That's because English is an unintuitive language. The spelling and pronunciation are all over the place, the whole language is just a mishmash of many others until it's all a word soup.
Zero resets the weight, like you never put anything in the scales. Tare subtracts the weight of what you have on the scales and shows zero, but if you pick up what you have on the scales it should show “- weight” (that’s a minus sign).
Correct. You zero out a scale when there is nothing on it. Then you can put a container on, tare it, and then use it to measure the ingredients.
For most kitchen scales it won't make much of a difference whether you tare the scale with zero or tare, but for more sensitive scales it can throw off your measurement significantly if the scale thinks that its zero point is actually 20kg.
Also if you are doing something production line or line style you'll be fucking up the measurements OR charging the customer for an incorrect amount of product.
"Oh half a lb, here's .425! But I'm gonna charge you for .500!"
I do not know the scope or volume of your baking, but it's still useful information to understand:
to zeroize the scale, you make sure the scale is empty (nothing resting on it) and then use the zero function.
it basically "tells" the scale that nothing is being weighed, and since nothing is being weighed, that's where zero starts.
a calibration weight should have come with your scale, it is a known-shown weight. after zeroizing the scale you use the calibration weight to check that the scale is properly weighing what the calibration weight is known to weigh. if the two do not match, then you know the scale can no longer properly zeroize or has otherwise been damaged. if you don't have a calibrating weight, you can purchase one.
to prevent damage to the weight sensors (AKA load cells or force transducers), ensure the scale platform is free from contact with objects and never store anything on the platform. your scale should come with a cover for the platform, which should be in place when the scale is not is use.
I cannot wash dishes without completely soaking myself, the floor, the walls, everyone else in the kitchen, all the already dry dishes, the entire dry store
Me: "FUCK."
Chef:"You ok?"
Me: "Fucking water!"
Chef:"Money shot?"
Me: "NO!"
Chef:"Wash your socks?"
Me:.....
Chef:"You're doing good, kid."
Me:"Being a cook is better than this, right?"
Chef: Pats me on the head.
Me: "Fuck."
Edit: clarity
The packet always says 2:1 water to rice, but that's too much water. Rinse the rice, then put equal volume of rice and water in a pot, season with salt and add a little oil ir butter if required. Simmer until the water is just absorbed and is "blowing bubbles". Put a tight fitting lid on so that no steam escapes and turn the heat right down. Will be done in 5 to 7 minutes (basmati rice). I was taught this method by Iraqi and Pakistani friends and it works perfectly!
Even after rinsing the rice which I think is necessary….equal parts rice and water is completely incorrect.
The only way this would work is if u did not use a sieve to strain the rice and there is already a “half” portion of water in the pot.
I do agree the 2:1 ratio of rice to water is too much but 1:1 ratio is wrong.
Truth. I've even found individual commercial rice cookers behave differently. Get to know your product and equipment and you will get it tweaked just right
That is a great tip for when I have time to sit and watch rice cook. Nothing against you, I don't have time to do anything, so I do everything at once.
I don’t think salt is absorbed by the rice. Might marginally change how the water boils but I’d humbly suggest you might be wasting your time adding salt.
Glad to hear wise words of correction!
salt will never meaningfully change the boiling point of water in a cooking setting.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/je60074a023
it takes nearly 100g of salt per 1L of water to change the boiling point by almost 2 degrees. that’s almost 3x saltier than the ocean
alternative source: physicist
Or bake it in the oven like many restaurants and its fool proof. I always use a pot. I have a rice cooker but I make better rice with a pot.
Rinsing rice is key.
I do the finger measure where the water should be half of your distal phalanx line (the line closest to the edge of your finger). The rice in the container should be leveled and the tip of your finger to measure should be touching the top part of the rice.
On the stovetop: let water boil, then cover. Turn down to simmer after 30 seconds. Simmer with lid for 15 minutes. Then turn off and allow to cook with residual steam for 5 more minutes. After the 5 minute steam, lift the lid! Perfect rice!
Bulk cooking rice like on the job, I still do the finger measure but it is more like 30 minutes or so (I don't recall) in a Rationale on steam mode. I still check to see if rice is fully cooked with this method. Not as confident in my timing with the Rationale as I am with stove cooking rice.
