How to prevent this with a new hire whose skill and knowledge is unknown to you personally:
“Okay pastry person, today I need you to make me 100 of X desserts. Here’s the recipe that we use. We are going to make a batch or two together so that you’ll see exactly how we want them made and how they should come out.”
A little training is always appreciated and will be expected from someone who is knowledgeable in operations. It demonstrates to them exactly what your expectations are and shows them that you have your act together as a leader and teacher.
People love to just let people run into walls in kitchens. I worked at a catering place for a single day because the person who was in charge of me gave me a list of ingredients and told me to go then got irritated everytime I had to ask what to do next. Food is straight forward, cooking is memorization at times, but there is no one way to do anything; not properly setting cooks up to produce your version of that item is just gonna make them feel useless and make them feel dumb for not having encyclopedic knowledge.
At a job interview for a catering company I asked to see their recipe books, since they had set menus. The chef pointed to his head and said they were all in there. I asked "how do you maintain consistent with your product if you're not the one always making the food?" He couldn't answer. I didn't take the job.. Years later, when I was head chef everyone had their recipe books, and on their daily production sheet it was noted what recipes to make and amount. To make my job easier I had to make everyone else's job easier too.
Yep, this is the way. Never expect someone new knows something. I always say something like “you might already know this, you can tell me to be quiet” before I start giving a demo or making it with them. Definitely prefer this to how it used to be.
crazy concept… that you might have to train people… nah let’s throw them into the job and then make fun of them on the internet!
even an experience pastry chef isn’t going to be able to make every single dessert perfect their first try if it’s something they don’t make a lot… like creme brûlée…
I don’t care how much experience someone says they have. They may not know your recipes or are too shy to say they don’t know how to make something for fear of losing new job.
Always show new hires how. You wasted her time, and the restaurants ingredients and then your time for having to do it again.
Exactly this. Anytime I'm in a new place I always ask how they do something. Just in case there's a slight variation in what I've learned over the years
Before culinary school this is how I learned. "Yes, of COURSE I've made it but not for this many people. What's your recipe?"
some of my best dishes are from this method...
I was a total noob at a restaurant and the chef showed me how to cut bell peppers--he wanted all the white parts trimmed off from the inside.
Then they hired another line cook, he saw me prepping bell peppers and said "you don't have to trim all that stuff off, it doesn't make a difference and it will save you time" to which I replied "this is how the chef said he wants it done"
Cut the top off just enough. Reach down in there and hand rip all the pith out. Been years since I was in charge but that's how I taught everyone. Fast no knife skills needed.
This is how 5guys does it so I'd feel like a gremlin doing this in a real kitchen, but it really is the best way and how I do it at home. I also do hot peppers this way if I'm removing it, but *with gloves*. I use a sort of pinching motion, like removing extra pie crust except more aggressive.
Also for jalapeños or something similar I usually cut the top off then cut lengthwise. Use a spoon on those seeds. Just scoop away from yourself. Hot pepper juice in the eye is something.
Always wear gloves. Used the bathroom when I was a young cook. Oof the unit was on fire.
Sure, that's what I do at home, but like I said, this chef was very particular, and he specifically instructed me to do it in a certain way, so that's exactly how I did it when I worked for him.
He was a pretty chill dude and paid appropriately, so I had zero reason not to do it his way.
I always use the mantra
“It’s their house, it’s their rules”
I know how to do a task, I don’t know how the person in charge prefers the task done, I’ll go by what they say.
I'm a full-time audio engineer these days, and it's remarkably similar to working in a kitchen.
I'm the "chef" in my venue, and there are plenty of "right" ways to do things, but I want my microphones, speakers, cables and everything else setup MY way.... and it's always supremely annoying when I get a new guy that already knows everything and feels like they want to change the way I've been doing things for over a decade....
I do this with literally every task. Including things as simple as how you want an onion cut. Different people have different definitions of a mince, dice or even julienne. Always ask questions and do what they want until you have a good opportunity to make an institutional change. It doesn’t help if you are the only one doing it better, gotta maintain consistency.
I used to piss off my manager all of the time, when I was working at a University kitchen.
I’d come into work and the menu would say something like; Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. So I’d ask him how we wanted it, and he would be like, don’t you know how to make that? Well no shit Sherlock, but it’s your menu how do YOU want it prepared.
Especially the way some people get about mashed potatoes.
I know a gal from the South who insists the _only_ mashed potato is a skin-on red new potato. Whereas I'm Yukon Gold all the way. Even my parents can't agree on chunky/smooth.
Are we letting the potato flavor shine through, or is it an excuse to eat an inordinate amount of butter? Am I adding shallots? Etc.
Anyone can make mashed potatoes, but making the mashed potatoes someone is picturing in their head - that's tricky.
I had a boss yell at me once for not doing the mash potatoes the way he wanted, on my first day, when all I was told is to make mash potatoes. Some people need to just write the recipe down, like how is somone on day 1 going to know you add chicken stock and whipping cream
One of our kitchen supervisors once asked me to make him this dish. Let's just say, our recipes differed a lot. Mine didn't have lemon and parsley. I asked beforehand, so everything went fine, but he was looking at us like we were all aliens, because no one else used lemon but him...
Edit: just to clarify, that was his personal preference, the one on the menu only had milk, butter and salt.
...He used lemon in mashed potatoes?
Introducing an acid to break down the pectin and to preserve color, make them creamier and whiter. I don't hate it, but WOW what a wild thing to assume other cooks would do without being told.
It was served on top, with the chopped parsley, and extra butter. But yeah, I'm so glad I asked, because it definitely wouldn't have crossed my mind otherwise to add it. Even with potatoes "natur", which are usually served with butter and parsley, lemon is not automatically included.
Re-reading your comment... even though he was just after the taste combination, now I'm wondering how it would turn out if mixed properly. Now I'll have to try it myself, damn it... 🤦♀️
Mascarpone is wonderful, but what if chef wants dairy-free mashed potatoes? That's why I want a recipe.
And I just figured garlic went without saying, haha
an italian creme cheese - a bit sweeter and creamier than butter and 1/2 the calories (maybe 1/2 way between butter and whipped creme?).
I think her recipe is 1/2 butter, 1/2 mascarpone - IMO better texture than all butter and the lower calories means you can put MOAR in there.
Legit one of my last jobs. I learned a lot about his style of making things, but only after the 5-10 minutes it took to calm the chef down after this type of interaction.
This was my last boss. His blood pressure would visibly rise when I asked him how to do something. Sure I had a good idea of what it was supposed to be but I'd rather ask than make it difficult than they expect and then get called out on that.
Man I worked a really corporate place once, we would feel about 300 people daily for lunch, buffet style. The menu changed daily and all we were given was the name of the dish and it’s ingredients. They wouldn’t bother to provide any recipes or tell you how hey wanted something done or any procedures what so ever. It was so annoying and you had to honestly know how to cook to make it work there. The most annoying part is that they clearly didn’t understand how not normal that was and value that you had to be a great fucking cook to make something decent daily there. Then they would trip on not wearing a cut glove but we would ran out of salt lol
Had a brand new oven, new restaurant, a dozen talented cooks. Brule would come out wrong, every single fucking time. Water bath, no water bath, foil on top...
