r/linecooks

Hello Line Cooks of Reddit!

I just started at a coastal Italian fine dining restaurant in my city. I’ve been an app cook on our back line for about 3 weeks. I have worked for chains and upscale casual places before but that was almost a decade ago.

I have found myself back in the industry and I’m loving it, however, I’m really struggling with my knife skills. I was put on apps and prep on the back line to give me some time to readjust. The plan is for me to move to Sauté in 6mo.

I am a little intimidated by the skill level of the line cooks and chefs on my team. They are all mostly culinary professionals (school or years of experience.) We do a lot of chiffonade, matchstick and fine dicing sort of knife work and I just plain suck. I have tried YouTube videos, and I would love to ask our Sous Chef or Head Chef to take some with me and really work with me, but they are always so busy and I’m a little afraid to ask.

How did you all learn? I can start practicing at home by cooking myself but I need some financial stability first. A few more weeks of paychecks and that can be done. In the meantime, do I just watch YouTube videos? Or should I just approach one of my Chefs and admit that I am struggling?

looking for advice regarding this. ive worked in a tiny kitchen before so ik what boh work entails; currently working at a chain place and i have a great rapport with the cooks and dishwashers and love working with them but im a food runner and expeditor, i feel like foh people are alright but we dont rlly vibe like i do with the cooks. food running is also kind of annoying, i only make like 500/week because i cant get more than 25hrs ever at foh, but the cooks make about 1000/week working like 40hrs. im also a college student but i do need the money and wouldn't mind being a line cook again.

would you make the jump or wait for a server spot that will only come in like 6-12 months? im only rlly planning to work here for 2 yrs

Hey everyone,
I need a serious reality check on my life plan, current skill set, and whether I can survive in professional kitchens.

I genuinely believe that working in a kitchen is the most ideal path for me. I absolutely love chaotic environments—pressure and stress are among the few things that actually make me feel alive. Long story short, I just really f want this.

Years ago, I worked in abattoirs/slaughterhouses. I used to take the yields/meat from the slaughterhouse, cook them in large cauldrons, and sell the food.

I trained and managed a crew of 5–6 completely inexperienced (and honestly, not very bright) guys from scratch. I set up basic hygiene standards, and we ran this operation together for about 2 years.

My business partner and I eventually went our separate ways over financial disagreements. That split landed me a buyout that generates enough passive income to cover my basic living expenses in my home country for life.

Exchange rates are a bitch, but with my setup, if I save my passive income for 6 months, I can easily afford to travel to almost any country in the world and live there for 1–2 months.

My ultimate dream is to use this financial cushion to travel to different countries, work temporary gigs in local kitchens for certain periods, build hands-on experience, make lifelong friends, and collect memories around the globe.

I don't know formal classic knife cuts (like French culinary terms/techniques). I’m fast and very comfortable holding a blade due to my slaughterhouse/prep background, but my cuts aren't uniform or identical yet.

I don't have a huge library of recipes memorized. However, I know the 5 mother sauces, how to make proper beef, chicken, and vegetable stocks from scratch, and if you give me a written recipe with exact ratios and steps, I can pull it off perfectly on my first attempt. (As an example, I tried making a Beef Wellington for the very first time last New Year's, and it turned out insanely good).

With my basic/unconventional experience, lack of formal knife precision, and limited recipe knowledge, can I hold my own and survive starting at the bottom in professional kitchens?

How realistic is my plan to hop between different international kitchens to work, travel, and gain experience?

What specific technical skills should I focus on grinding right now before I try to step into a kitchen?

Appreciate any raw, honest feedback or reality checks. Huge thanks to everyone taking the time to read this and share their thoughts.

Hello I'm a 21 year old kitchen helper from Italy.

I usually help with washing the dishes and appetizers but when the restaurant is busy I help with only the appetizers.

I started this june part time 7 hours a day 5 days a week. Meanwhile I helped during sundays for 12 hours circa from May.

There are 4 types of appetizers.

Cheeses with marmelades/ honey

Pickled vegetables with a mix of cold cuts

Crostini Mix

Appetizer mix (a mix of all the three above)

I have only a oven grill that I can use for the Crostini and many times there are more combos of appetizers so it usually is enough.

Today there where so many appetizer that I couldn't be phisically fast enough and the chef had a breakdown, not with me, but she was rather sad.

I had too many of them and 3 tables had to wait a lot of time (45 minutes circa).

Every appetizer I start making/ putting in the oven is signed with a dot on the order paper and when I send them out I cancel it with a slash too so I can keep track of them.

We usually have 80/90 people per dinner these weeks.

Is it because I'm slow at this point or do you think there are other problems?

Tomorrow I will ask what I can do to improve but in the meantime I wanted to hear other opinions. if you have any suggestions it will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. The kitchen staff is composed of:

A dishwasher (not me these weeks)

A first courses cook which is also the chef

A second courses cook

A second courses helper

An appetizer "cook" which is me

New line cook job wants my card before I start on Friday. Lost my old one when I switched phones and the state site is a mess to navigate.

My buddy said American Course Academy is cheap and only takes like a hour to finish. Anyone used them or got another quick option? Just need PDF to print out so the chef stops bugging me.

