# What's your most TEDIOUS prep?



## jklip13

Here's mine





Celery Katsuramuki


----------



## Smurfmacaw

You do it with an Usuba?


----------



## jklip13

Smurfmacaw said:


> You do it with an Usuba?



Kiritsuke


----------



## SousVideLoca

Either carrots or tomatoes. Or, goddamnit, both on the same day. Sometimes I can save them for the prep cooks, other times they've just got to be done... and I'm the Sous Shmuck doing them. 

Over, and over, and over.


----------



## Jordanp

Freakin shelling faba beans!


----------



## JBroida

katsuramuki and various mukimono work were always the most tedious for me back in the day


----------



## 420layersofdank

Picking micrgreens, brunoise Korean yams, minced herbs


----------



## chefcomesback

peeling shelled walnuts without breaking them


----------



## Adrian

I have always hated peeling shallots. And have always struggled with shelling boiled quails eggs. Nowadays I only cook at home though, so I enjoy everything.


----------



## scotchef38

Peeling walnuts +1 ,cleaning mussels also sucks


----------



## Mucho Bocho

Stemming and de-seeding roasted poblano peppers. Discovered a bowl of water works great for getting the seeds off your hands and the pepper.

Picking crab. Haven't found a good technique for cleaning the bodies. I've got a decent leg technique though.


----------



## Dardeau

Mucho Bocho said:


> Stemming and de-seeding roasted poblano peppers. Discovered a bowl of water works great for getting the seeds off your hands and the pepper.
> 
> Picking crab. Haven't found a good technique for cleaning the bodies. I've got a decent leg technique though.



Dried peppers for me. Or fresh criolla sella peppers.

The best technique for picking blue crab bodies is making good friends with someone that owns a picking house and buying well priced jumbo lump. Unless I'm eating crabs for fun, picking the bodies is a job to be outsourced.


----------



## knyfeknerd

Mini hors size phyllo anything......spanikopita, herbed goat chz.......ugggh......phyllo.


----------



## TheDispossessed

dude, uragoshi. It took me 5 hours once to get a giant pot of azuki beans through.
also,
there's this crazy seaweed can't remember what its called but its super goopy teeny tiny strands like hair and you have to clean out baby shrimps the size of needle heads. that sucked the worst maybe.


----------



## TheDispossessed

MOZUKU!!!!
Ask Odo-san about that stuff, see if he'll get some for you to clean for fun.


----------



## CoqaVin

peeling fava beans


----------



## DamageInc

+1 for cleaning mussels. Such a terrible job but a single grain of sand just ruins everything.

I also just absolutely hate peeling small potatoes. And jerusalem artichokes.


----------



## CoqaVin

+1 on peeling ANYTHING, HATE IT!


----------



## Dardeau

jklip13 said:


> Here's mine
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Celery Katsuramuki



Also, I should try this. I'm always trying to sneak raw celery into things in a non offensive way. Little slivers of this with some sort of anchovy dressing, maybe on some pork?


----------



## Asteger

Buckets of semi-thawed squid


----------



## Cheeks1989

Asteger said:


> Buckets of semi-thawed squid



Haha you making rings?


----------



## Chuckles

tomato concasse 20# yield per batch. I help with that cause it's way better than portioning pasta. I hate portioning pasta.


----------



## Asteger

Asteger said:


> Buckets of semi-thawed squid





Cheeks1989 said:


> Haha you making rings?



Yup. :dazed: Or at least someone was, after I did my bit.


----------



## daveb

Asteger said:


> Buckets of semi-thawed squid



Any semi-thawed squid. Scraping, cleaning the insides is my vision of hell.


----------



## daveb

Chuckles said:


> tomato concasse 20# yield per batch.



I'm guessing you fancy guys don't even use a box grater?


----------



## ramenlegend

hmmm every commis job. but if I had to pick one, a deli of fines herbs tips.


----------



## ecchef

TheDispossessed said:


> MOZUKU!!!!
> Ask Odo-san about that stuff, see if he'll get some for you to clean for fun.



I can ship ya a pail!


----------



## Miho

Cleaning basil. It's a nightmare trying to get rid of all the dirt


----------



## ecchef

Or leeks. More sand than a desert.


