6 Tips For First Time Line Cooks

Recently, I was asked this question over on the Free Culinary School Forum and thought it was definitely worthy of a blog post since it is so universal.

I finally got the job [first line cook position], and will be filling out the paperwork on Monday. I am a bit nervous about working the grill and dealing with multiple orders of chicken, and burgers at the same time. Do you have any advice for successfully working the line at a small joint with a couple deep fryers, some ovens in the back, and the grill where I will be apparently grilling burger patties and chicken?

~Jamie

First off, congratulations on your first gig as a line cook. Most of the technical cooking technique such as temping out the burgers, what part of the grill to cook your chicken, etc, will but covered by who ever is training you. But here are six tips that I think are universal to any form of line cooking, and that all new line cooks should know and understand.

1. Stay Calm: It’s very easy to lose your cool during a rush, especially if you’ve never worked the line before. As you start to stress out, your mind will become cluttered and overwhelmed. Being a line cook is like being a martial artist; you want to go into battle cool and collected with a clear mind.
2. Move With Purpose Not Speed: The biggest challenge every new line cook has to overcome is learning to produce a product fast and consistently. During the heat of a rush, you’ll normally hear the chef yelling at his new line cooks to “move faster”. What the chef really means is “get me my dish in less time.” A lot of line cooks don’t understand this, and will pick up the speed at which they move their body to show the chef that they’re “trying.” But when you physically move faster, you move with less efficiency and are prone to make more mistakes. Instead, concentrate on limiting unnecessary movements and moving with purpose. Also, if you start moving too fast, you’re mind will start to freak out, and you’ll be braking rule #1.
3. Avoid Small Talk: In the first couple days, it is tempting to want to get to know everything about your new fellow employees and to be friendly. Friendship in a kitchen however is usually earned through proving that you can function well as a focused member of the team. Until you feel that you can comfortably perform at a high standard every day, you should avoid small talk, and only ask questions related directly to the food. Trust me, nothing annoys a chef more then a new line cook “Chatty Kathy” who uses their kitchen to socialize instead of work. Also, each kitchen has its unique sort of “culture,” so keeping your mouth shut will help you avoid stepping on any toes until you better understand its social underpinnings.
4. Show Up Early, Leave Late, and NEVER COMPLAIN: The professional cooking world is extremely competitive and brutal. To be successful, you have to learn to love the abuse; long hours, hard work, and never, ever show weakness. The moment you shed a tear, you’re done. The moment you start complaining, you lose face. The fastest way to gain respect in a kitchen is to work yourself twice as hard as anyone else, and have a smile on your face the whole time.This is not easy to do, but you must commit to having this attitude if you want to be successful.
5. The Chef’s Word Is Gospel: No matter what you’ve learned from reading books, attending culinary school or listening to my podcasts, whatever the chef says is The Gospel. If he wants your opinion, he’ll tell you what it is. Some chefs allow more input from their cooks then others, but no chef likes to be second guessed or have their technique corrected and menu undermined. Each place you work, the chef will have different ways of doing things. This is actually good, because the more variation on technique that you see, the better ability you’ll have to make your own decisions once you become a Chef. When the chef tells you how to do something, there is only one correct answer, “Yes Chef.”
6. Never Make Excuses: You will mess up, everyone does. The chef does not expect his cooks to always be perfect; if they were, he’d be out of a job. But when the chef corrects you, never make excuses. He doesn’t want to hear why you screwed up; trust me, he doesn’t have the time. All he wants to know is that you will not make that mistake again. So when the chef scolds you for doing something wrong, say “Yes Chef, It Won’t Happen Again,” and then make sure that it NEVER happens again. If a chef scolds you for something you didn’t do, you still say “Yes Chef, It Will Never Happen Again.” Then, find the person who screwed up, and tell them that you just saved their ass and they owe you one. Not only will the chef like you for being a hard worker and not wasting his time with excuses, but your coworkers will come to respect you for not throwing them under the bus.

Although I think you were looking for more concrete tips on how to actually cook line, trust me, if you follow the above you will have nothing to worry about. Cooking line is like being a great golfer, 40% technique, 60% mental. If you can get your mental game under control, you will be surprised how fast you advance in a professional kitchen.

Good luck, and lets us know how your first day goes.

You can follow Jamie’s Work Experience Thread over at the FCS Forum.