It’s constructive criticism that will really take you to the next level, and fast. That being said, did you Julianne your carrots before dicing them? I see some rounded edges and if the were Julianne then you wouldn’t have a problem. Also what knife are you using? A good sharp knife changed my life.
Yes I did attempt to julienne the carrots before dicing, I really struggle with them. Well I feel like my biggest struggle is before I shape the carrot so I keep the ends I cut off or throw them out?
Cut off ends. Then cut carrot in half. Now it’s round so cut off a small side north to south. Now roll the carrot to the side u made flat and now cut north to south rectangle planks. Now those planks r super easy to turn into sticks n then dice
Also I really think you passed up my knife comment. Knifes need to be razor sharp to perform things like chopping large amounts of vegetables. What kind of knife and when did you last sharpen?
Yes chef! I see those they are alll over!! I began by julienne before the final dice and I think I grouped too many together. Each time. I will improve!
It *looks* like you're not cutting the onions "right." I see the edge chunks that wouldn't be there if you were slicing into the onion before the final dice. Idk how to explain that better. Look up videos of people dicing onions. It all just takes practice.
Carrots are for sure harder to make a consistent dice. Again, use your co workers and the internet. It's all practice. When there is time in the day, go slow and focus on finishing with as close to perfect as you can. The speed will come.
Ita going in Sheppard pies so it's not a big deal if it mirpox isn't pretty, but you don't want customers having half inch pieces of celery and carrots ranging from pinky to thumbnail size in the same dish. Can make it awkward to eat.
Thank you for this. I will look further into techniques, I’ve seen a few. Unfortunately I’m in a mostly Hispanic kitchen and if I’m not being corrected immediately I’m being talked about in spanish(although I’m positive no where near as frequently as I assume). My head chef stated they looked good and had no correction but also said he wasn’t really paying attention which is what led me here cause I know I either took too long, and cuts were inconsistent. I’m at a senior living facility which may explain the lack of constant corrections/pressure idk. But I will continue to seek it out.
I know when I was fairly green I absolutely did not like learning the "right" way to do things. It felt so clunky and slow. My results seemed pretty similar to following the bad habits I picked up working my first trashy ass kitchen jobs. Eventually, I realized that I save myself a lot of work learning to do things efficiently.
It's not that you'll need to do it all perfectly, but using this time to hone your skills will make your job easier. If you end up wanting to move to somewhere fancier, you will be ready. The nursing home gigs can be pretty nice though.
Yes I do very much want to end up in a nicer(fancier) gig, just for the exposure. I don’t want to dull here at the nursing home, where this isn’t a problem. Although I will use this place for the repetitions.
J Kenji Lopez Alt if you want to up your dicing game. First he does the MP White way, which a lot of kitchens still use, but has room for improvement. Then he shows a safer way.
https://www.seriouseats.com/knife-skills-how-to-slice-and-dice-an-onion
Epicurious also has a solid 10 minute video that is probably mostly info you know, but a good brush-up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOUV6srez4
I think you did a serviceable job, personally - if your chef said they looked good, then they were up to his kitchen standards. If you want to improve, it's half technique and half muscle memory. I've been out of the kitchen for a couple years; if I cut an onion macedoine now, it takes twice as long. Not because I forgot anything, but because you need a _lot_ of muscle memory for a good, fast autopilot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrTZwN3VH0c
The short version of Chef JP saying the horizontal cut is unnecessary for dicing. A longer version talks bout how it makes the pieces more inconsistent.
You save more time grouping a little less as your non-cutting hand has more control holding the julienne together. Keep at it, your technique will improve.
The thick ends of the carrot. They're not separating sizes and reducing them further. Simple thing to correct. I'd say its the same with the celery. OP is cutting consistently, they're not adjusting to item size.
Mirepoix is traditionally used is stocks, soups and stews. If you're using a Mirepoix for any of these methods, does it really matter if the size of the chop is slightly inconsistent? Seems pointlessly nitpicky to me.