How will the work life of a Cruiseship Chef be like ?

I(23M) have been working in kitchens since I was 16 and have been working at what I’d call a “real restaurant” on the line at a country club for about 3 years now. We’ve always had a company that brings us sharpened knives and takes our old ones, but recently the ones they’re bringing back have been sharpened to shit, and don’t really have any shape left to them. I’ve determined it’s time to get my own knife but when looking I e realized I don’t really know what I’m looking for. I know I want a 12” chefs knife because that what we use here for almost everything and that’s what I’m used to. Would you recommend getting a full knife set? What brands if any would you recommend? Any knife sharpeners because my chef decided to throw out our electric one we had because “we have a company for that” so I just have the old fashioned rod sharpener. Thank you!

What does it mean if there's no work experience and they're placed in the kitchen station, specifically at the grill?

Any tips on how to teach quickly and learn quickly before going to training? Thank you

I started 6 days ago and I started with no experience whatsoever. The Diner I work for was gracious enough to hire me because I just got out of prison.. I'm really grateful for the job but as the only new guy there, I have no point of reference when it comes to progress..

I am learning proper cutting techniques and I do okay with them, prep work is good so far but when the lunch rush happens, everything I learned seems to fly out the window.. They tell me I'm doing a good job but I don't know how honest that really is because I don't know what a good job is supposed to be. I just wish I had all the knowledge and skills already lol. I am always willing to learn and I have found this career pretty rewarding at the end of the day but I can't help but feel like I'm doing terrible and no one wants to tell me..

okay this is a weird one. i’m not even sure what reddit group to go to with this one. i was just offered a GM position at a pizza shop. i would have to roll/ make dough when other employees are unable to. i have acrylic nails (they are very short) and they just let me know today i’d probably make holes in the pizza dough with my nails, even if i was wearing gloves. is there anything i can do to prevent this? it may sound stupid to some for me to not just cut them off, but i’ve consistently kept my nails done for years now, and it’s one of the only things i treat myself to for self care. obviously, when it comes down to it, i would cut them if i had to, but i’m just wondering if anyone else has a solution. i wouldn’t be doing hands on work very much, so it just upsets me to have to cut them since i really won’t be on the line much at all. thanks guys!

Just wanted to get other people’s opinions on this.

I’m currently working in a restaurant as a cook, and I have about 10 years of experience as a line cook and caterer. I’ve worked large weddings, quinceañeras, and other events serving as many as 2,000 guests at a time. I also have a degree in culinary arts.

My experience isn’t limited to one kitchen, either. I’ve worked in several different kitchens over those 10 years, to the point where I can usually walk into an unfamiliar kitchen, look at how it’s laid out, and have a pretty good idea of where I’m going to find produce, dry goods, equipment, etc.

At my current job, seniority determines which shifts you get and, sometimes, who gets to do what during service. I work under a lead cook who has been with the company for 25 years, so obviously this person has seniority and gets first pick. Having been there for so long, they’ve also developed a close relationship with the general managers. It’s gotten to the point where management seems to take this person’s word over everyone else’s when it comes to what’s happening in the kitchen. Their word is essentially final.

On the surface, I understand all of that. Seniority matters, and long-term employees naturally build trust and relationships with management. That happens in pretty much every industry.

But here’s where I struggle with it: what happens when that lead has spent their entire career in one place, has no formal culinary training, and regularly shows gaps in basic kitchen knowledge and competency? I’m talking about things as fundamental as proper cooking temperatures for different meats and other basic food-safety and culinary concepts.

At what point should actual knowledge, experience, and competency outweigh seniority?

I’m not saying that having a culinary degree automatically makes someone a better cook, and I’m not saying that my 10 years of experience should automatically outweigh someone else’s 25 years. Experience absolutely matters. But simply being somewhere for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean someone has developed the knowledge or skills that should come with that experience.

Am I looking at this the wrong way, or is it reasonable to find this frustrating? Because when seniority is treated as more valuable than competency—especially when it involves basic culinary and food-safety knowledge—it starts to feel less like respecting experience and more like disrespecting the profession itself

Hello to anyone that see my post, this is my first time posting to any type of community and I felt like this would be a good reason to finally do it. I recently received a prep cook position at an upscale-casual restaurant as the night time food prep and I also bring items to the main line when needed during service. This past Saturday I spoke with the head chef of the restraunt and was told I am doing an excellent job keeping up with service and making the food in the back and was offered a spot on the line to train in one of the positions(sauté,broil,fry,pantry) , I’m taking the offer because that was my original goal to begin with when I applied here , anyways to make a long story short I just wanted to share a little of the scenario im in and ask for any advice from fellow cooks who have maybe been in a similar situation. My apologies for the long text but I really appreciate anybody taking the time to read and hopefully give me a reply. Thank you!

Any advice for interviewing with the Hilton? I’m going in for a cook 1 position.

I’ve been working in kitchens for almost 30 years. One thing I never learned to do is network. Despite a long and moderately successful run, people in the community I work in don’t know who I am or what I’m capable of. I feel like I still have a solid 10 years yet, and I want to make the most of it. But terrified of putting myself out there.