----------



## lobby

When I was doing protein prep, splitting 50+ lobsters a day (body, claw and knuckle), killed me.


----------



## panda

picking shells out of fresh picked crab meat.


----------



## Jaspernowhere

At my morning job, denuding and thinly slicing 1" squares of sirloin then 2 oz portioning them in sandwich baggies. At my night job, trimming a case of artichokes and cooking them...every day.


----------



## CutFingers

Squid...ink squirting...dirty sink all black and icky, but so tasty.


----------



## Asteger

CutFingers said:


> Squid...ink squirting...dirty sink all black and icky, but so tasty.



Re: squid, please see my most above. I didn't have ink issues, though.

My squid days were 10 years ago. But I remember something else: squid hands. Even on days off, the hands still seemed to smell of squid.

Squid, squid, squid.


----------



## smokeyrojito

Red cabbage. Mussels.

At the same time I thought I would liven it up. I ADORE prepping artichokes.


----------



## refrigeratorfive

Peeling softboiled eggs, butchering lamb ribs, picking crab and lobster. Those are not enjoyable prep at all.


----------



## cheflivengood

I had to nitrogen freeze english pea puree into half domes to be put back together like a pea. they had to be hollow so you would fill up a tea spoon with puree, just submerge the metal in nitro so the outside has frozen, scoop the unfrozen out and then pop them out of the the tea spoon with a little warm water. took 3 hours the first day with one tea spoon on top of my other very large prep list, so that weekend I bent, super glued and taped 4 together and cut it down to an hour.


----------



## JohnnyChance

Trimming collard stems is pretty annoying, but then again I have a fish box of them next to me right now that I am allowing myself to be distracted from with the internet.


----------



## kielasaurus

panda said:


> picking shells out of fresh picked crab meat.



Use a blacklight. You'll thank me later


----------



## jklip13

This is all really cool insight into your kitchens, thanks all!


----------



## Dusty

Small handmade pasta. Orrechiette, strozzapreti, garganelli. Always take me way longer than they should.


----------



## Dubrdr20

Hate scraping tuna...


----------



## jklip13

Oh really? That's my favorite Dubrdr20


----------



## lanel

Shaving a 600 pan of brussels sprouts on my mandoline is at the top of the list currently. 1+ of that for weekends.


----------



## JDA_NC

lanel said:


> Shaving a 600 pan of brussels sprouts on my mandoline is at the top of the list currently. 1+ of that for weekends.



The Hobart slicer is broke for real this time? I remember they pulled that on us last year. We would have three people on it. Then the little ladies from across the street would come shred cheese and thank Christ. Saved us the rest of brussels salad season. The company definitely has one floating around...


----------



## lanel

Ha! I figured this was you Joe. And for sure, the blade isnt small enough for Cosmos liking so by hand they get done. I saw you checking out that buttermilk supply, we should set up a time and go check it out.


----------



## Keith Sinclair

Peeling grapes not by choice


----------



## rhymeswithoranj

It's Spring in Australia...

...which means broad beans are in season. So delicious. So, so fiddly. Fortunately, I have child labour to help.


----------



## CoqaVin

^^^^oh yea I forgot about that, I hate taking the skins off broad beans, as well as getting FRESH English peas out of their pod


----------



## ecchef

Back in the old days at the Russian Tea Room (before any renovations), there used to be 2 'vintage' women whose job it was to peel garlic & shallots, and tourne vegetables. They were there what seemed like all day working at a small table with a dangling light bulb in the dungeon; the scary cave-like basement where monsters lived. The most wretched prep job that I've seen. At that time, my job included peeling tons of shrimp and julienning leeks and celery root. No slicer, no mandolin...10" Wusty. That kinda sucked too.


----------



## DamageInc

Speaking of tedious prep, here's one from my dinner last night. Brussels sprouts, both red and green.

From the time I picked them in my garden to when they were cleaned and ready for use, ~35 minutes....


----------



## Asteger

35 mins well spent. Looks good. Sprouts from your own garden, a Kato and I'd put on a podcast, listen, prep, and enjoy myself


----------



## DamageInc

That's exactly what I did. Discovered a new podcast called No F*ckin' Ziti. A solid hour of Sopranos nerd talk is music to my ears. But man, do I get tired of removing layers and getting the hard root pushed up under my thumbnail.


