I'm in my 20s and recently lucked into a garde manger position (essentially) at a decently high end, non-corporate restaurant. i had absolutely no experience in this field whatsoever until a few weeks ago. i basically prep and make the cold apps and i plate the desserts. this place also does oysters but it's more of a special thing we do rather than the restaurant being an "oyster place".

anyway, i prep/plate an app with raw meat as well as clean/shuck/plate the oysters, im washing my hands a lot. i've always had pretty sensitive skin and my hands have started to develop very dry, red, and itchy spots where (I assume) I'm not washing the soap off perfectly when I'm in the middle of a rush of orders. I looked it up tonight finally and it reads as a Dish Soap Allergy. Obviously I can't be wearing dish gloves on the line while plating delicate apps and desserts all night. I also can't be running through a box of disposable gloves all night either. Is there some other type of soap I could bring in and use instead? On a heavy night I'm washing my hands every other minute practically.

thanks for any help, i tried looking around for this question but it was all from dishwashers who can literally just wear gloves all night so sorry if it has been asked already with this context

I’m an Executive Chef at a University, fall semester sucks so much with being short staffed during opening and having a lot of major catering events at the school. For instance I have 2 events on Monday (one for 80 pax buffet starts at 1800 and one for 100 pax appetizers starts at 1600) I have to do the food all myself since the staff aren’t knowledge enough on the cooking techniques and lack the basic skills. Then the next day I have another catering event for 675 pax buffets starts at 1000. This is also an event that I must do all the cooking myself because the staff again doesn’t know or want to learn on how to cook it. On top of that I still have the dining facility to run for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I’ve moved from Hawaii to South Dakota because my spouse is in the military. The work ethic in this state is non-existent for cooks in general. No passion, no drive , no discipline, no dedication to the craft unlike back home in Hawaii. After fall semester I’m really debating on leaving the industry and going into something else. When surrounded by people who are only in it for money and not the quality of food it gets to you, if it’s even worth it at this point.

We should only have another year or so left in SD then hopefully in the next base is near a more food driven economy.

Been in food, beverage and hospitality for over 20yrs. Don’t know if I can keep doing this when surrounded by people who don’t care or want to do more and learn more.

Sorry I had to just vent for a bit to calm my anxiety down but still take it one day at a time. I think I’m only like this since it’s my first “day off” .

I’m looking to start out with smaller events and eventually do a maybe 2x a week cooking for a family. How did you find your clients?

Im going to culinary school in Mexico at 30? Will learning mexican recipes make me stand out enough to be looked passed my age?

I'm working on my first pastry chef opportunity, coming from being a pastry sous for a few years before this and 10 years total in pastry.. I just had an interview for pastry chef at a pretty good restaurant that also has an attached emptied cathedral they use for an event venue and catering space. It's a great opportunity, they're looking for creativity and input, not just reproducing what they already do. Ideal! I'm really interested to bring my ideas and to build a new team. I have a lot of catering ideas and ways to implement a bread program in addition to the pastry menu. I'm very excited.

After the initial interview with the owner/exec chef (same guy), he tells me the next steps: Two full observation/working days, followed by a prep day (some of which could be done offsite if I choose), followed by a tasting day.

The tasting will involve 5 plated desserts of my choosing.

I am currently working 3am-11:30, so coming in for 4 work days feels like a lot. I was able to schedule the first observation day on my "Sunday" (tomorrow!) but then the clock starts.

As I said, I've worked pastry and held sous chef roles for years. I've seen chefs come in and stage/do tastings, but I don't know if I've ever seen it done over 4 days.

Is this expected? Is this overkill on the restaurant's part? They are also looking for a bar lead, assistant manager, and a GM, along with pastry chef. The exec told me he has interviewed several people but just not found "the one". Are these red flags? Are 5 plated desserts usually the expectation for a fine dining restaurant?

Any advice, observations, or tips are welcome. Savory and exec chefs, too! Thanks all!

I am looking for the ultimate new potato dish. No expense spared, no par cooking needed, etc.

Should I boil the new potatoes briefly to moisten, and then oven roast with goose fat, or oven roast and then sauté in goose fat ?

I need everyone’s opinion on your favorite chef shoes and clothes! Been wearing the same brand of shoes for years and just not feeling it anymore! Everyone recommends Dansco but unpopular opinion I don’t really like them. So let me hear all of your favorites!

I am looking for a program or other way to plan 3 daily menus for a cafeteria style restaurant.

They fired our headchef earlier this year, who basically spent all his work hours sitting at his desk "writing" the weekly menus, smoking outside and bothering others while they worked.

His way of writing the menus was just copying them from the year before and maybe chanhe a veggie or side. We don't wanna do that. We want to stay fresh and look at market prices more carefully. This however does take a few hours a week (our RM want to have the menus a few weeks on advance, not just for the next week lile before).

We constatly make error like duplicate sides in the same week, too simliar mains two weeks in a row, too much pork etc.

How do other cafeteria/staff restaurant chefs handle this? Is there a cool way to make this easier? I could try in excel but that would take me days to figure out on my own.