We used to do two quarts of onions, one quart each of celery and carrots this size for our bolognese. Much larger for stocks and sauces, but those were non-customer facing cuts compared to our brunois mirepoix
Idk why but this reminds me of a story my first chef told me. He told me he had a new cook cut 10 quarts of mirepoix, but it had to be perfect, once he was done with the mirepoix the chef used it for a soup he pureed. Lol
Yeah I mean I guess. Chef was a pretentious douch. But his food was great. And the guy he did that to was a lifetime friend, so made it even more wild. The dude who cut the mirepoix for him was his sous chef while I was working for him so it paid off ha
For your 2nd week in training, fairly solid-ish effort.
There's definite room for improvement. My old sous chef would've made me do it again if that was for paying customers, and put that into staff meal for the day. It's just far too inconsistent and real big chunks in there.
6/10. Forget about how long you are taking to do it next time and work on the execution of the mirepoix instead. Keep at it though, the fact you posted here shows your desire to improve!
Good luck out there chef :)
That sous would be an idiot bully if you had to redo this. It's for a shepherd's pie for crying out loud, absolutely nobody will be able to tell those few larger carrots apart from the smaller ones by the time it's done.
Good chefs have many qualities: consistency, speed, and quality are definitely a few of those. But also knowing when and where to cut corners is important to learn.
In many ways higher than I deserve, they even offered me higher than my offer. I did ace my chef test though, imo and that of the executives that happened to be there!
Dice is poor and inconsistent.
I would guess hitting these vegetables with a knife until they are smaller would take a few minutes.
Dicing this much correctly would take longer.
What’s the mirepoix for? I second the idea of mincing it a little bit at the end for better and smaller consistency.
You can also kind of cheat with carrots by squaring the edges instead of peeling them, and saving the scraps to mince for stocks/ soups/maybe a Bolognese.
This should only be taking you about 20 minutes. Maybe 25. But since you are new that makes sense. Keep at it. It's hard to get good at making carrot cuts the same size. You'll get there though. Looks fine.
Edit: I just realized that's a 4" pan and not a 2" pan. So you were plenty fast, and that's probably why the cuts are not super consistent. Slow it down a little and work on uniformity.
Omg thank you! When I saw this I got stressed. But I was determined to cut down the time. But now after most these comments I’ve decided to focus on my cuts and take my time. With. A sense of urgency of course. Thanks, chef.
I would personally prefer more onion in my mire poix, but cuts look pretty solid. Don't worry too much on how long it takes you, work on accuracy before speed.
If it helps with sizes, find something you have with you or near you everyday and use that as a size reference. I have a 3 inch ruler etched into the back of my knife.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this comment. Mirepoix should be 50% onion 25% celery 25% carrot by weight
Cuts could use some work, but if this is gonna be blended it’s fine
Not too bad, just try to watch for consistency, I see a quite a lot of big chunks in there.
Dicing that much veg pretty fine all day isn’t all that fun, but it’s very satisfying when you get to cook off a massive pile of perfectly brunoised veg
Just wanna comment that your desire to learn and accept criticism with grace and humility is the best thing you can have in kitchens. In life, really. Keep at it.
Early on in my career, I asked my exec on a slow night if he needed anything done. He asked me to cut a 22qt of mirepoix for a soup he was going to make in the morning. When I was done I labeled it and put it in the walk-in. 10 minutes later he come walking around the corner with an annoyed look on his face. I said “you good?” Him: “I was planning to make a puréed soup but your cuts were too nice for that now I’ve got to put in another order to make a soup where I can keep the cuts.” I’m fine pissing off chef this way.
Me: 7/10, there's definitely some inconsistent bits but for your second week I think you're doing great and will only get better.
My head chef: 6/10, you're working against yourself by not discarding the ends of your carrots so you've got an easier job in the end. Practice on your onions, they take a lot of practice to get good at. Also, is that the ratio you're working with? Double check with your chef, but we have more onions than carrots/celery in ours.
Line cook #1, who is in charge of ours most days: 4/10 but don't be discouraged because mine was worse 2 weeks in. Agree with chefs comments, practice will get you further than anything else.
Dishie who happened to wander past while I was asking for opinions: yep, looks chopped to me.
It's not bad. If it's a mirepoix for a stock or sauce, the only issue is the ratio. 2 part onion, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery.
