c/chefs

Heard a line cook say mise en place is overrated and it got me thinking

I was grabbing a drink after my shift and this young cook said mise en place is just for people who can't handle the rush. I've been doing it for 12 years at a busy place in Austin and I don't see how you survive a Friday night without having everything prepped. Am I missing something or is that just asking for chaos?

Hot take: I think mise en place is overrated for home cooks

I was talking with my buddy Dave, who runs a food truck in Portland, last week. He was telling me how he preps everything in little bowls before service, and I told him I do the same at home. But then he said something that hit me hard. He said, 'Why are you spending 20 minutes dicing onions you won't use for an hour? Just chop as you go.' And honestly, he's right. At home, I'm not cooking for 50 people in a rush. I was just wasting time and dirtying extra dishes for no reason. Now I only mise en place for the next step, not the whole meal. It's faster and I actually enjoy cooking more. Has anyone else ditched the full prep routine and seen better results?

Caught a sous chef slicing basil with a dull knife and lost it

He was bruising every leaf in sight for a $40 plate of pasta. Took me 5 minutes to sharpen his knife and suddenly the basil looked restaurant quality. Anyone else deal with cooks who refuse to maintain their edges?

Spent 45 minutes hunting down a whisk at the start of brunch service last Saturday

Turns out the new prep cook put it in the dish pit bin instead of the tool drawer, and I could have saved that whole rush if I'd just checked there first - has anyone else had a missing tool that caused a total domino effect?

Walked into a walk-in cooler at a diner in Pittsburgh and came out with a new approach to mise en place

Shoutout to the prep cook who saved my Saturday dinner service

Had a ticket printer meltdown at 5 PM last month during a 180-cover night, and my prep cook had already labeled and par-cooked every single component for the specials. Who else has had a BOH crew member bail them out of a disaster?

Got told my knives were dull by a dishwasher... he was right

I remember a kid maybe 19 years old working the pit at this spot I was at back in 2017. He saw me struggling to slice through a case of bell peppers and just said 'hey chef, your knives are dull as hell.' I wanted to be offended but he handed me his own $30 Victorinox and it cut through like butter. That night I went home and watched a few videos on proper honing and stone work. Now I sharpen my own knives every two weeks without fail and it changed my whole prep speed and consistency. Has anyone else gotten a tip from someone way younger that actually humbled you?

Tried a new method for braising short ribs and got a brick instead of butter

I decided to skip the traditional sear and go straight to the oven at 325°F with the ribs submerged in stock. After 4 hours they were tough and dry, not falling apart at all. Turns out skipping the sear meant no brown flavor, and the liquid never reduced right. Has anyone else had a shortcut that just backfired completely?

Appreciation post: That moment I found my squeeze bottle lid in the soup after 20 minutes of looking for it

I spent a solid half hour convinced someone swiped my lid, only to find it floating in the hot stockpot when I went to ladle out orders for the dinner rush on Saturday. Has anyone else had a missing tool turn up in the weirdest place mid-service?

The night a line cook taught me to stop over-salting

Was working a hectic Friday service at a place in downtown Portland. Totally slammed. My seasoning station got buried in orders. A kid from the fry station, maybe 19, grabs my wrist and says “hey boss, your hands are shaking.” He took over for 2 minutes. Showed me how to season by feel instead of counting shakes. Made my life so much easier. Anyone else have a random coworker fix a bad habit like that?

TIL that deglazing with white wine instead of stock does weird things to a pan sauce

I was making a quick chicken piccata last Tuesday and realized I was out of chicken stock right when the pan was hot. So I grabbed a random bottle of sauvignon blanc from the fridge and poured in maybe half a cup. The sauce came together fine at first but then it turned this strange grayish color and had a sharp, almost metallic taste that completely killed the lemon and caper balance. I let it reduce down trying to fix it, but it just got worse. Ended up tossing the whole thing and starting over with butter and a splash of vermouth, which saved the meal. Now I keep a little jar of Better Than Bouillon on the counter just in case. Anyone else ever had a wine ruin a pan sauce like that?

Dropped $300 on a fancy Japanese mandoline that dulled in 3 months

Bought a Benriner after seeing every chef on YouTube swear by them. Worked great for the first month, then the blade got dull way faster than my old $40 OXO. Sent it back and the replacement had the same issue. Anyone else find these overpriced plastic things don't hold up in a pro kitchen?

Hit 10,000 covers in a single Saturday night service last week and I'm still not sure how we pulled it off

We had a walk-in party of 40 show up at 7pm, the ticket printer jammed twice, and I somehow plated 86 entrees in 45 minutes without a single return, but has anyone else had a shift where the numbers just felt totally unreal after you added them up?

