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Kitchen lingo

36K views 27 replies 19 participants last post by  jakwob 
#1 ·
What are some terms you guys have picked up? The ones we mainly use are:

Knife - announcing that we are walking around with a knife.

Hot behind / behind - announcing that we are carrying either something hot or anything in general behind someone

Corner - We never use it due to our kitchens at school not having corners, but its a given to say it if we had it.

Many more, what have your professors / chefs taught?
 
#3 ·
F.N.G. ==     - - - - ing new guy.

Chicago==Throw it out    P.D.==Pay Day  
 
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#6 ·
give it the King Eddie = triple wrap a pan/item so it can travel or go in the freezer

hum = the smell of bad meat

skank = something that has gone of and needs to be thrown out

clusterf**k = how the dish pit gets on a busy night or someone that isn't working neat

grunions = green onions

I can't think of any more at the moment...more later
 
#8 ·
"Give it to Chef Mike" - microwave it (replaces "nuke it")

"Door" - opening a lowboy door during service

"Seagulls" - waitstaff who flock to special sample plate (think Finding Nemo - "mine mine mine....")

"All Day" - total number of an item needing to be cooked at a particular moment, as in "I have 10 halibut all day"

"On The Fly" - in a hurry

LOL, the new girl found out that her use of the term "reach around" was not actually kitchen-speak for reaching around someone to get something. She decided on the term all on her own. Boy did her face get red when we explained to her what it meant.
 
#9 ·
I always thought the chef mike one was great.  I refuse to use microwaves, but that's just funny.  Microwave is a bad word.  Especially in an open kitchen.

I love the reach-around one too.  That's a first.  hahaha!

And the seagulls?  I call them vultures.  lol

Lets see....

"To the house" = TO-GO order.  Or just togo.

"Raggae" = regular.  When you have two of the same thing, like raggae fries and sweet fries

"Working" = everyone knows that one

"On deck" = waiting to fire.  Like baseball

"down or up #" = obvious too

"Downtown" = in the oven or what have you

"Heard" = acknowledging calls when callbacks aren't necessary

"Swimming" = in the fryer or pot

"Walking in" = new ticket/call.  "Adding on" works too

I'm sure I'll think of a lot more soon
 
#10 ·
I always thought the chef mike one was great. I refuse to use microwaves, but that's just funny. Microwave is a bad word. Especially in an open kitchen.

I love the reach-around one too. That's a first. hahaha!

And the seagulls? I call them vultures. lol

Lets see....

"To the house" = TO-GO order. Or just togo.

"Raggae" = regular. When you have two of the same thing, like raggae fries and sweet fries

"Working" = everyone knows that one

"On deck" = waiting to fire. Like baseball

"down or up #" = obvious too

"Downtown" = in the oven or what have you

"Heard" = acknowledging calls when callbacks aren't necessary

"Swimming" = in the fryer or pot

"Walking in" = new ticket/call. "Adding on" works too

"Train-wreck" = disorganized, hung-over, making a mess or can't get anything right and just biding time 'til fired

I'm sure I'll think of a lot more soon
 
#13 ·
We use a lot when moving around each other.

"Sharp behind/beside" when moving around with a knife

"Coming hot on your back" this one always makes the boss chuckle

"Hot below" when we open the oven and the other guy on the line is still close

"Coming in hot" when someone already has the oven open and another is throwing something in.
 
#14 ·
to make it easy, you want to make sure everyone knows where you are, and what you have. if its hot, or sharp. or if you work in close quarters, let them know when your opening drawers or ovens. 

We say under when we open the drawers under the grill so no one smashes their knees.
 
#16 ·
Hmm lets see..

"in my hand"    something I am working on right now as expo is calling for it

"walk in of (insert number here)"  when we see a group walk in so everyone is aware and ready

"open menus/open tables"  people who have yet to order, and it's used alot at the end of the day

and a couple of my own...

"I'm not having fun right now"  means that I'm having a hard time with something and it's really starting to p*** me off

"scum sucking pig fart"  - I use that when an egg breaks as soon as it leaves the shell, breaks when it flips or generally something just doesn't go right
 
#17 ·
I thought of another one ...

china caps = Madonna

chef had two hanging on the side of the rack and he always yelled at us for bumping into Madonna...teehee

one of the kids in the dish pit asked me why I keep calling them Madonna....I told him to YouTube the Like a Virgin video....he gets it now
 
#18 ·
From 25 years ago, when I worked at McDonald's fine dining (a joke), we always replied with "thank you". To this day, I can't get my wife to acknowledge me. If I say it twice, I get "I heard you the first time" and if it doesn't happen I get "I didn't hear you". I find myself using "thank you" in everyday life as a response indicating "I heard you, but no reply is needed". I like the "friendly" nature of the reply and a verbal acknowledgement.

"Heard" = acknowledging calls when callbacks aren't necessary
 
#19 ·
I tend to say "thanks so and so" when they call something to me that I need to act on... so if the person working lunch calls over "western over easy going in"  I know that I need to drop one over easy egg for the western skillet that is going to appear at my station in the very near future so I say "thanks so and so" so they know I've heard them and that I'm indeed dropping the egg. 
 
#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
"Word." - sub for "Heard"

"Still suckin' it?" - question pertaining to a person working a double

"Total liquidation." - i.e. sell the board

"Rookie mistake." - used when a routine dish is screwed up during service or a ticket is read/sold wrong

"Man down!" - a call for help while in the weeds

"Your knife skills are excellent." - sarcastic comment made to someone that has terrible knife skills

"Balls.", "Nuts.", or "Legs." - opening a reach-in door below the belt on someone's station

"Right next to you." - self-explanatory

"I am so disappointed." - addressing a fellow employee when they do something stupid or sub-par

"Stragglers." or "C**********." - customers that order, or are seated, ten minutes before close

"You didn't want to leave... now you can't leave" - said to a cook that is night volume that ends up staying until close because they have too many tickets to properly break down their station

"Swing at him! He ain't real!" - catcall when two cooks get into an argument on the line

"More fire! More fire!" or "Light it up!" - turn up the grill or the flame

"Behind you... no ****." - funny take on "Behind you".

"This song is so passionate." - mocking the Top 40 playlist at work

"Hippies." - customers that order salads as their entrees and nothing else

"What?" - with a certain inflection, implies "Speak up!"

"I almost heard you." - making fun of a cook when they don't call for runners or the names of servers loud enough

"What the hell is that?" - jokingly, a dish that shows up on tickets frequently throughout a shift

"Welcome to CiCis!" - poor presentation on a dish

"Oh, I didn't know (insert name) was here today." - calling a good employee a bad employee's name if they fall behind in their prep or on the line
 
#24 ·
It's funny... working at the soup kitchen the volunteers and some of the staff aren't used to kitchen language.  The staff are only in the kitchen to serve or help prep if there is no volunteer that day so I find myself saying things like "watch behind you" when I pass behind someone instead of simply "behind"  and I've had to watch what I say when I bring hot pans to the steam table for them to serve.  Instead of simply saying "hot" I have to be a little more descriptive so they get what I'm doing.  It's very different from a restaurant though and what I do enjoy is how thankful the clients are after every meal.
 
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