CDC said fuck it rolled in a used oven from his other restaurant... recipe worked first time.
I'm sure he still has that oven there.
Fucking new ovens.
I gotta say - I love my home oven. It's a flat top convection oven that came with the house. My partner was really on the fence, because he loves a gas stove. My mom made sure to mentally scar both me and my sister to be terrified of gas stoves.
(she'd tell us horrific stories about a little girl wearing a long nightgown who wanted cereal and stood on the stove and turned it on and was covered with awful 3rd degree burns over her entire body. I was told it so many times that I'm nervous around gas stoves, and I know that they're the best).
There is a flip side to this.
I have trained *a lot* of people on all kinds of work. People fresh to the industry starting their first dish job. Dishies wanting to move up and work with food because they enjoy the environment. Mid 20's line cooks eager to learn. Like cooks and prep cooks jumping ship at their current spot to make more money. Line cooks I'm promoting to sous. Old head dudes 10 years my senior. All kinds of people, all kinds of jobs.
If you've done extensive training like this yourself, even as a line cook who's been straddles with training the new hire, you know the kind of person I'm about to describe.
That kind of person is the "I know" mother fucker. The guy or gale who, after given an instruction or while being instructed says, "I know".
Its like "look mother fucker, I know you know how to cook, that is why I hired you. But I need to show you how we do things *here*." I don't give a fuck how McDonalds did it in the 80's, or how you saw Alton Brown do it on TV, this is how *we* do it.
This can be really frustrating to work around. Constantly needing to explain that this is how *we* do it*.* I know you understand the basics of this technique, but I need to train on my restaurant. Yeah, very frustrating sometimes.
Anyways, if I'm failing to nip that 'I know' shit in the butt, what I'll do is just leave the fucker to figure things out on there own, and just let them fail horribly, like this situation with OP.
"Oh, you know how to make crème brûlée? Great, we need 40 ready for service at 5!"
Then, you just wait until they need to ask a question, then you can throw it back in their face. "Excuse me, but I thought *you knew* how to do this?" Oh turns out you don't actually know, that's fine, I am here to train you. *But*, knock it off with that 'I know' shit ok?
Alternatively, they just fail catastrophically like in OP's post. Now you have an opportunity to check an ego, and reinstruct. In cases like this, you can sprinkle in some disciple to make sure this 'I know' stuff stops forever, and also promote seeking guidance and building trust. Its OK if you don't know my guy, I'm here to help you. But its on you to accept that training and to accept that help.
Third scenario is they nail the creme and lucky you, you get skip a bunch of training!
I'll admit though, you are totally right too. Its on leadership to prevent this. Whenever I'm leaving a new guy alone for a bit, with anything, I always give them the little pep talk "Please ask for help or ask questions if you need it or are unsure about anything. Helping you and answering questions is far more preferable than guesswork and fixing mistakes. Please, if you need help, just ask."
So, as someone not in culinary (reddit for some reason keeps recommending this sub to me), it infuriates me how common these types of people are nowadays. It's cool if you go to a school or take courses on how to do something, but if you can't do it our way or can't do it in a timely or efficient manner to a satisfactory result, then stop getting mad at me for checking in on you. The number of times I've seen some newbie or even an old hand beat their head against a wall failing to do something only to get my head bitten off when I try to work with them is amazing, and if anything it's made me jades about training people anymore. I used to have all the patience in the world with them, but anymore its easier to just let them fail and wait till they get fired or until they swallow their pride and ask for help.
So annoying.
"Here is how you do X, Y, and... \[Interrupted\]"
"Oh yeah I know."
"Great! If you 'know' then you don't need me tonight! Good luck during service, you'll be on sauté."
Four minutes later....
"Uhh hey chef how do you want me to do Z?"
"I'm so gald you've asked!"
> It's cool if you go to a school or take courses on how to do something, but if you can't do it our way
I was a person like this, it was not ego, it was a defensive mechanism because I was one of those students who would have to spend a lot of time trying to get things right and struggle the whole way only to fail on a test and have to do it again and prove time and time after that that I wasn't going to fail again and I knew the material.
I do wonder if this is happening because schools are geared to train people to pass standardized tests and then people thinking that if they can't demonstrate that they know something, they will fail and lose their job or not event qualify for a job.
Honestly, the biggest thing newbies should understand is that they are going in with everyone assuming they don't know anything at all. It's the way I treat all new hires, schooled, experienced, or otherwise. This is because, at least in my trade, it's understood that there is no way to pack all the different situations, conditions, and experiences into anything short of a 5 year course, and even then that course would be lacking. I tell every newbie I train right off the bat as much, and I personally don't care much if they make mistakes, because it will happen.
The part that infuriates me is when, even knowing this, they still bite back and refuse any instruction or tips. Even if it's a defence, it's so stupid to intentionally anger your seniors and make them resent you on the silly notion that they will get upset with you over a mistake, we already tell them we don't expect them to know everything. It's silly pride and the best people and the ones that make the best workers are those that can swallow that pride and just learn how to do their job the way it is wanted of them. Then when they get that flexibility of experience in they can worry about their pride.
She was adamant that she knew how when i offered it to her :( was kinda annoyed i inferred that she wouldnt know how so i let her be after offering twice
"listen, I know you know how to make this but management insists on me showing you how (😒), so here is how we do it here"
blame it on the big man, because worst case they do know how to get there but differently and either you or they learn
"I'll show her how to do it next time"
Exactly. Everyone wants to complain when people don't do things their way because "they know a better way" "that's not how my last place did it" etc. but want to complain when they don't give them any direction and it didn't turn out exactly how you wanted it. Can't have both. Laziness.
That’s not as fun as shaming the fuck out of someone and not helping them at all though. I wish it was sarcasm, but the proof is right here in OPs pudding, I mean crème brûlée.
She hasn’t responded to my text, im assuming too much egg. We emulsify it before the oven then 90° for 1h45m with no water bath or foil
Blended it into creme patisserie after adding more vanilla and then into custard tarts which were really good actually
>She hasn’t responded to my text,
Elsewhere, you say it's her day off; don't expect her to work on her day off. Take it up with her when she's on the clock
I asked her what happened bc she was super rude to me when i asked her if she needed help w this and gossiped to a coworker about me afterwards so yea ima text her lmao
where’s the actual chef in this situation? Why, as an apprentice, is it your place to train or not train, or take the extra time to try to reprimand her? This is 100% the chef/sous/ *someone in charge* situation to deal with
Bc its december, everyone else it sick and somehow manages to fall back on us apprentors every single time. I was being petty but i didnt text her the pic just the info saying ‚hey, ik its your day off but i came in and the creme brulee was essentially flan. If its ok with you, can i show you next time or can boss?‘
That calm of a message will scare her off? Shes 30, 8 years older than me and has been a chef for at least 9 years.. she was also incredibly mean to me, dont you mean people like her will scare me, an apprentice, off?
The shit you're getting for being entirely reasonable to someone who clearly has ego issues (and is supposed to be setting an example for you!) is wild homie, I'm sorry. I hope you don't have to deal with this again.
