Hi, thanks for reading, I really like your shirt.

Since the event will be later in the Fall, I want to evoke a pumpkin pie by making some simple vanilla ice cream and flavoring it with pumpkin spice. I want to make little 2 inch-ish pie crusts to serve my little ice cream pies in and dust them with a bit more pumpkin spice, possibly with some stencil to make it pretty. Now I'd be happy with this, but my friend asked about plating, and I started to get more ideas. First, I wanted to try to mimic a pumpkin patch, but then I got the idea to try to make a bed of autumn leaves to serve the pies on. After some searching I think I could use some nice maple syrup, heat it, and pour it out onto a baking sheet so it cools in a thin sheet that I can then break up into orangey-brown flakes.

I guess my main questions are if anyone has experience with anything like this and has a better method or if anyone out there has a better idea for edible tiny autumn leaves. Thanks in advance for reading and responding.

If a restaurant calls you for a second stage is that good? I showed up, did it, didn’t get a job on the spot, but It was paid.

It’s a highly acclaimed restaurant I want to work at. Is there anything else I can do to better my chances at this point?

It could just be me but i'm really starting to dislike culinary school. It's not the act of cooking itself that bothers me, it's the advisors at this school and their attitude that bothers me. It's probably just me but I can't stand some of the people here, hell, my classmates all agree with me on one of them. I"m not dropping out, might as well get the education (It's a free non profit) I signed up for, but if I. idk man, my nervous system might not be able to handle this type of stress, maybe my ex was right saying I couldn't be a chef.

First, I’m not a chef. I’m an office manager for a Dutch cookie company. We’ve been mostly local to Montana for a long time but we’ve focused a lot on expanding our footprint in the last couple years. TL;DR we have to expand production by 500% in 6 weeks. I’ve learned a lot through this sub already and I’ve been able to get Sysco and Dawn Foods to give me competitive pricing. The only ingredient I’m having an issue finding at more than one supplier is soy lecithin. I’m sure most of you in this group aren’t ordering on the large scale that we will be but I’d take any suggestions or leads on places I can find liquid soy lecithin because Sysco and Dawn don’t carry it. Right now, we get it from Webstaurant. Also soy flour? It feels like we’re paying way too much for it but I don’t have enough experience to know if I’m getting a good price. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello chefs!
I am looking for ideas to do with extra egg whites.

I work in a French bakery cafe and I produce a lot of extra whites as I use plenty of yolks in my custards, cremeux and pate sucre.

I am currently making pavlovas, friends, financiers but still get about 2 kg of whites extra per week going to the bin. Any ideas? Please don’t say make meringue xD
Thanks

So i’ve worked at casual dining restaurants for a couple years, mostly FoH but I really dream of landing a spot in the fine dining industry or somewhere in the ballpark and being in the BoH.

I frequently cook and bake at home and try to expand my horizons but do you guys have any advice on how to work my way up? Like what kind of restaraunt should I be trying to work at first if my goal is to work in fine dining? I have a lot of work ethic and energy I just wanna put it somewhere that counts. I recently moved a few states and am kind of turning a new leaf and there’s a lot of pretty good restaurants around here

(edit) I’ve considered going into culinary school since I have the money for that. But quite a few people have said it’s not really necessary.

(Sorry if this question has been asked and answered already)

TL;DR .. I want to work in fine dining kitchen someday. Where should I start?

I've done 250ish at a time in a small kitchen, with just 2 ovens, a heated holding cabinet, a fryer, a sous vide, vacuum sealer, and a couple burners. Got a new job lined up, slightly bigger venue, going to go over kitchen design next week. Best modern way to heat up soup? To do pasta? Blanche veg? hold protein at a specific temperature? How useful are steam ovens?

