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What to do when your in the weeds (funny forum)

post #1 of 9
1/1/07 at 8:08am
Thread Starter 
O.K. this forum is going to be about what you have done in the past for desperation moves, but of course, not cutting on quality. (Well not that much at least).

I'll start. One time we were serving chicken noodle soup and we were running out with about two hours of service left. So I look in the walk in and discover that chicken stock is readily available. I look to the metro rack and discover that there is two full two hundred pans of chicken pot pie, crust and all. So I throw some stock into the steam kettle let it heat, added some roux, then completely tore the crust off of the pot pies and threw the filling into the stock. fininshed with leftover pasta from the day before, tasted it to make sure it was fine and sold it.
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post #2 of 9
1/1/07 at 1:29pm
I was DEEP in the weeds.

After getting only 3 hours sleep (due to late crew arrivals and missing food delivery, necessitating a midnight run -literally- to the nearest Safeway, some 35 country road miles away), my crew of 6 was cranking out a complicated Indian meal for 85 adults at a Boy Scout camp.

As I went through the prep list, I realized that I'd forgotten to get the kheer (Indian rice pudding) going. To compound problems, all the burner tops in the kitchen were in use.

I grabbed a hotel pan, dumped in the ingredients, covered with foil and shoved it in on of the ovens.

At service time, we were all overjoyed (and a bit amazed) that we'd overcome our problems and gotten the meal out absolutely on time. Then, I remembered the desert, which I'd completely ignored in the oven.

I pulled it out and had a beautiful, light brown crusted kheer. Non-traditional, I'm sure, but **** it was delicious.

Of course, all the guests who asked were told it was "the chef's special recipe." :chef:
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post #3 of 9
1/1/07 at 6:55pm
One time we dumped a wedding cake right in the kitchen when the cart turned over, quick thinking chef told us to scrape it off the floor and pop it in the fridge. We proceeded to turn over 6 cake pans and ice them in whipped cream and put them on top of the bottom layer of cake. Since the cake was just whipped cream and fresh flowers it looked pretty good. The bride never knew....
Fluctuat nec mergitur
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post #4 of 9
1/1/07 at 8:08pm
Chicken stock+beef stock=pork stock.
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post #5 of 9
1/2/07 at 5:00am
Man I remember one Friday night when it was just two of us on the line. The other guy ran to the walkin and slipped, fell, hurt his back. What can you do? Tickets piling up, just do them one at a time.

Another time catering forgot to put Lasagna on the contract. We took frozen lasagna out of the pan, wrapped it in plastic wrap, stuck them in the microwave.

Of course, the proven strategy is to get your most trusted DMO to chop more lettuce or toss the chicken on the grill. :D
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post #6 of 9
1/2/07 at 6:57am
work faster:lol:
"what doesn't destroy me, makes me stronger"
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post #7 of 9
1/3/07 at 12:54am
Filet mignons-> deep fryer

Mirepoix+Thyme+Parsley+Water=Chicken Stock

Pan of chicken straight from package to pan to oven=seared chicken breast

Anything flat and clean=plate

Dishwasher=prep cook

Just to name a few...
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post #8 of 9
1/3/07 at 6:20am
Thread Starter 
kuan what's a DMO?? Chad that is hilarious, "anything flat and clean=plate. I'm guilty of that one.

Turkey deli meat (breast) boiled in chix stock to reheat and sliced thin= roast turkey
red onion and touch of garlic= shallot
italian seasoning= herbs de provence
kitchen bouquet= insta gravy
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post #9 of 9
1/3/07 at 6:57am
We ran through 4 pans of our daily pasta baked item and needed something quick since we still had 3hrs of regular service left. Had some diced onions and mushroom slices so I sauted them with garlic and seasoned. Added Orzo and cooked a little more, threw it all into a hotel pan, added water with a little cream and 10mins in our steamer and out came rizotto.
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