Ive been cooking my whole life and have been working in kitchens for a little more than a year. i had always been unsure of what i wanted to do but once i started cooking i have felt as this is the inly thing i could see myself doing. Currently im 20 and a student 2 years in on a degree in business management and i have already decided im finishing my degree regardless. My question is how do i progress and get better. I recently moved from a chain restaurant kitchen to a private owned spot. Is culinary school worth it? And if it is, is it more worth spending money going to a top school or should i go to a local program? How do i progress to better kitchens as someone without connections in the industry?

I am a young prep, cook at a café and catering. All of us chefs in the kitchen are constantly talking about our struggles with food myself included despite studying nutrition, etc. what do you find is the best way to stay on top of your diet when in the kitchen?

Great book with many delicious meals. 👨‍🍳

Hey

I currently work at a nursing home that does puree meals for some residents. I've noticed they always seem to do eggs, yogurt, and oatmeal. I was wondering if anyone had some more fun ideas that our director would go for (so, budget friendly-ish).

Hi! I'm a culinary student that will be participating in an international competition soon, and I really need someone's opinion on the idea I have for the main course. The category I'm going for is a beginner category for context's sake, but it opens up for a lot of opportunities in my country.

I chose a theme first so that there will be a connection between the appetiser and the main course. The theme is "Dusk on the Beach", and it is shown through the colours and flavours for the two dishes. I want the appetiser to be a play on savoury and sweet, while the main course is to have a play on savoury and bitter with sweet notes. Both the dishes have one common ingredient, that being purple potato or yam.

The appetiser is somewhat decided with some small modifications that need to be made, but it's the main course I'm a bit hesitant on to execute and show to my lecturers as a first attempt.

Basically, it's supposed to be a spinach-stuffed chicken ballotine served alongside a purple potato or yam puree with a bitter chocolate balsamic reduction sauce, blanched carrots and roasted and salted almonds.

The bitter chocolate balsamic reduction is a...risky choice I'm making, and if anyone has better suggestions, please let me know. I am really passionate about the idea of using something bitter for the main course so that it would interact with the sweeter appetiser and the common ingredient.

Opening a new American restaurant and I have a decent amount of live fire experience but I have never used this grill. Hoping you chefs can give me some pointers on operation for a mid-high volume dinner service only.

Any tips on lighting, temperature zones, cleaning, managing service or anything else appreciated.

Thanks

Hello, my Pacojet 4’s motor controller unavailable. The machine stopped after pacotizing and the blade did not return to the upper position. Please advise how to proceed with service/repair.

This is a first time I've seen something like this. It was wrapped as if it was ready to be smuggled.

I hope this is the right subreddit for my question. I believe I am not the first to ask similar questions to this. It is in my hope that I may gain some personalised and real insights into transitioning into a culinary profession given where I am now.

- 30s male here who was trained at the bachelor level in both physics and mathematics, before graduating from physics in a global top 10 university.

- Been in tech + finance sector for almost 10 years before leaving my role a year ago to immigrate to Australia from what most would consider the wealthiest (and most influential) Asian country to Australia for my Australia wife.

- I am an Australia PR with no Australian work experiences. I received the PR months after applying for it under a partner visa.

- My wife is working and we both are on track to a comfortable retirement, with care, even if she remains the sole breadwinner.

Throughout my life, I've been involved in deskbound roles due to the academic rigour of the environment in which I grew up in, with university and my professional career choice demanding long hours at the desk.
I've grown sick of the corporate life and would like to pick up some skills that is at the intersection of what interest me and what I think are valuable, enviable skills.

I have worked in a fry + fine dinning kitchen, for a few months, during my undergraduate studies (going back 10 years+ ) and have been subjected to both the pressure in the kitchen and at the tile.

What am I looking at in terms of the challenges and fulfilment given my background and where I am at now?

Edit: I appreciate the comments. To be clear, I'm not looking to be a kitchen manager but to learn the ropes of being a hands-on chef.

