Kitchen Stories

After quite a few years working in kitchen Chef Joe has seen some stuff. and so have his friends. Tis page will now be a place for them all to share their stories. Some might be a little weird and some might not be for the faint of heart. But be sure that the RESTAURANT'S AND THEIR NAMES will be changed to protect their jobs and this is just for fun and not to hurt anyone's feelings.

sorry mom!

Kitchen's used to be a lot different and if you have watched the BEAR on FX, you may have a slight glimpse of what it was like. Yes many many kitchens were like that with the Chef standing over you and belittling you and yelling constantly and you were expected to just say "yes chef" and take it.

So one day after a few days of being shown how to make the fresh burrata and mozzarella from buffalo milk curd at a restaurant that I used to work at in the early 00's. It was my turn, My Sous Chef, lets call him "John", gave me his word for it and I did not taste his saline bath for enough salt to make the cheese. I one million % should have tasted it or made my own but I should have done it in a way that made him think that I was not questioning him because "John" did not like to be questioned about anything. So I proceeded to make the cheese using his saline resulting in a not properly seasoned end product, but I wouldnt know that for a little bit.

The Executive Chef came in and after being surprised that I was making the cheese he chose to check on my finished product. He asked how I thought I did? I was pretty sure that the mozzarella was pulled and balled out properly and I admitted that the burrata were not nearly as good as his. He reached into the water and pulled out a ball and sliced a piece off and ate it. Well almost ... he spit it out and threw the remainder of the ball at me and started yelling about the amount of salt.

He then tasted the melting water that had cooled down a bit and slammed the pot onto the table causing it to splash all over. During this he was asking if i even tasted the saline and why i chose to throw his money down the drain and take food out of his kids mouths with such a horrible waste of time and money?

After having to apologize to the service staff for not being able to serve our cheese dishes that night,as well as the manager who had to reprint the menus, and to the first few guests who were sitting at the bar. I was told to go stand in the dishwashing station and that I must eat the cheese so that it did not go to waste. Now after 20+ years my mind can be playing tricks on me but it seemed like more than 5 lbs of cheese I was being told to eat, and under seasoned cheese at that. With my job on the line I ate as much as I possibly could.

Not a good night, But a very valuable learning experience on what to do and not do when managing a kitchen, and making cheese.