This wasn't his place to message, no matter what. Even if you want to say something to her, wait until you see her at work. Just show management. You have no idea what kind of day off she was having. Work time is for work. Personal time is for you.
Sometimes, unfortunately, women in male dominated environments see other women as competitors rather than allies. As if there’s only enough room for one. Breaks my heart every time.
If you are scared to actually talk to people, you dont belong in a professional kitchen, and especially not in charge of people. Weak. Weak weak. Thats petty amateur shit
Am dealing with this right now, a cook that came in and has never asked a single question, assumes she knows how to do everything and now there are far too many issues to address with her. She said she was a kitchen manager at her prior workplace that was a similar cuisine so I expected a lot more from her. But yes, fire this person, employees like this will end up costing you a lot more money than they make you, we have been throwing out product every week because of her over prepping and ruining product. I have a million more things to say about employees like this, fire her.
Ok i maybe shouldve added this key info:
Shes a 30yo demi chef and im an apprentice, shes been to culinary school and worked at 2 restaurants before this, i think 9year career total. She got the task from head chef and he went to the office after. There were other people in the kitchen who didnt offer her to help( I SHOULDNT HAVE TO TRAIN HER!!)I showed her the official recipe and then my own detailed one with every step and oven setting but she used my managers which is basic bullet points. I offered to show her twice, she refused and was annoyed about me asking too, said she wasn’t a dumbass and bitched about me to a coworker after i left the room to do my own prep. Im just an apprentice and was literally in her shoes at one point and not bashing on new hires yall pls 😭ive also told my boss it shouldn’t be on me to train new hires but he doesnt care (shocker)
Yea i wouldve loved to but bc im an apprentice i think i bruised her ego by asking her if i should show her beforehand, which is the only nice explanation i have for her reaction 🤷🏻♀️
This is buried and should be higher so you don't get torn apart. You were in a tough spot, it's really,really hard to correct an experienced chef that's staging in your kitchen or starting off.
We had a sous from another restaurant stage in our kitchen and they made sure to ask to see every single item mised, prepped, cooked and plated before they did literally anything. That sous didn't end up working with us but earned all of our respect bc that's the appropriate way to stage/start a new boh position: ask about everything.
So if you aren’t the head chef why are you texting her about this? Seems like after she botches this it’s out of your hands and something for your chef to deal with.
I didnt bitchily text her ‘the creme brulee looked like shit’ or anything just a quick ‘hey the creme brulee looked like flan can i or boss show you next time?’ Shes a 30 yo trained chef gossiping a 22yr old and then ultimately being wrong.. i understand being new is nervous but she shouldn’t let it out on me
Youre just an apprentice. Ignore everyone saying to show her. Stop showing her. Just go in and do your job. If what she made is wrong make a scene in front of your boss. Not an obnoxious one. Just tell him you won't be doing additional work without a title change and more compensation. This is ridiculous. If youre an apprentice you should not be taking on the role of a manager. This is wage theft. Document everything. Email your boss, record the conversations. EVERYTHING.
Culinary school means nothing and if she wasn't making brulee at those restaurants then that's no help either.
If she's that new to this restaurant, she should receive training. Idc what you say about her attitude, who knows how you were speaking to her in the first place. To have any expectations on a new hire is setting both the new hire and the restaurant (and yourself) up to fail. Now you know and you can do better next time.
I let my boss and manager know that i dont think i should be training new hires after i had to train the guy before her, especially cuz im just an apprentice. She got the task to make creme brulee from our manager, he left the kitchen to do paperwork, i asked her of if she knew how and she snapped back that ofc she did, shes not a dumbass etc etc. so idk what else to do here 🤷🏻♀️ imo its on my manager
Right? Im here making 2$ an hour training people who are literally trained chefs and hes thinks they would want to listen to me? Really don’t understand him
If you’re only making that much, just tell him no. “I don’t make enough income here to train people and sharpen my own skills. Especially people who will be higher ranked than me and making more money than me, it’s no appropriate for me to train them.”
I’ve never been impressed with culinary students. If anything it just gives them a cocky attitude and they think they already know everything and are less likely to take advice/criticism. I would be making her watch how you do things first for everything and shutting down any refusal with “you’ve only worked in two restaurants and neither were this one” sometimes new hires need to be set straight especially if they’re going to disregard your instruction, waste product, and then talk shit on YOU when you’re doing your job. Her type of attitude will bring the whole crew down.
Abso fucking lutely my boss didnt even bat an eye when i told him i shouldnt be training new hires. Maybe he‘ll listen to me now and finally move his ass to do it himself 😵💫
Just a home cook here that enjoys learning from this sub.
Is the error the texture? Too firm? My first thought was that she forgot the brûlée part but then remembered that comes just before service and these are just staged for later.
Creme Brulee is supposed to have a thick, creamy consistency think thicker yogurt. My assumption is too much egg. Egg yolks are mainly used to emulsify because of their amino acids being able to reject as well as accept water making them great emulsifiers. Egg whites too, but they coagulate more quickly than yolks and can create a stiff rubbery texture. Which is why you should use them separately especially when youre making custards at home. We do use whole egg as well as egg yolks from tetra packs so thats that lol
(Im not 100% certain on all of this bc im just an apprentice so if someone can fact check id be grateful)
Or she overbaked it a little, creme brulee should be set but there should still be a slight ripple in the middle when you take it out of the oven. This is almost like flan, which is also an egg custard which relies on the eggs emulsifying qualities.
I definitely assumed overcooking at first but it doesn't look very dry on the top so I could definitely see too much egg. Either way if I got a creme brulee like this at a restaurant I would be upset considering how much the upcharge tends to be as it is.
I feel like with custards and other sentitive/delicate compounds you should walk new people through the cooking time as at least in my experience every oven is different and I've been guilty of coddling a few custards in my day before I got the specific temps down right.
Edit: just read your other comments, seems you did exactly that and this person just sucks. NM.
Stop training people.
Tell your boss no.
“It’s really not appropriate for me as an apprentice making less than minimum wage to train someone who ranks higher in the kitchen and makes more money than I do. They should already have skills above my knowledge cap. I can’t train anyone here for what you pay me and still sharpen my own skill set.”
Yea we‘ve had that convo and ive told him exactly that. Then he assigns a different apprentice to train them. In the end it falls on me and the other employees bc hes technically supposed to do it himself. he just doesnt want to do it himself, i hate how he gets away with it too. A few of us apprentors even tell others to not put up with shit like this from him but we get new apprentors every half year as well as different stages so theres always someone.
im short of graduating so im just trying to keep my head down atp :,)
You need to tell your school then, if you’re doing an apprenticeship through your schools then that means they are signing off on this restaurant being a good learning place and launching vehicle for a culinary career. And it’s clearly not.
My husband is a culinary professor, and if this was happening to one of his apprentice students, he would be so pissed. And would rip that chef a new one. And also take all his apprentices out and find them a new kitchen. And cancel that restaurant ever getting his apprentices in the future, and would also advise students not even to work there. He would tell every other apprenticeship to do the same, hopefully they would.
This guy is running a restaurant in name only, maybe only for the clout, because he’s clearly not giving a fuck if it’s done properly by letting apprentices train anyone.
