culinary school

couldn't you learn a lot just by getting a job in a good kitchen?

yes!

pin the additional components to your glans penis

fuck the other ingredients, taking care to call them daddy

one guy i know went to culinary school, and he is now head chef at a sheraton. i doubt he makes 6 or 7 an hour, prob 2 or 3x that at least.

he was kind of a pothead/burn out back in the day but he made it happen, so maybe you can too.

my mum and dad taught me from an early age, do not fuck up your life by going anywhere near the catering industry or retail work.

  messiaen said:

my mum and dad taught me from an early age, do not fuck up your life by going anywhere near the catering industry or retail work.

did they encourage music and weed?

  JohnTqs said:

couldn't you learn a lot just by getting a job in a good kitchen?

fred: hay guyz

good kitchen: do you have any experience?

fred: no

good kitchen: lol

  Joyrex said:

  Fred McGriff said:

thanks for the recco zaphod, i'll definitely check it out.

 

but yeah i see culinary school like any other degree, a stepping stone to getting a good job. but actually i think the difference is you really do get a lot of skills, let's say i go and get my associate's degree for a year, and decide i dont want to do anything with it, i still have that skillset that i can apply to my every day life to a hobby of mine, which is nice.

 

definitely gonna read that book

 

  kaini said:

fred if you become a chef you will also become an alcoholic

so i wouldn't

 

yeah this is something my wife and i have actually discussed.... definitely worried about that

 

Pretty expensive hobby when your Associates will cost you around 30K+...

40k at johnson and wales. meh, we can just tack it onto the half million we're in debt.

but i would become an alcoholic, maybe even a meth/coke head to keep up with the youngins working double shifts

but the goal is to be chef/owner of my own idmsteraunt. i just dont see another realistic path to get there.

xxx- you are my hero

His posts are indeed the Fois Gras of General Banter!

fresh, local ingredients, excellent service, casual/cool/intimate dining room, top notch wine list

yeah i couldnt believe it when someone compared xxx to siniclpuse.

  Fred McGriff said:

fresh, local ingredients, excellent service, casual/cool/intimate dining room, top notch wine list

How serious do you think this idea is? For, your main WATMM story arc thus far has been about not knowing what to do with your Roland Barthes-quoting-ass existence.

also there's chef's arse to contend with.

  encey said:

  Fred McGriff said:

fresh, local ingredients, excellent service, casual/cool/intimate dining room, top notch wine list

How serious do you think this idea is? For, your main WATMM story arc thus far has been about not knowing what to do with your Roland Barthes-quoting-ass existence.

i dont know. i'm trying to figure that out right now. lol.

I have friends who are cooks that have gone both directions.

Honestly, the ones who went to school are not any better off than the ones who spent 4 years in a kitchen at a restaurant. Quite a few of the ones who went to school had and continue to have trouble finding good work, and end up cooking at hotels.

Come to think of it, the one who is the best off has no formal training beyond working at a Denny's and is now 2nd in command at a country club. Seems to me that getting your foot in the door at the kind of place you want to work, even if you start as a line cook or food prep, will get you a lot further, faster.

YOu need THICK skin to work in a restaurant. Ive worked as a cook in about 10 diferent places. Some high end, some low end. Ive burnt out on the cooking world. Im never going back. One, you have to work like a dog. Its very intense during busy hours. You have people yelling at you. Shady characters are always attracted to kitchen work, so you have assholes gallore at work. Its fun when you are young for a while, but 30 + it gets OLD. If you want to run a restaurant and own one ou are now a business man plus a chef. Keeping inventory, paying employees, making sure everything is done right. Dealing with people not showing up, firing people. Rent, bills. You can never have a vacation ever. You are married to your restaurant. Unless you want to close up for a while. I dunno. I decided it was not the life I wanted when I am 45.

restaurants suck as far as employment goes.

  marf said:

YOu need THICK skin to work in a restaurant. Ive worked as a cook in about 10 diferent places. Some high end, some low end. Ive burnt out on the cooking world. Im never going back. One, you have to work like a dog. Its very intense during busy hours. You have people yelling at you. Shady characters are always attracted to kitchen work, so you have assholes gallore at work. Its fun when you are young for a while, but 30 + it gets OLD. If you want to run a restaurant and own one ou are now a business man plus a chef. Keeping inventory, paying employees, making sure everything is done right. Dealing with people not showing up, firing people. Rent, bills. You can never have a vacation ever. You are married to your restaurant. Unless you want to close up for a while. I dunno. I decided it was not the life I wanted when I am 45.

this is all very true. worked in restaurants for about 10 years before I decided I didn't want to work in food service anymore or ever again. BTW I think shady people are attracted to kitchen work because of the lack of drug screening and the high turnover rate. I actually think it's the other way around though... People get into drugs and stuff to deal with the stresses of the job/environment.

yikes. not a lot of argument for here.

so instead of going to culinary school i went out and got myself a dutch oven. it's really nice.

so do i fart into it or what?

i have wicked gas and half a mind to not only do that but somehow videotape it as well...

there are a couple of ways to enter the world of culinary excellence.

i have worked kitchens on and off for a while... it's what i do when there's no money coming in. i'm a qualified sous chef.

you can start aged sixteen as a commis and work your wy up, and get heavily bitched, or you can get qualified.

depends where you want to work and how.

quali's on paper can go a long way, but experience is almost worth as much. almost.

what i don't get is how it has become the perception held that cooking is glamourous.

if long hours/split shifts seems glamourous to you then fine.

believe me when i say that that michelin star is a long way off.

not sure glamour is an issue for me, making food is just my latest obsession the way making idm (no glamour) was in my earlier twenties

Speed and efficiancy is what cooking in a restaurant is about. Other than coming up with recipes. Its about speed prep work and the most important bit, THE, most important bit is being able to think 3,4,5 steps ahead and feel time pass by on the line all while keeping calm with watresess yelling at you.. Its actually the best part of the job. Its addictive working on the line during a rush. Its hell and heaven, but its a chess game. You have to think about heat, time, and what cooks the longest and the shortest amount of time. Some people just can't do it.

I suggest working at a shit hole place like a Denny's or some other low end restaurant and see if you can deal.

You will get all of the worst elements of the cooking world in a place like this. Maybe a diner, or a bar and grill. Some place that makes its own dishes but isn't high end. Why? Because you will learn how to cook dishes in high voume at busy hours. You will learn the Jedi mind tricks of working on the line. You will encounter shady weirdos. You will learn how to mingle and even befriend all walks of life. Then, go to a high end restaurant that most likely has a lower volume and tell them you never worked in a restaurant but want to learn, and maybe you could start as a prep cook. Thats the way in.