The Cook’s Dictionary

A la carte – A term referring to a type of menu that either has each item, including proteins and accompaniments, priced seperately, or a type of menu that has complete entree plates priced individually and allows a customer to choose from a selection of sides at no additional charge.

Al dente – Meaning ‘to the bite’ or ‘to the tooth’, this Italian phrase refers to cooking food such as pasta to the point where it still offers some resistance to the teeth when bitten.

Brigade - The kitchen team.  This organizational system is often credited to Auguste Escoffier, and is used in many larger restaurants and hotels today.  This system consists of a hierarchy of positions beginning from executive chef, to sous chef, chef de partie, demi chef, commis chefs.  There may be different positions at different places, and titles may be given different responsibilities from one restaurant to another.

Bloody - If a customer requests a dish very rare, blue rare, it may be referred to as bloody.  Example: “Ordering: one fillet, bloody“.

Butchery Department – generally only exists in very large scale restaurants and hotels where this can be a full time position.  If it’s not, it is generally combined with the sauce station.

Carbon - the carbon copy of the ticket which can be useful if multiple courses are ordered on the same ticket.

Chit/bill/ticket - the printout of an order received on each station.  A ticket will list the items ordered, the corresponding seat number, table number, the time the order was placed, and the server who placed it.  It may also list a sum total of how many of each dish to make.  The ticket will also indicate any modifications to the dish, such as “sauce on the side” or “no blue cheese“.

Cryovac - Cryovac is a line of vacuum sealing equipment and accompanying vacuum sealed bags made by Sealed Air.  The term Cryovac is often verbed, as in ‘Cryovac those steaks and put them in the freezer’.  Food that is stored in Cryovac bags or containers is isolated from the air and contaminates.  Vacuum sealing individual portions of product is done in many restaurants to save costs, as large batches can be made at once and stored.  For more about Cryovac, visit Sealed Air, or check out this brochure.

Eighty-Six (86) – To cancel, remove, or otherwise get rid of something.  Example: “Eighty-six those steaks, they smell like a dogs backside“.

Entremetier – A combination of the veg and starch stations into one, this station is responsible for all non-meat dishes including soups.

Executive Chef – The person in charge of creating and developing menu items.  This position varies widely from place to place.  At small restaurants the executive chef can also help with food preparation, but at high end or very large food establishments, often has very little to do with the actual plates.  At a small restaurant, the chef is usually found running the pass during service and planning, ordering and scheduling at other times.  At hotels with more than one food outlet, the execuative is in charge of the sous chefs who each run one aspect of the food business.  The Executive chef is often a public face that the hotel can promote, who can impart a vision onto menus.  Much like a CEO of a large company, the exec at a hotel is too busy to directaly oversee production, but is usually aware of everything that is going on, what orders are placed, large functions coming up, menu and staffing changes.

Fuck the dog – to look busy without actually accomplishing anything.  Example usage, “Jeremy, stop fucking the dog and do something useful.  If you have time to lean, you have time to clean“.

Garde manger – Also known as GM or Cold Kitchen.  This station is responsible for cold appetizers, and in some cases hot appetizers as well.  Salads, soups and cold terrines and pates are generally made on this station.

Garnish - Items on a dish other than the main protein or other component.  On a steak dish the garnish may be mushrooms, parsley, or some other component designed to increase visual appeal.  Most chefs feel that the garnish should always be edible, and complement the flavour of the dish whenever possible.  Others like to stick a whole sprig of rosemary on the plate, which is of course, technically edible, but not enjoyable in the least.

Go Down – To fail impressively at whatever you’re doing.  For example a station on the line may go down if the cook mixes up his chits and gets too far behind, panics, and starts making dishes at random.

Hotel Pan – The main unit of food storage in a professional kitchen, a hotel pan is a long flat bottomed pan of a standard 12″x20″ size, generally made of stainless steel.  Hotel pans come in 1″, 2″, 4″, and 6″ depths.  The depth is sometimes referred to as 100, 200, 400, and 600 respectively.  These pans are designed to hold smaller sub-inserts: 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, and 1/9.  Hotel pans are used to hold food on the line and between services, hold food in warming boxes, cook food, and serve food on buffet lines.