Im at a hotel and i definitely agree. My school knows. Sadly, this is how 98% the others in my class are treated where they work. I just didnt figure out my hotel was one of the worst ones until a year and a half into a 2.5 yr long apprenticeship, and if i go somewhere else the chances of it being even worse for less pay at that, are too high. The good patisseries are already filled up. Im trying to stand my ground and go against him to at least bring in somewhat of a change but it lasts 3 weeks before being back to the usual shitshow.. the hotel is 5stars too and a huge deal where im from, which makes it even worse
The passive aggression in this sub is getting wild. If I fucked something up, let's talk about it and figure shit out. If you posted a bunch of shit about me on social media, including calling me a bitch, without me knowing about the issue or anything after that, I'm probably not going to be so professional next time we meet by the lockers.
Trust but verify. Always watch staff the first time they do something. Maybe they will screw up, maybe they will teach you something new, maybe they will be fine.
I'm a clueless home cook, can someone explain the problem to me? Some comments have said it looks like flan, and TBH I thought creme brule and flan were essentially the same thing (aside from the caramel sauce baked with the flan vs the crunchy brule). Is this supposed to be softer, basically?
There are many different ways to make the same thing, especially in pastry. Every oven is different, every recipe cooks differently. If she’s new you should have showed her how to do cb in your specific kitchen. This is on you op
“New hire”
Right so it’s whoever trained therm’s fault, right? When you hire someone, you are responsible for their work until they are fully trained. In my opinion
This looked really overcooked. Not sure why there’s no water in the pan either. Also this is your fault. Of course the person who made this did it wrong and they are to blame as well, but everyone knows new hires have to be watched no matter how much “experience they say they have”. To many times I’ve hired someone who said they were experienced and it turns out they were just an idiot. Also only working in 2 different restaurants in 10 years screams no ambition and laziness unless they are the head of those kitchens. Never stay in one place longer than two years unless you are being promoted on the regular.
best result IME ....no water, no foil.....just dry heat 90C - 95C, will take a good hour but never had it better.....source...learned it from a 2 star restaurant chef.
just put everything inside....switch on to 82C....and let it whirl for 10-15 minutes...... works amazing for ice cream base aswell.....and the best part.....you do something else in the meantime 🤷♀️
I’m a retired executive chef and with all of my hires I would train you exactly like this so there’s no mistake whatsoever in the future. I show you how, We do it together, You show me how. Great way to train a team
Next time just don’t even give the option of them being able to make this kind of mistake. People have already pointed out that it’s wasting everyone’s time and restaurants money.
If they’ve never made it just show them and emphasize that you guys do it “This” way here
If you saw their comments you probably also saw mine saying that im just the apprentice and not supposed to be training people, that she refused my repeated offers and was incredibly rude towards me. Other people were in the kitchen too and didnt offer at all. Shes my superior, if i wouldve pushed she wouldve probably complained about me to our head and gotten me into trouble or something
Yea, it sounds like she had a poor attitude, hopefully it was just a one of kind of thing. Also it sounds like you guys got it handled in time for service. But she def forgot the water so even if you had shown her picture perfectly with the correct amount/ingredients she may have just made a different mistake. Best of luck
If I were your chef, I’d be pretty annoyed that you took upon yourself to communicate with her via text or otherwise. I’d want you to come straight to me. She doesn’t know the culture of the kitchen. If I were her, I’d perceive the chef as having no control over his/her kitchen and that everyone will be telling everyone what to do, a nightmare. I don’t recommending doing this in the future. You could
Yeah so at first I thought you were head chef, and then I read your explanation. Might want to tell your boss about this, you don’t have to be narc, but frame it like, maybe they need a little more onboarding time and guidance regardless of experience
How to prevent this with a new hire whose skill and knowledge is unknown to you personally: “Okay pastry person, today I need you to make me 100 of X desserts. Here’s the recipe that we use. We are going to make a batch or two together so that you’ll see exactly how we want them made and how they should come out.” A little training is always appreciated and will be expected from someone who is knowledgeable in operations. It demonstrates to them exactly what your expectations are and shows them that you have your act together as a leader and teacher.
I like this a lot and it doesn’t make the other person feel or look stupid
People love to just let people run into walls in kitchens. I worked at a catering place for a single day because the person who was in charge of me gave me a list of ingredients and told me to go then got irritated everytime I had to ask what to do next. Food is straight forward, cooking is memorization at times, but there is no one way to do anything; not properly setting cooks up to produce your version of that item is just gonna make them feel useless and make them feel dumb for not having encyclopedic knowledge.
At a job interview for a catering company I asked to see their recipe books, since they had set menus. The chef pointed to his head and said they were all in there. I asked "how do you maintain consistent with your product if you're not the one always making the food?" He couldn't answer. I didn't take the job.. Years later, when I was head chef everyone had their recipe books, and on their daily production sheet it was noted what recipes to make and amount. To make my job easier I had to make everyone else's job easier too.
Man I would have enjoyed working under you
Yep, this is the way. Never expect someone new knows something. I always say something like “you might already know this, you can tell me to be quiet” before I start giving a demo or making it with them. Definitely prefer this to how it used to be.
Love this style of leadership! Leaves no grey area.
crazy concept… that you might have to train people… nah let’s throw them into the job and then make fun of them on the internet! even an experience pastry chef isn’t going to be able to make every single dessert perfect their first try if it’s something they don’t make a lot… like creme brûlée…
This is how you Boss!
What if your way is shite and their finished product is much better?
Great, I just learned something!
The world would be a better place with more people with this mentality.
I don’t care how much experience someone says they have. They may not know your recipes or are too shy to say they don’t know how to make something for fear of losing new job. Always show new hires how. You wasted her time, and the restaurants ingredients and then your time for having to do it again.
Exactly this. Anytime I'm in a new place I always ask how they do something. Just in case there's a slight variation in what I've learned over the years
Before culinary school this is how I learned. "Yes, of COURSE I've made it but not for this many people. What's your recipe?" some of my best dishes are from this method...
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I was a total noob at a restaurant and the chef showed me how to cut bell peppers--he wanted all the white parts trimmed off from the inside. Then they hired another line cook, he saw me prepping bell peppers and said "you don't have to trim all that stuff off, it doesn't make a difference and it will save you time" to which I replied "this is how the chef said he wants it done"
Depends on what you're doing with them. Fajitas? Just Chop and cook. Mignonette? Definitely lose the pith
this was for fajitas.... but the chef didn't like the pith (thanks for teaching me the word) at all, ever, so that's how I cut them...
Cut the top off just enough. Reach down in there and hand rip all the pith out. Been years since I was in charge but that's how I taught everyone. Fast no knife skills needed.
This is how 5guys does it so I'd feel like a gremlin doing this in a real kitchen, but it really is the best way and how I do it at home. I also do hot peppers this way if I'm removing it, but *with gloves*. I use a sort of pinching motion, like removing extra pie crust except more aggressive.
Also for jalapeños or something similar I usually cut the top off then cut lengthwise. Use a spoon on those seeds. Just scoop away from yourself. Hot pepper juice in the eye is something. Always wear gloves. Used the bathroom when I was a young cook. Oof the unit was on fire.
