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/ck/ - Food & Cooking

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4942002 No.4942002[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Any professional chefs here?

How'd you start? Do you like the work?

>> No.4942689

Starting a thread about professional chefs, and posting a picture of a caprese salad. One of the easiest things to make in the culinary world.

You embarrass me OP.

As for chef? Well there is a difference between a chef, and a cook. A chef is usually the creator in the restaurant. Am I one? No, though I do cook in a restaurant, and starting out is pretty easy, call up the restaurant or hotel you'd like to work at, and ask to speak to the head of the kitchen, ask them if you can intern, and ta-fucking-da. If you're good, we keep you, if you suck, gtfo. Otherwise we only higher based on experience.

>> No.4942748

>>4942689
>Otherwise we only higher based on experience.
GOOD THING THEY DONT HIRE BASED ON SPELLING FUCKTARD
HAHAHAHAHA

>> No.4942765

>>4942748
cooks and especially wait staff tend to spell like dyslexic water heads

>> No.4944152

>>4942765

Yep. True right there, and their hand writing is atrocious. Mistaking Higher with Hire, especially in quick thought, like cooks and waiters is common.

>>4942748

You mad?

>> No.4944178

>>4942002

Jnr Sous Chef in a Michelin star restaurant (uk) here.

I got started doing little part time shifts in a pretty good local restaurant when I was like 15. I liked it, so I went to catering college, and was given a full time job where I was allowed to work 3 days a week, and go to college for three days. I also went to France for 18 months to do a stage at Lasserre in Paris.

I started 9 years ago now, and I really enjoy going to work every day. However, I've had jobs in the past where I hated going in. For me, it's pretty much always been about enjoying the food that leaves the kitchen. If you enjoy what you make, there's a pretty good chance, that you'll enjoy the job.

>> No.4944184

>>4944178

The hours have been a fucking killer in the past though.

The first Michelin star place I worked was desperately understaffed, so we'd be in at half 7 to get MEP for lunch service. We'd do 120ish covers for lunch, and then have to restock everything for dinner service. Dinner service would usually be 160+ covers, and we'd have to redo all MEP until maybe 1am.

Working 16-18 hour days when you're only being paid a weekly salary rather than an hourly wage is fucking soul crushing.

>> No.4944210

>>4944184
In what kind of shithole country do you live, that this is legal?

>> No.4944216

>>4944210

Britbong here.

Employment law tends to get thrown out of the window when it comes to professional kitchens.

This is a particularly extreme case though, I don't know anybody else that's had it as bad as this.

>> No.4944239

>>4944210

Not to change the subject, but this is common in America too. Welcome to the real world, adulthood and the job market are going to come as a rude shock.

>> No.4944245

Kitchenwork means being able to take the heat.
18 hour days come with the stars.

>> No.4944327
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4944327

>>4942002
Went to chef school right after high school in '99. Cooking ever since. I love the life but I sometimes drink too much.

Run my own kitchen in a bar. Make the menus, do most of the cooking myself. I have a second on the weekends to help on the line, prep, and wash dishes.

I spent most of my career working my way up in large restaurants. 15 years ago culinary school wasn't as big as it is now; students were mostly guys who had some years under their belts. Having culinary degrees got a lot of us young bucks jobs we hadn't earned, and some of us were promoted over uneducated guys with more experience. It wasn't easy coming up, and the stress of having a whole crew under you at 23 takes its toll.

It's nice to run a small kitchen using fresh, local ingredients and get to finish every plate myself. Costing and hiring and office work is not where my passion is.

Cocaine, waitresses, amazing wines and spirits, and foooood, oh the food, and all of it is ALL YOU CAN HANDLE. It's amazing but it can kill you if you do it too hard and too long.

So that's how it's been for me.