[Sca-cooks] Very carefully not panicking...

[Gorgeous Muiredach]

>comfy shoes

I'd define comfy shoes as shoes that are hard soled and will hold one's
ankle safely.  I have found that as comfortable as they are, running shoes
of all ilks are probably the worst thing.  At the end of a 14, 15 hour day,
your ankle are swollen, your feet are sore, and your lower back is likely
to kill you.

There's a reason so many chefs and surgeon vote for (closed heel) clogs
:-)  Make sure they have a non-skid sole if you go that way.

>comfy clothes

Comfy, yet not baggy.  Dangerous to have baggy clothes in the
kitchen.  ALso, avoid like the plague any synthetics.

>an apron

Or three.  Your apron is what you get dirty and wet and all.  Change it
regularly.

> > A word of advice.  You are the HEAD cook.  The others are working under
> you.
> > Take time to sit.  Do not keep working and standing all day.

As the head honcho, one of the things I had the hardest time with was to
learn to delegate...  Once you learn that, and learn that it's ok to let
the help take some guided initiative, then you have half the job done :-)

Someone mentionned that the cooks don't do scullery....   Well, in a well
organized place, that's true.  But you have to be ready and willing to do
it, if only to set the example.  I have never asked anyone in my kitchens
to do somethign I wouldn't be ready to do myself.  Basic show of respect, I
think.

Gorgeous Muiredach the Odd
Clan of Odds
Shire of Forth Castle
Meridies
mka
Nicolas Steenhout
"You must deal with me as I think of myself" J. Hockenberry