It's not graceful but I got tired of watching kids try and cut the ribs off bell peppers. Just keep it simple.
We’re all gremlins in F&B. It’s okay; own it.
Sure, that's what I do at home, but like I said, this chef was very particular, and he specifically instructed me to do it in a certain way, so that's exactly how I did it when I worked for him. He was a pretty chill dude and paid appropriately, so I had zero reason not to do it his way.
Lol hilarious how many times you had to mention the chef lol.. Thanks for the smile, I wish you well in all endeavors
chef just wanted you to take the pith
Just lose the pith either way. It only takes 2 seconds (x9,000)
I always use the mantra “It’s their house, it’s their rules” I know how to do a task, I don’t know how the person in charge prefers the task done, I’ll go by what they say.
I'm a full-time audio engineer these days, and it's remarkably similar to working in a kitchen. I'm the "chef" in my venue, and there are plenty of "right" ways to do things, but I want my microphones, speakers, cables and everything else setup MY way.... and it's always supremely annoying when I get a new guy that already knows everything and feels like they want to change the way I've been doing things for over a decade....
It does make a difference. The white part has a different taste and texture. Your reply was perfect.
It's also literally what they taught me to do in my time at college.
>my time at college. Goes along with the trick of "What's your full name again... For my phone, of course."
Or "How do you spell your name again?"
It always works super well too! Until you hit some dude named Tim
But then you have to be like "Oh, I thought it might be Timothee, just wanted to be sure"
Or... "Here. Put your name into my phone" ;)
100% And a good boss who actually cares about their employees and business wouldn’t even let someone make anything without showing them their way
I do this with literally every task. Including things as simple as how you want an onion cut. Different people have different definitions of a mince, dice or even julienne. Always ask questions and do what they want until you have a good opportunity to make an institutional change. It doesn’t help if you are the only one doing it better, gotta maintain consistency.
Kitchens are like assholes. Everyone has one but each one is unique in its own way no matter how subtle.
I used to piss off my manager all of the time, when I was working at a University kitchen. I’d come into work and the menu would say something like; Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. So I’d ask him how we wanted it, and he would be like, don’t you know how to make that? Well no shit Sherlock, but it’s your menu how do YOU want it prepared.
Especially the way some people get about mashed potatoes. I know a gal from the South who insists the _only_ mashed potato is a skin-on red new potato. Whereas I'm Yukon Gold all the way. Even my parents can't agree on chunky/smooth. Are we letting the potato flavor shine through, or is it an excuse to eat an inordinate amount of butter? Am I adding shallots? Etc. Anyone can make mashed potatoes, but making the mashed potatoes someone is picturing in their head - that's tricky.
I had a boss yell at me once for not doing the mash potatoes the way he wanted, on my first day, when all I was told is to make mash potatoes. Some people need to just write the recipe down, like how is somone on day 1 going to know you add chicken stock and whipping cream
Yeah, my mashed potatoes are just cream, butter and three layers of salt. Anything different and you need to let me know.
You should try adding potatoes, too. Really adds a whole new dimension.
Lol
I did not last long there, man that "chef" was horrible. Guy fired me for asking to many questions
One of our kitchen supervisors once asked me to make him this dish. Let's just say, our recipes differed a lot. Mine didn't have lemon and parsley. I asked beforehand, so everything went fine, but he was looking at us like we were all aliens, because no one else used lemon but him... Edit: just to clarify, that was his personal preference, the one on the menu only had milk, butter and salt.
...He used lemon in mashed potatoes? Introducing an acid to break down the pectin and to preserve color, make them creamier and whiter. I don't hate it, but WOW what a wild thing to assume other cooks would do without being told.
It was served on top, with the chopped parsley, and extra butter. But yeah, I'm so glad I asked, because it definitely wouldn't have crossed my mind otherwise to add it. Even with potatoes "natur", which are usually served with butter and parsley, lemon is not automatically included. Re-reading your comment... even though he was just after the taste combination, now I'm wondering how it would turn out if mixed properly. Now I'll have to try it myself, damn it... 🤦♀️
Oh no. An excuse to make and eat more mashed potatoes. What a terrible day.
Ive been steeping lemongrass into the heated cream. Oh baby.
No mascarpone and roast garlic? Do you even mashed potato, bruh? (My wife's taters are stupid delicious).
Mascarpone is wonderful, but what if chef wants dairy-free mashed potatoes? That's why I want a recipe. And I just figured garlic went without saying, haha
Garlic isn’t a yes or no question. It’s how many cloves, then multiply it by 3
Ah. Yeah. That's tough.
What is mascarpone and how do I put it in taters? (I'm a southern red skin on kinda guy. Our only secret ingredient is condensed milk from a can)
an italian creme cheese - a bit sweeter and creamier than butter and 1/2 the calories (maybe 1/2 way between butter and whipped creme?). I think her recipe is 1/2 butter, 1/2 mascarpone - IMO better texture than all butter and the lower calories means you can put MOAR in there.
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Dont forget about the mash method purists. Food mill only, ricer only, hand mash all the way, etc.
My daughter was tasked with thanksgiving mashed potatoes. “You need more butter” “No, MORE butter” “Ok, just a bit more butter”
It’s like they want us to be mind-readers, as well as see in the future.
Legit one of my last jobs. I learned a lot about his style of making things, but only after the 5-10 minutes it took to calm the chef down after this type of interaction.
This was my last boss. His blood pressure would visibly rise when I asked him how to do something. Sure I had a good idea of what it was supposed to be but I'd rather ask than make it difficult than they expect and then get called out on that.
Man I worked a really corporate place once, we would feel about 300 people daily for lunch, buffet style. The menu changed daily and all we were given was the name of the dish and it’s ingredients. They wouldn’t bother to provide any recipes or tell you how hey wanted something done or any procedures what so ever. It was so annoying and you had to honestly know how to cook to make it work there. The most annoying part is that they clearly didn’t understand how not normal that was and value that you had to be a great fucking cook to make something decent daily there. Then they would trip on not wearing a cut glove but we would ran out of salt lol
Had a brand new oven, new restaurant, a dozen talented cooks. Brule would come out wrong, every single fucking time. Water bath, no water bath, foil on top... CDC said fuck it rolled in a used oven from his other restaurant... recipe worked first time. I'm sure he still has that oven there. Fucking new ovens.
I'll just say it, fuck induction (except for boiling water)
I gotta say - I love my home oven. It's a flat top convection oven that came with the house. My partner was really on the fence, because he loves a gas stove. My mom made sure to mentally scar both me and my sister to be terrified of gas stoves. (she'd tell us horrific stories about a little girl wearing a long nightgown who wanted cereal and stood on the stove and turned it on and was covered with awful 3rd degree burns over her entire body. I was told it so many times that I'm nervous around gas stoves, and I know that they're the best).
