2009-02-08T23:08:00.000-08:00

Tempermental Chef

Saturd ay I was nearly beaned by a bad boss. A barbecued chicken pizza missed me by one foot -- hot out of the oven by one of the last "Old School" Chefs. We we're down to one cook (that's me) and two dishwashers. On the books that night was a party of 100 people in the banquet depa rtment, including a food critic from our largest local paper and some executives from the company th at owns the restaurant. At around 5 p.m. the hysterics really started to shower. Everybody was out of his league and for only the fifth time that day I heard "I've been in this business 35 years!" which he usually yelled at the top of his lungs with a well-placed %$#∓$% and @#*%*#* here and there, always with a sarcastic chuckle at the end. Not only did the restaurant guests hear him --we'll have to wait until the review comes out to see if the critic heard him.

The guests at the party certainly heard him when he confronted the banquet manager in front of his staff. Well let's just say the machine is now in full motion. Such a stream of loud obscenities I hear every weekend from him. He tells me to lie for him about menu changes, food disappearing, champagne disappearing and my favorite -- his milking of the clock for 3 hours every day to play golf. He got called during the three-hour paid break (while he was on the clock). But he played stupid; saying he never knew that wasn't allowed. Our General Manager is covering for him by not writing him up. He's had his warnings, yet he's allowed to continue like a maniac. Letters have been sent already to our human resources department. I think he maybe unbalanced.

Is there anything I can do to try to warn human resources without a retaliation? I actually dread going into work today because of this lunatic. He seems to think everyone is against him. He's had me into the office for a "verbal warning" about my lack of respect. I think I might have signed up with one of the world's nastiest bosses.

2009-01-31T19:33:00.000-08:00

CHEF
1. The chef is the person in charge of the kitchen. In large establishments this person has the title of executive chef. The executive chef is a manager who is responsible for all aspects of food production, including menu planning, purchasing, costing, and planning work schedules.

2. The sous chef (soo schef) is directly in charge of production. Because the executive chef's responsibilities require spending a great deal of time in the office, the sous chef takes command of the actual production and the minute-by-minute supervision of the staff.Both the sous chef and executive chef have had many years of experience in all stations of the kitchen.

3. The station chefs or chefs de partie are in charge of particular areas of production. The following are the most important station chefs:

a) The sauce chef or saucier (so-see-ay) prepares sauces, stews, and hot hors d'oeuvres, and sautés foods to order. This is usually the highest position of all the stations.

b) The fish cook or poissonier (pwah-so-nyay) prepares fish dishes. (This station may be handled by the saucier in some kitchens.)

c) The vegetable cook or entremetier (awn-truh-met-yay) prepares vegetables, soups, starches, and eggs. Large kitchens may divide these duties among the vegetable cook, the fry cook, and the soup cook.
d) The roast cook or rotisseur (ro-tee-sur) prepares roasted and braised meats and their gravies and broils meats and other items to order. A large kitchen may have a separate broiler cook or grillardin (gree-ar-dan) to handle the broiled items. The broiler cook may also prepare deep-fried meats and fish.
e) The pantry chef or garde manger (gard-mawn-zhay) is responsible for cold foods, including salads and dressings, patés, cold hors d'oeuvres, and buffet items.
f) The pastry chef or patissier (pa-tees-syay) prepares pastries and desserts.
g) The relief cook, swing cook, or tournant (toor-nawn) replaces other station heads.

"manul"

Tempermental Chef