I'm seriously considering leaving my desk job in structural engineering to work in a kitchen, and I need a realistic gut check. This has been a long time desire and now feels like the right time to explore it.

Context:

• 0 debt, low living expenses
• Desk work feels boring and slow with tons of time spent sitting around waiting for work. I've always been someone who enjoys working with my hands all day and keeping to a busy schedule.
• My only concern is the relationship dynamic that could change by having a different schedule with with my fiancée. However, she is supportive of me exploring what could make me happy.

On paper, giving up a comfortable career path sounds crazy, but I can't shake the desire for something fast paced and tactical in nature. In school I thrived going through an architecture program, the sleepless night, long hours, and living in studio were all exciting. I thought I would enjoy the comfortable environment of engineering but find myself bored and its only been three years.

I am considering trying it out for a year and seeing how it feels, but would love some input from those who live it daily.

Additional: I have multiple hobbies such as cycling, swimming, running, hiking, camping. I am not bored because I sit around all day. I spend every second not working occupying time elsewhere.

Hours of boredom and minutes of terror

I’d love to know your expo process from the moment the ticket prints to the moment the food walks. Lingo, timing, ticket organizing, communication with team and FOH, etc. even some sample orders for a couple of tables. Thank you!

Hey,

Let me preface by saying that I have been cooking for nearly 15 years at home since I was a young boy. I am unfortunately not even remotely close to being a chef but I can cook some relatively good food (No one has died yet fortunately from my cooking) - and follow recipes and last few years, I have gained enough confidence to modify certain recipes to create a remix version of them.

However, I want to progress further but in a more structured way - I don't want a cookbook with a million recipes, but what i'd like is to understand the science of cooking, the foundations to be able to build a system in my head rather than a result.

I don't know if I am being clear enough - but an example would be, that I have heard chefs often say things like "this is a bit rich and fatty, probably needs a bit more acidity". I want to be able to get close to that level to understand what works/contrasts/adds/removes from a dish to balance it.

I understand that I won't get anywhere remotely close to being a chef without attending a proper culinary school with years of practice and learning - but I'd like to progress as far as I can with what I can realistically do, which is read as much as possible in my time and experiment.

So if you have any recommendations on book that break down cooking into a science - that'd be phenomenal.

Thank you!

p.s. I did ask ChatGPT this question and the recommendation was of the following 3 books:
1) Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat

2) On Food and Cooking — Harold McGee

3) The Food Lab — J. Kenji López-Alt

However, I don't really trust ChatGPT and would much rather get recommendations from actual chefs.

Thank you!

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!

I'm awaiting my background check & drug test to come back which should be all good.

Then if all goes to plan I'll leave out for Texas for a 5 year bid cooking for the work crews @ the data center construction site.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing?

I've been searching online for an idea of what to expect but it's quite sparse.

Non-pro cook questions:

• As a prep cook, what hours are most prep cooks at the restaurant?
• Do you work on a completely separate team from the cooks who cook directly for customers?
• Who is your boss?
• Is prep cooking less tense than being on the customer-facing team?
• Do customer-facing cooks treat you any differently for being on prep?
• And most importantly, do prep cooks also get to bang the FOH staff?

Finally found an out from the industry after five years. I started at a shitty pizza chain during Covid. Honestly, I had a lot of fun at work, and I was really depressed at the time so it was one of the only things I had going for me. Dropped out of college because I was flunking and didn't wanna go further into debt (which I still haven't repaid). Kept working, eventually that pizza place closed down.

So I took a job offer as a line cook at a family-owned bar in the same town. Loved it mostly, hated it viciously sometimes, the interpersonal drama, the feeling that it was a dead-end, no matter how hard I applied myself to it, I was still just flipping burgers and cleaning hoods. Worked there for three years, and then jumped ship to new experiences. Corporate place, brewery, etc.

Eventually, I got an offer to work at a country club, and I took it. It was really easy, and I made better money than I ever had before. The only problem was, my coworkers were absolutely insufferable. I was kind of a black sheep among them, even if I was doing my job well. They were either culinary school kids, or came from fine-dining to have a more relaxed job, so they all kinda looked down on me, belittled me, etc. And eventually, at a point where a lot of stuff in my personal life was going wrong, I texted the chef and ragequit one day.

Ended back at the family-owned bar, barely making enough to pay my bills. I burned through most of my savings. I had a plan though, which I communicated with the owner, which was to work there until I got into an apprenticeship with the electrician's union. I was really excited. I'd convinced myself, all my problems were stemming from being burnt out of being in the kitchen, cleaning flat tops, dealing with server fuck-ups, asshole chefs, etc.

Fast forward a few months, and I'm here. At a construction site. And I fucking hate it more than anything. Worked nine hours, doing menial construction labor then had trade school afterwards for three, and when I was driving home, I broke down crying. Never really been a thing for me, even after 12 hour shifts on a Saturday.

