c/chefs

27

paige_harris•1d ago

Tried brining my chicken thighs in pickle juice instead of salt water...

I soaked 8 thighs in leftover dill pickle brine from a jar for 4 hours on Tuesday and they came out so salty they were almost inedible. Has anyone else experimented with alternative brines and found a ratio that actually works without ruining dinner?

10

robinwalker•3d ago

Tried resting a brisket for 3 hours instead of 1 like that BBQ guru in Austin said and got a dry crust but somehow the inside was perfect?

I followed his method to the letter with a 16lb prime packer last Sunday and the bark turned leathery while the meat stayed juicy, so now I'm wondering if he's full of it or if my cooler just holds heat too well, has anyone else seen this split result?

17

emma_murray49•18d ago

Forget overnight rest - I tried a 4 hour cold proof on my pizza dough and it changed everything

I was always the guy who did a 24 hour cold ferment for Neapolitan style pizza. Thought that was the only way to get that airy cornicione. But I got a last minute invite to cook for a few friends last Saturday and only had 4 hours. So I threw the dough in the fridge for a quick cold proof instead of leaving it on the counter. I figured it'd be dense and lame. But the crust actually came out with those big irregular bubbles and a chewy texture I usually only get from the long ferment. The flavor was a little milder, sure, but the structure was spot on. Makes me wonder how short I can really go on cold proofs before it falls apart. Any of you guys ever played around with super short cold ferments for same day pizza?

26

green.jessica•20d ago

Had a customer ask me to keep the garlic out of the sauce because it was spicy

I was working the line last Saturday night and a lady ordered our puttanesca, then dead serious asked if I could make it without garlic because she thought it was spicy. I just nodded and went back to my station, but I still think about that one.

0

kim_brown•20d ago

Spent $250 on a fancy new chef's knife and it chipped on the third day

I finally splurged on a high-end Japanese gyuto from a reputable shop in Portland after using old beaters for years, and a chip appeared near the tip while I was slicing through butternut squash. The shop basically told me it's my fault for using it on hard vegetables, even though that's half my prep work. Has anyone else dealt with wimpy knives that can't handle normal kitchen tasks, or did I just pick the wrong brand?

12

alexj99•21d ago

I was dead wrong about sous vide... until my buddy proved it

For like 2 years I thought sous vide was just a gimmick for rich home cooks with too much time. Kept telling my line cooks it would never replace proper pan searing and temp control on the fly. Then my buddy Matt brought in a brisket he did for 72 hours at 135 and served it at a staff meal. That thing was like butter with a crust I couldn't believe came from a kitchen torch. Now I have a cheap Anova in my garage and I've done short ribs and pork chops that come out perfect every single time. Anyone else have a technique they hated on principle until someone showed them the real results?

23

jordan184•21d ago

Broke down a whole case of lobsters in 45 minutes last night but spent 2 hours on the bisque stock

I figured breaking down the lobsters would be the hard part, but it was the shell roasting and stock simmering that ate up my whole prep window. Turns out getting deep flavor from the shells takes way longer than I expected if you actually toast them right. Has anyone else found a way to speed up shell stock without losing that roasted depth?

13

riley_king16•21d ago

Vent: That 30-year line cook told me my knife angle was all wrong

I overheard him muttering 'you're digging, not slicing' while I was prepping onions for service and now I realize I've been wasting speed and ruining my blade edge for the last 2 years - anyone else get called out by an old timer and had to relearn the basics?

9

lilyfisher•22d ago

My 1000th ticket was a complete ghost in the weeds

Five years in and that one customer who sent back a perfect steak because it 'looked too rare' finally made me hit 1000 comps on a single shift.

18

mary614•25d ago

A regular told me my tomato sauce was too sharp and I switched to San Marzanos from store brand cans

He said it tasted like acid and I fought him on it for a week before trying his suggestion, now my Sunday gravy comes out smoother and I sell twice as much on pasta nights, anyone else had a customer call them out on basics like that?

30

abbyl49•27d ago

Swapped my finishing tweezers for a paintbrush on plating last month and it felt wrong at first

I used to obsess over every little garnish placement with tweezers for years at my station in Chicago. Last month our head chef told me to try painting a sauce smear with a brush instead of dropping it from a squeeze bottle for a duck dish. At first I thought it was a gimmick but after three tries I saw how the brush gave me way more control over the thickness and shape. Now I keep a set of small brushes in my kit and use them for everything from dots to swooshes. It cut down my plating time by maybe 10 seconds per plate which adds up during a busy service. Has anyone else swapped a classic tool for something weird and had it actually improve their workflow?

21

cora_martinez•28d ago

The time I tried to speed-cure my homemade bacon in a 200 degree oven instead of smoking it

That $20 slab of pork belly turned into a tough, salty brick after only 45 minutes, and it taught me that some shortcuts in charcuterie just arent worth taking, so has anyone else ruined a batch of bacon trying to cut corners on time?

23

thea_knight•29d ago

TIL the reason my knife work got faster was not the new blade

After 8 years of thinking I just needed a sharper knife, I spent a weekend in Portland watching a butcher and realized it was all about my grip and the way I curled my fingers under, so now I've been practicing pinch grips for 3 months and my prep time dropped by 20 percent, has anyone else found one weird habit that changed everything?