Edit:
Rinse the rice. I just wanted to add that because I forgot some people do not rinse the rice for some reason.
There is also the knuckles technique where you place your hand palm face down over the rice. The goal here is to make sure the water is the same level as the knuckles. Similar to the finger technique but your whole hand just above the rice instead.
Yes, I'm Asian lol hence the old school measures.
Edit: correction.
Just kinda do it enough, everyone seems to have their trick to add the right amount of water but I think it depends on a million things
I know how much water to add to my pot and I get perfect rice every time
I use the finger measurement but generally just eyeball it. Many years ago, I was watching a show with an Asian chef pointed out that rice is dehydrated and will re-hydrate if you let it sit in water for long enough. Heat just speeds up the process. This was his idiot-proof method.
Add salt and oil if you want, put the lid on, put it on a low heat and get on with something else. When you smell rice, turn the heat off and leave it. Don’t take the lid off. About 20 minutes later, it’ll be done perfectly and you just need to fluff it up a bit.
i’ve cooked rice the exact same way ever since i learned and it’s amazing.
1:2 - rice to watwr (e.g 150g rice : 300ml water)
Bring to the boil with lid on , once fully boiling reduce heat so that it’s lightly simmering.
Do this for 10min then take of the heat (do not remove lid) and let it steam for another 10mins
Perfect rice very time
This is currently my favorite method. Not mentioned here (but shown in his video) is putting foil between the lid and the pot. I've used this with great success with brown, jasmine, and basmati rice.
https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-rice-in-a-rush/
About half the time I crack an egg, I fuck it up. Either shell pieces end up in it, or the crack runs vertically instead of horizontally, and sometimes the entire contents blop out onto the counter. I'm 54 and have been cooking eggs since I was 10, with about 20 years in professional kitchens.
Caveat: the eggs that I most have trouble with are local fresh brown ones; sometimes the shell is super hard and sometimes really thin, plus the membrane always seems to be strong. Seems like regular supermarket white eggs are less of an issue- I only screw up one in ten.
You want to crack the shell but not break the membrane. Then you open/rip the membrane over the container you want the egg in. Don't use the side of bowl, just a flat surface is fine. You just need it cracked enough to dig your fingers in to rip the membrane.
5 days a week I had to crack 2 boxes of eggs per day and that's at least what I learned.
I still get inserts confused 10 yesrs in. For some reason my brain can't process fractions properly. You want a lil one, medium, big, real big, shallow real big? Talk to me like I'm 4.
It is a giant food processor with a bunch of attachments for things like chopping, dicing, julienning, juicing, and more. The thing also has dam near a chainsaw motor in it.
What? Sure, they do. You turn the bowl counterclockwise, and it comes right off. You just have to remove the blade and the comb first, well, and I guess the lid too.
I have to respectfully disagree with that. A "small" bowl cutter will blitz 5 pounds of garlic in about 60 seconds, you'd have to do 3-4 batches in a Robot Coupe.
I too am bad at chopping garlic. They're so bloody tiny!
Also sunny side up eggs, but I've since been given some great tips on how to get better results.
Get this: if you have an empty container you want to fill with weighed food, but don’t want the weight of the container, you can put the container on there and press Tare. The scale will go back to zero, and won’t count the weight of your receptacle. Then you can start filling it with the food you want to weigh. The more you know!
Also great for making things like pancake batter all in one container. No need to weigh milk/water/sugar/flour separately. Just bung it in and press tare in between each ingredient. Weighing water (and most other liquids, depending on the density but it's usually very close to 1l=1kg) is so much easier than measuring cups Imo.
That’s an excellent point….it has saved me from doing so many dishes and having to wash a bunch of measuring cups when I have been short on time. Such a life saver!
I was working in an English kitchen. Being forced to use metric when baking was a fucking life changing experience for me. Everything is easier to do , calculations are easier and it is more consistent if you need to double, triple, or x10.
There’s a lot - I started cooking relatively late and have no formal education, plus I worked fast casual for my first 4 years and I’m not that smart, so there’s tons of stuff I either don’t know or have bad habits for. The one I’m most embarrassed about is I can’t cook rice on the stove……..🙃 I worked at a Japanese restaurant for a year, too. We had a rice cooker there so I couldn’t fuck it up too bad but I still get real anxious about rice lol.