----------



## Mucho Bocho

I've found it--removing the tendons form turkey legs. That takes the cake. Almost, gave up five times. You basically have to very carefully shred the interior of the leg, slowly cutting back and fourth. I think there were about ten or more in each leg. I'm going to confit them, What a PIA. If you can avoid this task, do.


----------



## jklip13

Mucho Bocho said:


> I've found it--removing the tendons form turkey legs. That takes the cake. Almost, gave up five times. You basically have to very carefully shred the interior of the leg, slowly cutting back and fourth. I think there were about ten or more in each leg. I'm going to confit them, What a PIA. If you can avoid this task, do.



A Tip i could give for this would be using vice clamps and a butter knife. It isn't an elegant solution but its a little quicker than anything else I've tried.


----------



## daveb

Mucho Bocho said:


> I've found it--removing the tendons form turkey legs. That takes the cake. Almost, gave up five times. You basically have to very carefully shred the interior of the leg, slowly cutting back and fourth. I think there were about ten or more in each leg. I'm going to confit them, What a PIA. If you can avoid this task, do.



Huh? I confit the whole leg and then meat shreds off easily. Yesterday I tasked a Nephew with the job - this bowl meat, this bowl skin and bones. If this is wrong, I'm not sure I want to be right...


----------



## drake

Brunoised pine nuts.


----------



## jklip13

drake said:


> Brunoised pine nuts.



Ha! You're joking. Yield must be like 30%


----------



## JLaz

I remember doing some bouquets of herbs as a garnish to some foie gras au torchon.

1. Wash all the herbs

2. Take all the best looking tops of chervil, dill, tarragon and flat parsley and segregate them on a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Store in walk in

3. Pick all the leaves of the remaining herbs to use for salad des herbs

4. Blanche some spring onion to use as twine to tie everything up together

5. Painstakingly arrange each bouquet (flat parsley>chervil>dill>tarragon)

6. Tie it up with some very delicate blanched spring onion

7. Trim off any excess leaves and stems

We go through more than 200 of these a week.


----------



## Bill13

DamageInc said:


> Speaking of tedious prep, here's one from my dinner last night. Brussels sprouts, both red and green.
> 
> From the time I picked them in my garden to when they were cleaned and ready for use, ~35 minutes....



Hated brussel sprouts growing up. Now I love them. Turns out my Mom was a lousy cook - like most of America in the 70's:laugh:


----------



## Zwiefel

Never heard of red brussels before...I now have a mission...



DamageInc said:


> Speaking of tedious prep, here's one from my dinner last night. Brussels sprouts, both red and green.
> 
> From the time I picked them in my garden to when they were cleaned and ready for use, ~35 minutes....


----------



## drake

jklip13 said:


> Ha! You're joking. Yield must be like 30%



Yield is incredibly low. Takes forever. Not as bad a brunoised almonds though...


----------



## DamageInc

Zwiefel said:


> Never heard of red brussels before...I now have a mission...



Pretty similar to the green, really. A tad sweeter and a tad nuttier.


----------



## Zwiefel

DamageInc said:


> Pretty similar to the green, really. A tad sweeter and a tad nuttier.



Sounds like they'd add some depth of flavor, and of course color, to a dish....I must seek them out now.


----------



## Asteger

Zwiefel said:


> Sounds like they'd add some depth of flavor, and of course color, to a dish....I must seek them out now.



Next: Zwiefel's 'purple sprout curry'


----------



## Zwiefel

Asteger said:


> Next: Zwiefel's 'purple sprout curry'



Way to steal my thunder! [emoji35]


----------



## DamageInc

Zwiefel said:


> Way to steal my thunder! [emoji35]



Don't worry, you'll have plenty of thunder after eating all those sprouts.


----------



## spoiledbroth

tis offtopic but brussels sprouts coleslaw is an awesome recipe to try.


----------



## Chef_

Scoring, blanching then peeling heirloom cherry tomatoes


----------



## Cutting_Edge

my sous chef took my to a food competition when I was 15. He had me peel baby carrots with the spine of a butter knife. He wanted all the "textures" to remain. Then he burned the pan. I did them again....

