Least favorite cooking/kitchen job

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Mlan said:
What is the thing you hate to do most inside the kitchen whether that be at home or at work?

Without a doubt for me it is taking the stems off of thyme. So frustrating especially if you have to do a lot.
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I had a friend blow up a three month stage at Alinea ages ago behind thyme leaves. They showed up, were given three examples of the leaves and the sizes acceptable and told to pick through 2 lbs without damaging the leaves. After about an hour of doing it their supervisor came by, yelled something about “can you even see!! Those are nowhere like what I showed you”. Then tossed the whole project added enough thyme to get back to starting weight. Repeat two more times and my friend walked out.


demcav said:
Cleaning (head/peel/devein) shrimp.
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When I decided that I was done working in restaurants I thought for a while that grocery would be better. I went after fish and meat counter jobs and landed at Whole Foods fish. This, barring a major change, entailed the worst work year of my life. We often had people come buy 5-10 lbs of shrimp at the back end of their shop and then ask us to clean them. You’d have to drop the rest of whatever you were doing, and ignore the of the line when you were solo.
 
But the plus side is that you’re sort of alone and if you’re somewhere that cares enough to have that station set like that my presumption is that the food is at least good .
 
When I was a kid at my first ever job at a small grocery store they made me go through a case of the moldiest corn I have ever seen and peel it and re-package it for sale. The stuff looked like a strait bio weapon and the fact that they still wanted to sell it still haunts me to this day.
 
Bottling big batches of sauces/dressings for the line. Even with a funnel I manage to spill on my board, or worse on the side of the bottle so the kitchen tape label won't adhere. No matter how clean I try to be, it's always a mess.

I'd rather peel 50# of shallots than fill bottles.
 
Mlan said:
that be at home or are work
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The whole problem is precisely whether it is at home or at work.

there is nothing i hate doing at home, but at work is another story.

last week i made a dish at work with gnocchi and artichokes...i hated myself 🥰

spring is a very nice season, but thé products are generally quite time consuming and delicate to work ( fava, asparagus...)
 
For me (home cook)Top (or better "worst") 3:

Cleaning brussel sprouts
Peeling Potatoes (I'm somewhat allergic, so need gloves...)
Cleaning black salsify
 
Mind if I send you mine, M1k3, with a pre-paid return label? Ooops, never mind, I just remembered your oval pizza remedy. ;)

But, yea, most anything can be therapeutic if one's in the right frame of mind...well, maybe not taxes! 💸
 
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Nagakin said:
Cleaning shellfish for a buffet...

Tableside or carving or whatever other server jobs places try to make kitchen do. Servers making six figures in tips should have a full skill set besides uncovering or walking a plate. No, you can't borrow my knife without a full tip share either.
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Ok it's been a while since I was in service. Where are waiters making six figures? Is this really a thing?
 
captaincaed said:
Ok it's been a while since I was in service. Where are waiters making six figures? Is this really a thing?
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What the guys above said. My last place had union servers who worked both banquet and restaurant that made ludicrous money. Our events usually go between $250K and $1.5M with an automatic 10% gratuity. It's not an even split and goes by seniority (at least here). Shifts work the same way. It gets really nasty.
 
Back in late 80's nouvelle tiny labor intensive dishes were popular. Fine dining in Hawaii that stuck with it went out of business.

Had a Chef that put out a menu in a busy Kahala Hilton Hotel. I had banquets to put out in limited time with one helper. Front line ala carte pantry lady impossible to keep up.

She asked me to peel grapes for her 5 grapes per salad I peeled 30 grapes for her & got back to my job. Barely got one of the banquets out in time. When she ran out of grapes just put on unpeeled. Of coarse Chef noticed I wasn't there
Down in banquet room. When I came back he was upset. So I have to say peeling grapes almost made me quit my job.
 
Keith Sinclair said:
he asked me to peel grapes for her 5 grapes per salad I peeled 30 grapes for her & got back to my job. Barely got one of the banquets out in time. When she ran out of grapes just put on unpeeled. Of coarse Chef noticed I wasn't there
Down in banquet room. When I came back he was upset. So I have to say peeling grapes almost made me quit my job.
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I worked somewhere where we did a carbonated grape as an amuse, which obviously were peeled. I did it sometimes and for the volume we did, it wasn't too bad. I got my boss from the previous job to come in and stage a few times and on the last he had to peel the grapes. I told him he was doing it wrong and that he could start doing it how I showed him, (much more involved) or that someone else would come by and make him do it later. I thought he was going to hit me. He went on about it in his own fashion for a moment or two longer and was seen by someone else who told him to throw them out and start over. Later he told me that he thought I was kidding.
 
SeattleBen said:
I worked somewhere where we did a carbonated grape as an amuse, which obviously were peeled. I did it sometimes and for the volume we did, it wasn't too bad. I got my boss from the previous job to come in and stage a few times and on the last he had to peel the grapes. I told him he was doing it wrong and that he could start doing it how I showed him, (much more involved) or that someone else would come by and make him do it later. I thought he was going to hit me. He went on about it in his own fashion for a moment or two longer and was seen by someone else who told him to throw them out and start over. Later he told me that he thought I was kidding.
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You use your teeth, right?
 
Oshidashi said:
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What kind of garlic does this work best with, do you think? Fresh/old? I try it from time to time, but it never works as perfectly as it does in videos. Usually helps some, and then I have to peel the rest of them. Then again, I hardly ever do enough cloves at a time to warrant it.
 
ian said:
What kind of garlic does this work best with, do you think? Fresh/old? I try it from time to time, but it never works as perfectly as it does in videos. Usually helps some, and then I have to peel the rest of them. Then again, I hardly ever do enough cloves at a time to warrant it.
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you need enough cloves, like half a head to a head. Anything less and it hasn’t worked right for me
 
Grating horseradish. If you think dicing onions hurts your eyes... 😭

Also, peeling a bucket of soy beans (like the skin on the individual beans) always makes me rethink my life choices.
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Use a lot of garlic & ginger. Just for home use buy those bags of fresh garlic from Costco
Peel at least two whole bulbs at a time extra put in small sealed container in frig. for another dish or garlic butter etc. As garlic in bag gets older skin loosens. Peel ginger with small spoon.
 
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