I’ve also never worked with a scale where tare and zero are a different button lol I guess if just hitting it a bunch works, it works!
Use thighs if you can! I love them, the more you cook them the more tender they get, incredibly hard to fuck up unlike breasts which are so easy to cook til they’re dry
Breast? 425 for 20mins. BAM.
I find a big part is people cook to low temp and they dry it out. 350 is for bone in meat, anything else higher temp is better.
We make garlic purée and it’s so simple.
Litterly just peeled garlic and oil , then blitz it.
easy garlic purée, just add less oil if you want it less purée like
I’m really not the greatest cook, I don’t know everything ( I second guess my steaks every time) But, I put a lot of effort in, am friendly with everyone, good at organizing, good at book work, great at time management and recently became a head chef so I guess I’m alright 😂
The problem is the people that don’t second guess themselves are the ones that become head chefs due to their confidence and then condemn this world to their dogshit food. If you don’t constantly have this feeling of inadequacy then you’re either the greatest chef in the world or you’re full of shit
Idk why I'm in this sub, I'm a welder. But I recently took over the fabrication shop where I work and I constantly have this too. Doesn't matter how many times my welds are xrayed or pen tested or whatever, I'm always on the lookout for the fun new way i fucked something up this time.
Granted, the findings are getting fewer and further between, but still.. when do I get the card that says I'm competent and can calm down? Lol.
It's called imposter syndrome. You literally don't think you are qualified for what you are doing, even though you have been doing it.
You are doing your job, and doing it right. Keep doing what you are doing. Fuck everyone else.
Food hubris is a thing. Where you've made food for so long you just know it's good. You don't test anything, taste, measure, etc. You just know it's good because you've been doing this for x number of years.
These people are always awful.
I almost never found a need to actually chop garlic by hand... depending on how much you need and how you're gonna use it, microplane it for small quantities, or if you need it in large enough quantities, robot coupe it.
I'm aware that I'm not quite as fast as I should be on the line and with prep so I've gotten really good at charming people to make up for that
I'm skilled snd dependable but I really work the charm to help stay employed
Speed isn’t always what you need if you organise your prep properly it’s way faster. Do the small jobs while service is slow, start the big jobs first, do little jobs in between.
Time management is key and so many chefs have not mastered this.
That’s why the guys on my section run around frantic all day while I am chilling and get more done than them. They don’t know how to multitask and organise their day properly.
Do not even worry about speed. I literally only noticed I got a tad bit faster after 6 years as a cook! It will eventually happen, hopefully you will unlock your speed before I did. Though I still have room to grow :)
I can literally do everything BUT brunoise
Garde to sauté? Bet
Butchery and deboning fish? Absolutely
Dicing tomatoes out of all things? Definitely
Hell I have a very specific way to cut onions small enough for tacos and pico but it’s not the standard French way of cutting so I fail a lot more stages than I’d like to admit
Ngl tho I found that I love working in “dingy” and “dirty” places like Mexican or Chinese American spots so it’s not like I’m really missing out on working fine dining
I've been a chef for 13 years, and I still get confused on cuts of meat and where they're from on the animal. Also terrible at butchery. I know the obvious cuts, but I always end up googling when I inevitably forget.
I was trained in a high volume 4* hotel where we bought in the cuts we wanted from our company supplier. This has followed me into my role now, too.
I am, however, great at building costing workbooks on excel.
Feel like an imposter chef at times though.
"I've been a chef for 13 years, and I still get confused on cuts of meat and where they're from on the animal. "
From what I have learned from seven years in the industry, typically the meat comes from the inside of the animal.
My chef has us go throw the cloves and pull out the stem in the center, and I've never encountered this before. We do the same with the shallots. I'm not against it, I just didn't even know that was a thing.
I only do this with clean fruit, veggies and anything that's been cooked already. Even then, only at home or with friends because I know damn well if I do this at work my ass is fried, lmao.
I once chopped garlic and shallots by hand. Chef walks by and says “looks like somebody had time to chop that shit by hand. Next time use the fucking Robo-Coup.” He was a hack.
I still have to google "stick of butter in grams" whenever i see a recipe written by an american person on the internet. 😅
Only because in my country sticks of butter are not a thing. Butter come in blocks about 4x the size.
