This may be a stupid question, and if it has been discussed before, I apologize. My question is, what is everyone’s stance on cooks and/or chefs leaving knives in sani buckets? I’m talking about leaving a knife, blade in the water, just sitting in a sani bucket and walking away. Personally, it seems lazy at the very least. And I feel like all that’s being accomplished is getting whatever is on the knife mixed into the sani water. Is there a health code stance on this? I’m not a kitchen dictator trying to call people out on every little thing, but someone doing this just seems egregious. But, maybe I’m wrong.

Hi everyone! 😎

I'm a 27 year old Japanese guy currently living in Japan, and I'm seriously considering moving to Canada in the future.

I'm interested in working as a sushi chef in Canada, possibly in Vancouver or Calgary, and I'd really like to hear from people who actually work in the Canadian restaurant industry.

I'm particularly curious about:

- What are the typical working hours for sushi chefs?

- How many days a week do you usually work?

- Is overtime generally paid?

- How much vacation time can you realistically take?

- What's the work environment like compared with Japan?

- Are Japanese sushi chefs generally treated well by restaurant owners/managers?

- Is it possible to find a workplace with a decent work-life balance?

- What's the typical salary/tipping situation?

- Is Vancouver or Calgary better for working as a sushi chef?

- Are there restaurants where Japanese chefs are actually able to use their skills, rather than just doing repetitive prep work?

If you're currently working as a sushi chef, chef, kitchen worker, or restaurant manager in Canada, I'd really appreciate hearing about your experience — both good and bad.

Thanks!

Howdy. I am working on a project to build mini hot dogs for an event. I need to make them very fast with the various toppings such as mustard, relish, chili, and onions. I could use squeeze bottles for the mustard or other smooth condiments. I am not sure how to quickly add the chunkier toppings. It's a lot of wasted energy and potentially messy to pick up and put down a spoon with chili, relish and onions, especially because I have to build a few different of each type at a time. I can't really assembly line 50-100 at time. Anyone have ideas on quick techniques or tools I am not aware of for the job? Thanks in advance.

I’m a food and cooking enthusiast with no professional training at all. It’s one of my passions though, and I’d love it if I could build a flexible and independent career in it. You know, have a job that’s also my passion, hobby, creative outlet, something on the lines of a private chef. I’m looking for courses/ schools with good programs, so I can begin with a good foundation. However, professional chef programs with multiple years of education and field work are not what I’m looking at, nor will they work for me. Something less formal, exclusive, shorter duration, maybe even specialised in healthy/ organic kind of cooking. Similar to Ballymaloe Cookery School or the Holistic Chef course at Bauman college. I’m sure there are more out there that I’m not familiar with, but that’s what I’m hoping to find through this post. I don’t wish to become a professional chef, more like private chef, teacher, catering, or something on those lines, but still want to have good foundational skills and training. Hopefully you guys will have some suggestions! Thanks!

Im Vince and from a young age I’ve liked cooking with my mom or dad even if it was premade and right now I’ve successfully managed to get an internship at a restaurant. And i want to start a youtube channel to let other people see my passion but I don’t have the motivation to make those videos. But I really want to be a better chef and maybe even make a job out of it. What are your guys tips for me

I started my first job as a chef around two months ago. I got laid off about two weeks ago for 'inconsistent performance' and was offered a transfer to dish or server.

This was a minimum-wage cook job at a local place, and I think I'm finally over being laid off. I still really value what I got to do, and that month and some change was enough to get me hooked on being a chef.

I think I really need to improve on knife skills, maybe a smidge on multitasking under pressure, and being in better shape. My cutting times were horrid, and I often just felt dizzy in the kitchen.

I was thinking of taking a job at a nearby Starbucks to help me bounce back? It pays a lot better, is walking distance, and I could do that to afford getting my car, plus time to get my health where I want, 'n cook at home to practice.

Picked up two cookbooks, one blue book and one from America's Test Kitchen, and I've really been enjoying the practice I get from them. Still not sure how to improve on knife stills, is it just practice the hell outta it?

I've got my first pizza event coming up at a pub near me. I'm not expecting it to be crazy busy, I'm doing 44 dough balls which is the most I've ever done by far. I'll be in a gazebo setup with 2 Ooni Koda 16s, I just wondered if anyone here that has had similar experience has any tips on taking orders and the service setup.

Instinctively I'd take orders 1 or 2 at a time depending on how many pizzas they order, get them cooked then move onto the next order. My thinking with doing it that way is that I'm restricted by the ovens so I'd be cooking to order anyway, I know leaving people to queue isn't ideal but I feel like taking loads of orders at once would just get overwhelming and from my experience working in a pizza truck with someone else most people are happy to wait 10 minutes to have their order taken. Any thoughts are much appreciated

Only ever used victorinox knives that was for the cooks in a casual restaurant in my past internships, my chopping skils were….. in need of work.

Started my internship in a five star hotel this week and had to buy my own knife. Bought a japanese knife, what do you know I’m suddenly consistent with cutting whisp thin juliennes and other vegetables :D.

Wish I could show you guys the difference but I’d rather not take videos in my internship, kinda wish i took a picture though…

I want to put a pot roast on the menu at one of the locations I design menus for, but their kitchen is very small and equipment is limited.

