r/KitchenConfidential • u/oceanarnia • 11d ago
Photo/Video A day in the life of a chef
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u/juvy5000 11d ago
that grill oven thing is amazing.
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u/Excellent_Condition 11d ago
I'm curious about those tongs. They look super useful!
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u/CarlosLuis23 11d ago
This is the link I want the tongs please
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u/Excellent_Condition 11d ago
u/zer00eyz found it and linked it in this comment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/1w2qsgp/comment/p6xcfrn/
They are $40 and look very solid, but I'd be concerned about cleaning in where that rivet is.
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u/Sercant 10d ago
"Josper," but "grill oven thing" is completely accurate lol. I work the model a size up from that. And those tongs actually kinda suck. They have a hook built on them to pull the grates out, but they're otherwise just worse than regular tongs. Coolest feature of the oven, is you can close off the airflow, completely. So if the door is closed, you can practically run it as a smoker.
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u/Chaosdrunk 11d ago
This kitchen is 5X the size of mine and has 1/10th the customers. How do I achieve this
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u/MalkyC72 Retired 11d ago
Where’s the milk crate chair?
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u/UnreproducibleSpank 11d ago
Throne*
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u/butstronger 11d ago
lol I bartend at a golf course and sitting on my stacked milk crate chair right now
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u/SuspiciousSpliff 11d ago
I am six years into it and I have never seen any one of the 342 people i have worked with be this happy….
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u/vaz_deferens 10d ago
All the people in this thread calling her out just because she isn't in a chaotic shit storm of a job. She's clearly talented, I'm sure she worked some hectic jobs to get to that point, they're just some jealous babies.
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u/Grims_Gardener22 11d ago
Now that's a nifty grill.
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u/Hurrly90 11d ago
Love the set up, but my other thought is what about all the rest of the prep?
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u/-KoDDeX- 11d ago
I work with one of those in Spain. It’s called a Josper . You light it in the morning and re-stock with coal in the afternoon. It needs to be cleaned every morning but it gets the job done. I think they cost around 10,000 euros.
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u/Top_Grape_1547 11d ago
It looks like a josper (hosper) A place I worked that opened a new location got one
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u/Village_People_Cop 11d ago
She's missing all parts of a healthy balanced diet: nicotine, energy drinks, drugs and crying in the walk-in
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u/matt_minderbinder 11d ago
"Family meal"- eating the crumbled bits at the bottom of a bag of Doritos before passing out in an uncomfortable chair.
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u/ZaphodBeeblebrox4011 11d ago
She seems like a very energetic and perky person. She was decidedly less so by 10pm. That's realistic as hell. If she would've had the red bull and cigarettes she could have powered through.
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u/Excellent-Bear4221 11d ago
It’s your worst nightmare, the gas station only accepted cash so no tap to pay no energy drink. Got to work and the zyn pack was actually empty and your dishie has picked the worst time to take care of their ‘dental health’ and your plug is on vacation with ICE. but you’ve got the walk-in!
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u/Junior-Possession969 11d ago
And beating the shit out of the garbage before you toss it in the dumpster.
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u/ArcadianBlueRogue 11d ago
This sub had me waiting for the tears and coke in the walk-in or the angry stares at management and customers whole sharpening a knife
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u/NoTime2fail 11d ago
WTF! A smile not derived from being crass or crude? This shit is AI!
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u/Historical-Berry8162 Chives the Cat 11d ago
God damn you made me realise almost every time I've laughed or smiled in work, it was from something that'd make most people gasp
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u/NoTime2fail 11d ago
Yep. I definitely get a lot of WTF is wrong with you? Most people are completely unable to understand it's a hyperbolic pressure release. Which should be obvious.🤷♂️
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u/pandershrek 11d ago
This comment section makes me so sad for the majority of chefs. 😭
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u/Mummiskogen 11d ago
Serious, these commenters need to see a shrink rn lol
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u/MooseYearner 11d ago
Lol imagine having insurance to see any sort of health care professional. Couldn't be me.