Reading everything you guys go through reminds me of an easy task that I dreaded even in my sleep. My second job was as an oyster shucker and every day we had to hand cut 4 bushels of limes and lemons. Those cuts on my hands burned like fire. Not very tedious but still hell. I was only 14 and my first job was dish dog. Serious step up to be a shucker. Such fun.


----------



## easy13

Ran a special with some handsome local Favas, forgot how much those things are
pain in my ass.


----------



## Mucho Bocho

I've got a new one, picking the seeds out of meyer lemons. Every year when they come in season, I buy a few dozen to make into meyer lemon confit. Requires slicing the lemons and removing the annoying/bitter seeds. I'll slice them in half, dig out what seeds I can find, then slice the lemons and layer in jars with a mix of 50/50 kosher salt/sugar. It took over two hours to wash, deseed, slice and layer them in Jars. Good thing I only have to do this chore once a year. Their worth it though.


----------



## Kingkor

Cleaning 4kg of chicken skin for twills most tedious thing ever, and making 40kg of cured lemon paste with tiny lemons.


----------



## Jaspernowhere

Making steamed buns. 3 different doughs form the main dough. 37 gram portioning balling up, rolling out, paint with sesame oil, crease with chopstick, fold. I have to make 48 5 days a week.


----------



## DDPslice

jklip13 said:


> A Tip i could give for this would be using vice clamps and a butter knife. It isn't an elegant solution but its a little quicker than anything else I've tried.



a hemostatic clamp works better better but a long time with them in your fingers can get crampy.


----------



## Johnb

Jordanp said:


> Freakin shelling faba beans!



This definitely, my chef requires that we double shuck before blanching, blegh 

Also cleaning morels, usually about thirty rinses later they are ready to butter-braise


----------



## karif

Got a new one: picking cilantro. Separating every leaf when its bushy and undergrown. 8-10 large bunches yields 4qts. 

And pretty much anything with low yields, shuck a case of peas, 4qts, fuuuuuck that.


----------



## malexthekid

Jaspernowhere said:


> Making steamed buns. 3 different doughs form the main dough. 37 gram portioning balling up, rolling out, paint with sesame oil, crease with chopstick, fold. I have to make 48 5 days a week.



I take it that is why Serious Eats just recommends one to go and buy the pre-paid ones from an Asian groccer


----------



## jklip13

DDPslice said:


> a hemostatic clamp works better better but a long time with them in your fingers can get crampy.



I need to try that, I'll have to use fishing forceps though


----------



## spoiledbroth

malexthekid said:


> I take it that is why Serious Eats just recommends one to go and buy the pre-paid ones from an Asian groccer



Just... Not in a restaurant lol


----------



## jklip13

spoiledbroth said:


> Just... Not in a restaurant lol



Shhh just tell them you made it when they ask


----------



## jbl

A lot of these jobs make me question what a chef is trying to achieve... brunoise of pine nuts?! Nitro freezing pea puree in a tea spoon?!!
Fergus Henderson said it best, "If God wanted carrots to be square, they'd be square". What's more beautiful than a pine nut, or a sweet little gem of a pea?
Madness...
Shelling peas, beans and seafood is tedious but serves a purpose. Torturing food into an unnatural state is the worst kind of tedious as it's pointless


----------



## jklip13

jbl said:


> A lot of these jobs make me question what a chef is trying to achieve... brunoise of pine nuts?! Nitro freezing pea puree in a tea spoon?!!
> Fergus Henderson said it best, "If God wanted carrots to be square, they'd be square". What's more beautiful than a pine nut, or a sweet little gem of a pea?
> Madness...
> Shelling peas, beans and seafood is tedious but serves a purpose. Torturing food into an unnatural state is the worst kind of tedious as it's pointless



I absolutely agree with this sentiment however I think there is a time and a place for obsessive knifework. Say you had a duxelle stuffing, inside of a hollowed out eggplant, the mushrooms and shallots won't fit in whole, so they have to be cut. You now have the choice of mincing them into a mash or cutting them brunoise and gently folding them together.
I agree that too often a chiffonade of parsley or a brunoise of tomato is added just to show off how good you are but I don't think we should discount the idea itself of the cuts.


----------



## WildBoar

jbl said:


> Shelling peas, beans and seafood is tedious but serves a purpose. Torturing food into an unnatural state is the worst kind of tedious as it's pointless


I disagree.