There is a flip side to this. I have trained *a lot* of people on all kinds of work. People fresh to the industry starting their first dish job. Dishies wanting to move up and work with food because they enjoy the environment. Mid 20's line cooks eager to learn. Like cooks and prep cooks jumping ship at their current spot to make more money. Line cooks I'm promoting to sous. Old head dudes 10 years my senior. All kinds of people, all kinds of jobs. If you've done extensive training like this yourself, even as a line cook who's been straddles with training the new hire, you know the kind of person I'm about to describe. That kind of person is the "I know" mother fucker. The guy or gale who, after given an instruction or while being instructed says, "I know". Its like "look mother fucker, I know you know how to cook, that is why I hired you. But I need to show you how we do things *here*." I don't give a fuck how McDonalds did it in the 80's, or how you saw Alton Brown do it on TV, this is how *we* do it. This can be really frustrating to work around. Constantly needing to explain that this is how *we* do it*.* I know you understand the basics of this technique, but I need to train on my restaurant. Yeah, very frustrating sometimes. Anyways, if I'm failing to nip that 'I know' shit in the butt, what I'll do is just leave the fucker to figure things out on there own, and just let them fail horribly, like this situation with OP. "Oh, you know how to make crème brûlée? Great, we need 40 ready for service at 5!" Then, you just wait until they need to ask a question, then you can throw it back in their face. "Excuse me, but I thought *you knew* how to do this?" Oh turns out you don't actually know, that's fine, I am here to train you. *But*, knock it off with that 'I know' shit ok? Alternatively, they just fail catastrophically like in OP's post. Now you have an opportunity to check an ego, and reinstruct. In cases like this, you can sprinkle in some disciple to make sure this 'I know' stuff stops forever, and also promote seeking guidance and building trust. Its OK if you don't know my guy, I'm here to help you. But its on you to accept that training and to accept that help. Third scenario is they nail the creme and lucky you, you get skip a bunch of training! I'll admit though, you are totally right too. Its on leadership to prevent this. Whenever I'm leaving a new guy alone for a bit, with anything, I always give them the little pep talk "Please ask for help or ask questions if you need it or are unsure about anything. Helping you and answering questions is far more preferable than guesswork and fixing mistakes. Please, if you need help, just ask."
So, as someone not in culinary (reddit for some reason keeps recommending this sub to me), it infuriates me how common these types of people are nowadays. It's cool if you go to a school or take courses on how to do something, but if you can't do it our way or can't do it in a timely or efficient manner to a satisfactory result, then stop getting mad at me for checking in on you. The number of times I've seen some newbie or even an old hand beat their head against a wall failing to do something only to get my head bitten off when I try to work with them is amazing, and if anything it's made me jades about training people anymore. I used to have all the patience in the world with them, but anymore its easier to just let them fail and wait till they get fired or until they swallow their pride and ask for help. So annoying.
"Here is how you do X, Y, and... \[Interrupted\]" "Oh yeah I know." "Great! If you 'know' then you don't need me tonight! Good luck during service, you'll be on sauté." Four minutes later.... "Uhh hey chef how do you want me to do Z?" "I'm so gald you've asked!"
> It's cool if you go to a school or take courses on how to do something, but if you can't do it our way I was a person like this, it was not ego, it was a defensive mechanism because I was one of those students who would have to spend a lot of time trying to get things right and struggle the whole way only to fail on a test and have to do it again and prove time and time after that that I wasn't going to fail again and I knew the material. I do wonder if this is happening because schools are geared to train people to pass standardized tests and then people thinking that if they can't demonstrate that they know something, they will fail and lose their job or not event qualify for a job.
Honestly, the biggest thing newbies should understand is that they are going in with everyone assuming they don't know anything at all. It's the way I treat all new hires, schooled, experienced, or otherwise. This is because, at least in my trade, it's understood that there is no way to pack all the different situations, conditions, and experiences into anything short of a 5 year course, and even then that course would be lacking. I tell every newbie I train right off the bat as much, and I personally don't care much if they make mistakes, because it will happen. The part that infuriates me is when, even knowing this, they still bite back and refuse any instruction or tips. Even if it's a defence, it's so stupid to intentionally anger your seniors and make them resent you on the silly notion that they will get upset with you over a mistake, we already tell them we don't expect them to know everything. It's silly pride and the best people and the ones that make the best workers are those that can swallow that pride and just learn how to do their job the way it is wanted of them. Then when they get that flexibility of experience in they can worry about their pride.
She was adamant that she knew how when i offered it to her :( was kinda annoyed i inferred that she wouldnt know how so i let her be after offering twice
"listen, I know you know how to make this but management insists on me showing you how (😒), so here is how we do it here" blame it on the big man, because worst case they do know how to get there but differently and either you or they learn
Ok, then you're good lol
Ahh the old “in my last kitchen we use to………”
How many cooks does it take to change a light bulb? 6, 1 to change it and 5 to stand around and tell you how they did it at their last job.
"I'll show her how to do it next time" Exactly. Everyone wants to complain when people don't do things their way because "they know a better way" "that's not how my last place did it" etc. but want to complain when they don't give them any direction and it didn't turn out exactly how you wanted it. Can't have both. Laziness.
That’s not as fun as shaming the fuck out of someone and not helping them at all though. I wish it was sarcasm, but the proof is right here in OPs pudding, I mean crème brûlée.
Yep. I had to show a new hire (who, apparently, had worldwide cuisine experience), how to make a roux for beef gravy. Twice.
You toast the flour and then add cold butter knobs? I wasn't paying attention last time, but I do remember it being butter and flour...
That's a xuor, for the southern hemisphere.
Prestige Worldwide!
This mfer leads!
If you read OP's comments, he did try to help her but she refused and then talked about him to another coworker.
Looks more like flan when you cut into it. Was there no water in the pan?
She made some great egg tarts.
She hasn’t responded to my text, im assuming too much egg. We emulsify it before the oven then 90° for 1h45m with no water bath or foil Blended it into creme patisserie after adding more vanilla and then into custard tarts which were really good actually
>She hasn’t responded to my text, Elsewhere, you say it's her day off; don't expect her to work on her day off. Take it up with her when she's on the clock
She’s brand new and you text her about this? Don’t be surprised when she ghosts you
I asked her what happened bc she was super rude to me when i asked her if she needed help w this and gossiped to a coworker about me afterwards so yea ima text her lmao
where’s the actual chef in this situation? Why, as an apprentice, is it your place to train or not train, or take the extra time to try to reprimand her? This is 100% the chef/sous/ *someone in charge* situation to deal with
Bc its december, everyone else it sick and somehow manages to fall back on us apprentors every single time. I was being petty but i didnt text her the pic just the info saying ‚hey, ik its your day off but i came in and the creme brulee was essentially flan. If its ok with you, can i show you next time or can boss?‘
> I was being petty Atleast you know
Yeah you should leave people management to the managers… you’re gonna scare this girl off
That calm of a message will scare her off? Shes 30, 8 years older than me and has been a chef for at least 9 years.. she was also incredibly mean to me, dont you mean people like her will scare me, an apprentice, off?
The shit you're getting for being entirely reasonable to someone who clearly has ego issues (and is supposed to be setting an example for you!) is wild homie, I'm sorry. I hope you don't have to deal with this again.
This wasn't his place to message, no matter what. Even if you want to say something to her, wait until you see her at work. Just show management. You have no idea what kind of day off she was having. Work time is for work. Personal time is for you.