I finally tried resting brisket in a cooler instead of on the counter and it blew my mind

Spent 8 hours fixing a hollandaise that broke 3 times

Everyone says you can fix a broken hollandaise with a splash of cold water and some whisking, but I tried that for 45 minutes with no luck. Ended up starting over with a fresh batch, then taking 2 hours to figure out my heat was too high on the double boiler. Has anyone else found that advice to be useless more often than not?

Overheard a line cook say mise en place is overrated, got me thinking

I was grabbing a coffee last week and heard two cooks arguing. One said mise en place is a waste of time and just makes you clean more dishes. The other said without it your ticket times double and you burn stuff. I've seen both sides work in different kitchens. Some guys prep everything down to the pinch of salt and crush service. Others just grab as they go and somehow keep up. What's your take on this do you stick to strict prep or roll with the flow?

Visited a pop-up kitchen in Chicago that ran an all-tasting menu without a single ticket printer

I went to this weird experimental dinner spot by Wicker Park last month and they ran the whole 8-course service with just verbal callouts and hand signals. No tickets, no printer, no screen. The chef de cuisine just stood at the pass and yelled everything. I thought it would be chaos but they hit every course within 90 seconds of the stated time. It honestly made me think about how much we lean on those machines and whether they actually slow us down or keep us organized. Has anyone else worked a service without any printed tickets? How did you handle modifications or allergies?

Had a line cook tell me my beurre blanc was too salty and he was right

I've been making beurre blanc the same way for 8 years and never questioned it. This 22 year old kid at my place in Portland tried a spoonful and just said "that's way too much salt" without any attitude. I rechecked my recipe and he was dead on, I've been over-salting for years without noticing. Anyone else have a junior cook catch something obvious you were missing?

Why does nobody talk about using a bench scraper for batch prep

I've been cooking for about 12 years now, mostly working line at a busy place in Cleveland. Last week I had to prep 40 pounds of onions for a catering job and was dreading it. On a whim I tried using my bench scraper to chop instead of a knife and it cut my time by almost half. Has anyone else found tools that work way better than their intended use for high volume prep?

My brand new mandoline sliced my thumb open on the second use

Picked up a $40 mandoline from the restaurant supply store last Tuesday, figured it would save me time on prep. Second time using it, I'm slicing potatoes for a gratin, and the guard slipped right off my hand. Thumb went straight into the blade, blood everywhere, had to close early and get three stitches at urgent care. I've been using a knife for 15 years and never had an accident this bad. Anyone else ditched mandolines altogether after a close call like this?

Had a line cook change my mind about mise en place today

I used to think mise en place was overrated, just a way to look busy. Then this new kid, Marcus, showed up at our kitchen in Portland. He spent 15 minutes every morning organizing his station, labeling small containers with squeeze bottles. One Saturday we got slammed, 180 covers in 2 hours, and he kept up without breaking a sweat while the rest of us were drowning. I asked him about it after service and he said 'prep is the real cook, not the heat.' Now I spend an extra 20 minutes setting up before dinner rush. Has anyone else had a junior cook teach them something that stuck?

PSA: Stop peeling ginger with a spoon. Use the edge of a coffee cup instead.

I always hated peeling ginger. Tried a regular peeler, wasted half the ginger. Tried a spoon, took forever. Then a line cook at this diner in Portland showed me this trick last month. You just scrape the skin off with the thin edge of a ceramic mug. It’s way faster and you don’t lose as much flesh. Anyone else got a weird prep hack like this?

Why does nobody talk about how restaurant ovens cook differently than home ones?

I trained at home for years making perfect bread, then my first week at a busy spot in Austin my loaves came out burnt on the outside and raw inside. Turns out commercial ovens run way hotter and hold heat like crazy compared to what I was used to. How did you guys adjust when you made the switch to pro kitchens?

Pro tip: An old sous chef told me to salt pasta water like the ocean

I used to be timid with salt, just a pinch in the water. Then this guy Ray, been cooking for 20 years, pulled me aside and said put enough salt in so it TASTES like the sea. I thought he was crazy. First time I tried it, I used like 2 tablespoons for a big pot. The pasta came out PERFECTLY seasoned on its own. No need to oversauce it just to get flavor. I swear it made my carbonara way better. Has anyone else gotten a tip from an older cook that went against what you thought?

Server told me my plating looked like a 'construction site', fixed it quick

I had a waitress at my spot in Portland pull me aside last month and say my mushroom risotto looked like someone dropped a brick of cement on the plate. I started using a ring mold and layering the greens on top instead of just tossing them around, and now people actually compliment the presentation. Anyone else get roasted by front-of-house and actually learn something?