Exhibit 1: French Fries

I could go on, but mmm, french fries.


----------



## daveb

Nuff said. David wins.


----------



## panda

cleaning arties. your fingers turn black and a whole case yields hardly anything.


----------



## spoiledbroth

JBL


What do you like to use your knives for exactly...


----------



## brainsausage

jbl said:


> A lot of these jobs make me question what a chef is trying to achieve... brunoise of pine nuts?! Nitro freezing pea puree in a tea spoon?!!
> Fergus Henderson said it best, "If God wanted carrots to be square, they'd be square". What's more beautiful than a pine nut, or a sweet little gem of a pea?
> Madness...
> Shelling peas, beans and seafood is tedious but serves a purpose. Torturing food into an unnatural state is the worst kind of tedious as it's pointless



By that rationale, I suppose any creative endeavor that isn't solely based on survival is completely pointless, yes?


----------



## jbl

I'm just railing against some of the jobs mentioned in previous posts. 
Hack attempts at dated ideas like spherification, or needless chefiness making pinenuts square.
Of course French fries et al don't come in for those criticisms... jeez


----------



## jbl

I see my job as turning phenomenal ingredients into something edible for paying customers.
So, I shuck peas and beans, but there's some serious compensating going on if those peas need to be turned into spheres.
I work in a two star restaurant, and have only worked in restaurants, where the ingredient is king.
The hoop jumping some chefs do to claw themselves into some kind of ranking or awards systems is crazy.
Work alongside a Lebanese chef making mezze or an Italian grandmother and suddenly those brunoised pinenuts seem a little ridiculous no?
I'm just playing devil's advocate really, but cheffy food really is about erotic as a blow up doll


----------



## brainsausage

jbl said:


> I see my job as turning phenomenal ingredients into something edible for paying customers.
> So, I shuck peas and beans, but there's some serious compensating going on if those peas need to be turned into spheres.
> I work in a two star restaurant, and have only worked in restaurants, where the ingredient is king.
> The hoop jumping some chefs do to claw themselves into some kind of ranking or awards systems is crazy.
> Work alongside a Lebanese chef making mezze or an Italian grandmother and suddenly those brunoised pinenuts seem a little ridiculous no?
> I'm just playing devil's advocate really, but cheffy food really is about erotic as a blow up doll



If the technique takes center stage over the ingredients, then yes I'd agree. Part of being an accomplished chef, is knowing how and when to edit one's self. When I was younger I would try to cram every type of different technique possible onto every plate I designed. Lots of overwrought and difficult to eat food was produced as a result. That being said- I think there's a place for all styles, be it uber modern or medieval era (side by side even). It just takes the deftness of hand and experience to execute it properly. 
Also- **** the Michelin Guide.


----------



## paulraphael

brainsausage said:


> If the technique takes center stage over the ingredients, then yes I'd agree. Part of being an accomplished chef, is knowing how and when to edit one's self. When I was younger I would try to cram every type of different technique possible onto every plate I designed. Lots of overwrought and difficult to eat food was produced as a result. That being said- I think there's a place for all styles, be it uber modern or medieval era (side by side even). It just takes the deftness of hand and experience to execute it properly.
> Also- **** the Michelin Guide.



Yes, exactly. There's room in the world for many different approaches. I have great admiration for chefs like Adria and Achatz and Dufresne who create new experiences and sensations. And of course there's unlimited room for things to wrong when less talented people use their approaches. Powers of transformation plus bad taste equals trouble.

But none of this is really new. Some cooking has always been about celebrating the ingredient, and some cooking has always been about transformation. Almost everything that goes on in the pastry kitchen is the latter. Do you want me to celebrate raw flour on your dessert plate? 

I'm a big fan of simple cooking that does as little as possible to beautiful piece of fish or produce. I also recognize that this can be a highly privileged position to take. Not everyone lives in Southern France or Central California. Not everyone can afford sushi-grade tuna. We need ways to take the less obviously appealing pieces of food and to transform them into something delicious. The Italian grandmas know something about this.