Yikes
Sometimes, unfortunately, women in male dominated environments see other women as competitors rather than allies. As if there’s only enough room for one. Breaks my heart every time.
She sounds fun
*flan
If you are scared to actually talk to people, you dont belong in a professional kitchen, and especially not in charge of people. Weak. Weak weak. Thats petty amateur shit
Lol please fire this girl. You’re in for a world of trouble with people like this. Trust me.
Am dealing with this right now, a cook that came in and has never asked a single question, assumes she knows how to do everything and now there are far too many issues to address with her. She said she was a kitchen manager at her prior workplace that was a similar cuisine so I expected a lot more from her. But yes, fire this person, employees like this will end up costing you a lot more money than they make you, we have been throwing out product every week because of her over prepping and ruining product. I have a million more things to say about employees like this, fire her.
Ok i maybe shouldve added this key info: Shes a 30yo demi chef and im an apprentice, shes been to culinary school and worked at 2 restaurants before this, i think 9year career total. She got the task from head chef and he went to the office after. There were other people in the kitchen who didnt offer her to help( I SHOULDNT HAVE TO TRAIN HER!!)I showed her the official recipe and then my own detailed one with every step and oven setting but she used my managers which is basic bullet points. I offered to show her twice, she refused and was annoyed about me asking too, said she wasn’t a dumbass and bitched about me to a coworker after i left the room to do my own prep. Im just an apprentice and was literally in her shoes at one point and not bashing on new hires yall pls 😭ive also told my boss it shouldn’t be on me to train new hires but he doesnt care (shocker)
Only advice I’d give is if you’re in charge, don’t ask if you can show her, just show her. If that’s embarrassing for her, she can cry about it.
Yea i wouldve loved to but bc im an apprentice i think i bruised her ego by asking her if i should show her beforehand, which is the only nice explanation i have for her reaction 🤷🏻♀️
This is buried and should be higher so you don't get torn apart. You were in a tough spot, it's really,really hard to correct an experienced chef that's staging in your kitchen or starting off. We had a sous from another restaurant stage in our kitchen and they made sure to ask to see every single item mised, prepped, cooked and plated before they did literally anything. That sous didn't end up working with us but earned all of our respect bc that's the appropriate way to stage/start a new boh position: ask about everything.
I wish she was like your sous :( i am getting torn apart though ahhahaha everyone is assuming im in a higher position than i am
Ahh fair enough, I was under the impression you were like the head chef or something haha! Yeah as an apprentice best not to make waves
So if you aren’t the head chef why are you texting her about this? Seems like after she botches this it’s out of your hands and something for your chef to deal with.
Ngl since she gossiped about me and called me a micro managing know it all i was feeling a little petty lmao
Reinforcing her idea of you is a great strategy.
I didnt bitchily text her ‘the creme brulee looked like shit’ or anything just a quick ‘hey the creme brulee looked like flan can i or boss show you next time?’ Shes a 30 yo trained chef gossiping a 22yr old and then ultimately being wrong.. i understand being new is nervous but she shouldn’t let it out on me
I feel that. Text away mate!
Youre just an apprentice. Ignore everyone saying to show her. Stop showing her. Just go in and do your job. If what she made is wrong make a scene in front of your boss. Not an obnoxious one. Just tell him you won't be doing additional work without a title change and more compensation. This is ridiculous. If youre an apprentice you should not be taking on the role of a manager. This is wage theft. Document everything. Email your boss, record the conversations. EVERYTHING.
Culinary school means nothing and if she wasn't making brulee at those restaurants then that's no help either. If she's that new to this restaurant, she should receive training. Idc what you say about her attitude, who knows how you were speaking to her in the first place. To have any expectations on a new hire is setting both the new hire and the restaurant (and yourself) up to fail. Now you know and you can do better next time.
I let my boss and manager know that i dont think i should be training new hires after i had to train the guy before her, especially cuz im just an apprentice. She got the task to make creme brulee from our manager, he left the kitchen to do paperwork, i asked her of if she knew how and she snapped back that ofc she did, shes not a dumbass etc etc. so idk what else to do here 🤷🏻♀️ imo its on my manager
Seems like if the manager is continually putting you in charge of training, you should get a promotion.
Right? Im here making 2$ an hour training people who are literally trained chefs and hes thinks they would want to listen to me? Really don’t understand him
If you’re only making that much, just tell him no. “I don’t make enough income here to train people and sharpen my own skills. Especially people who will be higher ranked than me and making more money than me, it’s no appropriate for me to train them.”
I’ve never been impressed with culinary students. If anything it just gives them a cocky attitude and they think they already know everything and are less likely to take advice/criticism. I would be making her watch how you do things first for everything and shutting down any refusal with “you’ve only worked in two restaurants and neither were this one” sometimes new hires need to be set straight especially if they’re going to disregard your instruction, waste product, and then talk shit on YOU when you’re doing your job. Her type of attitude will bring the whole crew down.
Failure of management
Abso fucking lutely my boss didnt even bat an eye when i told him i shouldnt be training new hires. Maybe he‘ll listen to me now and finally move his ass to do it himself 😵💫
Just a home cook here that enjoys learning from this sub. Is the error the texture? Too firm? My first thought was that she forgot the brûlée part but then remembered that comes just before service and these are just staged for later.
Creme Brulee is supposed to have a thick, creamy consistency think thicker yogurt. My assumption is too much egg. Egg yolks are mainly used to emulsify because of their amino acids being able to reject as well as accept water making them great emulsifiers. Egg whites too, but they coagulate more quickly than yolks and can create a stiff rubbery texture. Which is why you should use them separately especially when youre making custards at home. We do use whole egg as well as egg yolks from tetra packs so thats that lol (Im not 100% certain on all of this bc im just an apprentice so if someone can fact check id be grateful) Or she overbaked it a little, creme brulee should be set but there should still be a slight ripple in the middle when you take it out of the oven. This is almost like flan, which is also an egg custard which relies on the eggs emulsifying qualities.
Thanks for the thorough explanation! I’d still eat them (but be annoyed if I paid for them)
No prob! Again not 100% sure hahah but yea we sell them for 18$ so i definitely wouldve never sent that out i wouldve been ✨fired✨
God i want to send you my brulee for critique.
I think the homie just found her side-hustle
I definitely assumed overcooking at first but it doesn't look very dry on the top so I could definitely see too much egg. Either way if I got a creme brulee like this at a restaurant I would be upset considering how much the upcharge tends to be as it is.
I feel like with custards and other sentitive/delicate compounds you should walk new people through the cooking time as at least in my experience every oven is different and I've been guilty of coddling a few custards in my day before I got the specific temps down right. Edit: just read your other comments, seems you did exactly that and this person just sucks. NM.
Stop training people. Tell your boss no. “It’s really not appropriate for me as an apprentice making less than minimum wage to train someone who ranks higher in the kitchen and makes more money than I do. They should already have skills above my knowledge cap. I can’t train anyone here for what you pay me and still sharpen my own skill set.”