I have many Japanese knives. Razor sharp. Beautifully made pieces of fucking art, hand crafted by masters, intended for masters in the kitchen.
Compared to my prep cooks, I'm some guy off the street with an extra chromosome. And blind in one eye.
I rarely mince garlic. And Robotcoupe in my country is waaaaay out of the budget of any restaurant I worked at. My way to go is to smash them well to peel 'em. Then you've got the straight cuts. If I want a milder flavour or/and it's gonna be a long cooking, I'd call it a day. If it's gonna be a shorter cook, I just slice it transversely and it's almost the same as it was minced. If I want a shaper flavour, then microplane or mortar and pestle enter the chat.
Mincing onions for long cookings? Never ever too! Emince them finely and transversely too at the speed of light, then low and slow on the stove while I chop the rest of the vegetables will make the work for me.
I just use the 2 ways rule with garlic. You either leave it whole and remove it later or you smash/mince the crap out of it because it's staying in. YMMV
I can’t cook a piece of fish without dithering around if it is done or not. Half the time it’s perfect, the other half is a mix of fine, or way too overdone (dry, not like I burn it or anything)
I've done this 10 years and still can't spell restaraunt.
same bro, dumb word
I totaly understand. The spelling is horrible. But the word itself is perfect. We 'restore' people.
So restoring ants surely?
Aunts. Unfortunately there aren’t any restauruncles.
Doh! Awesome comment, thank you!
Y'all don't realize that 85% of your dishes are French based and think the French word that practically means YOUR JOB Is dumb?? Weird.
I remember how to spell it because of the way I first read it. Rest-o-rant, restaurant
I have to remember it as rest-au-rant
I can't say the word "restaurateur". What even is that.
I have to bring this up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_soUM9Oxoc
Patrice O'Neal had a great bit about this. https://youtu.be/ix-qNiBabbc?si=pQS4Y7K2rW0pXnoT
RIP to a great
Yep same. 10+ years in the industry, bachelor degree, masters degree, and I still can’t fucking spell it
That's because English is an unintuitive language. The spelling and pronunciation are all over the place, the whole language is just a mishmash of many others until it's all a word soup.
Exactly. "Hey prepper. Please pare me a single pear. No make that a pair."
Lol. I'm in 25 years and I really only memorized it maybe 5 years ago. 🤣
Youll get there. It took me 11 to figure it out. Im being serious.
Zero resets the weight, like you never put anything in the scales. Tare subtracts the weight of what you have on the scales and shows zero, but if you pick up what you have on the scales it should show “- weight” (that’s a minus sign).
“Have you tried this thing? This scale is tareable.” You’re welcome.
Correct. You zero out a scale when there is nothing on it. Then you can put a container on, tare it, and then use it to measure the ingredients. For most kitchen scales it won't make much of a difference whether you tare the scale with zero or tare, but for more sensitive scales it can throw off your measurement significantly if the scale thinks that its zero point is actually 20kg.
Pro tip, always zero with nothing. Then tare with an empty bag on the scale.
Also if you are doing something production line or line style you'll be fucking up the measurements OR charging the customer for an incorrect amount of product. "Oh half a lb, here's .425! But I'm gonna charge you for .500!"
I do not know the scope or volume of your baking, but it's still useful information to understand: to zeroize the scale, you make sure the scale is empty (nothing resting on it) and then use the zero function. it basically "tells" the scale that nothing is being weighed, and since nothing is being weighed, that's where zero starts. a calibration weight should have come with your scale, it is a known-shown weight. after zeroizing the scale you use the calibration weight to check that the scale is properly weighing what the calibration weight is known to weigh. if the two do not match, then you know the scale can no longer properly zeroize or has otherwise been damaged. if you don't have a calibrating weight, you can purchase one. to prevent damage to the weight sensors (AKA load cells or force transducers), ensure the scale platform is free from contact with objects and never store anything on the platform. your scale should come with a cover for the platform, which should be in place when the scale is not is use.
I cannot wash dishes without completely soaking myself, the floor, the walls, everyone else in the kitchen, all the already dry dishes, the entire dry store
Same. But at least the dishes come out clean. Servers can't say the same.