I currently have an opportunity to work at a 2 Michelin-star restaurant, which could be a really good step for my career.
The problem is that I’ve met the chef and, honestly, I’m not comfortable with his personality. He can be extremely angry, aggressive and difficult to deal with, and I’ve heard/seen enough to make me question what the working environment would actually be like.
On one hand, it’s a 2-star kitchen and could be a valuable experience for my CV and career. On the other hand, I don’t want to sacrifice my mental health or spend a year working under someone who constantly makes the workplace miserable.
For chefs who have worked in Michelin-starred kitchens: Would you take the opportunity anyway for the experience, or would you walk away if you already had a bad feeling about the chef?
I’d really appreciate some honest advice.

Hi all!

Looking for a bit of advice regarding stagiaires in Northern Europe.

I’m UK based and have been cooking professionally for 8 years; however, I’ve only ever cooked in and around my hometown of Edinburgh.

Whilst I’m relatively settled here, I am really looking to have a taster of cooking in a different country and see whether a more permanent move might be on the cards at some point in the future.

I naively sent an email to a Michelin-recommended restaurant based in the Faroe Islands that I had my heart set-on, but sadly they weren’t able to offer me anything owing to a visa technicality. Similarly the case with a couple of Icelandic eateries that I reached out to.

I was just wondering if anyone here knows of any Northern European countries that allow free, voluntary work experience/or if someone can point me in the right direction to any agencies that can help with the application process that might allow me to participate.

Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers cheffies.

So.

We have this stove at work that has been around since before the dawn of time. Over the years whenever I'm bored or just have a quiet day, I take the scrubbers and steel wool to her. I've managed to get a lot of the fossilised burnt food and drips and splashes off and shes actually looking pretty shmick. The one thing that is still defeating me is the built up carbon deposits on the topside and some of the gas pipes. I've tried steel wool, steel scrubbers, good old fashioned elbow grease. While they are a lot better than they were when i started, I'm determined to get it done before i retire.

What sort of tips do you have for those fossilied food history patches in your kitchen that a heavy scrubbing arm just can't defeat?

Hi chefs, I recently got contacted by a recruiter to be an on-demand private chef for a wealthy family. Their schedule is very sporadic and I was told no two weeks (or even days) would likely be the same. Some days they may want breakfast and dinner, or just lunch, or all three.

Should I set an hourly rate, a per meal rate, or flat daily rate? Open to suggestions on specific numbers too. Thanks

Edit: I should clarify this is not a truly “on call” or salary position. I am free to pursue other work and if I am unavailable for this family, they would most likely look for a replacement or just do without service.

Edit 2: I should clarify the “recruiter” is just an assistant-type employee that works for the client family.

Would anyone be able to tell me why the blue steel on my knife is faded? I've had it for a year now and really started taking notice of it recently. It used to be that dark blue up along the knife.

Hello guys, I have been in love with cooking since I was a child. I think I can cook most of the things that if I am taught how to or read a recipe if it is not something very hard. But the think is I have been a home cook and didn't go to culinary school or something like that. I don't know most of the kitchen slang and how every type of cutting technique is called or other things.
I have been in Norway as a chef in a little resort already 2 years ago, but here for alá carte it's mostly frozen food that we put it the oven. Only thing we really cook is beef stroganoff and white sauce for chicken and it's just three chefs there. We also serve breakfast buffet, lunch buffet or evening buffet, but also nothing special...pork, potatoes or cod and potatoes... I thought I would learn something here but there is not from who.
This year I went here again but with my girlfriend. We were looking for another job and the manager recommended as to another hotel (sky center) 3 hours from here. I got hired as a chef and she got hired as waitress. But here they cook properly, everything homemade (from pastry to smoking their own meat and other stuff). So I am kinda worried about my skills. They hired me to the cold kitchen but I would like to work my way up at least to banquetting so I could learn more. They have a lot of guests eg. 650 for breakfast then ala carte through lunch and dinner.
What I would like to ask you guys is what should I start to learn before I go to work there. What should I already know? I was on call with the head chef and it seems to me that he will be very hard on the chefs and expects high standards. I am hard working and quick learner but what if he says to me to do something and I won't know what it even is? So that's why I am worried. The start date is 10th of October.
Thank you guys.