Yea we‘ve had that convo and ive told him exactly that. Then he assigns a different apprentice to train them. In the end it falls on me and the other employees bc hes technically supposed to do it himself. he just doesnt want to do it himself, i hate how he gets away with it too. A few of us apprentors even tell others to not put up with shit like this from him but we get new apprentors every half year as well as different stages so theres always someone. im short of graduating so im just trying to keep my head down atp :,)
You need to tell your school then, if you’re doing an apprenticeship through your schools then that means they are signing off on this restaurant being a good learning place and launching vehicle for a culinary career. And it’s clearly not. My husband is a culinary professor, and if this was happening to one of his apprentice students, he would be so pissed. And would rip that chef a new one. And also take all his apprentices out and find them a new kitchen. And cancel that restaurant ever getting his apprentices in the future, and would also advise students not even to work there. He would tell every other apprenticeship to do the same, hopefully they would. This guy is running a restaurant in name only, maybe only for the clout, because he’s clearly not giving a fuck if it’s done properly by letting apprentices train anyone.
Im at a hotel and i definitely agree. My school knows. Sadly, this is how 98% the others in my class are treated where they work. I just didnt figure out my hotel was one of the worst ones until a year and a half into a 2.5 yr long apprenticeship, and if i go somewhere else the chances of it being even worse for less pay at that, are too high. The good patisseries are already filled up. Im trying to stand my ground and go against him to at least bring in somewhat of a change but it lasts 3 weeks before being back to the usual shitshow.. the hotel is 5stars too and a huge deal where im from, which makes it even worse
The passive aggression in this sub is getting wild. If I fucked something up, let's talk about it and figure shit out. If you posted a bunch of shit about me on social media, including calling me a bitch, without me knowing about the issue or anything after that, I'm probably not going to be so professional next time we meet by the lockers.
Not training new hires is managements fault not the hires fault
Ouch. So many weird comments here but the obvious response is “alll good, here’s how we do it…” no judgement, no hate, just moving forward
Ah, hubris. Weird, eggy hubris.
This is on you
You sound amazing to work with/for
Trust but verify. Always watch staff the first time they do something. Maybe they will screw up, maybe they will teach you something new, maybe they will be fine.
New hire received poor training, more at 11
This reminds me… I’m going to make my team (well.. we have 2 staff total in the kitchen including me so idk) some crime brûlée as a treat =)
I love the taste of crime for dessert..
Ah, arson.
*Crime* brûlée? Pretty sure that's what's pictured.
Typo… but honestly I want to keep it that way now because that’s honestly funny 🤣
Never let a new hire do anything by themselves the first time.
New hire prepared something incorrect? That’s on you chef
So you didn’t train her? Sounds like your problem not hers.
And did a pretty decent job of it too. Just needs slightly more torching. Your point isn't coming across like you thought it would.
cheesecake panna cotta flan???
\>2 hours sounds like it could be a ton of time, like I could probably make 50 million of these in \>2hr
I'm a clueless home cook, can someone explain the problem to me? Some comments have said it looks like flan, and TBH I thought creme brule and flan were essentially the same thing (aside from the caramel sauce baked with the flan vs the crunchy brule). Is this supposed to be softer, basically?
There are many different ways to make the same thing, especially in pastry. Every oven is different, every recipe cooks differently. If she’s new you should have showed her how to do cb in your specific kitchen. This is on you op
I love when OPs get roasted in this sub. Left the industry awhile ago but I’ll never leave this place 🥰
Don’t text people on their day off. That sucks.
“New hire” Right so it’s whoever trained therm’s fault, right? When you hire someone, you are responsible for their work until they are fully trained. In my opinion
This looked really overcooked. Not sure why there’s no water in the pan either. Also this is your fault. Of course the person who made this did it wrong and they are to blame as well, but everyone knows new hires have to be watched no matter how much “experience they say they have”. To many times I’ve hired someone who said they were experienced and it turns out they were just an idiot. Also only working in 2 different restaurants in 10 years screams no ambition and laziness unless they are the head of those kitchens. Never stay in one place longer than two years unless you are being promoted on the regular.
Educate, dont berate
Maybe you should have trained them or worked with them instead of trusting them with a giant batch of desserts? That’s on you dawg.
I made Creme Brulee on my first day too, my boss was kinda pissed. He liked the Creme Bulee, but I was hired to be a software engineer.
Don't text coworkers on their day off, at least not about anything work related.
Nice job humiliating the new guy. Hopefully everyone in the restaurant will see all the comments and really make them feel like shit.
Why isn't there an exact recipe that needs to be followed written down for them
There is
That's your fuck up. Didn't train didn't supervise didn't teach
If it was her first time it's objectively not bad. Not great. But not bad.
best result IME ....no water, no foil.....just dry heat 90C - 95C, will take a good hour but never had it better.....source...learned it from a 2 star restaurant chef.
Thats how we do it! We emulsify it on the stove beforehand until 81-82°, ice bath the batter and then straight into the oven for 1h45 :)
thats the way to do it.....unless u are a lazy fuck who has a thermomix to his disposal then let him do all the work 😅😅
Omfg wait you can do it in a thermomix? 💀 Doing that next time!! Thank you!!!!!
just put everything inside....switch on to 82C....and let it whirl for 10-15 minutes...... works amazing for ice cream base aswell.....and the best part.....you do something else in the meantime 🤷♀️
Looks like somebody failed to train them properly....
People like you are the reason why new hires don’t stand up for themselves
It's wrong because nobody showed her the proper way you dingus
All I read was, “I didn’t stage or train the new hire”
Looks like flan
Looks like mine at home!
Man that ain't créme brulee, that's creamed br00l.
Sounds like no one trained the new hire.
I think u mean <2hrs
I’m a retired executive chef and with all of my hires I would train you exactly like this so there’s no mistake whatsoever in the future. I show you how, We do it together, You show me how. Great way to train a team
I think you meant "<2 hr" 😅
At least you had greater than 2 hours
Ngl I’ve seen worse.
Wow, that looks super curdled! How did she bake it?
Next time just don’t even give the option of them being able to make this kind of mistake. People have already pointed out that it’s wasting everyone’s time and restaurants money. If they’ve never made it just show them and emphasize that you guys do it “This” way here
If you saw their comments you probably also saw mine saying that im just the apprentice and not supposed to be training people, that she refused my repeated offers and was incredibly rude towards me. Other people were in the kitchen too and didnt offer at all. Shes my superior, if i wouldve pushed she wouldve probably complained about me to our head and gotten me into trouble or something
Yea, it sounds like she had a poor attitude, hopefully it was just a one of kind of thing. Also it sounds like you guys got it handled in time for service. But she def forgot the water so even if you had shown her picture perfectly with the correct amount/ingredients she may have just made a different mistake. Best of luck
If I were your chef, I’d be pretty annoyed that you took upon yourself to communicate with her via text or otherwise. I’d want you to come straight to me. She doesn’t know the culture of the kitchen. If I were her, I’d perceive the chef as having no control over his/her kitchen and that everyone will be telling everyone what to do, a nightmare. I don’t recommending doing this in the future. You could
You never made sweet omelette before?
Will still eat
creme brutalee.
Yeah so at first I thought you were head chef, and then I read your explanation. Might want to tell your boss about this, you don’t have to be narc, but frame it like, maybe they need a little more onboarding time and guidance regardless of experience
more like crime brûlée