Me: "FUCK." Chef:"You ok?" Me: "Fucking water!" Chef:"Money shot?" Me: "NO!" Chef:"Wash your socks?" Me:..... Chef:"You're doing good, kid." Me:"Being a cook is better than this, right?" Chef: Pats me on the head. Me: "Fuck." Edit: clarity
I still have to google how to cook rice properly
The packet always says 2:1 water to rice, but that's too much water. Rinse the rice, then put equal volume of rice and water in a pot, season with salt and add a little oil ir butter if required. Simmer until the water is just absorbed and is "blowing bubbles". Put a tight fitting lid on so that no steam escapes and turn the heat right down. Will be done in 5 to 7 minutes (basmati rice). I was taught this method by Iraqi and Pakistani friends and it works perfectly!
TBF, jasmine, Basmati and other varieties have varying ratios and cook times.
Even after rinsing the rice which I think is necessary….equal parts rice and water is completely incorrect. The only way this would work is if u did not use a sieve to strain the rice and there is already a “half” portion of water in the pot. I do agree the 2:1 ratio of rice to water is too much but 1:1 ratio is wrong.
Think it depends on type of rice and if you're cooking it in a true steamer, vs oven(non combi), vs pot
Truth. I've even found individual commercial rice cookers behave differently. Get to know your product and equipment and you will get it tweaked just right
That is a great tip for when I have time to sit and watch rice cook. Nothing against you, I don't have time to do anything, so I do everything at once.
It only takes a minute or two and you can be doing other things in the meantime, no need to sit looking at it.
I don’t think salt is absorbed by the rice. Might marginally change how the water boils but I’d humbly suggest you might be wasting your time adding salt. Glad to hear wise words of correction!
salt will never meaningfully change the boiling point of water in a cooking setting. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/je60074a023 it takes nearly 100g of salt per 1L of water to change the boiling point by almost 2 degrees. that’s almost 3x saltier than the ocean alternative source: physicist
.... Buy a rice cooker... That's the only thing I get when I Google how to make rice. All those other directions are garbage and lies.
Rice cooker gang. I just bring my cooker from home to work if we ever do a special with rice
Or bake it in the oven like many restaurants and its fool proof. I always use a pot. I have a rice cooker but I make better rice with a pot. Rinsing rice is key.
Was looking to see if oven was brought up. I bring to a boil on stovetop, lid and into a 300 degree oven to cook. Comes out flawless everytime.
I don't serve enough rice to use that method, but thank you for letting me know it exists.
I do the finger measure where the water should be half of your distal phalanx line (the line closest to the edge of your finger). The rice in the container should be leveled and the tip of your finger to measure should be touching the top part of the rice. On the stovetop: let water boil, then cover. Turn down to simmer after 30 seconds. Simmer with lid for 15 minutes. Then turn off and allow to cook with residual steam for 5 more minutes. After the 5 minute steam, lift the lid! Perfect rice! Bulk cooking rice like on the job, I still do the finger measure but it is more like 30 minutes or so (I don't recall) in a Rationale on steam mode. I still check to see if rice is fully cooked with this method. Not as confident in my timing with the Rationale as I am with stove cooking rice. Edit: Rinse the rice. I just wanted to add that because I forgot some people do not rinse the rice for some reason.
Idk if I have a shit finger but it never works for me.
*beware the poo finger*
There is also the knuckles technique where you place your hand palm face down over the rice. The goal here is to make sure the water is the same level as the knuckles. Similar to the finger technique but your whole hand just above the rice instead. Yes, I'm Asian lol hence the old school measures. Edit: correction.
I still am not great but using basmati rice seems to help a lot. 2:1 water to rice. Set to below medium and don’t touch it till it looks perfect
Just kinda do it enough, everyone seems to have their trick to add the right amount of water but I think it depends on a million things I know how much water to add to my pot and I get perfect rice every time
I use the finger measurement but generally just eyeball it. Many years ago, I was watching a show with an Asian chef pointed out that rice is dehydrated and will re-hydrate if you let it sit in water for long enough. Heat just speeds up the process. This was his idiot-proof method. Add salt and oil if you want, put the lid on, put it on a low heat and get on with something else. When you smell rice, turn the heat off and leave it. Don’t take the lid off. About 20 minutes later, it’ll be done perfectly and you just need to fluff it up a bit.
i’ve cooked rice the exact same way ever since i learned and it’s amazing. 1:2 - rice to watwr (e.g 150g rice : 300ml water) Bring to the boil with lid on , once fully boiling reduce heat so that it’s lightly simmering. Do this for 10min then take of the heat (do not remove lid) and let it steam for another 10mins Perfect rice very time
I'm a 15 minute simmer to 5 steam myself. I'll have to try the 10-10 sometime.
ah cool, i’ll give this a go too!