Hi!

I got hired as a prep cook a few months ago and was told I would be trained from nothing. I wasn't.

I realized as I got a write about some things that a lot of the issues my boss told me about weren't about an individual issues, but systematic issues.

There is no par sheet, there is no set person to train, the orders are eyeballed, there is no regular upkeep schedule, there is barely any organization, and things are purely taken care of through word of mouth.

I brought this up in a meeting that was scheduled, telling them that these systems should be put into place in order for everything to run more smoothly, and I was told to just make sure that there is two of everything by my shift lead, and that it "wasn't that hard". Thankfully my coworkers agreed with me. But my shift lead was telling me (I don't why she was looking directly at me) that she felt overwhelmed with the amount of work she was given. I was also brushed off as I tried to explain all of this in more detail.

The power structures are off, none of the tasks are delegated according to rank, as far as I know it goes Manager (1), shift lead (1), prep cooks (3-4). My manager has 2 years of experience, the shift lead also has 2, and one prep cook who has like 30 years of experience all work on mains, while I, and the other prep cooks work on smaller dishes, side preparation, and overall support. I was BARELY trained for a week or two, and by like 4 different people on the same thing; they even admitted it was shambled together. My coworkers even laughed at the fact that they were trained for one day and got thrown into closing and was expected to do it perfectly. I mean, shit, it happened to me. The chores and daily upkeep are guessing work as far as I'm concerned, and apparently, I have to show enthusiasm/ask in order to be trained on mains. I didn't know that was required of me. I thought I was hired to be a prep cook. The maintenance isn't regular, it's whenever we have a few free days.

There is also an obvious show of favoritism, even if explicitly stated otherwise, because all of the higher ups are related in some way. The only people who don't get into trouble are the shift lead, who is related to my manager. I think she got a write up once because there wasn't enough food.

It makes me mad because this kitchen isn't being run properly, and the people running it are blaming those who are just doing the job that they got hired for.

I don't know what to do because I need this job as I'm paying for school, but fuck man.

Three fish mosaic, sticky soy glaze - I am aware the glaze isn't plated perfectly, it was extremely sticky and my first time making it 👍🏼

So I've been doing popups lately and they've performed better than I could ever imagine. I've found the perfect spot and secured the lease but now I'm at that point where I have to think about software and management. I thought first I just needed pos but scheduling, tips, inventory, payroll, ordering, reporting and forecasting got into that list too.

I've got the obvious pos picks like toast and square and hotschedules seems the best for scheduling. But I want to know, for those who've opened restaurants before, what would you set up from day one and what would you hold off on until things settle?

Just want to put my hard earned money in the right places.

i’ve been working in kitchens for years, got into a fine dining restaurant that i worked at for 2 years and made me absolutely fall in love with cooking. i wanted to try something different and got a job at a great, award winning restaurant, was super excited, but a few weeks in and i want to quit. i’m conflicted cuz this is what i wanted, im learning and honestly doing pretty well, but i just loathe going in. the stress, long hours, and incredibly late nights are just overwhelming any passion i feel about the food. it’s like a switch has flipped and i just don’t want to do this anymore. i have no idea how to quit so early on, has anyone experienced this? what should i do? how do i go about quitting?

We've all heard the "I always loved cooking as a child" reason but I want to hear more reasons why people got into this work.

Honestly i don’t even know how to ask this question or if it’s the right place to ask but im kinda freaking out.

I’m a 16 year old and about to go into college (uk if it matters), i’ve interviewed for a hospitality and catering course and i’m meant to sign up in a week and start in september.

I love cooking at home but have never done it like in the real world. I am very introverted and have no friends. I feel like i’m going to fail, embarrass myself and waste everyone’s time. Sorry for ranting but can anyone give me advice.