As far as transformations that are purely esthetic ... turning round things square ... that's just a matter of taste and of extravagance. Some chefs get into the visual aspect of plating and want to do things that are fun (or surprising, or pretentious, depending on your point of view). If they're willing to pay someone hourly to carve dodecahedron-shaped celeriac dungeons-and-dragons dice ... let's hope the diners love the result. Spherizing isn't surprising anymore, but then, neither is julienning. It's just a technique that can be used well or poorly, like any other. 

I think the implicit understanding in most of the restaurants that use insanely labor intensive, transformational techniques, is that these places are for special occasions. People dine there once a year, if that. They're looking for something specifically unlike what they get at grandma's table.


----------



## JohnnyChance

brainsausage said:


> When I was younger I would try to cram every type of different technique possible onto every plate I designed. Lots of overwrought and difficult to eat food was produced as a result.



And now...piles of meat on trays.


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts

Amateur opinion:

I would say centerstaging an edited set of techniques on a plate sounds great.

So does turning good-enough or even not-defective ingredients into a great result by means of technique - whether its the cook "bringing out their taste/texture" or bringing IN the taste/texture, it's good.

Throwing ALL the techniques on a plate is like throwing the whole pantry, shelves and all, on it 


....

"Almost everything that goes on in the pastry kitchen is the latter"

Vegetarian cooking too, unless someone is foregoing dense proteins or using ready-made-and-seasoned substitutes (I hate to, *unless* it is in the spirit of the dish - I think (good quality) storebought vegetarian sausage has its charm in a Budae-Jjigae because it is supposed to be a dish born out of improvisation involving some fresh and some highly processed ingredients that happened to be available. In most other cases, I think in making a mock meat dish mocking the meat is the cook's job).

Also, many kinds of sauce making are all about transformation....


----------



## jklip13

Got another one to add


----------



## jklip13

It took about an hour to do 45 of these, each flour hand cut then threaded on pine needles


----------



## Chef_

making half-chicken roulades is a pain in the ass


----------



## Oh_Toro

Does sharpening knives before work count?


----------



## rami_m

Oh_Toro said:


> Does sharpening knives before work count?



No [emoji16]. But then I don't sharpen often enough for it to be a chore.


----------



## Oh_Toro

rami_m said:


> No [emoji16]. But then I don't sharpen often enough for it to be a chore.



For shame :razz:


----------



## spoiledbroth

prepping ebi for nigirizushi every day. though jklip looks like he works for a real sadist.  I would love to join.


----------



## youkinorn

jklip13 said:


> It took about an hour to do 45 of these, each flour hand cut then threaded on pine needles



You work at Kajitsu? Had a wonderful meal there about a month ago (really loved the gobo with this dish). Thanks for your work!

(or maybe staging there, based on your location?)


----------



## jklip13

Really glad you enjoyed it! I'm in NYC now , I should really change my location


----------



## King_Bickfast

Toss up between 5kg of mussels of 5kg of baby squid daily...


----------



## suntzu

any old style cold canapes... nothing 5#1Ts me more than making hundreds of something that has multiple components (like 3 toppings and a garnish on melba toast), for a pretentious black and white affair, then watching them get scoffed down in one mouthful followed by champagne chasers... like *** did you even taste what you just ate, dont forget to send a thank you bottle of anything that will surprise me back to the kitchen as a thank you for the party in your mouth.


----------



## kurwamac

On the regular, broad beans, peas, and canapes
Past lengthy prep includes Jerusalem artichokes, round croutons, tomato string
Two things that are fun but also pains in the arse are pheasant butchery, and handcut tartare (particularly if the cut is shite)


----------



## aaamax

Too often agreeing as a last minute fill in when the cook/chef died, crashed, sick, had a baby, you know the drill and showing up to an unfamiliar kitchen trying to figure out how the hell they EVER worked in such a freakin' disaster zone. Now That is what I call "tedious prep." Daaaaaamn.


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts

Always wonder how you pros get around the "garlic doesn't scale" problem (chop up a clove, all dandy ... chop up ten heads and your hands are sticking even to the teflon pans once you unburied them from all the peels that are just going everywhere) without spending more time washing hands and cleaning away debris than prepping garlic


----------



## daveb

Life - Gal of peeled cloves into the robocoup. Easy day.