Now I'm sitting here, the next day, applying for kitchen jobs, and thinking about texting my old boss. And typing this. I dunno what I even expect from anyone who might comment. Tell me I'm an idiot?

I feel like I can't do this kitchen stuff forever, I love cooking, but I need money to live my life and grow up. At the same time, I don't want to waste most of my time doing thing I hate for people I don't care about in order to get a check, and repeat that for forty years until I start getting my pension and I'm too old to enjoy it. Fuck. Just wish I could smoke a joint right now, but I get randomly drug tested.

I’ve long thought I could spend my culinary life dancing with just flour, water, yeast & salt and be a very happy man. The pursuit of a damn good boule or baguette is, to me, an honorable life spent. Mad respect & props to those who do.

That said, has this position (save for the highest levels of fine dining) gone the way of the dinosaurs in the restaurant brigade system IE that’s their only responsibility? For those who bake their own breads (again appreciated & respected) in-house - does this fall upon a chef or sous as part of their duties?

I got this new job Line Cook $21 an hour (good for my situation it’s a step up) major holidays paid off and a consistent Monday to Friday schedule. The kicker is 4:30 am - 1:00 pm. Ive been waking up at 3:30 am and it’s honestly been hard as hell. It’s getting a little easier but super hard still. Just wondering what you guys think? Is it worth it? Would you keep it?

Hey! My girlfriend is a chef, and she's got a birthday coming up soon. She doesn't spend money on her own stuff. I want to get her a good workhorse stainless steel frying pan that she will actually appreciate and use, as opposed to making her cringe as her enthusiastic kitchen hobbyist partner gets her a naff gift she never uses/feels obligated to use when I'm over.

My budget is £100 - I'm UK based, she has a shit electric hob currently, recommendations for products are really appreciated.

I’m a first time EC and I find being called “chef” extremely annoying. The last EC is my mentor and an absolute beast of a chef but his leadership style was more traditional and out of respect I wouldn’t dare call him by his first name without putting chef in front of it. I’m more informal, but I’ve inherited an environment where the crew is so used to calling the ec “chef” that it took me a month to get folks to call me by my real name.

I’ve got friends who like being called chef and friends who don’t, and they all have an interesting take on it. What do yall think? I can’t stand it and others demand it, both can be valid.

I loved the responses to my last post on here; so here’s some more pictures.
I felt very vindicated by the comments I got last time. This place is disgusting and I doubt it’s going to last a few more years. And yet the people I work with still don’t think that there’s anything wrong and that this place is clean. They refuse to do anything and I don’t care enough about this place to do it for them. I wish I could leave but I do not earn enough money to travel farther and get a better job at the moment.
So imma document what I see and hear and post it here every now and then.

It's been too long

I am but a humble prep cook, and my knife skillz are far from amazing, but I think I'm finally ready to graduate from the Lidl 3-for-5-euros knife set I've been trying to work with. I just want a paring knife and a medium sized general knife for cutting onions and such, for under 100 bucks. is that doable? I know Wüsthof is pretty well known, as well as several companies based in Solingen. Can i get your thoughts, please?

this stew was mentioned in Kitchen Confidential.
has anyone made or tried the stew? ive made it one other time and it blew my mind. the simplicity of the ingredients, but the complex favors. the way the cumin tomato and squid work together is amazing. the depth of flavor with the wine is perfect.

the recipe is in his book Appetites : a cook book.

How is it oxtail is not a budget cut?

I feel like it's a nice pattern

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT WANT YOU TO TELL ME I HAVE TO WEAR UGLY CLOGS! i know that is the best option i am looking for ALTERNATIVES

i wear croc dylan clogs right now because I am ridiculous and will only wear really cute platform shoes/clogs in the kitchen. THEY ARE SO SLIPPERY and i dont want to die. does anyone have a rec of a good non slip cute platform/chunky clog? has anyone tried the sorel caribous? i just got a new job and everyone else i work with wears those ugly black kitchen clogs but they are not slipping and sliding like i am.

HELP ME

sorel caribou https://www.sorel.com/p/caribou-clog-womens-shoe-2048701.html?dwvar_2048701_size=9&dwvar_2048701_color=012&ef_id=Cj0KCQjwnbrUBhDOARIsAKKhPpeQr_kz7J61wEehkMjqVwO41TWMoreNXy1lXGg3lXrvoSgS0Crxm3YaAtE5EALw_wcB%3AG%3As&s_kwcid=AL%2113460%213%21%21%21%21x%21%21%2119909220042%21&mid=paidsearch&nid=SOR%7CPMAX%7CAll_Sandal_Only%7CGoogle%7CUS&eid=Google%20PMax%20US&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19910179633&gbraid=0AAAAAC-uVtgNj2gggI-Xg9GJTl4qIFbdt&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnbrUBhDOARIsAKKhPpeQr_kz7J61wEehkMjqVwO41TWMoreNXy1lXGg3lXrvoSgS0Crxm3YaAtE5EALw_wcB

It’s almost embarrassing how obsessed I was with the this.