Why do people "forget" proper training?!

[castironchef]

Kitchen Confidential (and it's SO much more).

[AtlTournant]

Cooky,
Not to answer for Frayedknot,but it's "Kitchen Confidential".

{Sorry about the repeat.it's early and I'm not really awake yet!]

[Cat Man]

Great article about the NYC chef.
He sounded like a Rocco trainee. The restaurant is burning down in flames around him and he's oblivious to it?

Rule number one is drop everything you're doing when the HI walks in the door. There is no single person more important than the HI when he's in your establishment.

Rule number two. Operate every single minute of every day as if the HI is going to walk in any second.

Rule number three. Treat the HI with respect and use them as a partner in your restaurant. They don't want to close anyone down, they want you to operate safely. Share with them all the neat safe sanitizing things you do, let them know you care and you are trying and you want to work with them....and fix every single problem they bring up as if it's a great idea.

Of curse, all I'll think about is rats every time I go to NYC now...
The Cat Man

[chefleon]

Yo Cat Man:
JJ Rachou bought his restaurant in 1979 and made it one of the most important restaurants in the city, teaching a legion of the next generation of chefs. I'm not trying to defend the guy because clearly he's out of touch with reality and needs to retire, but he's an old school bad *** who's done more in his career than most of us will ever do. And maybe he was a mentor to someone who was a mentor to Rocco, but he was never any TV idiot chef. He's a stubborn old Frenchie who smokes in his kitchen and ashes on a saucer(yeah, I've seen it first hand when borrowing some milk), but he can make the best terrine you'll ever have. And all I'm saying is we can't just dismiss him because he's a tired old man. Or maybe we can dismiss him, but we can't forget the good things he's done. He's History. With a capital H.
But, of course, you're right about all of your HI rules. You just forgot number 4: when all else fails, ________________.

[Cat Man]

touche'
I submit to reality

Cat Man

[swisstonyharman]

I once worked in a kitchen as a kp as a teenager where a drunk sous chef was taking the legs off turkeys throwing them in the bin in a waist full way. As he usually enjoyed a few drinks before work he accidentally threw the breasts in the large bin at the back of the kitchen. When realising his mistake he got a chair out of the restaurant and dangled a small waiter into the bin and pulled the turkeys out of the sludge at the bottom and washed the meat and cooked it and served it. This was a normal day in this kitchen the Head Chef would have been more upset about food waist than the turkeys getting pulled out of the bin.

[Cooky2]

Thank you very much __Castironchef and AtlTournat__, I will get me "Kitchen Confidential" for sure. It sounds tremendously interesting!!!

[chefseason]

I am a personal chef. Working alone in people's home during the course of a day always makes me wonder if I am being video taped for security reasons. I have always had tremendous respect for Health inspectors. When I start working in new client's home the first think I assume is that I am being video taped for security reasons. I am very careful not to do anything unethical for safety's sake as well as my job security. I picture the health inspecter sitting on top of the refrigerator. It keeps me in check. Whenever I am tempted to do something haphazzardly I picture him up there scribbeling away frantically on his little clipboard. I used to do the same when I still worked in restaurants. I still have nightmares about some of the unhealthy things that I viewed other people doing. I wonder if other chefs have a hard time eating out without watching the kitchen door for fear of viewing the latest code violation.

[Rblum]

The book is
KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL

a must read/reread/reread/etc

[Rblum]

speaking of re things... re peat re fresh re ta..well we get it

I am all for health inpections.. just not the inspectors. I am a 6'3" 280lb chef and the thing i fear more than the health inspector are the two short ones, the man hater and the napolean.... The rules are the rules but to ding a half day old cutting board? come on... just grin and bare it.. and I DARE YOU to find a critical!

[PeteTall33]

working with danish "chef" ( culinary student who is at the good chopping stage and decent line cook) owners are danish, and good sweet god! bleach buckets? wtf is that? washing hands after smoking? lol. When im not there to wipe butts just scared about safety....no cold side pan rotation, no glove usage, no hands in bleach buckets, gloves? lol.
but still the guy tells me "in Holland we are cleaner" LOFL! a 2nd yr culinary student and still cant wash his hands, I didnt go to culinary school, trained under some badass chefs , but what are they teaching them in europe? I run the kitchen as clean as possible <granted when you in the weeds...you all know how it works>> but raw is raw and finish is finish, use the buckets at least FFS! my hands still smell like bleach and its been hrs since service

[swisstonyharman]

Is he danish or Dutch

[Solon]

Cooky2 - the book you are looking for is "A Kitchen Confidential - Tales of the Culinary Underbelly"

Gloves: Perception is Truth...if you are in front of guests, they make them feel safe.

Gloves make cooks lazy....no time to wash your hands? Just put on a glove.

It's like ignoring an STD because there's a condom involved.

Solon

[bluezebra]

Cooky I think it's called Kitchen Confidential. I've only read his first two books but I'm pretty sure it's the first one.

I worked as a line cook in a very large chain restaurant in Texas and hoooooo boy! Don't get me started! The sanitation was a huge issue. But even worse than the kitchen brigade was the wait staff! I actually saw guys eating shrimp off of people's plates! I walked into the cooler to grab one of our cakes that were made at the commissary and there was a bite taken out of it and the top chocolate flakes had been eaten off entirely.

It was disgusting! I was raised and taught to cook in part, by my dad who was a marine! Wanna talk about sanitation control?! LOL! Everything had to be broken down at the end of the day and scrubbed. I still remember him on his hands and knees, washing the floor each night. It's never escaped me. Even in my home kitchen, things must be spotless, and food safety is at the forefront! No wonder we don't go out to eat much, right?!