----------



## StonedEdge

I'd say some of the more tedious stuff I do at home is breaking down/deboning and removing the tendons from wild turkey thighs and drums


----------



## aaamax

daveb said:


> Life - Gal of peeled cloves into the robocoup. Easy day.



Funny side note. 
When I first moved to Sweden and at my first gig, a cook said to me that he is "going to be RoboCop." A combination of language and accent mixup, but I will never think of it as anything other than RoboCop and that is how they pronounce it at every joint I've worked at since. From then on it has always been me shouting "get me RoboCop."


----------



## fatboylim

Peeling broad beans...


----------



## Rivera

For me it was peeling peas but for another unfortunate cook it was standing at the cutting board for 2 hours mincing a 12 quart of parsley with a mezzaluna lol


----------



## Mucho Bocho

StonedEdge said:


> I'd say some of the more tedious stuff I do at home is breaking down/deboning and removing the tendons from wild turkey thighs and drums



Absolutely miserable kitchen task. I think each leg has 11 F_____g tendons. No easy way to remove them either.


----------



## OliverNuther

Mucho Bocho said:


> Absolutely miserable kitchen task. I think each leg has 11 F_____g tendons. No easy way to remove them either.


Bit OT. Turkey is not a common protein in Australia other than cooked breast meat at the deli counter. Quite a few years ago one of the local butchers had turkey drums going for some ridiculously cheap price so I bought a few. Didn't have a clue how to prepare them and had no idea about the tendons so I just roasted them like chicken drumsticks. Totally inedible. It was like trying to eat a drumstick through a tennis racquet.


----------



## TheCaptain

Mucho Bocho said:


> Absolutely miserable kitchen task. I think each leg has 11 F_____g tendons. No easy way to remove them either.


We have a pair of heavy duty needle nosed pliers which are reserved only for this task. They work very well at giving you a solid grip to pull those suckers out.

Mmmmm...smoked turkey legs.


----------



## daveb

Confit. Problem solved.


----------



## StonedEdge

Mucho Bocho said:


> Absolutely miserable kitchen task. I think each leg has 11 F_____g tendons. No easy way to remove them either.


Yup!! Better to do it with a few cold ones as to mitigate the frustration haha but hey, any excuse to pull out the honesuki is a good excuse!

Wild turkey tendons seem to be a much bigger PITA to remove than the farmed/store bought variety...I'm assuming it's because their wild counterparts never stop moving those delicious legs of theirs. In any case, as time goes by I'm getting fairly quick at it although I rarely escape without poking myself with the point of the knife haha


----------



## StonedEdge

daveb said:


> Confit. Problem solved.


My God why did that never occur to me? And I'm French....shame on me


----------



## StonedEdge

TheCaptain said:


> We have a pair of heavy duty needle nosed pliers which are reserved only for this task. They work very well at giving you a solid grip to pull those suckers out.
> 
> Mmmmm...smoked turkey legs.


Ohhhhh.....thats actually a really good idea.


----------



## Godslayer

Did a stage a few weeks ago, they made me peel and than fine brunoise (1mm x 1mm) 500 grm of garlic, I have never in my life hated a job so much, I don't know how long it took me(it was awhile) but they offered me a job and I kindly refused lol. :knife: no man should have to do that.


----------



## jklip13

Godslayer said:


> Did a stage a few weeks ago, they made me peel and than fine brunoise (1mm x 1mm) 500 grm of garlic, I have never in my life hated a job so much, I don't know how long it took me(it was awhile) but they offered me a job and I kindly refused lol. :knife: no man should have to do that.



Sounds stinky


----------



## Mucho Bocho

That's a good job for a mandolin and cut glove ;-)


----------



## labor of love

Godslayer said:


> Did a stage a few weeks ago, they made me peel and than fine brunoise (1mm x 1mm) 500 grm of garlic, I have never in my life hated a job so much, I don't know how long it took me(it was awhile) but they offered me a job and I kindly refused lol. :knife: no man should have to do that.



Interesting. What knife did you go with for that task? I just rock chop the crap outta garlic until minced.