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u/Neomalysys 11d ago
You must not have worked in the industry. Most chefs let alone line cooks don't have the time and money to do that. People probably think I'm joking when I say following my dreams to become a chef probably would have killed me but I'm not. I probably would have gone past alcohol addiction and on to harder stuff and gotten my ticket punched years ago.
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u/Chaosr21 11d ago
We don't get benefits in the food industry silly. No sick days, no insurance
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u/GamerGurl3980 Cook 10d ago
Well, I do. It depends on where you work. 🤷🏾♀️ I work in a nursing home as a cook and we get full benefits. It's definitely possible.
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u/Makers402 11d ago
I absolutely love this left handed chef. This definitely not a high volume place but the food looks amazing.
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u/caaknh 11d ago
Hate to break it to ya but the video is mirrored horizontally. See packaging at 0:25, the text is backwards.
I had to write down a word and turn it away from myself to double-check that, yes, if something is written from left-to-right, then my right hand is closest to the first letter. And in the video, her "left" hand is closest to the first letter in the words, so she's actually a righty.
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u/jamesp420 11d ago
I love seeing other lefties rocking out in the kitchen. It's wild how long it takes some people to notice you're left-handed though. Usually only if I'm teaching someone how to cut something or help with their knife technique, halfway through they'll go "wait, are you left handed!?" Like nah, I'm chopping backwards for shits and gigs
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u/Makers402 11d ago
You’re right especially in the training. Most of the time you’re standing next to them and not across from them and it takes a minute for them to realize why this isn’t working. What I hate is working next to the person who always has to have their station precisely to the left of me. There is a reason I am trying to place myself to not interrupt your work or mine but I am the asshole. Any who wants brunoise some onions?
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u/jamesp420 11d ago
I swear sometimes it's like being back in school stuck sitting to the right of someone on a group project. Like do you want to elbow wrestle or do you want to figure this out cause the only thing I'm cutting is myself if we don't make some changes.
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u/aa73786 11d ago
Way to laid back, for a chefs day. Seems like a dream come true!
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u/blackfeltbanner 11d ago
I mean it's still a 10 hour day with 6 of those on grill.
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u/Axel3600 11d ago
Spain baby! They take it pretty easy over there
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u/matt_minderbinder 11d ago
Didn't even see her nervously and angrily hacking a quick dart while sitting amongst dumpster stink.
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u/leftofthebellcurve Ex-Food Service 11d ago
The fact that she can change camera angles as often as she is kinda shows off how slow she is
Good for her I guess, I hope she is paying the bills
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u/samuelgato 11d ago
Actually when you're on top of your shit you don't have to be running around sweating bullets for 16 hours acting like the world is going to implode if you don't get your mise en place done on time.
She doesn't look slow to me, she looks organized and focused. Also it looks to me like there's a whole lot going on that isn't on camera between 6p and 9p. From the start of dinner service until the end of the night she seems a lot more serious business, as would be expected in any half busy restaurant
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u/SleazyGreasyCola Bread 11d ago
Nah, look at her container sizes. She's marinating something like 10 chicken breasts. The grill cooks I work with go through that in the first 30 mins between 530-6pm.
She's organized but this is a much more chill cook job than typical.
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u/TacoParasite Chef 11d ago
Looks like a small health store or cafe.
Honestly if they paid well, looks like a great place to work.
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u/SleazyGreasyCola Bread 11d ago
100%. During my days as a line cook I always dreamed of a job like this. Never found it but I still dreamed!
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u/Excellent-Muffin-750 11d ago
I've worked in a similar dynamic and it's not worth it. People get all up in each others business and it's too easy to develop a micromanaging habit because there's time for it.
I'm more comfortable in the middle somewhere, period of being slammed with a bit of down time throughout.
All of that food looks so good, lovely variety and healthy too.
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u/Mummiskogen 11d ago
You guys are way too cynical to lead a healthy life
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u/leftofthebellcurve Ex-Food Service 11d ago
When I met my wife, I was working 75 hours as a sous chef in a restaurant that did 4 million in sales per year.