This is currently my favorite method. Not mentioned here (but shown in his video) is putting foil between the lid and the pot. I've used this with great success with brown, jasmine, and basmati rice. https://altonbrown.com/recipes/perfect-rice-in-a-rush/
About half the time I crack an egg, I fuck it up. Either shell pieces end up in it, or the crack runs vertically instead of horizontally, and sometimes the entire contents blop out onto the counter. I'm 54 and have been cooking eggs since I was 10, with about 20 years in professional kitchens. Caveat: the eggs that I most have trouble with are local fresh brown ones; sometimes the shell is super hard and sometimes really thin, plus the membrane always seems to be strong. Seems like regular supermarket white eggs are less of an issue- I only screw up one in ten.
You want to crack the shell but not break the membrane. Then you open/rip the membrane over the container you want the egg in. Don't use the side of bowl, just a flat surface is fine. You just need it cracked enough to dig your fingers in to rip the membrane. 5 days a week I had to crack 2 boxes of eggs per day and that's at least what I learned.
I keep trying! I've never had to crack lots of eggs repetitively so that might have something to do with it.
Always crack eggs in a flat surface, not on the side of a bowl.
I cannot stretch pizza dough
I really hate blanching. I’m a trained butcher and I’ll cut things into perfect cubes all day but ask me to blanch and I turn into an idiot.
What problems do you run into?
None really. Just hate doing it and I over think it.
Ah, fair
I still get inserts confused 10 yesrs in. For some reason my brain can't process fractions properly. You want a lil one, medium, big, real big, shallow real big? Talk to me like I'm 4.
My brain absolutely refuses to retain that the smallest size deli container is a cup. It goes "quart," pint," "shorty."
"gimme a half pint" all I've ever heard lol
just microplane the garlic!!
What is this, garlic for ants?
Why?!
That’s what a Robot Coupe is for
It is a giant food processor with a bunch of attachments for things like chopping, dicing, julienning, juicing, and more. The thing also has dam near a chainsaw motor in it.
Yes, yes it is.
That was weird hey
I came here to say this
Robot Coupe is good, but Buffalo chopper is greater.
Until you have to clean it
It's the same process, just a bit heavier.
Not for a real one, they don’t detach
What? Sure, they do. You turn the bowl counterclockwise, and it comes right off. You just have to remove the blade and the comb first, well, and I guess the lid too.
Not the big industrial ones, if you are going to use a small one you might as well just use a Robot Coup
I have to respectfully disagree with that. A "small" bowl cutter will blitz 5 pounds of garlic in about 60 seconds, you'd have to do 3-4 batches in a Robot Coupe.
Take a pinch of salt and sprinkle it over garlic before chopping. Makes it not stick and easier to chop.
Fuck chopping garlic, I'm putting that shit in a food processor. Damn thing cuts garlic, like, almost perfectly minced
I too am bad at chopping garlic. They're so bloody tiny! Also sunny side up eggs, but I've since been given some great tips on how to get better results.
Plenty of oil, low and slow and just let them cook
Make sure you are breaking the primary white and letting it mix with the secondary white so the whole thing cooks evenly.
Zero is only supposed to be used when nothing is on the scale, tare is used to make the scale read zero when an empty container is on it
I’m so bad at removing stickers from fruit before chopping it.
Get this: if you have an empty container you want to fill with weighed food, but don’t want the weight of the container, you can put the container on there and press Tare. The scale will go back to zero, and won’t count the weight of your receptacle. Then you can start filling it with the food you want to weigh. The more you know!
Most machine made containers of the same size and make are the same weight, which means you can tare once and portion everything the same
Our dough bins are all slightly different makes me crazy
Also great for making things like pancake batter all in one container. No need to weigh milk/water/sugar/flour separately. Just bung it in and press tare in between each ingredient. Weighing water (and most other liquids, depending on the density but it's usually very close to 1l=1kg) is so much easier than measuring cups Imo.