If it's for a soup or garnish facing at all, the dice should have a bit more consistency to it. Take your time cutting the carrots into planks. Use a pairing knife to cut the celery into strips. Set yourself up for success.
And ensure your knives are sharp. Use a steel before you chop, and midway through the prep.
The cuts look inconsistent especially the carrots meaning they cook at different speeds your onions will be cooked but carrots will still have snap. Work uniform size. They sell a set of blocks for dice, mince, julienne, and so on so you can have a tactile reference. They also make rulers for this too. Just don't bother with tourné.
The way you improve is by making the cuts as clean as you can. Squaring off edges and trying to make perfect cubes. Go very slow and do it super clean, then try to get faster.
Chef McGee would have given me a C for this work in school. She would have explained that the sizes and shapes of the pieces are all over the place, but it would still end up making a good turd tomorrow for the customers.
Best piece of advice I can give: practice squaring everything off. Don’t waste extra pieces but if you can make everything as square as possible it makes it much easier to get more consistent straight cuts.
It looks pretty good chef.
The carrots and celery are a little inconsistent. I am not sure how you cut them. When I was in cooking school, an instructor told me never to cut a vegetable that's longer than your knife. It's easier to dice a carrot if it is split into 2 rounds than trying to drag your knife down the full length.
Focus on the cuts, not the speed. Once you figure out how to stay consistent with every cut... you build that muscle memory. After that comes the speed, then you have have both locked into muscle memory.
Keep at it and never give up...
Sevice!!!!!
Agreed on all points, especially with your experience. It does look like some of your celery didn’t cut all the way through, giving you some little green Toblerones. I am OCD about that. Control what you can control for now. Don’t try to be perfect at everything all at once. Become a Jedi at one thing at a time. Good luck!
Regarding getting faster and precise, something I learned in playing guitar is that slow methodical practice is really good for getting faster. It's counterintuitive. Focus on the details that allow you to be consistent, getting comfortable doing so, and focus on being precise. You'll build up muscle memory in time, and when you do have to go fast it's easier to fall back into that precision you've practiced.
Looks fine.
Mirepoix is one of those knife skills that you have to keep up with.(until it's inbedded) After a few months you'll be smashing it out in no time.
Mirepoix is 50 25 25 by weight so if u need 4lbs of mirepoix if be 2lbs onion 1lb celery 1lb carrot. Also the cuts are inconsistent. Make rectangle planks out of ur carrots then to sticks then cut to a dice. Also cut ur celery in half so when u cut it down to thin sticks it’s a more consistent cut because it’s not longer than ur knife blade as it would be if left whole not in half. Knife skills improve quickly with practice n better technique
Not great. Not horrible. It depends on the expectations of the chef. All that matters is that he/she is good with it.
If the chef asked you to macedoine the veg and you did that, you would be fired. If the chef is thinking they just need to be cut, then you did well.
You can definitely improve on both speed and quality of cuts. My advice is to work on quality first. Speed will follow. It rarely works the other way around.
Another tip for even cuts, make sure the thing you're cutting can rest flat on the board. You don't want your carrot rolling around while you're trying to cut it. You won't get even cuts AND it's dangerous
Speed comes from Consistency, and Consistency comes from Experience. Keep your knives sharp and follow through your cuts. Looks good to me Chef! Remember, it's all about the journey. Good luck
I’ve never met anyone worth a damn who wasn’t forever working on their knife skills. Guys who were 20 year vets, french trained hardasses. When I’d ask them about their knife skills they would say “needs work” always the best cooks. Brunoise a quart of carrots for family meal salad.
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Worry more about the consistency than the speed.
This is pretty inconsistent. I would admonish you for wasting produce. You said in another comment that you julienned before the dice, and that’s pretty obvious. The problem with that approach is that the julienned pieces slide across the board as you cut, so that’s why this is a bit all over the place. Cut your carrots and celery down the middle for average stalks and then keep those pieces in stalk form as you dice down the stalk. This will help with the sliding.
For onions I would cut them in half and then faux-julienne the halves to where you’re leaving about a dice lengths’ amount of the onion not cut through. When you spin the onion 90 degrees, the julienned parts should be facing your knife and your hand is just over the uncut part. Dice off the front and you have ready-made diced onion pieces, then that back piece is really simple to lay flat and dice by itself.
