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Tasks you love doing!!

post #1 of 53
2/20/07 at 5:45am
Thread Starter 
This is the companion to the tasks you hate doing thread. :D

Me? I loved doing the ice carvings for buffets.
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post #2 of 53
2/20/07 at 5:58am

Easy...hands on creating beautiful edible things...

I love using my imagination and hands to create pastries, decorating cakes, mixing, blending, dipping strawberries, sculpting, using pastry bags. I love the tactile and touching and kneeding and artwork involved.

Definitely dessert and pastrywork. <final answer...:lol: >

:D
April
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post #3 of 53
2/20/07 at 6:37am
I love prep! I love it! Give me my santoku knife and boxes of produce and leave me alone with my headphones blaring HIM into my skull and I will chop everything in the place. I love chopping and cutting everything and anything, meats, fish, veggies, fruits, people errrm I mean you know... stuff you eat like, yeah that's the ticket.:crazy:
Mike

“If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.” -- Zaphod Beeblebrox
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post #4 of 53
2/20/07 at 7:40am
I'll second what Mike said. I also really enjoy making soups, the whole process.

Tony
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post #5 of 53
2/20/07 at 11:08am
pizza dough- gotta agree with April on the fun of the tactile..
and presentation- saucing plates, arranging, garnishing- making everything look appealing. Don't mind prep either, esp. if you have someone to chat with or some good tunes.....:bounce:
Bon Vive' !
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post #6 of 53
2/20/07 at 4:53pm
Any kind of butchery, but the more whole the animal, the better.

Also agree about soups and sauces.

Playing with spices.

Knocking out prep and crossing things off the to-do list.

Seeing all the prep arrayed for battle!

And all your tournes are belong to me!
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post #7 of 53
2/20/07 at 4:56pm
Making bread. Nice and relaxing.
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post #8 of 53
2/20/07 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
Hey that's the best feeling isn't it? Sit down, take a break before the rush. :D

You know what I used to like doing? (I say used to because I'm a stay at home Dad now) I liked to do the specials using the whole animal. Chef would order in eight rabbits, or a dozen squab, or venison saddle. I could take my time and do things the right way. Those were the days when hotel restaurants were expected to put out top quality without worrying about cost too much.
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post #9 of 53
2/20/07 at 5:29pm
Definitely +1
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post #10 of 53
2/21/07 at 1:17am
i may not be great in the bakery, but I can definately agree with you there.
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post #11 of 53
2/21/07 at 7:56am
I like making daily specials ie. lunch, soups, etc.
I love counting money.:D :lol:

Never! Live To Work!:::::::Work To Live!::Life Is To Short!!
Paninicakes.com

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post #12 of 53
2/21/07 at 11:03am
I'm not a professional (hope I can post here), but thought I'd drop in and see what everyone likes to do. For me, it's making soup and stock, and I love going to the market to find just the right ingredients and the right quality ingredients.

Shel
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post #13 of 53
2/21/07 at 12:38pm
know what i love about the job? i love it when the waitstaff bring back the empty plate plus a nice comment...

one i got the other day "tell the chef he really knows how to do a steak medium rare" and another one was "thats the first piece of chargrilled liver that wasnt torn up and tasted nice at the same time!"

i like putting it all together on a plate adding the right kinds of garnish, even sometimes sprigs of parsley, i know a few dishes where chopped parsley adds to the flavour, and having it look nice when its sat infront of the customer and having an empty plate brought back. sometimes even the sprigs of parsley are gone !?!?

im gonna be moving into doing a carvery soonish, 2 or 3 months... ill get to be (hopefully) out front with the customers, for at least part of the time.


oh and as for santoku knifes and prep... well firstly ive been tired recently, and missed something and hit my finger... anyway a day later i hit the plaster i had over the wound with the same knife...i checked my knife and some git had chipped the blade slightly and it was holding onto the stuff i was cutting and i wasnt used to it (i sharpen it all the time, in the end i use an 8000 grit japanese waterstone)
anyway i did so much prep yesterday that when i got in today about half an hour into service i still didnt need to do any prep hehe i love to prep... its satisfying knowing you dont have to panic...
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post #14 of 53
2/22/07 at 12:17pm
I suppose I am the odd one in this thread, I despise prep.
I love the 4-7pm rush though. Where I work, our line fills with orders fast, from both the bar and the dining room, and to keep track of 10-20 plates at a time is a huge rush for me. Getting them all out and right though is the reward.
I also love walking off the line, and walking out of the kitchen into the cool night air, after a busy night.
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post #15 of 53
2/22/07 at 12:55pm

being slammed....but not like that

Putting out the same dish after 500 hundred times, in the middle of a rush, that I would if I had all day. The same quality, presenation and overall suane (sp?)
I love watching the tickets line up, hearing nothing but orders being called, chopping, sizzling and the occasional chuckle. I lo9ve it all the end of the night when you grab a drink and reflect on how well you did that day.
Sitting down with fellow chefs talking about food(all night), writing menus, testing flavor combinations.
And last but not least.......dating my waitstaff and hostesses......
.................................................. ....just kidding!
" Never fry bacon naked!"

