Jakea222

First off thamk the margarita gods for hitting me early tonight, look working for the big names is huge BUT it all depends on what it is you want to end up. :earn tricks and receipe methodss etc and get on down the road -- make you own name - burn your own way into culinary genius - just take the ideas further!@

That is how I got hooked was working for a caterer. Look you guys that want to career jump - nothing is wrong with being a cook at home. Doing your job and cooking things that you see in books, reading about a dish and doing it...but unless you want to take that pay cut and start over like I did making 10$/hr and a slave labor up to Sous where you become a punching bag for everything and then move to the spot of Exec somewhere - it is tough. I was at the top of a white collar game before throwing it asidew to do this fodd thin - sold everything and moved to NY to the CIA with wife in tow and then moved here to Altanta with her sinec I dragged her - I am starting over. You don't get to the top of any business by not paying dues - BUT the food world is a little more tough...it is not the food network as I told someone and as the Exec Chef told a guy that came in to look to see if it was his cup of tea...we as chefs cannot make people want to have this crazy passion for what it is we do. I certainly don't do it for money, enough to pay bills, but to get rich - nope....but I also have a very high level of wanting to get to the next level of food. I did just find out that I don't have as much tollerance for peopel that do not have the passion that I have or even had when I first started...so the point being this - if you are really nuts about it - do it - if you just like cooking for friends and family - do it and do it well. Read - cook and live food with your other job too.

Lets take this on around the corner - WHICH Foods the the TWO of you did actualy got some base play - 1st base to home run! C'MON now be honest! Spicey Chicken and Strawberry pie!

3-1 add something like mustard which helps the emulsification and slowly pour the oil in while whisking or robo it is slowly. - good luck Elie ←

Sure - Under cook and do it right - Tuna is supposed to be rare, most people like it the consistency ot that canned stuff and I am happy to refire it after doing a Gordon Ramsay on the eating habits of crazy people. BUT - that being said - people don't tend to know what they want. Medium - Rare - they all have some sort of idea on what they think - so it is a little tricky. Had a Steak tonight ordered "Meduim+" - WTF is that! I cooked it Med Well and it did not come back so I guess Med+ to that guys simple brain is MW. Good Luck CIA - do you ever work for Main COurse Catering over in New Paltz! Great shows - I was a site chef for them about 2 weekends a month and made 15/hr - but I did run sites after a few good ones under my belt....

See this is why I like this place - let me run this by you - new menu item I am working out the kinks The Georgia PEach Melba Salad Grilled Georgia Peaches with Spicey candied pecans on top of local greens and dizzed (hate the word) with a hause made melba sauce! Additional charge to add chix and shrimp! How that - ,ale my mouth wather especially since the melba vin. came out unreal!

The Jezebel Mag just names the top 100 and it is a great list to start EATING your way through if you live in Atlanta! FYI - nice mag this month too...

capers and caper berries - what? They are the same thing Picatta Sauce - sweat some onions, garlic and then add capers. Add chicken stock and reduce - add lemon juice the real stuff or fake then some lemon zest and thicken with a corn starch or roux and then put it over browned chicken and top it with fried capers - yeah baby! Done this for a pasta special and a banquet! good and easy!

YepI have seen this it is the tail of the filet. Sous vide is that whay I saw -- come on you crazy people - sous vide - c'mon get real - I would have grilled it too. The tail actually has some good bias cuts like the pis above - sous vide - you guys kill me! If you feed you dog better than that you are nuts and just one of the many people that have no idea about food - especially meat - in the food world!