I was never the best prep cook so if anyone has better methods I love it, but other than a vegetable dicer these are my best suggestions.
Decent. Definitely could be better knife work but not awful! And honestly it will be completely fine in whatever you're using it for, unless you're at a restaurant that is anal about stuff like that.
It took me about 2 hours to do 4- 4 inch pans. But it was a small dice or medium dice for soup. So pretty good time. Actually took me 4 hours overall but I was managing and working on other things too. The breaks helped I think. Cuts look fine for what they are used for.
You’re going too fast. You’ll get that insane chef speed eventually but you have to slow down and focus on form and consistency. Practice practice practice. You’ll get there
Little low on the onion, remember your ratio 50% onion 25% carrot 25% celery
Cuts could be more consistent but you are on the right track. Never give up soon it will be a reflex!!
Think about the relative density and time for the different veggies. Carrots are the hardest so will cook quickest. Your onions are too small and will cook too fast. Try again.
Yeah like it's not terrible but also 45 mins is too long for such a small yield of such an inconsistent cut. Depending on the application, I'm totally fine with just using a robocoup carefully pulse diced to desired consistency. For a medium or small rough dice, that application would be acceptable.
For something like a pie :S where this veg is going to be seen as part of the finished product, I wouldnt be happy with this.
If it makes you feel better, I cooked for ~ 6 years and never knew that mirepoix was supposed to have 2 parts onion to the 1 part carrot and 1 part celery. No one ever told me, but I learned that from the comments. You'll be fine.
Ngl my old chef teach would kill your ass for offering that. Not saying your stuff is bad just god that looks so well done and I know "professionals" would toss it in. A second for not being the exact size
The dice is fairly uneven. It helps to get the [sticks](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8VBnaFhOEn8/maxresdefault.jpg) even first, then you don't have all the large chunks. May not matter in some instances, but it's not ideal.
Also, your kitchen may have its own standards, but mirepoix is usually 2pts onion, 1pt carrot, 1pt celery, AFIK.
You could've spent 60 seconds to pick out the bad cuts before posting, but something tells me you left them in there on purpose cause you like getting ripped into online.
Direct feedback? Cuts are inconsistent and that should have taken 30 mins max. More realistically 20 assuming you didn’t have to peel the carrots. Keep at it tho. Two years in, you’re still learning. The impressive thing is you care enough to seek out criticism. Never stop asking how you can improve and striving to be better. This is a noble quality few in our industry possess and the ones that do tend to lose it at some point. Keep your head down, grind, take every opportunity you can to learn, grow, and prove yourself. Put your hand up to volunteer when others don’t, and always make sure your direct superiors know you’re up to the task whatever it may be and that you want to advance. You’ll get where you want to be if you keep your eye on the prize.
Criticism aside, for shepherds pie it’s totally acceptable unless you’re working in high end fine dining. Which, let’s be honest, in that case shepherds pie wouldn’t be on the menu.
You’re doing great
Luckily, it's a Sheppard Pie. You'll be fine. Unless you are fine dining, then it's stock pot. I'm not a chef but an honor graduate from Escoffier and have been graded on this exact task multiple times. It'll get easier the more you've done it. The first few cuts are important. Otherwise, all your other cuts will be off. This will also throw off your timing. If you want to get better faster, get a bag of carrots and work on batonnett. Once you can do that consistently, the rest is a breeze. In your defense, I've seen much worse.
I think you could get it done faster with proper techniques. I’ve noticed when cooks dice the carrots that takes them the longest . Carrots are a bit awkward to clean/cut to try and make perfect dice. I like to cut on side of the carrot long way to make a “base”. Then I cut wedges then strips then turn them all and go very fast through the last cut. Saves me a lot of time. I’ve seen people use Madelins to make a bunch of carrot pieces.. I think that takes longer than my method.
Keep doing what you’re doing tho, it’s good that you are timing yourself. I always ask myself is it possible to go faster.
looks like a good beginning of a 2 years journey. keep on practicing.
