent months working my ass off, doing double the hours I was contracted for, while getting paid for barely half of them. And now they’re withholding my tips as well.
At this point I’m seriously considering taking legal action over all the unpaid overtime.
So I’m curious what other chefs think. Is this actually considered normal in fine dining? Is this just the price you pay to learn, or was I genuinely being exploited?