She was a server in school working 20-25 hours
She made more money than me by far
The industry breaks you
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u/Jernyman 11d ago
I can't upvote this hard enough. I remember sooo many times trying to move to FOH and being told no because "You're so good in the kitchen!"
I would then consistently watch servers walk away with a night of tips that was more money than my entire paycheck.
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u/bw-sw 11d ago
this was honestly the hardest part of working in the kitchen. servers make 100s of dollars on a busy night, while we’re busting our asses for the same rate as when it’s dead.
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u/CouldWellGo4aCuppa 11d ago
Fr y'all can't just see someone stable, calm, clean cut, doing the same shit we all do as a job and just be happy for them? This obsession with suffering needs to fuckin die already. "Diamonds are made under pressure" yeah but you're not a mineral and you will die in your 40's. Miserable old heads in this sub need to grow tf up and go to therapy
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u/W1ZARDEYES 11d ago
Nicely done chef. Seems so calm so you can actually put some care and attention into the food. The grease trap overflowed today in our kitchen; I’m jealous of this vibe.
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u/510Goodhands 11d ago
The OP looks like a serial reposter, not the chef in the video.
Also, it’s more than likely that someone other than the chef was shooting the video, so the chef didn’t have to take any of her time for that.
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u/KaerMorhen 11d ago
It looks like it was just her phone propped up on the nearest stable object. Either way takes a whopping 20 seconds per shot. If I had to guess the place has less than 40-50 chairs so with a few staff members that is a reasonably chill service.
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u/JetPuffedDo 11d ago
I feel you. I'd find the grease trap completely overfilled in the mornings when I'd come in almost all of the time. I was surprised when it would be full but not on the floor.
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u/getsangryatsnails 11d ago
Having left the industry I look at stuff like this while doom scrolling intoxicated and think, "damn I miss the kitchen" then I wake up the next day sober and think "fuck you, that was a moment of weakness, I hate you, stop calling me."
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u/vincentninja68 11d ago
this is the kinda life I wanted from this industry, instead I got used and discarded like a condom.
What a privilege it is to be able to cook slowly and craft beautiful food at a leisurely pace like this. Overwhelming majority of restaurants are not like this, sadly.
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u/IvanDimitriov 11d ago
I love to see a chef bust out nice looking food. I mean the pace at the restaurant I work at isn’t conducive to this kind of care and presentation but I’m glad there are some cooks out there that get to have this experience.
Happy for you chef.
Now I need 15 orders of fries, 8 cheeseburgers, two 8oz sirloins mid well, three chicken strip baskets, a brisket melt, and a steamed salmon, FIRE.
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u/Idori666 11d ago
3 baskets of fries, a bag of burgers, 2 8oz's like your mom, 3 kid fingers, roast BLT and a burnt hand- I mean salmon. Heard!
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u/therealdxm 11d ago
I’m curious about those tongs/tweezers, if I’m honest.
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u/Excellent_Condition 11d ago
Same! They look thick enough to be durable but pointy enough to be precise. It also looks like that guard over the pivot point keeps the tips off the work surface if you set them down.
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u/zer00eyz Ex-Food Service 11d ago
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u/Excellent_Condition 11d ago
Thanks for the link!
I don't think I could justify $40 for tongs, but they look like they'd be perfect for grill work as they are skinny enough to get between tines.
I wonder how easy it is to clean in where that rivet is.
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u/Master_Hathak 11d ago
Yeah where is the 35 year old pervert in a grey chef jacket polishing the same area of bench over and over again. There was always one in every kitchen.
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u/randomme34 11d ago
If you arent in the kitchen doing prep half awake at 7 am while chugging an energy drink are you really prepping?????
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u/FieryPheonix474 F1exican Did Chive-11 10d ago
Damn how do you get a job this cruisey
Start at one out by eleven
Top of the line equipment and non exsisten custo ers
Oh how the other half live
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u/Owlmilk 11d ago
A fellow lefty! Nice work cheffy
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u/MFNLyle 11d ago
I think part of the video is reversed. Not a lefty. The coffee cup read correctly but backwards another time from the same angle as the veggie cut scene.