so what happened

Here is what I will tell you. Being a chef in todays world is tough - it IS NOT the food network and I have lost several potential career changers to the real kitchen - my club is not huge - we push a lot of food and it is not by any means as much stress as some are. You have to love the food part. I jumped careers. I had the nice white colar job and got so IN to food that it became an obscession. I read everthing I could before finding a place I could work in with my hours in my paying job. I worked for over a year before I was put on payroll before and after hours from my paying job. I could not get enough and then I pushed towards a culinary program because I needed to have that as a foundation since my age is a factor. - I don't care what these posters say about the real world of cooking - most of these posters are arm chair chefs - meaning that could only dream about doing what I did and drop my life for the life of a chef and a SOus Chef at that - Sous chef definition is the guy that gets the blame for everything and the workload of the operation. So take your time in finding out about career jumping. I certainly do not have a WHITE chef coat like the chef on tv and I have burns and scars to show that it is not a great life but it is a drive inside of me that strives for what you see the chefs on tv doing - putting out great food to often times miserable people looking to make themselves happy. Good luck in your quest my friend and I am happy to share with you my journey to the decision I made anytime you want to know it -- it was not easy and it has been a strain on me and my wife who I have to schedule times with so I see her - that is the only bad thing I have to say about the path I have - I miss seeing my wife - and coming for the exec world - the guy that said it is no different than any other career - he/shee is in fantasy land - no holidays - maybe one day off a week - hot - BUT great food is why I do it!

I don't know Miami - but Boca - Woodfield COuntry Club on Yamamoto Drive is a very nice place to work I have no idea about the needs of the club - I was there a long time ago - Bart Messing is the Exec Chef - all I can give you - good luck!

I said that very thing = I want to be a chef = and did it. It has been very worth it for me - HOWEVER. We work while everybody plays. My hours are bad, but I do see my wife once and a while - no kids thank goodness, because unless you have an understanding with who you work for - as I said you work while everyone plays. Holidays - nope. Weekends - forget it. The food - Oh yeah! the creating something from scratch and serving it - oh yeah. Good luck -- Please work in some places before you up and say I wanna be - real kitchens are not the food network or tv kitchens.

So I am working on my inventory sheet price updates for the upcoming inventory on Mon. and some things are going way up and some are strangly going down. My produce has stayed the same and a few things have gone down because of the season - but it is certainly gone up as a whole - dairy WAY up. Cheese WAY up - my Bleu Cheese Dressing is up about 7$ from last year per recipe. Meat about the same a little increase in certain things. Delivery fees are around 8-10$ a pop. Bread was increased several months ago and up about 15% from last year...if that helps put anything into perspective for you guys

I have always worn upper casual - never a tie - I have had no strange looks. The last time I wore dress pants a button down. Always carry a copy of your resume (CV) references and I always carry pics of foods I have done - sometimes it is an ice breaker. Always have a pen too ---- trust me - the above will not hurt you....what you say and do is up to you -- good luck - and don't forget to relax and breath if you really want the job - relax! if you are going for a exec position how you handle chaos is huge...knock em dead

Well - that is a tough one. I have had death threats - my boss got threats leading me to be trained to use a handgun to protect myself and my boss, never had to use it but I remember it was a stress you can't imagine - or I can say you can - That stress led me to leave that job and come to the food business. I went to school and am paying dues by working hard and long. BUT I also told myself that I would never allow a job to work on me to that extreme, I will work a job not allow it to work me. That being said - you should leave and REGROUP. Find yourself and then move on. After what you have explained you may just need to change settings - especially if you still love the food. BUt you have to find your passion and then find your spot in the rat race.

I can say that the customer service has gone up with our vendors - we are all taking a hit and will do what we gotta do to get through - is it gonna get worse - yep - is the flooding gonna hurt us - yep - is the gas and delivery fees gonna keep going up - yep - prices are gonna keep going up and we are all gonna have to deal the best way we can and get used to the costs - I can only keep my fingers crossed for all of us right now as my retirement accounts continue to lose every quarter and my cahs on hand is not as much as it used to be

Just realize that the canned whipped cream CURDLES - that is all I can say - figure it out -- g

I was wondering if anyone in the Atlanta area - specifically Dunwoody knew anything about Peters - Former High Cotton restaraunt? I found no specific info doing a general search - any help would be great

My first date with my current wife was that I had cooked dinner Jamaican Glazed Chicken - twiced Baked Pots, Green beans in rendered bacon and onion and Corn Bread! - BEFORE I became a pro chef - My wife never complained about anything I did. Do simple things - if you do the fancy stuff all of the time she may expect it all of the time A few things you can do together - make pizza - we had a blast on that.

