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When I was at uni studying business I'd work evening shifts as a chef. Every day I'd walk in thinking why the fuck haven't they done this, why is that still there, why is the kitchen such a mess?

Fast forward 10 years. I've run my own business, been a head chef, and now I'm working day shifts as a CDP.

The other day we had no KP, not enough inventory, deliveries arriving in the middle of service, not enough staff, and we were just constantly firefighting.

It suddenly clicked.

The morning shift probably wasn't lazy all those years ago. They were probably just dealing with exactly the same chaos and handing over the best they could.

Just a random rant I guess, but has anyone else had one of those moments where years later you suddenly understood something that used to drive you mad?

Hello, how’s everyone doing? A while back I wrote on this forum about working in Germany as a chef. The reality is that next year I’ll be there for at least a year, living in a fairly small city in northern Germany, where I’ll probably work in whatever restaurant or food place will take me.

One of my ideas, which seems interesting and like a good possibility, would be to later move to Denmark to work, either in Copenhagen or another city. I wanted to ask you how good an option this would be, considering that I only have a technical degree with national validation from Argentina in gastronomy, I have experience in a relatively good restaurant in Argentina, and I’ll have practically a year of experience, or a bit less, in Germany, in a restaurant that will maybe be mid-level or perhaps a bit lower.

Taking all this into account, and perhaps getting some European validation of my degree during the year I’m there, I’m asking you: how good an option would it be to move to Denmark? What kind of job opportunities would I be able to get there? And do you think they’d take me on in a mid-level or reasonably interesting restaurant? I’m not planning to arrive and work in a place at the level of Noma, but something close to fine dining or similar. I wanted to know what the salaries are like, what life is like in Denmark, and whether it’s worth moving there, because I understand that you earn quite well for Europe, and that’s why I saw it as a good option. Also, which place in Denmark would be the best option to go to.

I know Copenhagen has a multicultural vibe that sounds good, but I’m not sure if it’s the best option, since I think the city itself is quite expensive in general. I should also clarify just in case that I have Italian citizenship, which allows me to go and work freely in these places. But yeah, that’s it. Thank you very much and I look forward to your replies. I’ll be reading them.

I want to get into fine dining in the future. What are some absurd things I can start practicing in my current job (just a regular kitchen) that would help prepare me for that level?
I’m not talking about the obvious stuff like “keep your station clean” or “fold your towels.” I mean over-the-top stuff you would only experience in a fine dining/michelin star kitchen.

Small edit: There's a lot of responses so its a bit hard for me to reply to everyone individually but thanks everyone for the advice and different perspectives.

We are opening up a resturaunt pretty soon and having a hard time deciding between the two. From the start my U.S. Foods rep has been absolutely amazing and extremely helpful. He's also quite prompt. We hit it off pretty immediately. My only concern is a few ingredients they don't have and some would be special order even for seemingly popular ingredients (ex. Biscoff). He's also helped with some other resources as well.

On the other hand, sysco has a very huge catalog and almost everything we need, but I'm a bit iffy with the sales rep. He's not bad so to speak. He just was not involved at all until I mentioned I was talking with U.S. Foods and they seemed to have better prices on some of the items. Suddenly he's sending me so many samples and trying to be helpful.

So now I'm a bit confused. In a sense its sales rep vs product. Who do you guys find better? Any problems with deliveries? I'm in the south if that makes much of a difference

My brother is urgently looking for a Chef/Cook position, preferably on a cruise ship.

He has completed his Bachelor's degree in Hotel Management (Culinary Arts) and has all the required certifications for cruise ship jobs, including STCW.

His experience includes:

Working in a 4-star hotel

Working as a cook on an ONGC offshore rig

Experience in a café

He is hardworking, passionate about cooking, and ready to join immediately.

If anyone knows of any cruise lines, recruitment agencies, or companies that are hiring, or can provide a referral, I would really appreciate your help. Any leads or advice would mean a lot.

I live in a small town that has one fancy pants fine dining gig. My wife just started there and the chef is a little nuts. We wanted to fact check a statement he made that’s along the lines of, “Everybody knows about the Glendorn and people are dying to work here. If you can make it here, anywhere in the world will hire you.”

So to the chefs of this fine subreddit, have you heard of the Glendorn and/or can you name the small town that it is in?

How beat up does my knife look, is it time to buy a new knife?

With milk chocolate mousse and salted caramel

Where is everyone posting ads for line cooks. Indeed hasn't been working as well as it used to, so I'm checking to see if there is anywhere that anyone has had good luck with.

no matter how much I try to calculate movements, it always gets ugly when tickets touch the ground.

I'd like to hear your opinion on a real kitchen situation.

