Foh: Fill & Download for Free

I think I answered a few similar questions before.An example for you and boy, there are many.Busy gastro pub, close to Windsor, full of “ladies who lunch”.Anyhoo, busy mid-week service and check spits out which included a funky salad we served. Dressing on the side it says on the ticket. Me and the other chef groan and FOH comes in to ensure we've read the ticket.Even before I've even flipped the lid on the salad bar, I know the inevitable outcome. FOH informs me customer is, er, fussy (or words to that effect) and dislikes salads with too much dressing on them, which I agree with and why I use enough to make it a good salad and not a soggy bunch of stuff. That totally re-enforced my view on outcome.Bash together a crayfish n avo salad, with a ramekin on a saucer, spoon on the side. Ring bell. Service.A few minutes pass and FOH cone back in saying woman wants more dressing, as expected. This is now about 3 times as much as I'd have used initially. Bearing in mind, I would have gently mixed the vinaigrette through the salad, incorporating it properly.15 minutes pass and FOH informs me customer has complained the salad's too wet, which given they'd dumped 2 rammies of vinaigrette in the middle, is of no surprise.Aaaaaaaaaaagh…That's the sort of nonsense you get.

I've never had one customer do it. But I did have a table of two literally order everything. It was brutal.I was on my own (no commis or kitchen hand) and incredibly hung-over (it was the day after Australia day). This couple of jokers rolled in at 11am and ordered everything off of the dinner + tapas menu. They were obviously high-rollers and you cannot turn down that sort of cash in one order. Anyways I was a lowly junior sous and the owner was working FOH, I couldn't have refused even If I wanted to.Anyways, it was 11am and I was in the middle of a brunch shift. Everything was set up for breakfast and I didn't have dinner prep done yet. So as you can imagine, having to cook one of every item from your walk-in fridge, is not fun. Especially whilst trying to juggle dozens of orders of irritatingly customized big breakfasts and eggs benedict. The kitchen was also un sympathetically small, meaning I could physically not set up a system for handling both breakfast, tapas and dinner orders without making a huge mess and very cluttered environment. I actually ended up poaching eggs in a stock pot that shift and broke my own personal record of 30 at a time.Cooking over 30 dishes more or less from scratch (as I mentioned, a lot of prep was not ready as I was caught unawares and the prep wasn't done yet) whilst trying to simultaneously handle the flow of breakfast orders was incredibly difficult. There is nothing fun about cooking from 3 menu's in the middle of a breakfast service, whilst having to prep to order and wash dishes as you go. Brutal, brutal stuff, it would make Ramsey break a sweat. *Edit: Ramsey would have killed someone.In the end, It got done. But I have never, ever demolished my kitchen so badly. The tiny kitchen was an absolute tip. Once I found my rhythm the FOH couldn't actually get the food to the table quick enough and some ended up going cold. Well... they didn't seem to mind.They thanked everyone, ate about 5% of what they ordered. Drank lots, paid and left.

"board" - where the order "chits" hang. "Two steak up on board" means they have been ordered but might not have to be "fired", yet."chatte", "con", from French again. Not so nice name for the female reproductive organs, meaning "newest member of the team"."chits" - the little pieces of paper that the chef gets from the front of the house showing one or part of one order. It's our job to sort them and make sense of them and to make sure everyone's food gets "fired" in the right order to go out one table at a time and in due time."con" - from the French not-so-nice word for the female reproductive organ. Shit, crap, inedible, "connerie" is to quickly slap something together. Also, together with "chatte" (same translation) used for the newest member of the team."cowboy" - to "cowboy" food means to make up for one's own lack of drive or experience by adding or removing components. Using cream in risotto is "cowboy"."dat" - from Alsatian "date", "not right in the head". Used for whiny cooks. There's no crying or complaining in kitchens. Ever. Don't like it, use a hammer to fix it."downcount", also "count" - remaining portions. "We're downcount on about five for scallops" means "don't sell more than five more dishes of scallops"."dresses" is the same thing as a "fire" just for cold foods."En Mota" - finely chopped and dried. After the Mexican word for mary-jane."expo" - expediter. In some kitchens like mine that's the Sous Chef, in others it's the chef or sometimes even a FoH - the person calling out the orders and making sure everything comes out at the same time."fire" is just that. 90 percent of your dish is already done before you come into my restaurant. Your ingredients are cut, some cooked, some dressed. That's called "mise en place" and is somewhat of a religion to us. When you order something we "fire" it, that means we put some heat to it, mix it up, and send it out."foh" and "boh" - front/back of the house. Also "flatfoots" for FoH, "monkeys" or "donkeys" for BoH, used by the other side respectively."lowboy" - the fridge underneath line tables, used to store anything and everything, from prep to bottles of beer when the chef comes around or someone else's pack of cigarettes."meez", "mise", "mep", "mise en place" - the setup of one's station before service, includes prep and everything else. Mise makes our job possible."move tits" - run fast enough to get a jiggle. Often used to express dissatifaction with someone's speed of cooking, serving, or plating."piano" - the grill station, traditionally the most prestigious station."robo", "coupe", "rc", "queez" - food processor or mixer, named after the two that are prevalent in kitchens, Robo-Coupe and Cuisinart."skullf*ck" - a well done steak, dead and abused (yes, I heard that term in many kitchens)."Speedrack" - a rolling cabinet for sheet pans."Window" / "Pass" - the handover between FoH and BoH. "Twelve in window and hot, move tits" - "Table twelve's food is ready and currently being abused by a heat lamp, hurry up, please".