I do have to say that it is good to know that a few people like you -- and me exist out there. I don't cut corners - I don't serve things I would not eat - did I drop some bread today in the floor as I burned my arm coming out of the oven with it - yep - did I pick it up inspect it and use it - yep. BUT our floors are clean enough to eat off of so it did not bother me. Hang in there - find a job before you leave one though and you won't have to bring things up.

These were your questions and I thought I would answer you for your on going look at what people think in the food world. As a professional chef running my own place - I answer the following Telling customers that the pollock is halibut. Nope I would run a halibut special and 86 the pollock Telling customers that the rice is vegetarian when we put chicken stock in it. Nope - I would ask them how long they had and do one of those minute rice boxes I had on hand for just such an occasion Telling customers that it's safron rice when it's 98% tumeric. I would fuse just a little safron in something - I hate tumeric for the most part Telling customers that all the scallops and prawns are fresh when they aren't. This one is a tough one and could be answered like and American politician, my rule on this as is anything - IF I WON"T EAT IT I DON"T SERVE IT Telling customers that it's vegetarian soup with their is chicken stock in it. nope I go to great lenghts to make sure that the soups all have the list of ingredients on a list just in case of allergies more than vegans Telling customers that the pork is veal Nope Telling customers that the frozen pre-made products are fresh, homemade depends on this - some products are really very good and I would not use the word homemade Working for someone I would answer this way: Telling customers that the pollock is halibut. Telling customers that the rice is vegetarian when we put chicken stock in it. Telling customers that it's safron rice when it's 98% tumeric. Telling customers that all the scallops and prawns are fresh when they aren't. Telling customers that it's vegetarian soup with their is chicken stock in it. Telling customers that the pork is veal Telling customers that the frozen pre-made products are fresh, homemade Whatever you wish me to do BOSS Hope this helps -

You know chef - in todays world as an employee you bite your tongue a lot or beat the bricks. In the non food world you do what you are told by your boss or your out. In the food business right now where they are laying off cooks right and left because people are staying home - your principal and taking care of yourself comes into play. Are YOU willing to quit something that is pretty good but goes against your principals - I will until I find another frying pan to jump in. When I run the kitchen nothing is changed out without notifying the staff - But have you ever made crab salad with imitation crab? As a sous chef - you get stepped on and abused and told how things are to be done by the exec chef. You learn from things - things to do and not to do when and if you get a chance to run the kitchen somewhere. I am an honest guy and right now I do what I am told - when I run my own place - I will run an honest shop. As far as the last post I saw you on saying you had that on your resume - well - it tells me one thing - you can't follow orders. You have principals which are good, but don't bite your tongue and do what you are told - I would ask you that question first of why you left your last position and as soon as - or if you had the guts to answer how you are posting - would say - thanks for your time and have a nice day. Now I can say that I do question things all of the time - but I ask very diplomatically - I don't care to be looking for a job right now. So this begs my question to you - do you cheat? Do you work for yourself and can afford that principal - or are you one of the many posters in this forum that is all hat and no cattle

before I became a pro chef I worked for a university medical center and saw a lot of cool stuff. But want to caution everyone before you start calling lawyers - I issued several community alerts concerning virus' that were - lets say harsh coming out of both ends that was contributed to a norwalk type virus. While I hate that anyone gets sick, calling the establishment usually does nothing, the health depatment will wait until they get several complaints and then investigate. Keep in mind that people get sick - I myself am totally facinated that we are all not walking dead - with door handles - s/p shakers and ketchup bottles - oh and I like this one - where the bus guys use the rag in the bus tub to wipe down the tables and chairs over and over and over - love that - OR the server that clears the table behind you putting thier fingers in 3 glasses to carry them and then comes out with your plate....so the point is - lots of things go around - hydrate as much as you can if you have not gotten any better and start hacking yellow crud or blood - 911. Good Luck

Well now that it has abeen a while I can safely say that 2 days off in 16 is a great reason to BURNOUT --- SO I am diagnosing my self - Accute Culinary Burnout due to managerial incompetence.