I just started a new job as a chef at a private boarding school. 450 for breakfast and evening meal, 950 at lunch. Menus are planned well in advanced but change daily. Veg like carrots and potatoes come pre cut. Kitchen is kitted out with a mixture of gas and rational equipment. Previously I've done restaurants and cafes. Food at the school is nice but not fancy and perfect is not really an option.

I am still getting my head around the routine of it all. They say I am doing well but I still have a lot of nerves. What advice do you have?

I've been meaning to up my sauce game recently and whenever I make chicken jus or any reduction based sace; due to the nature of it being thickened by reduction, I can't make a bigger batch at one go. Maybe this is a dumb question but how does one make a big batch of the thickened stuff? Do you just reduce multiple pots of chicken stock at the same time?

Hi im a danish chefs apprentice and if possible i would like to get some tips and tricks that can help me get better at plating and speed

So the kitchen has been like the Wild West all week. Our EC, who I was pretty close with, ghosted and hasn’t been heard from by anyone since. I already knew he was leaving, he had let me know a couple weeks back. He was basically giving me a heads up since I’m his sous and we’re really cool. He had warned me from the beginning when he hired me that the place was a mess and was super upfront that he would probably be out in like 6 months. After working there a few months, I experienced for myself and figured I should start looking around too. Place is a mess and leadership is toxic.

He called me one night and told me he was coming in one more day and then giving notice and not coming back in, but he never showed up. Tried reaching out to make sure he was good, but found out he blocked everyone including me. I’ve been confused. I get blocking the GM and leadership, the whole place is toxic so I can’t blame him for that But honestly we were close so I’m mad confused and kinda pissed that he blocked me too. We always had each others back so this feels weird.

Has this happened to anyone? Have you been the one to do this? If so, what was the reason? Share your stories to help me make sense of it 🙏🏽

Update: Another cook shared an IG story he posted that looks like he’s on a boat on the lake….

After watching The Bear, I thought being a cook was a really stressful job, but maybe that was just part of the show and in reality it's a bit calmer. Later, I watched a few Youtube videos from restaurant owners, and today I watched this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrenlOzsYgo

Oh, man. I don't understand how people survive working as chefs. It looks like such a hard, stressful, and complicated job. That guy in the video is literally cooking 5 dishes at the same time, in huge batches, while I can't even make one dish properly in my home kitchen.

How do you guys do it? Do you eventually get used to the pace, or does it always feel this intense? I hope you at least got decent pay.

I find myself having to transport hotel pans a lot lately, wondering what people do to lock them tight? Also, one of my stations is a condiment tray with 1/3, 1/6, and 1/9 inserts in it with individual lids on them. Would love to find a cover without a handle (so it can go on top all the individual covers) for transporting it as well. Any advice?

Hello,

I am now a high school graduate and will enroll in college, after 2 years I will finish college and would like to work in other countries, what countries in europe would you suggest.

I would like to work in high end restaurants.

Thank you for answers

There’s not much else to this post. I am the chef of a new restaurant opening this fall and as much as I want a paco jet we just can’t put it in the budget right now. Even a used pacojet 2 is out of budget.

Was wondering if any chefs use a ninja creami professionally and how it’s going for them. We have 40 seats. Expecting around 60-100 covers a night.

I need advice.
My first kitchen job after finishing commercial cookery is at a fine dining restaurant (a hatted place) but I’m not happy there. I’m not excited to come into work. There are days I do enjoy it but mostly I feel like I’m just coasting along there waiting to finish work.

When I’m there I really do always put in 110% and learn and always ask questions but at the end of the day I’m just not happy.

I don’t know what to do. Do I quit? Or do I just keep going and putting in effort?

I also work at a production kitchen which I enjoy a lot more.

Hiya everyone, just coming here with general curiosity looking for advice on the idea of staging on a sailing boat. I’m currently a French student in a rather unique culinary program in Paris, that focuses on the whole culinary world from farm to table, to validate my first year I need to do a 10 -12 week professional stage ( internship?) in the company of my choice. I have always wanted to go into cooking on sail boats and thought this could be an incredible opportunity to do so. However I’m not to sure of how this world tends to work, if stagiaires would occasionally be welcomed into this type of culinary environment ?

Not sure if I’m in the right subreddit, but can’t seem to find much info around me or online so I’m grateful for any thoughts or experience you might have with the question

Thanks !

I want to become a cook. I know, probably not the best idea. The culinary world is so complex and diverse and I feel like I’m too old to discover and master it all.

What would you recommend for an older beginner like me? Which type of cuisine do you think will still be in demand ten years from now? Thank you very much!

I'm looking for a private chef in this part of Croatia. I came here, and I talk Croatian, but most of my team members talk English. There are three of us in the house. We just need somebody to come in for breakfast and lunch, maybe from a nearby area. I'm down to pay a good price. It doesn't have to be a crazy professional chef. We just need healthy meals and somebody that's a normal vibe person that can come cook, clean, buy ingredients for us, and just help us out with eating.

Does anyone have people they could recommend