That’s an excellent point….it has saved me from doing so many dishes and having to wash a bunch of measuring cups when I have been short on time. Such a life saver!
I was working in an English kitchen. Being forced to use metric when baking was a fucking life changing experience for me. Everything is easier to do , calculations are easier and it is more consistent if you need to double, triple, or x10.
Sucks having to do conversions all the time on old timey recipes though.
There’s a lot - I started cooking relatively late and have no formal education, plus I worked fast casual for my first 4 years and I’m not that smart, so there’s tons of stuff I either don’t know or have bad habits for. The one I’m most embarrassed about is I can’t cook rice on the stove……..🙃 I worked at a Japanese restaurant for a year, too. We had a rice cooker there so I couldn’t fuck it up too bad but I still get real anxious about rice lol. I’ve also never worked with a scale where tare and zero are a different button lol I guess if just hitting it a bunch works, it works!
I end up way overcooking chicken 12 times out of 10
Use thighs if you can! I love them, the more you cook them the more tender they get, incredibly hard to fuck up unlike breasts which are so easy to cook til they’re dry
It's because breasts have less fat than thighs
Breast? 425 for 20mins. BAM. I find a big part is people cook to low temp and they dry it out. 350 is for bone in meat, anything else higher temp is better.
I think it's because breasts can be up to 3" thick these days. It's almost like cooking a roast!
This is usually what fucks me up, the thinner part of the breast will be at like 220 degrees by the time the center of the thicker part is cooked
Thermometers are your friends.
Fear of raw chicken maybe?
Yeah tbh
155 degrees Fahrenheit. Then let it rest for five minutes.
We make garlic purée and it’s so simple. Litterly just peeled garlic and oil , then blitz it. easy garlic purée, just add less oil if you want it less purée like
I’m really not the greatest cook, I don’t know everything ( I second guess my steaks every time) But, I put a lot of effort in, am friendly with everyone, good at organizing, good at book work, great at time management and recently became a head chef so I guess I’m alright 😂
The problem is the people that don’t second guess themselves are the ones that become head chefs due to their confidence and then condemn this world to their dogshit food. If you don’t constantly have this feeling of inadequacy then you’re either the greatest chef in the world or you’re full of shit
Idk why I'm in this sub, I'm a welder. But I recently took over the fabrication shop where I work and I constantly have this too. Doesn't matter how many times my welds are xrayed or pen tested or whatever, I'm always on the lookout for the fun new way i fucked something up this time. Granted, the findings are getting fewer and further between, but still.. when do I get the card that says I'm competent and can calm down? Lol.
You should've gotten it when you stopped fucking up more than once a quarter
Ah, still to come then.
Well, now you got something to work toward
When you pass a bend test, tell everyone in earshot to go fuck themselves.
Oh, I do. Inspector included.
It's called imposter syndrome. You literally don't think you are qualified for what you are doing, even though you have been doing it. You are doing your job, and doing it right. Keep doing what you are doing. Fuck everyone else.
Food hubris is a thing. Where you've made food for so long you just know it's good. You don't test anything, taste, measure, etc. You just know it's good because you've been doing this for x number of years. These people are always awful.
Me too. That's why I use a slap chop (as long as I don't have to wash it at least).
I almost never found a need to actually chop garlic by hand... depending on how much you need and how you're gonna use it, microplane it for small quantities, or if you need it in large enough quantities, robot coupe it.
I'm aware that I'm not quite as fast as I should be on the line and with prep so I've gotten really good at charming people to make up for that I'm skilled snd dependable but I really work the charm to help stay employed
Speed isn’t always what you need if you organise your prep properly it’s way faster. Do the small jobs while service is slow, start the big jobs first, do little jobs in between. Time management is key and so many chefs have not mastered this. That’s why the guys on my section run around frantic all day while I am chilling and get more done than them. They don’t know how to multitask and organise their day properly.
