all you cheffy types...

[butters]

...if any of you have worked professionally in fast-paced, sweaty kitchens, how did you maintain your love of cooking?

i can understand the pleasure of creating a beautiful meal - the care, attention, artistic slant, the sense of satisfaction. what i can't begin to imagine is trying to hang onto that sensual pleasure and joy when all is rush and pressure and demand.

if any of you have gone the cheffy-route, did you ever find yourself leaving the profession in order to recapture that original love?

 

[remy_lebeau8]

I worked in a kitchen for a while but not as a chef. I love cooking too much to go into that line of work. Afraid I'd loose my love of cooking.

 

[Adre]

The few chefs I know relax by creating great meals at home. Busman's holiday.

 

[bronzeage]

I was never a chef, but my wife was.

In a professional fast paced restaurant kitchen, there is very little artistic slant. The goal is consistency. Each individual order is supposed to exactly like every other plate. There's no room for experimentation or artistic license, once the recipe and portions are set by the Chef.

The real key to success in a restaurant is the ability to do the same thing over and over, and never let it vary.

 

[butters]

I worked in a kitchen for a while but not as a chef. I love cooking too much to go into that line of work. Afraid I'd lose my love of cooking.

*nods*

The few chefs I know relax by creating great meals at home. Busman's holiday.

so is all the hard work just to make a gastronomic name for themselves so they can maybe open their own restaurant . . . and then get others to do the cooking?

yeah, i've seen some of the tv chefs cooking at home, and it seems they enjoy it so much more. to be fair, that might be said for many employment choices.

 

[butters]

I was never a chef, but my wife was.

In a professional fast paced restaurant kitchen, there is very little artistic slant. The goal is consistency. Each individual order is supposed to exactly like every other plate. There's no room for experimentation or artistic license, once the recipe and portions are set by the Chef.

The real key to success in a restaurant is the ability to do the same thing over and over, and never let it vary.

exactly.

so did your wife manage to sustain the pleasure she got from cooking? or did it become all work and the only play was at home, with you to distract her with other games? :blinks:

 

[butters]

maybe this is why so many chefs are notoriously short-tempered or soured

 

[Adre]

maybe this is why so many chefs are notoriously short-tempered or soured

Restaurant kitchens are frequently brutally hot, loud, rude, busy, messy and dangerous.

 

[RjThoughts]

I worked in several hotel and resort kitchens. Artistry was frowned upon, but you could tell which cooks and chefs created at home.

Now at this one resort, the head chef allowed those cooks and chefs under a certain age to create something different for lunch...most of us younguns just made odd cheeseburgers or hot dogs LOL

 

[bronzeage]

exactly.

so did your wife manage to sustain the pleasure she got from cooking? or did it become all work and the only play was at home, with you to distract her with other games? :blinks:

In those days, she was young and it was all new to her. She was sous chef in a classical French restaurant, complete with all the French restaurant feudal manor style management non-sense. The chef expected a religious type devotion to the job. When we met, she found there were better things to do on nights and weekends. She stayed in the business about another year, but finally decided to take a job which matched my schedule.

 

[MatthewVett]

I didn't start to enjoy cooking until after I left my job at a restaurant. During it, I hated all humanity.

 

[butters]

In those days, she was young and it was all new to her. She was sous chef in a classical French restaurant, complete with all the French restaurant feudal manor style management non-sense. The chef expected a religious type devotion to the job. When we met, she found there were better things to do on nights and weekends. She stayed in the business about another year, but finally decided to take a job which matched my schedule.

smart girl

 

[Adre]

Off topic but related I think, for years I entertained the idea of owning a beach bar, but decided I enjoyed frequenting them too much to own one. If that makes sense.

 

[butters]

Restaurant kitchens are frequently brutally hot, loud, rude, busy, messy and dangerous.

and the customers even worse with their bad-manners, poor palates and half-drunk or more

I worked in several hotel and resort kitchens. Artistry was frowned upon, but you could tell which cooks and chefs created at home.

Now at this one resort, the head chef allowed those cooks and chefs under a certain age to create something different for lunch...most of us younguns just made odd cheeseburgers or hot dogs LOL

a great cheeseburger's a great cheeseburger

I didn't start to enjoy cooking until after I left my job at a restaurant. During it, I hated all humanity.

ah - an inside insider. your experience seems to back-up my own thoughts, but there have to be others who thrive in such a environment

 

[butters]

Off topic but related I think, for years I entertained the idea of owning a beach bar, but decided I enjoyed frequenting them too much to own one. If that makes sense.

it makes perfect sense.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

No chef or baker brings the work home.

 

[RjThoughts]

and the customers even worse with their bad-manners, poor palates and half-drunk or more


a great cheeseburger's a great cheeseburger


ah - an inside insider. your experience seems to back-up my own thoughts, but there have to be others who thrive in such a environment

And he loved them, became addicted to them LOL

Two patties from the charcoal grille, then he'd load on the bacon and veggies LOL

 

[Squibbs]

I left it because the money sucked.

 

[remy_lebeau8]

Off topic, but I think im going to smoke a chicken tomorrow. Mmm smokey goodness

 

[butters]

Off topic, but I think im going to smoke a chicken tomorrow. Mmm smokey goodness

now that's some fucked-up addiction

man, rolling them must be a bastard

 

[remy_lebeau8]

now that's some fucked-up addiction

man, rolling them must be a bastard

You think thats bad, you should see the price of the papers

 

[RjThoughts]

In those days, she was young and it was all new to her. She was sous chef in a classical French restaurant, complete with all the French restaurant feudal manor style management non-sense. The chef expected a religious type devotion to the job. When we met, she found there were better things to do on nights and weekends. She stayed in the business about another year, but finally decided to take a job which matched my schedule.

8-4 shift really means 6-10, maybe midnight. Yeah, I had an executive like that. He learned that, when you're getting just minimum wage to make sandwiches and dp prep work, it ain't gonna happen.