-Powers
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post #16 of 53
2/22/07 at 4:34pm
I love making laminated doughs (croissant, puff, danish)

I know alot of people who consider them a pain, but I love them!
Erik

"Health nuts are going to feel stupid one day, lying in the hospital dying of nothing"
-Redd Foxx
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post #17 of 53
2/22/07 at 5:32pm
I love the rush on the line and I love doing prep. I especially like slicing mushrooms for some reason, it's just one of those things
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post #18 of 53
2/22/07 at 5:57pm
I like mushrooms too. I just got a new Shun santoku; I can now get like twice the yield for salads as I could before. I would never in a million years tell Chef this, but I kind of like a stint in the dishpit every now and again.

Soups too. "All Your Bisque Are Belong To Us!"
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post #19 of 53
2/22/07 at 6:07pm
Why cooking, of course! Plain and simple to elegant and extravagant and everything in between.:chef:
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post #20 of 53
2/22/07 at 8:40pm
Roasting veal bones and making 50 gals. of stock then demi glace!
Making Charcuterie and meat fab
Laminating doughs and shaping croissants
Making icecream
Re-organizing the dry storage
Figuring out food cost
Shopping in foreign super markets ( I used to be a private chef in France - Carrefour rocks!)
"Just can't wait to get on the road again."
Willie Nelson
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post #21 of 53
2/22/07 at 9:02pm
I like cooking at home or during a slow lunch hour. You get to really take your time. Perfect grill marks on the meat with perfect carmelization...the garnish perfectly arranged on the plate...the sauce draped right over the meat and not running all over the starch and vegetable...everything is perfectly neat and clean...plenty of pans and plates at your disposal...I love it. Don't get me wrong...plates should be perfect when it's busy also...but you guys have to agree they do look a little better when it's slower.

The thing I love about cooking at home is you aren't in a rush to get something done. You can take your time and do everything exactly how you want it...try out new dishes without worrying if your chef is going to yell at you for using extra food and driving food cost up...

I just don't like using the housewife tools and pans that I've had since before culinary school. Funny thing is that they're really nice because I was making a lot of money before the culinary epiphany...now I make ten dollars an hour. At least I don't come home and stare at the tv for hours before I go to bed because I hate my job so much I need to get my mind off it!
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post #22 of 53
2/22/07 at 10:45pm
Braises; I have become a serious student of the art of the braise. I like doing anything that takes a while so i can multi-task and get stuff done. i take an imbecile pleasure in making metal shine, I kind of like to clean the stainless (Hot tip: Spend a week scrubbing the hood baffles nightly. After the week is over, just get in the habit of running them through the dishwasher every night or every other. It's a lot easier to keep them clean than it is to get them clean.).

I kind of like doing garnishes, fortunately we have a separate division for the banquets and I never have to prep for more than about 100 covers that way.

Really enjoy picking up that check, especially after a pay period with a lot of overtime. Then I hear the waitstaff complaining about making "only" 250 a night and I want to murder them and braise their shanks and serve them to management.
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post #23 of 53
2/24/07 at 7:16am
Making pasta is fun, esp cutting it at the end with the pasta machine, crankety crank!
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post #24 of 53
2/25/07 at 2:00pm
I love being on the line of the open kitchen making food knowing that 90% of the prep is done and I can just cook (happens once in awhile). I also like coming in, grabbing a cutting board, my knife and steel and all my prep ingredients and working for those brief few moments before someone starts asking where to find something...:confused:
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post #25 of 53
2/25/07 at 7:56pm

i luv it

Plain and simple....VEAL STOCK!!! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
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post #26 of 53
2/25/07 at 8:28pm
CIT,
I take it things are better than they were last August??
Sounds like you're getting along well.
Glad to see that you're making headway.
Best of luck!!!
I might be suffering from CDO.
It is just like OCD, except the letters are in alphabetical order.
Just as they should be...
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post #27 of 53
2/27/07 at 7:27pm
I love going in early to work, being the only one there and just getting all of my work done before everyone else comes in...also enjoy being the main expiditer on a busy night..:talk:
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post #28 of 53
2/28/07 at 6:56pm
Cutting steaks off of a perfectly aged and marbled 1x1 striploin. Makes you wonder if your customers are worthy!
What a relief! To find out after all these years that I'm not crazy. I'm just culinarily divergent...
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post #29 of 53
2/28/07 at 8:49pm
Going home after a brutal day. (might not qualify as a task)

Flaming anything with alcohol. I consider myself to be a borderline pyromaniac, so fire is always something that amuses me.

Creating perfect grill marks on any piece of meat (no mediocre marks).

Making hollandaise. Each time I get better at it.

Plating for banquets. Concentrated rush.

Making a reduction of just about any liquid.

Making crab cakes. The house recipe was given to me by my chef, and I have tweaked it slightly to become my own.
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post #30 of 53
3/1/07 at 4:43pm
Flaming anything with alcohol. I consider myself to be a borderline pyromaniac, so fire is always something that amuses me.

I just got a benozamatic flame torch from Home Depot...brulee is on every menu these days, it's so fun......I've not set off a fire alarm yet, but wonder what it would take to do so.....

ceramic, I love my ceramic knife.....it's a jewel, clean neat slices....no drag.

Making up shtuff on a menu then having to figure out what exactly I'm making (just seems like a stretching exercise)...ie cranberry tangerine topped brie. I took craisins, mandrian oj and passion fruit juice frozen concentrate cook, thicken and top the brie...

Having everything come together at an offsite event when you're wondering if sanity is in anyway part of the job description.
cooking with all your senses.....
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