Commercial, professional cooking

craft
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I have a good friend who owns a bar/restaurant. We have been talking at length about ideas and concepts for new dishes. Since I am currently unemployed, I volunteered to get my food handlers card and work for him for free–to develop new recipes on my own time.

First off, did I make a mistake? He is the kind of friend that would help me paint my house and I would weed his garden, so that isn’t an issue.

Second, I frequently host for 10+ people at parties, but this could be different. What am I not anticipating?

Third what axis do I need to measure to determine if a recipe is a success? (Price, longevity, time to table, etc)?

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Will you be working in the commercial kitchen or at home?

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Hell no! That’s a great idea.
Not anticipating? Ever worked in a kitchen before? Getting shouted at is a job requirement.

(I was this close to starting my own Chilli bar last year. Premises with good footfall are super difficult to get for a reasonable price so the budget didn’t really balance but locations with good opportunities for (varied types of) catering can be a goldmine.)

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Commercial, bonded, licensed kitchen.

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So I am thinking:

Cheese steak sandwiches
Bagels
Pretzels
Quick pickles and sauerkraut
Tomato tartlets
Sourdough asiago onion miche
Pancetta piazzettas
Vanilla glazed banana bread
Cookies (Sumbitches, also known as oatmeal, chocolate, raison, and caramel)
And bacon/fresh corn corn bread

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Pork loin ham sandwich with tomato and provolone
Bread bowl bread pudding
Cock a leekie soup
Blue cheese stuffed sourdough buns

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Cumberland sausages
Naturally cured turkey legs
Heritage tomato soup
Vegan mushroom risotto
Individual paellas

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If the kitchen is any good, it’ll be extremely hard yakka. :smile:
How many covers does your mate’s restaurant typically do?

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And the recipe for that would be…?? :slight_smile:

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It is mostly an ale bar, but perhaps three or four dozen food a night? Not big parties, usually one through four peeps.

Which is what makes me think of food longevity, time to serve, etc. Turnover at Le Bernadine is way different than a gastropub.

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Here is one variation. It is basically a ‘kitchen sink’ cookie.

http://fabtasticeats.com/2014/03/28/himym-sumbitch-cookies/

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In a commercial kitchen, you have to be much more careful about sanitation, including your own body. You’ll spend hours getting as much ready as possible in advance, which takes some of the fun out of it. And there’s no ebb and flow: when you’re on, you’re on for the duration.

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Well, that is why the ‘trade’ would be: I work for free, developing recipes and A/B testing, then his staff takes over.

His vegan chili is superb, his fries suck, his cheese sauce is okay, his wings piss me off, his duck confit isn’t right, and his bread is too amateur.

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So why did he go into business without you in the first place? :wink:

I’m not quite getting the trade part of it: exactly what do you get out of the deal?

Which thread am I on? Am I doomed to speak in questions forever to a select few mutants?

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I get to keep my mind busy, and probably get free beer.

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I have always wanted to be a chef, but deep down I know I don’t want to be a chef :smile:
This feels like a nice compromise.

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bar people like cheddar drop biscuit porkbelly sliders. save some of them quick pickles for a bit o’relish

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So what’s going to happen now that you’ve got a new job? You know how exhausting it is to learn a whole new workplace, co-workers, etc. Can you do this, too?

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Kitchen work? Makes trench warfare look like a weekend break in the country in my experience. This sounds like fun though. Post some of your inventions so we can have a stab at making them too?

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Aye, I love cooking, but I’ve been a kitchen skivvy, and all the chefs I know are fucking mental. They cheerfully inform me that all chefs are fucking mental and I’m inclined to believe them.

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