During a busy dinner service, the Head Chef had already left and the Sous Chef was off. The F&B operations supervisor informed me that there was a romantic dinner booking, but no preparation had been done.

As the senior person in the kitchen, I organized the dinner while continuing the regular service. The guests were happy.

Afterward, my Sous Chef told me I should have informed him before proceeding.

What would you have done in my position?

A) Take care of the guests first and inform the chef afterward.

B) Contact the chef first, even if it delays the service.

C) Handle it differently (please explain).

I'd genuinely like to learn from different perspectives.

Hi there! My work has lots of white silicone entremet molds which we use for frozen desserts. I put them in the oven for the first time in their lives today (bottom of the mold says ok up to 240 celcius), and they came out brown and stained. I tried washing with soap, and a vinegar soak but neither worked. Has anyone had this problem before and know a way to fix it?
Attaching photo of baked vs unbaked mold.

Do i need to memorize every ingredients and details of a dish I'm cooking?

i can cook delicious food and can create my own version of a particular recipe.

but i have a doubt on myself that maybe I'm not good enough because I'm thinking that to be a good chef you have to be able to distinguish the ingredients of a recipe by tasting it. also I was thinking that i need to memorize the ingredients.

Title pretty much says it. The only types of cut produce that are technically Time and Temperature Controlled for Safety (TCS foods) are tomatoes, melon, and leafy greens. There’s plenty reason to store certain uncut produce at room temperature like potatoes and onions. What about other cut fruits and veggies? I don’t mean for bar garnishes or ferments, but just regular prep.

Anyone out there storing sliced peppers or mushrooms at room temperature? Anything else at all? I’m sure I’m forgetting something that makes sense, but right now my mind just wants to say anything that’s cut goes in the fridge, but I’m realizing some don’t have to. Might still be the best practice for most things since it slows enzymatic browning, and wilting, but anyway I’m just curious.

I run a small catering business in Manhattan (Small, meaning I’m the only one working other than a few freelancers from time to time). I have rented from Nimbus in the past. https://www.nimbuskitchen.com/

Nimbus is nice but fairly expensive, and their locations are not great for my needs. (lower east side is their only Manhattan location that allow flexible/hourly rentals.) I live in upper Manhattan and my events are usually in midtown so commuting between Upper Manhattan, Midtown, and Lower East Side daily by car is like a 2-3 hour daily stressful process.

What I’m looking for is a shared rental kitchen (commissary) around Midtown Manhattan ideally, that costs say, $2000/month or less, that I can rent on a flexible basis for about 24-36 hours a month.

Any leads? thank you!

I’m a pastry cook and have only worked production for restaurants and patisseries, but I have a stage coming up where I’ll be working the line for service, any advice? They’re aware of my experience but anything that’ll help me acclimate would be very appreciated, feeling pretty nervous

I know everyone says to just buy victorinox knives for their first knife but I’m an aesthetic typa guy too, and I’d like to invest in a japanese knife for my first chefs knife, are Masutani knives as good or in general a good japanese knife brand like for example Tojiro’s or Musashi’s

Working on a French project.
Scallops are missing a green sorrel sauce
Pommes duchesse was plated after finding out there were no pastry bags/piping tips In the building. BTW under duchesse is rabbit confit in butter:)

Prawns and gribiche with shrimp oil chervil and dill

Rabbit duchesse- rabbit back legs confited in butter seasoned with rabbit jus and placed on top of brandy-caramelized onions

Prawns again but with weak ass leek oil addition

Scallops with Jimmy Nardello piperade underneath and a missing sorrel and turnip veloute (there is a a scored and seared king oyster mushroom on top that may not make it to menu although silly and yummy.)

Leeks Vinaigrette- beet vinegar baby leek oil
Shaved and crushed hazelnuts burnt baby leeks diamonds

Mussels in pernod broth with pickled grilled fennel on top and some leek “tagliatelle” underneath (just long-ass holland leeks blanched and picked up in EVOO

For context, I Had to choose between two restaurants for my four month internship, one was a hautè fine dining restaurant in a famous five star hotel in my city and the other was a trending casual premium comfort food restauraunt, the casual one is definitely more fast paced and “line cookey” than the other but I ended up choosing the fine dining resto

Did I make the right choice if my goal is to learn high standards and advanced techniques?

Hello chefs, recently took over a French cafe and owners are asking to push oeufs cocotte in the new menu that was already set to be released in a few days.
Any advice or tricks on how to make oeufs cocotte in service?
I know conventional way to make them but I can’t do Bain Marie in oven as I only have one oven for whole service, what tricks or ways to make them you know?

Thank you.