ChefTalk.com › ChefTalk Cooking Forums › Professional Food Service › Professional Chefs › What to expect on a work trail?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

What to expect on a work trail?

post #1 of 4
8/19/12 at 3:29am
Thread Starter 

I've been cooking as a line cook for almost 2 years now.  A year in a half in a corporate kitchen, and 6 months as a sous chef in a very slow steakhouse.  I have a "work trail" at a well known high class restaurant tomorrow, and I have no clue what to expect.  I checked out the menu to the place and 80% of the menu is with products I've never worked with before.  I'm freaking out because I'm afraid of not being able to carry out any of the tasks that may be asked of me.

 

Advice?  Am I freaking out over nothing, or should I start cramming and praying for the best?

Reply

Featured Stories on ChefTalk.com

When Cooks Cook for Themselves
A clinical look at how a restaurant runs
Follow ChefTalk on Pinterest!
post #2 of 4
8/19/12 at 12:19pm
The chef could ask you to do almost anything from prepping vegetables to composing a dish out of the products in house. There is no studying for a test like thus you simply have to be confident in your abilities.
Reply
post #3 of 4
8/20/12 at 3:22am

When I went to a different restaurant owned by lets say someone really well known, I was super intimidated. It's not the food that I didn't know. It was the techniques that they used that I had no clue about. Although I did get the chance to work with some ingredients I haven't heard of before. In the place I work, I go in and pretty much run the show. When I went to this other place, I treated the dishwashers as though they were higher up than me. It is their kitchen after all! Just go in with a clear mind and take it for what it's worth. Watch everything everyone does. Notice how they organize things. Look at the quality of product they use. How they hold their knifes. etc. If you don't know something, you don't know. You won't be punished. Just say ''Chef I am not familiar with this product or technique that you use. Can you assist me real quick so I can learn how you do it?''

Reply
post #4 of 4
8/26/12 at 8:46am

As I've posted on here before, willingness to learn will mean a lot to a Chef. If someone thinks/acts like they know what they are doing and the end result is crap, that person is the fool. You aren't going to know everything and shouldn't be expected to, you should be expected to be shown and pay attention and do it correctly from then on out.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Professional Chefs

Featured Stories on ChefTalk.com

When Cooks Cook for Themselves
A clinical look at how a restaurant runs
Follow ChefTalk on Pinterest!
ChefTalk.com › ChefTalk Cooking Forums › Professional Food Service › Professional Chefs › What to expect on a work trail?