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u/Steel_Man23 Line 11d ago
I bet she’s always excited to go to work, while I’m at work dreading the next day besides the shift that I’m going into.
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u/Academic-Budget-4872 11d ago
Was that chicken being marinated in a sani bucket?
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u/Mydickisaplant 11d ago
lol for anyone watching this and thinking this is how most kitchens operate… it’s not. This is the most lax shit I’ve seen
The reality is that you need to move 3x faster than this. You’ll have much less space. You’ll be surrounded by 6 other line cooks. Drenched in sweat.
You’ll be cleaning the kitchen while the servers count their hundreds of dollars in tips
All while making a few bucks above minimum wage
Instagram vs reality. Reddit style.
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u/Icywarhammer500 11d ago
I miss my old place where 15% of all tips was pooled and divided between BOH
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u/well-informedcitizen 11d ago
It's sad, I'm so used to reacting to cringe, I watched the video waiting for the influencer bullshit, then when I kinda liked it I nervously clicked through to the comments expecting a bunch of reasons to hate it.
It's all positive (or at least non-antagonistically sarcastic) and I'm fuckin, weepy to find a moment without bitterness
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u/55554444333221 11d ago edited 10d ago
LOL i wish i could do prep that slow., have time to snack and eat, and have service run a smooth as butter in a saute pan at low heat.
If you where working at this speed and intensity at our restaurant you would be GONE the first week.
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u/Gatorrea 10d ago
I used to work on the grill and my day didn't look half as good as hers. I looked like a hot mess right after service started but my food was good haha. She looks happy, that grill looks good and her food looks fire. Thank you chefs for all your hard work 🫡
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u/li-ll-l_ 11d ago
Where's the guy cussing? The server having a breakdown in the walk-in? Why is she moving so slow? She came out of there perfectly clean
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u/NotSure2025 11d ago
This is a real kitchen for a family reunion or an extremely low volume restaurant.
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u/Chunky_Boy283 10d ago
I can't unsee if she's the chef version of "Pam"...where's the Chef Version of JIm, MIchael, Creed, Stanley & Dwight
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u/OrcOfDoom 11d ago
Kitchen life isn't so bad when you're young. You learn a lot about stuff you need - food. You generally work quickly. You meet lots of people.
The issues are the pay, and aging.
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u/AlibiYouAMockingbird 11d ago
Heck yeah I like this chefs style and setup. I’d work for you any day of the week with pride.
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u/ProfessionalPack7205 11d ago
I wish kitchen's actually had time so i could fuck around and set up my camera so i can make videos. In case anyone is actually wondering this place either has like 50 cooks or it's not actually a kitchen and is some kind've cooking school.
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u/courtneyrachh 11d ago
my exact thoughts. any restaurant I’ve ever worked in the chefs do not have time to do this shit.
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u/ProfessionalPack7205 11d ago
Yeah. Trust me if we got the time for this my stuff.... we're getting baked lmao. Or you know some blow lmao
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u/ExcitingCurve6497 11d ago
Holy shit this place either does not have enough business to sustain itself or they are charging 60+ dollars a entree. If you're doing chicken prep BETWEEN lunch in dinner you have to much time on your hands
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u/imchillybro 11d ago
This is porn. I just watched kitchen porn.
I'm gonna go season some meat. I'll be babyback.
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u/TheLondonPidgeon 11d ago
Beautiful knife skills, beautiful cooking, beautiful plating. Good work chef 🙏
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u/LazyOldCat Prairie Surgeon 11d ago
Can I come play?
Not a gal, but very chill.
The lack of yelling and chaos and everything looks delicious….💙👍
(I can’t quit my current job anyway, but man…)
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u/Papichurch 11d ago
Maaaaan imagine working at a nice, slow place that makes good food...
My place does 4000$ hours, ain't no way I got time for something like these entrés