c/chefs

Blew $180 on a molecular gastronomy kit, half of it is still in my pantry

I got into the whole spherification and foam thing after watching some fancy cooking show, so I ordered a kit with agar, sodium alginate, calcium lactate, the works. The first two attempts at fake caviar came out looking like cloudy boogers, and the sous vide circulator I grabbed for $90 just ended up making perfect chicken breasts I couldve done in a cast iron. I finally got one decent batch of mango pearls after three tries, but the novelty wore off fast and now the powders sit there mocking me every time I open the cabinet. Anyone else dropped cash on trend cooking gear that just collects dust, or am I the only one who fell for the Instagram food tricks? What weird kitchen gadget did you regret most?

0 comments

taylor305•1d ago

Prep sink overflowed and wrecked our walk-in floor last Saturday

We had a busy service at The Gilded Fork in Portland and my new guy left the sprayer running while he went to grab cambros. The drain clogged with carrot peels, water poured out for maybe 12 minutes before I saw it. By then the walk-in floor was half an inch deep and the mop sink backed up too. I killed the water valve, shut down cold station for 40 minutes, and we had to squeegee everything into a floor drain that barely worked. Took us until close to dry it with towels and a fan, but the rubber mats are still slippery today. Anyone else had a clogged prep drain during a rush and found a better quick fix than what we did?

1 comments

elliotr39•6d ago

That one Friday service that nearly broke me, then fixed my whole system

Last month we had a 40 cover Friday and the ticket printer ran out of paper right at 6pm. I was already behind on prep because my sous called in sick, and I had to hand-write tickets while running the pass. By 8pm I was in the weeds so bad I forgot to fire a table's mains for 20 minutes. That mistake forced me to rewrite how I call out stations, and now I use a simple color coded system for tickets. Has anyone else had a disaster night that actually improved their workflow?

0 comments

lopez.brooke•10d ago

The one regular who changed my mind on plating rules

Guy at an Austin tasting menu kept sending back my 7-piece micro-green garnish because it looked 'like a lawn mower accident', he wasn't mean about it, just honest... after the third time he explained he eats with his eyes first but wants flavor to lead, not decoration. I still plate simpler now, but has anyone else had a customer who taught them more than any chef ever did?

1 comments

finley_bennett28•11d ago

Shoutout to whoever figured out mise en place for home cooks

My girlfriend watched me prep a weeknight stir fry last Thursday and said why do you have all these little bowls out, it takes longer. I showed her that 12 minutes of chopping upfront cut my actual cooking time from 25 to 8 because nothing burned while I was hunting for the ginger. Has anyone else converted a slow home cook to the bowl system, or do they just think we're extra?

1 comments

janac59•22d ago

The Saturday brunch service that nearly broke me, then fixed my prep system

Last month I ran a brunch shift at Jake's Diner in Tulsa where we got slammed with 92 covers in three hours. My station was a mess, tickets piling up, and I burned two orders of hollandaise trying to catch up. That night I sat down and mapped out a new prep list, timed every step, and cut my onion dice from 15 minutes to 6 by switching to a mandoline with a guard. Next Saturday we got 110 covers and I finished service 20 minutes early. Has anyone else had a disaster that forced you to rethink your whole mise en place?

1 comments

jackson.jenny•24d ago

Worst service night I've had in 8 years, still not over it

Last Saturday we got slammed with a 40 top walk-in at 7pm and the expo screen froze right in the middle of tickets. I had 3 pastas sent back cold, one steak overcooked twice, and a customer actually asked me if we were running a kitchen or a circus. The worst part was my new line cook froze up and just stared at the tickets for a solid five minutes. Has anyone else had a tech failure completely tank a service, and how do you keep the crew from losing their heads when the system goes down?

1 comments

wesley83•29d ago

I stopped using a thermometer for steak and my line cooks think I'm crazy

For 8 years I temped every single steak on the grill, got it perfect at 125 before resting. Then last summer in Phoenix I had a busy Friday rush and my probe died mid-service. I had to just go by touch and timing, pressing the meat with my finger. Honestly, it turned out better, more even crust and juicier center, and I haven't gone back since. Anyone else ditch the gadgets after a forced situation, or am I just asking for food safety issues here?

1 comments

evan_dixon67•29d ago

I finally stopped salting my pasta water after 15 years on the line

A sous chef in Portland watched me dump a fistful of kosher salt into the pot and said 'you know that's for seasoning the pasta itself, not just boiling it,' and after tasting my noodles side by side with his unsalted batch, I realized I'd been wasting money and making every dish saltier than it needed to be for over a decade, so how many of you actually skip the salt and just rely on the sauce or dressing to carry the flavor?

1 comments

gavin_kim3•1mo ago

I cracked 100 covers solo on a Saturday and it felt overrated

Last month I did 102 covers by myself on a busy Saturday night. Everyone in the kitchen kept telling me I should be proud hitting triple digits alone. But honestly I spent the whole shift sweating over tickets and plating mistakes. The food quality definitely dropped after 60 covers and I had three comped entrees. Why do we treat high volume like some kind of badge of honor when it usually hurts the product?

c/chefs

Blew $180 on a molecular gastronomy kit, half of it is still in my pantry

Prep sink overflowed and wrecked our walk-in floor last Saturday

That one Friday service that nearly broke me, then fixed my whole system

The one regular who changed my mind on plating rules

Shoutout to whoever figured out mise en place for home cooks

The Saturday brunch service that nearly broke me, then fixed my prep system

Worst service night I've had in 8 years, still not over it

I stopped using a thermometer for steak and my line cooks think I'm crazy

I finally stopped salting my pasta water after 15 years on the line

I cracked 100 covers solo on a Saturday and it felt overrated

That offhand comment about garlic in walk-in almost cost me a service

The server who tried to send back a perfect steak

TIL I was overcooking my fish for almost 10 years

I finally figured out why my hollandaise kept breaking after 9 years of cooking

Rant: I used to think sous vide was just fancy junk for food snobs

When I worked a station in New Orleans during Jazz Fest 2019 I learned I prep way too much

I finally got my fish station dialed in after 6 months of tweaking

That $800 knife set I bought my new line cook was a total bust

The night I forgot to temp my fry oil and lost a whole batch

The omelet station at a wedding buffet taught me a hard lesson

Knocked over a 5-gallon stockpot of veal stock yesterday

I stopped mincing garlic and started smashing it instead

Took me 5 years to figure out I was overheating my pan oil

That trick with resting meat in butter I keep seeing on TikTok is driving me crazy

Four hours to peel eight pounds of shallots