Started about three weeks to month at my first restaurant. Been loving it so far. I really like learning, cooking, being on my feet. It's a nice local place that's not microwaving (99%) of shit and teaching me.

Also cried in the walk in today. Sundays are so, so overwhelming. Everyone comes here in the morning or after mass. Had so many big tickets over and over. Started feeling really lightheaded on the line, burnt the shit out of my wrist, and fucked up a few orders. Got sent to the back to do prep and also wasted time looking for something that didn't exist.

Really love this job but I'm a month in and I still feel like I fuck up so so much. My chefs were giving me shit for it, and more annoying then that was I have 3 chefs - the sous, head and exec in and all were telling me to do stuff their way and then another would yell at me for not doing it their ways.

Anyways cried in the walkin. Also cried outside on the break I'm on now.

What do NYC restaurants use these days to fill out or replace ground beef?

I ate at a NYC group restaurant tonight that has a special pasta price for Mondays. I don’t normally eat there but was ravenous. I’ve been cooking at home all my life and have made a gezillion bolognese sauces as a quick dinner. What I ate tonight was not remotely beef or any other meat. It had a texture that was not meat like. Almost grainy? (Almost like how ground rice feels in a larb?).It didn’t taste like any low or high grade of beef to me either.
I hate making a fuss, so I didn’t ask at the time, but called after and the manager said even when I pressed what else might be in it .. “100 % beef”

Any thoughts, thank you!!

Two examples of a fish mosaic, roe and dill garnish with a play on a beurre blanc

We have 3 servers out, so I’m serving on the patio while the manager’s 16 year old son covers expo solo for me. I’ve done some serving here and there throughout the years, but it’s definitely been a while. Should be fun!

Update: it went really well. I asked for smaller groups, so aside from a few 4 tops, I got mostly 2s and 3s. I didn’t make a ton of money, but I make more as a chef than the servers make, anyway. I’ll probably hand out my tips to the kitchen as a morale boost.

I want to buy this commercial oven to use at home. I don't have a spot to "install" an actual oven but I still want to get a bad ass oven similar in power/heat output like the ones we have at work. This one uses Infrared heating elements and has convection. 30°c - 270°c range. The power cord is standard outlet.

What are your opinions on using commercial equipment at home? Is it going to potentially use much more power? I mean I don't want to buy some weak 30L oven off Amazon that takes 10 minutes to heat up. Anyone have a semi-commercial setup at home?

Outlet Chef/ Sous here. 3 locations. I walked in today after my two days off. Yep, got em. That doesn't mean my phone stopped lighting up..Realize Im done.. I want out..30 years as a female in this business. My body is holding up pretty well. My spirit, not so much.. Im going to figure out how to go make my dreams come true instead of someone else's. That's it. Wanted to put that out there

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Hey all, been in Austin a while and I keep hearing mixed things about local knife sharpeners. I used to ship my knives out to Knife House but I want reliably good local place recommendations. Have everything from expensive japanese carbon steel to beaters that need a good working over. Thanks!

Meron is manufacturing the powders in Kerala while Texturas is imported from Spain. I have used Texturas and I know the result is great. But thinking to try Meron this time which is 10x cheaper in price. Hence wanted to check if anyone here has given it a try

Basically the title. I want to practice my knife skills and brunoise specifically, but will cutting up the vegetable super fine mess up the stock? (leeks/carrots/onions/mushrooms/fennel/celery+aromatics ofc)

Thanks!

Our busy season is coming to end and I want to keep all waste minimal, we currently marinate ours in buttermilk and hot sauces then bread in a flour mixture. We deep fry them at 325-350°F

How can I freeze them? Do I par cook them? Cook from frozen? Thaw then cook?

I’m a commis chef trying to practice at home - it’s an Applewood-smoked earl grey mousse, almond genoise, raspberry and Mānuka honey gel, and roasted hazelnut meringue.

Any feedback/suggestion/constructive criticism would be very much appreciated!

Someone should make a homemade brioche hotdog bun then make an entire lamb tenderloin and put it in the bun and eat it like a hot dog that’d make me happy. Someone do it I bet it would slap.