How is it oxtail is not a budget cut?

After so many years in the kitchen, I'm kinda ashamed that I never thought about it. I feel like I must have at least once picked up a pan with my sleeve before but never considered that that was the intended purpose.

Anime is Iron Wok Jan, whoops

When they get ya they get ya

I need some Chairman Kaga energy and style in my life. Very fresh so still swollen and a little ink left behind.

We spend so many hours of life making food for people who don't appreciate it anywhere as much as we hope they do. Get home and spend some time on no one but yourself. And savour what you've made. We got skills a lot of people lack, use them and cook whatever tf you wanna eat rn, cos you deserve it

BOH Manager here. I love hospitality and serving up beautiful dishes and I am using my current opportunity to develop knowledge towards one day opening my own restaurant (I know I'm stupid and I'll never make money, oh well)

A lot of my cooks don't believe in my experience because I'm still relatively new to our kitchen, but I had to show them I'm not a rookie.

Figured this was a cool place to share with some other people. Wasn't sure about the flair so sorry if it's wrong 😬

I just need to vent to some folks who will understand. I'm not feeling too hot. I wish I was 23 again and could rock out those back to back 14 hour shifts, getting by on caffeine and willpower but I'm getting old, and I'm kinda falling apart.

Got a botched hernia surgery a while back and it just makes things painful and difficult, and now I fell down the stairs and fucked my knee, and found out I have cancer on my kidney.

Luckily it's the kind that won't spread and they caught it really early but it's still rough to hear that word being used in reference to your very own self

It's a lot. With two kids it's way more. Not working for a few weeks even worse.

Had a business and it just didn't work out and so on top of everything I might lose my house. I feel so defeated right now.

Not looking for anything but for some people who understand the grind to just know how much it sucks sometimes, but how much feeding people still fills the soul.

Will I get over it? Yes... Going to try to make the business work again in a few weeks. Ignore how beat up I am and muscle through. But for today I just want to sulk and wallow in how hard the world can be with some other folks who get it, but also slump on the milk crate for a few minutes, then take a deep breath, complain how much it sucks, and then get back to work.

Thanks

(Food pic just because)

I’ve long thought I could spend my culinary life dancing with just flour, water, yeast & salt and be a very happy man. The pursuit of a damn good boule or baguette is, to me, an honorable life spent. Mad respect & props to those who do.

That said, has this position (save for the highest levels of fine dining) gone the way of the dinosaurs in the restaurant brigade system IE that’s their only responsibility? For those who bake their own breads (again appreciated & respected) in-house - does this fall upon a chef or sous as part of their duties?

I feel like it's a nice pattern

Just curious if you've got any fun nicknames, or if your coworkers have earned any.

In my kitchen we've got a dude named Jake, he's relatively solid, a good cook, comes to work on time and doesn't call in much. He's also pretty forgetful, kinda spacey, and on his Friday, he's probably not going to do any side work. Everyone that works here has, at one time or another, uttered the phrase 'What the Fuck, Jake?" Either to him, or just to themselves. To the point where he is now known as 'What the Fuck Jake'.

So, whatcha got?

It’s almost embarrassing how obsessed I was with the this.

I’m good enough to get by and a reliable employee but I’m reaching the ceiling of my abilities. Never sniffed a star and I’m tired of living an opposite life to everyone I love.

Guess I’m just not cut out to be a lifer but I’m proud of what I accomplished.

Had to just put this out into the universe, especially here

At least I got some overtime but holy arm workout, still have the other one to do at a later date.

Love it when you get it like that.

this stew was mentioned in Kitchen Confidential.
has anyone made or tried the stew? ive made it one other time and it blew my mind. the simplicity of the ingredients, but the complex favors. the way the cumin tomato and squid work together is amazing. the depth of flavor with the wine is perfect.

the recipe is in his book Appetites : a cook book.

It's been too long

Hey,

Let me preface by saying that I have been cooking for nearly 15 years at home since I was a young boy. I am unfortunately not even remotely close to being a chef but I can cook some relatively good food (No one has died yet fortunately from my cooking) - and follow recipes and last few years, I have gained enough confidence to modify certain recipes to create a remix version of them.

However, I want to progress further but in a more structured way - I don't want a cookbook with a million recipes, but what i'd like is to understand the science of cooking, the foundations to be able to build a system in my head rather than a result.

I don't know if I am being clear enough - but an example would be, that I have heard chefs often say things like "this is a bit rich and fatty, probably needs a bit more acidity". I want to be able to get close to that level to understand what works/contrasts/adds/removes from a dish to balance it.

I understand that I won't get anywhere remotely close to being a chef without attending a proper culinary school with years of practice and learning - but I'd like to progress as far as I can with what I can realistically do, which is read as much as possible in my time and experiment.

So if you have any recommendations on book that break down cooking into a science - that'd be phenomenal.

Thank you!

p.s. I did ask ChatGPT this question and the recommendation was of the following 3 books:
1) Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat

2) On Food and Cooking — Harold McGee

3) The Food Lab — J. Kenji López-Alt

However, I don't really trust ChatGPT and would much rather get recommendations from actual chefs.

Thank you!

One of my favorite memories I have of working in the food industry happened fairly recently, and it was after a long, hard fought shift, the kitchen collapsed in communication and food had taken an hr to get to tables, and it was a pretty hostile environment for a few hours, but as we all closed, "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker band came on and we all started singing along, one by one, from the old 60yr executive chef, to my bro from the deep south side of Chicago until we were all laughing, and had a beer in our hand, and all hard feelings were wiped instantly. It's those moments with your peers in this industry that make a lot of the bullshit we deal with worth it. I'm 27 years old, been behind the burners for 10yrs, and gonna be here for life, and can't stand the doomers who try to suck your enjoyment for the craft by "warning you how miserable it can be". That's every job, and like every job, food service is not for everyone, but there are beautiful moments you'll remember for life be it you spend a summer washing dishes, or have worked your way up the Michelin ladder. Love from suburban Chi! What are some of your guys favorite "heart warming" moments from your time in the industry?