How do you guys do it?

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The pro chefs, that is. Had a work cookout today, prepped just a couple dishes and sides for about 30+ people. 8 jerk tenderloins with mango serrano salsa, about 12 pounds of dijon potato and green bean salad, simple roasted garlic chipotle mayo as a burger topping etc. Another coworker got burgers and dogs and more sides from a local German butcher. After a couple nights of prep and working a grill this afternoon, I'm shot. How the $&@! do you guys do this all day everyday?
 
Don't think just do it, when your done enjoy a nice cold beer or glass of iced tea. It's often a thankless job but you will get respect on your day off telling somebody you cook.
 
I worked as a pharmacy tech for six months when I was 21. That is a job I don't understand how people do. I ran back to the kitchen and have been there since. You just get up, do it, love it, and then it's done. It will wear you out, but it beats a desk job.
 
You see what needs to be done, and you make it happen. You get it done. Always. No matter what. As soon as you start wondering if you can do it, you're out of the game. That's when cooks and CDPs walk out.

The answer is always "yes, chef" and find a way. Now that I'm chef, it's my own name. Ultimately, though, we're nuts.
 
In all seriousness; pro cooking, be it exec chef or sautée jockey, is much like being a pro athlete. It takes years of training to become mentally and physically strong to go to work everyday and take care of business. And like a pro athlete when you don't do it for a little while you relapse.
 
I work in an office setting where I'm the designated cookout guy. Beats me up to. Typically I dont want to eat after.

But, I also worked on a fishing boat in Alaska processing pollack. Had to look at a candlelight fillet table for 16 hrs a day. Your body gets used to the motion and the angles.

I find it amazing what people in the kitchen endure and the foods they make. Glad to have them around.
 
I'm with Brianh!! I cook for those I love only.

I appreciate those of you who love it and do it for far less than most would ever believe.


“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.” ― Anthony Bourdain
 
I'm hyper active and most cod I know are I can think of no other environment that gets me through my day I love it horrible hours and feeding the masses and ask that being said I wouldn't wish this life on my worst enemy
 
Its a mixture of loyalty to your coworkers. A desperation about making sure you've produced something good. An arrogance that you actually know what is best. And a belief that all the ********; lost hours of family and friends, self doubting, and just the slightest flame of hope that you've made a positive impact on the world.
 
In all seriousness; pro cooking, be it exec chef or sautée jockey, is much like being a pro athlete. It takes years of training to become mentally and physically strong to go to work everyday and take care of business. And like a pro athlete when you don't do it for a little while you relapse.

Unlike pro athletes, we get paid ****, work injured, don't have a union, and our season is 365 days long.
 
As in all professions, just because you do something doesn't make you special. What makes you special is what you do with it.

I know a lot of DB cooks.
 
As in all professions, just because you do something doesn't make you special.
...

I know a lot of DB cooks.

Yeah.

Perspective is always good. I don't pretend that I'm changing the world or having some important impact on the environment. I do it because it's fun to me and gives me joy. There are a lot of other professions that are more physically and mentally grueling.

For example:

[video=youtube;RpXL_QaK17E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpXL_QaK17E[/video]

I can work 80+ hours, getting screamed at, treated like garbage & not making all that much money... but you won't ever catch me doing that. Not no way.
 
Conditioning, adrenalyn, that zone feeling and when none of that is available, coffee. We got lot's of that stuff on tap.
 
Call me whatever you want when we're in the weeds, I'm cool with it, as long as we're cool after service, during it I'm countless names
 
The pro chefs, that is. Had a work cookout today, prepped just a couple dishes and sides for about 30+ people. 8 jerk tenderloins with mango serrano salsa, about 12 pounds of dijon potato and green bean salad, simple roasted garlic chipotle mayo as a burger topping etc. Another coworker got burgers and dogs and more sides from a local German butcher. After a couple nights of prep and working a grill this afternoon, I'm shot. How the $&@! do you guys do this all day everyday?

I do the cooking for the State Championships we host at my range...about 150 people in 90 minutes. It's all simple sh1t like grilled hotdogs and potato salad....but it wears me the phuq out. However the amount of happy I have about an hour after I clean up is amazing. Similar experience with the cooking classes I teach. I dread both of these things starting about 48 hours before they begin...nerves, knots in stomach, anxiety over what I'm forgetting, anxiety about screwing something up and ruining the day for a bunch of people....But that 2-ish hours of flow (being in the zone) I get are 100% worth it.

We were just talking about flow in Chuckles thread the other day. In case you missed it:

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/19315-Line-cook-diagnostic-chart
 
It helps if you love what you do. It's sad that it's so difficult to make a decent living at it. Cooking continues to be a form of therapy for me, years after I left the line. The more you do production , the easier it gets. Plan ahead and pace yourself.
 
I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'
Muhammad Ali
 
Coffee, whiskey, cigarettes, passion,and a very, very... Very understanding spouse.
 
has to be the passion, b/c sure as hell aint the money, unless youre in corporate
 
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