Buying Dan rank over the Internet

[Skip Cooper]

Similarly, people throw around the term "chef" when they really shouldn't. People have referred to me as a chef. I politely remind them that I never attended any school for culinary arts, and I certainly don't have enough experience running a kitchen to be a chef. I just like to cook, and sometimes people pay me to, and on occasion I've had to figure out how to run one myself because the manager was less than qualified or not there when he should have been. Not that I was qualified, but I was forced to try not to let the kitchen burn down on a couple occasions.

What made me sick (physically, literally) semi-recently was when a new restaurant opened up in town and the menu said things like "Our chef's own recipe" and other mentions of their "chef."

I worked in that kitchen for a day and a half. I had to leave before I actually threw up. The supposed "chef" had apparently cheated on her safe serve exam, if she even took it. Prepped food, including raw beef and chicken, was kept at room temperature for entire shifts. I saw the meat before it was cooked, and then realized that it was being served to the public. The thought of people eating beef that I had just seen turning grey (serve up a nice RANCID-BURGER! mmm) on the "prep table" made me about yack. Same thing with the chicken. They just let it sit out all shift so they wouldn't have to go all the way to the freezer to get it for an order. Salmonella, anyone? The list goes on.

I'm friends with the owner, so I wrote down a list of everything that would get them fined, if not closed down immediately, by a surprise visit from the health board.

I know what you mean about kitchen practices. I too like to cook and have often thought of going to culinary school myself. Currently, I work as a building engineer for high rise commercial buildings. At the property I work at, we have three cafes and we are responsible for managing the repairs to the equipment, clearing drainlines, and whatever. I am always apalled at the conditions in which food is prepared in these kitchens and I am told by the food service technicians that things are not much better in the finer establishments.

As a result, I no longer desire to work in the food service industry and incidently,I pack my own lunch.

 

[GuroJason]

I know what you mean about kitchen practices. I too like to cook and have often thought of going to culinary school myself. Currently, I work as a building engineer for high rise commercial buildings. At the property I work at, we have three cafes and we are responsible for managing the repairs to the equipment, clearing drainlines, and whatever. I am always apalled at the conditions in which food is prepared in these kitchens and I am told by the food service technicians that things are not much better in the finer establishments.

As a result, I no longer desire to work in the food service industry and incidently,I pack my own lunch.

I've heard that too, about some of the higher end places having really sub-par food handling procedures. I'll say this, though... the one higher end place I worked at, where the chef was really a chef with a culinary degree and over 20 years' experience, was also top-notch for food handling procedures. That's probably because it's run and funded by Penn State... but Chef Stout, who runs all three kitchens at the Penn Stater, is the most qualified man I've ever cooked under. He just has one sous chef, who is also the head steward, sous chef "Compton." They do the work of about 8 of us mere mortals lol.

I don't have a cooking job anymore, sadly. I reluctantly quit my job at the Penn Stater to do full time survey research for Penn State in Spanish... but I'm digressing like a mofo. If I ever end up back in State College I'll see if Chef has any openings, cuz I was given an open invitation to come back.

Only thing is, like you said, I wouldn't want to make the culinary field a career. Not only is it appalling when you work for someone who doesn't care about potentially poisoning customers (again, I'm not referring to the Penn Stater), but it's WAY stressful.