4 Inch Hotel Pan

Insert - An insert is a plastic or metal container designed to fit inside a hotel pan.  Inserts come in 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6 and 1/9 divisions of inserts referring to what fraction of a whole insert they are.

In The Weeds – To be so lost in whatever you’re doing, that you can’t see a way out.  As if you’re stuck in a patch of weeds.

In The Shit – To be lost in whatever you’re doing, probably more so than being in the weeds.  Think of ‘the shit’ like the Vietnam war.  You’re there, you’re stuck there, and hopeless.  Now you understand.  Get someone to jump on whatever you’re doing and bail you out before you go down.

Jack stack - A jack stack is a rack on wheels designed to hold dozens of plated dishes.  You won’t find jack stacks in many kitchens, as they are used to hold and transport large amounts of plated food a short distance.   See this retro image:

Jump On – verb.  To briefly join someone on a station during a rush.

Mise - Pronounced “me-z”.  Short for Mise-en-place, the term for your prepared items needed for making a dish e.g. the mise for a burger is the patty, bun, the condiments and cut and prepared toppings.  Mise is ready for cooking and assembly.  In a kitchen setting, taking or sometimes even touching someones mise is going to at best get you yelled at and at worst result in retribution.

On a Rail – As fast as possible.

On the Fly – To request something immediately. See On a Rail.

PBO - PBO is an abbreviation for Pin Bone Out.  This term is found on packaged fish, most commonly processed salmon, specifying that the pin bones have been removed.

Pick Up – Orders for multiple courses are often placed at the same time to speed up delivery of a later course, especially with a set or table d’hote menu.  The entree order will come into the hot line at the same time as the appetizer, and will be printed on the same chit.  When the diners are ready for their next course, the server will then punch into the computer “pick up course 2 table #5″, for example, which will print out on the hot line letting them know to finish the tables order.

Queen Mary – A Queen Mary is an absurdly large, metal shelf on wheels named after the RMS Queen Mary, an absurdly large ocean liner -  not on wheels.  Most Queen Marys are not as nice as this one, and you’ll find they mostly never have properly functioning wheels.  Have fun moving it.

Re-fire – If a dish has been unsatisfactorily received by the customer, and returned to the kitchen to be replaced, the chef will order a re-fire. When this happens it automatically goes at the top of the priority list for the cooks to have done first.

Running the pass – being in charge of quality control and calling out orders, usually done by the highest ranked person in the kitchen at the time, though it may be delegated out.  When a bill comes in whoever is running the pass will read it out to the line cooks, who will then begin to cook.  They will then present the food to be plated by the chef running the pass or present the finished plate for them to inspect before it is handed off to the server.

Sauce Station – Depending on the size of the operation, the saucier can be responsible for many things.  Stocks and sauces are made on this station, and depending on the set-up of the restaurant, butchery may be done here too.

Sheet Pan – A cookie sheet, or baking tray.  In a professional kitchen, you’ll find sheet pans come in two standard sizes 18″x26″ for a full size, and 18″x13″ for a half size.  These dimensions are designed to fit in common equipment such as ovens and the salamander.

Slammed - You have too many orders on the go, or too many bills up to feel like you’re making a dent in them.  When you can see the kitchen is getting slammed, it’s a bad time to order off-menu, make too many mods to your order, or order something and when it arrives realize that it has something you dont like on it and send it back.

Stations - A station is a division of labor that is responsible for one aspect of a meal.  These include but are not limited to sauce, starch, veg, pastry, garde manger and grill.  Most of the time one person works on one station at a time, unless there is too much work to go around in which case another person will be assigned.

Starch Station – The station responsible for preparation and cooking of the starch components of dishes.  This station is usually in charge of making fresh pastas, cooking potatoes and rices including making risottos.

The pass -  The window between the kitchen and the dining room on which finished plated are placed to be picked up by servers and delivered to the table.

Vegetable Station – the station responsible for preparing and cooking the vegetables for the entree.

Whiteout - When there are so many bills on the clip strip that there it forms a solid line of white with no gaps.  This is a bad thing and a sign that you’re getting slammed.