18

christophermorgan•29d ago

Laughing at the guy who swore by a fish spatula for everything

Rolled my eyes when a line cook at a diner in Portland told me his fish spatula could flip anything from eggs to pancakes to burger patties, but after using it for a week straight I get it now - anyone else have a tool they mocked at first?

18

mark_nguyen95•1mo ago

Found out my stock pot holds exactly 14 quarts...

I always guessed it was around 12 quarts but I measured it today after a recipe called for a precise amount. Has anyone else ever just eyeballed their pot sizes and ended up way off?

18

anna_coleman•1mo ago

Our flat top grill died right in the middle of a 200-cover Saturday brunch rush

It was last Saturday, 11:30 AM, the printer was spitting out tickets for eggs Benedict and pancakes like crazy. I went to flip a batch of home fries and the surface just went cold, dead, no heat at all. We had maybe 40 tickets already fired and everybody was staring at me like I had the answer. I told the front of house to put a 30 minute hold on any new grill orders and we scrambled to finish everything on our backup planers and in the oven. It took three hours for the repair guy to show up and it was just a blown fuse, a $5 part. Has anyone else had a piece of equipment fail at the absolute worst possible time?

10

markl75•1mo ago

Saw a line cook in Portland use a spoon to portion cookie dough faster than any scoop I've seen

I was eating at a spot in Portland last month and watched this guy knock out 50 cookies in like 2 minutes just using a regular spoon and his thumb to slide the dough off. The texture was way more even than my usual scoop method too. Has anyone else tried ditching the scoop for a basic spoon on delicate doughs?

24

hugo645•1mo ago

Warning: Don't rush your roux on a busy night like I did

Last Saturday during dinner rush, I got cocky and tried to speed through making a dark roux for gumbo. I had 30 orders on the screen and figured I could crank up the heat and stir faster, save myself 10 minutes. Big mistake. By the time I smelled that burnt nutty smell, the flour had scorched on the bottom of my pot. Had to dump the whole thing and start over with fresh oil and flour, which cost me another 20 minutes and put me behind on every ticket. The worst part was that burnt taste lingered in the air and I had to scrub that pot with steel wool for 15 minutes after service. My sous chef just shook his head and said 'you knew better.' Has anyone else tried to cut corners with roux and ended up paying for it double?

10

nancy30•1mo ago

Hand cut fries vs frozen shoestrings on a busy Friday night - I picked wrong

Mistake number one was thinking I could prep 80 orders of hand cut fries during the dinner rush. I had this idea they'd taste better and impress the regulars, so I went with it. By 7pm I was drowning in spuds and the fry station was backed up 15 minutes. The owner finally yelled at me to just dump the frozen bag in and save the shift. Ended up with half the tickets comped and a bruised ego. Anyone else try to get fancy on a busy night and totally regret it?

2

thomas83•1mo ago

Pulled a 16-hour shift after my sous walked out mid-service

Had my sous chef quit right before a Friday dinner rush in downtown Portland. I had to run the line myself while training a new prep guy on the fly. Ended up burning my hand on the flattop and dropping a whole order of salmon. The owner pulled me aside after and asked if I could handle it, but I just told him I need more reliable staff.

35

jamieh76•1mo ago

Walked into a diner in Jersey City and noticed the chef was using a dented half sheet pan for everything

I watched him slide that pan under the broiler for the peppers, then immediately drop it on the flat top for the bacon grease to sizzle off. The thing had a corner bent up at a 45 degree angle and a dent right in the middle, but everything coming off it was spot on. Does that kind of seasoning just come from years of abuse or is there a trick to breaking in a pan like that?

2

paige_harris•1mo ago

My new sous vide machine kept giving me a weird water error code

It took me like 2 hours to figure out it wasn't the seal, but that I needed to use filtered water from my fridge instead of tap to stop the mineral buildup. I was about to return the thing before I tried that. Anyone know a faster way to descale these units?

5

finley_lee•1mo ago

Hit 1,000 covers in a single night for the first time last Saturday

I work at a busy spot downtown, nothing fancy. We did 1,012 covers between 5pm and 11pm. That's about 168 an hour. I've been a line cook for 6 years and never seen numbers like that. The printer never stopped. Tickets piled up like a small mountain. Has anyone else hit a crazy cover count that made you rethink your whole prep strategy?

18

samf95•1mo ago

Looked at my knife log and saw I sharpened 400 blades this year

I keep a notebook for every knife I sharpen at the restaurant. Just added it up and hit 400 total. That's for our whole line, plus some for the prep cooks. It's a lot of time on the stones. Makes you realize how much wear and tear a busy kitchen puts on tools. I'm starting to think we need a better system than me doing it all by hand every Sunday. Anyone have a solid weekly sharpening schedule that actually works for a crew?

10

samf95•1mo ago

Just realized I was wasting half my prep time because of a bad knife

I was working a line cook gig in Austin about 6 months ago, and my station was always behind. My sous chef finally watched me for a full 10 minutes and just said, 'Dude, you're fighting that dull blade for every single onion.' He handed me his personal chef's knife, a Wusthof Classic, and I julienned a bell pepper in like 30 seconds flat. I'd been using the same cheap, dull house knife for two years, just thinking I was slow. Bought my own decent knife the next day and my prep time literally got cut in half. Has anyone else had a single tool change that made that big of a difference on the line?