----------



## Godslayer

labor of love said:


> Interesting. What knife did you go with for that task? I just rock chop the crap outta garlic until minced.



no rock chopping, the brunoise had to be perfect(near perfect), apparently the texture mattered, no idea what they used if for, any semi-reasonable company that needed that amount would normally just buy pre-minced in a bottle(sysco sells 5kg 11 lbs for like $38cad pre minced) I ended up using a 150mm takamura uchigumo petty, I don't honestly think I could do the volume they wanted with a full size gyuto and maintain consistency of cuts. Looking back the only logical conclusion was they were testing me, but it was such a horrid task, peeling and brunoising all the garlic most likely took close to an hour, if not an hour(say 150ish cloves, peeled and bruunoised), that come the end of it, I didn't want to work there anymore.


----------



## aaamax

Godslayer said:


> no rock chopping, the brunoise had to be perfect(near perfect), apparently the texture mattered, no idea what they used if for, any semi-reasonable company that needed that amount would normally just buy pre-minced in a bottle(sysco sells 5kg 11 lbs for like $38cad pre minced) I ended up using a 150mm takamura uchigumo petty, I don't honestly think I could do the volume they wanted with a full size gyuto and maintain consistency of cuts. Looking back the only logical conclusion was they were testing me, but it was such a horrid task, peeling and brunoising all the garlic most likely took close to an hour, if not an hour(say 150ish cloves, peeled and bruunoised), that come the end of it, I didn't want to work there anymore.




Unfortunately I have been in a similar situation and it was the damn stickiness that was mind-numbing. A touch of water now and again did help, but god save you if you have to do this with any regularity. DAAAAAmmmmnnnn. Glad you didn't take the gig.


----------



## online

Past lengthy prep includes Jerusalem artichokes, round croutons, tomato string.


----------



## LifeByA1000Cuts

@Godslayer at least I don't feel quite as inept cursing how much work mortar curry paste prep (for home cooking use - still, a head of garlic goes in usually, and saving knife work is paid in more bashing work  ) is ...

Was this for a lot of dipping sauce for asian dumplings? Only application that comes to my mind for 1mm brunoised garlic in large amounts...


----------



## Illyria

Hmm, currently a cured piranha tartar over a fried sweet potato bun.

Getting piranha, fileting, removing skin, cutting the skin into small rectangles, making a rice paste and spreading over silpats and then putting on the skin. Dehydrating the skin, taking out and letting sit to rehydrate.. Frying each individual strip.. 

Cure piranha filets, cut to perfect cubes without any spines. 

60 per service.


----------



## Godslayer

LifeByA1000Cuts said:


> @Godslayer at least I don't feel quite as inept cursing how much work mortar curry paste prep (for home cooking use - still, a head of garlic goes in usually, and saving knife work is paid in more bashing work  ) is ...
> 
> Was this for a lot of dipping sauce for asian dumplings? Only application that comes to my mind for 1mm brunoised garlic in large amounts...



Was at an italian restaurant used as garnish for various dishes/dressings 

new most tedious prep is cleaning bone marrow, new restaurant uses 60-80 a day and it's a pain lol


----------



## valgard

Godslayer said:


> Was at an italian restaurant used as garnish for various dishes/dressings
> 
> new most tedious prep is cleaning bone marrow, new restaurant uses 60-80 a day and it's a pain lol



were are you at now Evan?


----------



## Godslayer

valgard said:


> were are you at now Evan?



Two Penny Chinese on 1st sw


----------



## StonedEdge

Illyria said:


> Hmm, currently a cured piranha tartar over a fried sweet potato bun.
> 
> Getting piranha, fileting, removing skin, cutting the skin into small rectangles, making a rice paste and spreading over silpats and then putting on the skin. Dehydrating the skin, taking out and letting sit to rehydrate.. Frying each individual strip..
> 
> Cure piranha filets, cut to perfect cubes without any spines.
> 
> 60 per service.


Piranha? As in the carnivorous Amazonian fish? That's crazy. I have two of them at home and they don't look like they'd be easy to clean.

Are they farmed or wild? I woulda thought a freshwater scavenger/predator like that would be a parasitic risk.


----------



## HRC_64

StonedEdge said:


> Piranha? As in the carnivorous Amazonian fish? That's crazy.




hipsters...


----------



## StonedEdge

HRC_64 said:


> hipsters...


Yuge +1 haha


----------



## Bacon king tone

Peeling green almonds without breaking the "nut" In the center


----------

