Our flattop caught fire around 6 this morning and spread along the wall over to our broiler next to it. Nobody in the kitchen and the Ansel system didn't automatically trigger as it should have. Got to spend my shift today cleaning up the aftermath and trying to scramble to get the place open. We did get it done and were able to open for our last 1.5 hours. Why we pushed for that at all instead of getting a more thorough clean confuses the heck out of me but I just do what I'm told.

I work in a pretty upscale hotel and just received a room service order from a VIP couple staying in our best suite. They wanted two Mushroom & Prosciutto pizzas. No big deal. The modifications however were, “Cook first pizza at 3 West, second pizza at 10 S. Please use your Chinese oven for both.” We haven’t a clue what they mean. Phoned the executive chef, he phoned the front desk to ask them to contact the room and they apparently have very limited English. Any suggestions?

I took on a position as a "Kitchen Manager" a couple of weeks ago, my first time in charge of an entire kitchen. We're serving pizza, beef/chicken/plant burgers, hot dogs and loaded fries.

I'm running the entire kitchen myself. I've worked jobs where I'm the solo chef all day, but always with someone else in charge. Thankfully, we have a main kitchen that does a lot of the prep work and sends stock to us, keeping prep down to a minimum.

The exec chef works across multiple restaurants, so I've not seen him much, and it's felt wild just being left to my own devices.

I'm in the UK, and we had EHO come in today, much earlier than expected given how recently we had opened. We had expected a few more weeks at least.

But we got a 5-star rating, and all the issues flagged were things outside of my control, so I felt great seeing that sticker go up on the door, confirming our standards.

I know a lot of chefs see it as meeting the basic standards of hygiene, but it felt good to get the sticker on our door.

Sorry for my rambling, I just wanted to share a positive moment with my community of fellow workers :)

Me: I have hot chilli in my car would you like some?

Her: oh really hot chilli?

Me:oh ya.

Her walks to my car and sees a pot of hot chilli in my car.

Her: I can't do today.

I think our Chief Cook is out to get us, but I just cant prove it yet.

JFC those could choke somebody to death!

What can you tell about this place based on this “smothered chicken breast” monthly special?

Context: I met my sister-in-law at an old, local institution, fast-casual-masquerading-as-brew-pub (not a chain) near her work in our mid-sized NW US city. I’d never been to before. After waiting 40 minutes for this to arrive, I told her that her plate tells a story about BOH and management anyone who’s worked BOH can read. I told her what I thought that was. She said “there’s no way you can know all that from some mashed potatoes.”

Ahem. Y’all?

So I started this job about a year ago in the kitchen. I open and I know the whole opening VS closing arguments. I’ve worked front and back of house. Opening and closing. So I feel like I have a well rounded knowledge of restaurants not to say I’m not always growing. My big beef with this place is that they act like all restaurants leave it this messy for their openers. I’m gonna be showing pictures. As a previous closer at another restaurant I would never and have never. I don’t know maybe I’ve just happened to work at really clean places. I actually tried to put my two weeks in today and they asked me not to be “hasty” and it would happen to me no matter where I worked and let them fix it but this is not the first time this conversation has happened. I am tired. I am over it. Besides me we have 10 cooks. Every single day I’m coming in to dirty flat tops, floors, beer buckets. Dishes, silverware, gross mostly empty containers the meat slicer is dirty and they don’t even dump the mop water when they do mop. And I get hit hard for breakfast. Today I couldn’t even use the stupid cutting board cause it was gross. I am tightly wound about it. I worry about cross contamination and peoples food. So I feel like it has to be clean before I really get started and of course I was slammed right away today. I would say it’s like 50/50 I don’t know what I’m gonna get if it’s gonna be decent or if it’s gonna be a shit show disaster. I open 5 out of the 7 days. And the days I don’t work no one seems to clean up so my Mondays are really tough. And it’s even on days when the sales are really really low. Cause I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt but then I just kept seeing none of my prep was being moved. And they print out food sales and usually my breakfast has higher sales. They also have 2 of them all the time plus a dishwasher on weekends. Which I do not have. They also don’t do prep (unless they’re really busy and something is low but they do so little prep they don’t know how) so the whole thing is just cleaning up. And I’d say that’s fair if they actually cleaned. I just feel gaslit all the time. And I’ve offered to go to closing many times but they brush me off. I need a clean workspace. When I cleaned the bar bucket there was like swamp water at the bottom and the flattop made me gag. I’ve been off the last two days so my worst day is always Wednesday. Just containers hanging out they didn’t want to wash. I checked and we had 11 shifts since my last shift on Sunday. So I need to know is this normal at your place like my boss is telling me? Or would you be out?

I'm 26 years old, I have been working in restaurants for the past couple of years as a cook in Mumbai. am seeking an opportunity to work on my craft and learn under a good mentor. know have a lot to offer and am willing to move anywhere for an opportunity to grow. don't have a formal education in this trade and lI'm open to any leads or advice.

Is he ready to be sous chef?

EDIT: it's for bolognese

Meals used to be 50% off no matter what. This is after we started closing 1 day a week 1 month ago, then 2 days a week 2 weeks ago. Also my hours got basically cut in half when we closed for 2 days.

I can get obsessive... I’ve always worked non-stop, jumping from task to task, especially when getting slammed, as most of us do. Working in kitchens where leaving the line for even a second didn’t feel possible, and if I had a few moments, I would take a smoke break instead of a bathroom break.

Eventually, I trained my bladder to not need to empty during a shift. The moment I walked into the kitchen, just nothing.

Anyways. Only a few short years of this, and I now have severe issues with my bladder & pelvic floor from chronic tension. Likely irreversible damage. Just a whole host of brutal symptoms, pain & discomfort.

So, chefs, take your damn bathroom breaks ‼️ You’re not saving lives by skipping them, but you are walking your way right into a whole world of health issues.

Just curious how all you seasonal people keep out of the rut after your season ends? I live in a summer tourism town and my season is coming to an end and I want to try to not get so locked up in my off season this year

Yall fucking wit da potato square or nah

They asked me to to make some sushi for photos

What are your favorite thermometers. I really don't need anything fancy, just quick, accurate and under $30.

For some context, I recently started college, but one of my long-term goals has always been to take baking seriously and eventually open my own bakery.

Throughout my four years of high school, I ran a small baking business where I sold my own baked goods and took commissions for small gatherings, parties, and other events. I’ve received a lot of amazing and positive feedback on my really small business, and I also helped organize school events with my high school's culinary and baking program (where I was able to learn a bit from professionals and worked in a commercial grade kitchen), which gave me some experience with leadership, coordination, and managing larger groups of people. I know reading that might make you go, “well running a small business in high school is nothing like a legitimate bakery”, and I get it. All I can say is that I’m confident in my baking skills and definitely willing to put in the work to learn and improve. 

I’m based in New York, so I’m very aware that rent and general operating costs are going to kill me. I have a general idea of the audience I’d like to cater to, and I know the long hours I would have to commit myself to, and the extreme financial risk that comes with it. I’m very lucky to have parents that have a good amount of money and I could fall back on if anything were to happen, but I also do not want to rely on them at all and give them that financial burden. 

For those who have opened, owned, or even attempted to start a bakery, I’d love to hear about your experiences, whether things went well or didn’t work out as planned. I want to know everything I can, the realities of running a bakery, the mistakes you made, the things you wish you’d known beforehand, and anything you think someone in my position should consider. Any advice is truly appreciated! 

I’m aware this may be a silly question BUT I’m currently studying to get the certification and I’m stuck on what the person did wrong here.