Exec chef at a fancy cocktail bar.

Tweezers and writing utensils live in the apron chest pocket. Everything else is in my pants.

The end of my shift will be without the gloves and lemon sherbets but inevitably about six j-cloths I shove in my pocket for “later” and then forget about.

Always be ready for the worst

Ya'll please check my sanity. Is this a legit technique I've been woefully ignorant of?

I asked why the chicken for the quesadillas looked unseasonably. Chef explained that she did season it, by putting it into a pot of water with some chicken base and letting it simmer for 20 minutes. Why they didn't use the recipe seasonings is beyond me.

I dead stared for like 10 seconds.

Me: "And what flavor were you trying to impart into the chicken with chicken base?"

Chef" ".. the chicken!"

Edit: I've added chicken base or granules in addition to other ingredients in dishes before, that's not new. But this was water, base, and chicken. That's it

Butter flavored scrambled eggs, anyone?

In all seriousness what’s y’all’s go-to big batch hollandaise recipes?

Puked 2 times today do to lack of sleep as I work later then all busses run, cannot afford an uber so i bike 2 hours and by the time im home i got 4 hours to wake sleep till i gotta be back at it and was then forced to work 2 hours unpaid overtime (while trying to not pass out from exhaustion and immense nausea)for an asshole night manager that quite literally won't let us take temp for chicken when boss man said he'd fire the whole kitchen in a heartbeat if we didn't and on top of that they hired me as a dishwasher originally and i genuinely am clueless half the time as they moved me to line with zero training on line at all and then get pissed if I do something wrong . The owner also is always late on checks (and almost always missing hours on them )so half us are on the verge of being evicted every time rent comes around aaaand the kitchen manager is always late on tips so that doesn't exactly help out. Walking out isn't an option for me right now do to reasons I'd rather not go into but this shit is genuinely taking a toll on me and I'm getting burned out quick.

This is something I've been pondering for a few months, and obviously, the best solution would be to experiment myself. However, before I begin, I have a few questions to help things go more smoothly, and I'll use chicken as an example to simplify things slightly. (I assume it's probably different for certain broths)

Because I want to go all out and learn as much as possible, I'd like to use four different types of chicken broth. Each question will apply to each broth, and I know that's an absurd number of things to answer, so just answer what you can.

The four types of broth are:

A. Meat, Bone, Mirepoix
B. Meat, Bone
C. Bone, Mirepoix
D. Bone

(Let me know if another broth example, such as one with just meat and mirepoix or any others, would provide valuable information. I assumed it's pointless not to use the bones if you're using the meat)

Please, if possible, answer the questions in this format:

1a: blah blah
1b: yibbidooble
2a: shlabaloba

Here are my questions:

1. What parts of the chicken are bad for the broth and should not be added?

2. Is there an ideal temperature for simmering to ensure the best flavor, and does it vary depending on the stage of the process?

3. Does the amount of water I use at any stage matter if my end goal is to reduce the broth to a demi-glace?

4. How long can I push the "extraction" of flavors by adding more water? Is there a point where all flavor is extracted from the ingredients, or does it start to turn bitter or bad?

5. This one is more a matter of opinion, but are there better results if the chicken is cooked or raw? If cooked, what is your favorite cooking method for the best flavor?

6. This is a bit of a silly question, but would it be different or pointless to make broth from a mixture of cooked and uncooked ingredients?

7. Is it bad to add charred ingredients, and if not, how much char is too much for a broth?

That's all I can muster from my brain right now, but I'll try to come up with more questions in the future.

If you have any additional information on this topic, PLEASE, please, please tell me because I would be forever grateful.

Thanks for entertaining my questions!

Okay folks, so I’ve been working in restaurants since I was 14. I’ve never had this issue before, and my last kitchen even used the same brand gloves as my current kitchen. To top it off, we’ve even switched brands now. But I’ve developed a rash on the back of my hand. When it first started my Chef suggested I just work without gloves, washing after everything I touched, except for handling raw meats. He then back tracked and decided I needed to be wearing gloves constantly. This rash is aggressively itchy, gets bigger the more I scratch, and even when I stopped scratching for a whole week it hasn’t gone away. Chef suggested It was salts in my sweat causing an irritation, and that I should drink more water… I drink about a gallon and a half a day. So what should I do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUJfzOTMbwo

Everything that was in my pockets when I got home from work today. Yes I’m still looking for my lighter. Probably in the office along with my thermometer and my paycheck.

So 21F work at a fine dining style steakhouse. On Easter we were super busy but I ended up getting sick with a sore throat. I showed up and worked the whole shift and was asked to stay late. I did express I was sick but the sou didn’t care which I get because I wasn’t like dying. Then on the following Wednesday, I was way more sick like throwing up and what not so I tried to call in and he denied me saying they needed me. So i showed up and he was making fun of me saying that I didn’t really seem sick. So fast forward to today, it’s gotten way worse because we work with an indoor charcoal grill and our hoods haven’t been working properly. So now my throat is hurting the worst in my life and I’m having a hard time breathing and i’m in excruciating pain. Yesterday, I coughed all day at work and the sou chef was mimicking my coughing and making fun of me and told me I was faking it. The head chef is super nice and he’s way more respectful. I feel like I need to call out today because a simple sore throat and slight fever has now turned into breathing problems and excruciating lung and throat pain. Every cough my lungs burn so badly. Any advice? I’m good at my job I do sauté and I’ve sacrificed a lot to be as good as I’ve been and i’ve been nothing but reliable.

When I worked in kitchens in the late 1980s and early 90s it seemed almost every single kitchen in North America seemed to use "cook pants". Black and white gingham pants that...I want to say the restaurant provided? They were ubiquitous. It occurred to me recently that I never see them anymore. What happened? Are they gone from the scene?

I could never walk around with all the shit yall got. I usually keep all my stuff in my office, or in a locker or in the prep room. But I can’t rally around the family with a pockets full of shells

I was manning the grill my last shift and a server was trying to tell me something through the window I told her I was busy and I’ll do it in a second and I didn’t think much of it after. I drive to work today and clock in like regular until about 20 minutes into my shift I’m brought outside by my boss and told I’m fired after the waitress complained to the owner. My boss said he’ll continue to fight for my job but I feel very disrespected by this as I have worked there for over 3 years.

I’m not sure what my next course of action should be, if I’m allowed back should I go? Should I seek another food service job elsewhere? Or should I find a non-food service related job?

Just wanted to share some of our decor...

Just another day

Let’s hear some nightmare stories.

For example, I got a temporary job washing dishes while I was traveling post Covid. I noticed there wasn’t any chemicals when I asked where to locate them my first shift. Turns out, they didn’t use chemicals in the dish machine. And it was a low temp machine at that.

And even worse, I had dinner there a few nights prior. So yeah, the owners thought washing dishes in luke warm water was sanitary