Do not even worry about speed. I literally only noticed I got a tad bit faster after 6 years as a cook! It will eventually happen, hopefully you will unlock your speed before I did. Though I still have room to grow :)
I can literally do everything BUT brunoise Garde to sauté? Bet Butchery and deboning fish? Absolutely Dicing tomatoes out of all things? Definitely Hell I have a very specific way to cut onions small enough for tacos and pico but it’s not the standard French way of cutting so I fail a lot more stages than I’d like to admit Ngl tho I found that I love working in “dingy” and “dirty” places like Mexican or Chinese American spots so it’s not like I’m really missing out on working fine dining
I've been a chef for 13 years, and I still get confused on cuts of meat and where they're from on the animal. Also terrible at butchery. I know the obvious cuts, but I always end up googling when I inevitably forget. I was trained in a high volume 4* hotel where we bought in the cuts we wanted from our company supplier. This has followed me into my role now, too. I am, however, great at building costing workbooks on excel. Feel like an imposter chef at times though.
"I've been a chef for 13 years, and I still get confused on cuts of meat and where they're from on the animal. " From what I have learned from seven years in the industry, typically the meat comes from the inside of the animal.
"Butcher, I'd like some of that outside meat I hear is all the rave."
You put the garlic in the robo and pulse until it's the right size. What's hard?
My chef has us go throw the cloves and pull out the stem in the center, and I've never encountered this before. We do the same with the shallots. I'm not against it, I just didn't even know that was a thing.
I’m still slow asf at prepping & always will miss at least one thing for service (quality is on point though).
When I am cleaning something sometimes I'll just give it a good rinse and be on my way.
I only do this with clean fruit, veggies and anything that's been cooked already. Even then, only at home or with friends because I know damn well if I do this at work my ass is fried, lmao.
what you put a bowl on the scale and then press tare to subtract the weight of the bowl this "gets you zero"
I can't make pizza to save my life.
Pressing play on the combi oven
I once chopped garlic and shallots by hand. Chef walks by and says “looks like somebody had time to chop that shit by hand. Next time use the fucking Robo-Coup.” He was a hack.
Treat it like an onion! Slice slice chop chop
I used drugs so I know the difference.
I never remember what a stick of butter equals in cups or tablespoons. (Unless it’s written on the side of the label.)
I still have to google "stick of butter in grams" whenever i see a recipe written by an american person on the internet. 😅 Only because in my country sticks of butter are not a thing. Butter come in blocks about 4x the size.
I have many Japanese knives. Razor sharp. Beautifully made pieces of fucking art, hand crafted by masters, intended for masters in the kitchen. Compared to my prep cooks, I'm some guy off the street with an extra chromosome. And blind in one eye.
Tare is French for crazy or idiot
I rarely mince garlic. And Robotcoupe in my country is waaaaay out of the budget of any restaurant I worked at. My way to go is to smash them well to peel 'em. Then you've got the straight cuts. If I want a milder flavour or/and it's gonna be a long cooking, I'd call it a day. If it's gonna be a shorter cook, I just slice it transversely and it's almost the same as it was minced. If I want a shaper flavour, then microplane or mortar and pestle enter the chat. Mincing onions for long cookings? Never ever too! Emince them finely and transversely too at the speed of light, then low and slow on the stove while I chop the rest of the vegetables will make the work for me.
I just use the 2 ways rule with garlic. You either leave it whole and remove it later or you smash/mince the crap out of it because it's staying in. YMMV
I can’t cook a piece of fish without dithering around if it is done or not. Half the time it’s perfect, the other half is a mix of fine, or way too overdone (dry, not like I burn it or anything)
crush it under the flat of the blade so it doesn't roll around.
I lol’d at tare and zero.
8 years and i still struggle to cook a steak to what the customer wanted. And couldnt really tell you how well it was done by poking it.
Put garlic in the food processor same with shallots. You get a perfect mince every time.
I neither like nor fully understand, commas.
Get one of these things and never look back! Save all the little leftover nubs to make confit. It's a win-win! https://www.grateplate.com/
I need 2 hands to open eggs
I don’t think there is a difference between dry measuring cups and liquid measuring cups. A cup of flour in both of these is still a cup, no?
Volume is the same but weight is different.
I believed there was a difference, like I was taught. Then I measured. Water was the same. Sugar was the same.!doh!
I’m an amateur baker and sell products regularly. I have never used a scale. Just my cups.
*cringe*
How on earth do you run a bakery without knowing how to use tare and zero out a scale?
My scale at the bakery tells me no if I got the wrong button.
That doesn’t even make any sense in regards to what the button is for
I swear sometimes the right button doesnt work so I use the wrong one and it works