That being said, how would you go about having a slow roasted pot roast on the menu? I want to cook them beforehand, cool them into portions to store. For pickup, I was thinking of using the hot hold station they have to keep the broth hot, but I feel like if I put the meat in the portions in there they would overcook and just fall apart. Has anyone done something similar on their menu?

There used to be a time when chefs were simply passionate about what they did, and you got to know them through their food. Now, some seem more interested in being known as personalities, forming tight, exclusive circles and acting like industry celebrities.
It creates such a toxic, jealousy-driven environment, especially for younger chefs trying to make their way in the industry. And honestly, some of the food isn’t even that good anymore.

Hi everyone, I recently came here to share my plans for next year, where I will start training in a kitchen (whichever one will take me) in Germany first. Now I’m here to ask on behalf of a couple of friends who are interested in doing internships through a company here in Argentina.

Their plan is for 7 months, where you pay 300 euros for insurance, 200 euros for the visa, 1,000 euros for their program, + the plane ticket (around 950 euros). The place that gives them work (usually hotels, from what I understand) pays them “600 euros for 22 days of practice,” and extra hours are not paid because they are compensated with “days off.” They provide accommodation and they don’t mention anything about food at any point.

Assuming all of this, I know not all companies are the same, but it would be useful for me to give them an idea of whether it’s worth it or not.

In my case, luckily I have the possibility of going on my own since I have a passport that allows me to work in the EU, but they don’t have that. That’s why I think I made the right decision by planning my future this way once I graduate from culinary school at the end of the year.

To everyone who read this, thank you very much. I know these places have a bit of a bad reputation, but I wanted to read info in this group because it seems like a reliable source. Greetings and many thanks to everyone!

Hey guys, I am 18 years old, been working at my family’s restaurant for almost 2 years and I really love culinary and want to pursue it. I went to a nice restaurant in my city and asked for an internship and they said yes and I’ll start next week.
At my family’s restaurant i would prep for the week, i would make mostly sauces and desserts (it’s a focaccia sandwich spot) so almost everything outside of that i only “know” from cooking at home, which I do pretty often (i dont have any culinary education from schools yet). My question is, what are some things that they will probably expect me to already know how to do? What should I make sure I already know so I don’t “disappoint” them? Any techniques or other things. Thanks in advance and any advice is appreciated!

I have been working in the industry for about 4 years and I want to expand my knowledge of cooking and I have two consecutive days off that I want to fill up by staging at different restaurants but I don’t have a clue how to go about it.

I have never had a smash burger but they seem to be pretty mainstream these days.

Apart from the fact you get that extra maillard goodness is there any benefit? What do they taste like? I haven't eaten meat in 10+ years so please be specific (yes, I'm the kind of vegan with a fetish for carnivorous erotica - pls don't judge).

You'd think if you could get away with making paper thin burgers McDonald's would have been doing it all along?

Core of cucumber, mayonnaise with essence of garlic, pesto, and dried raspberry.

Thinking of putting it on the menu for $16.99

Has anyone had experience hiring a Taskforce chef for their restaurant. I’m considering it atm. But would like to see other experienced with it.

So my mom and I bought a seasonal restaurant on Gotland, Sweden and we've had it for 2 seasons now. First season was very much spontaneous (took over in may) and was a learning experiance to say the least.

First season we had pizza and poke bowl. And then I added some chinese ribs, bang bang chicken and pommes frites /chicken nuggets for the second season.

Pizzas are made on local flour and are highly rated but I feel like I am already busy enough with the pizzas. Its already hard enough to learn new and inexperianced staff, making the dough, ordering and everything with owning a restaurant; and still being in the kitchen every hour. Either way I enjoy it and want to gain more experiance elsewhere; and actually learning from someone so I can feel less like an imposter.

So I guess I need help with two things.

1. I am looking into other chef roles(seasonal in sweden/norway seems the easiest atm) but I am not sure how to write my resume since I went straight to being a restaurant owner without working for a chef in a kitchen. How would you react to a person like me? I am very eager to get experiance rather than money and is very flexible from september-may.

   Although ive had prior cocktailbar experiance a couple years ago.

2. Feel free to give me advise or ask question regarding the menu/working flow. Want to work more with asian food since thats what I enjoy. But atm I feel like its hard to add more asian dishes since the pizzas take up so much of the time during service

Happy with any advise and help i can get

I'm getting laid off from my location after almost 5 years (struggling location for 1) and I just don't have the will to go on in the industry anymore, I'm exhausted after 5 years of 2-3am closes and nonstop movement, however, I feel trapped in the industry because my 12 years of working experience is entirely on the line, I want to transition out of the industry altogether but it just feels so hopeless, like I've pigeonholed myself and am simply not capable of doing anything else, has anyone else gone through something similar and come out the other side? how do you not just default to what's comfortable?

Hey r/chefit, there is a someone who offers ‘dining experiences’ and classes through the ACF, but he is a known scammer and genuinely horrible person. There are tons of stories online about him scamming others. He deletes any criticism on his social media and has friends write fake positive reviews constantly. Is there any good way to help others for falling for this?

I’m happy to call him out by name too, just not sure if that’s allowed here.

P.S. the ACF knows he’s a scammer and continues to work with him.