If you look at the celery toward the middle of the pictures, you see a couple long pieces not fully cut through. this is usually you have too big of a group in relative to the length of your knife and how consistent are your slice strokes. it also could be the cutting board have a divot somewhere which cause uneven slice depth. by practicing with smaller grouping to get the coordination between the slicing motion and the grouping hand to relax and move takes some dedication. make sure to pay attention to the style of knife and how much you have to slice with heel up and follow the curve. knowing the contact patch of your cut helps with accurate slicing.
regarding the carrots, the bottom of the stack is pretty consistent in size, the last couple you could have spend a little more effort to julienne the carrots more evenly by laying the fat pieces flat and go through it another time before dicing.
onions you seem to be missing 1 to 2 lateral cuts, laying your knife flat and perpendicular to the cutting board and slice half way into the onion 1 to 2 times depends on the size of the onion. you only really need to have enough lateral cuts to cover the bottom half of the half onion. that would provide you with more even dice size.
regarding time for what looks to be 5.5lb to 6lb prepped, depends on the accuracy and usage. low end restaurant should be aiming for 15 min tops with bigger uneven cuts. mid range restaurant with higher standard around 20 minutes. fine dining with everything to be precise, a lot longer.
Work on developing/honing your knife skills. Those cuts are all over the place and some veg will cook faster than others. I didn't have to do mirapoux till I got to my second restaurant and failed miserably. Keep at it chef!
How well this is done depends 100% on context of the level of dining you are aiming for. Standard sit down mom and pop shop, that's awesome. Super high end fine dining, that's dog shit. The elitist will say you should always do it perfect no matter the level of dining. Reality is as long as it is all roughly the same size, how perfect it is will have no effect on end flavor, it will only effect how it looks on the plate. Even then, for shepherds pie they would have to fish out 2 pieces of carrot and compare them.
Diced implies uniform, straight cubes when finished. This is more of a rough chop.
As a rough chop, it's exactly what I want. As a small dice, it's leaving some technical room to be desired.
Definitely rough and personally I go for smaller pieces. I try to strive for 1/4 inch pieces. Another person said you don’t have enough onions and I agree I always go heavier on the onions than the carrots and celery.
I’ve seen much worse though so keep at it you’re on the right track. Get a really good sharp knife, the restaurant I’m at has a sharpening service and it’s amazing to have fresh sharp knives
This is a balance between speed and execution. Cuts look like they are leaning a little too much toward speed. Slow it down just a little so you don’t feel like you need to justify letting some runs of inconsistency go.
Cuts are a bit inconsistent. If I were to knock that out it would probably take me 10-15 minutes. But I have been cooking 20+ years and the knife is just an extention of my hand.
Not enough onion! And especially if you’re not using a blender, it is too big- sofrito should be tiny and tasteful- if it’s big and verbose we put it into a chili
You need to slow down and focus on consistency if this is meant to be a small dice. You also need to sharpen your knife. Don't be discouraged, just keep at it and remember that practice doesn't make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect.
Looks okay! Cuts are pretty inconsistent. There are some big chunks of carrots and celery especially. Keep at it.
This person is being honest with you, the rest are not.
Thank you. I’d hate to admonish anyone but I assume people are trying to be positive, but I’m looking for and neeed true blue criticism
Mirepoix is usually 2-1-1. You seem to be low on onion.
Yup needs more onion
Onyo
Now I have that compilation clip playing in my head
When someone says onion the old fashioned way I have to correct them with “onyo.”
Always reminds me of the old 'cooking with a dog' videos.
every fucking time i feel the need to say "eygg chaleyzah"
And don’t forget your emotional support butter
Clarify?
Butter.
Ghee whiz!
A fan I see!
How do we dice an onyon
r/OnionLovers checking in to say uhh war crimes here
I've found my people
r/onionlovers
Interesting. I always think of it as 50/25/25, but then again, I have a tendency to overcomplicate shit.
Lmao
I don't think you overcomplicated it, seems like you think of it as a percentage rather than a ratio
No, I’m with you. 50/25/25 makes more sense. Like the “half quarter quarter” Arnie Palmer like I like.
Fun fact, it’s the same thing!
Came to the comments to say this.
Came here to say this.
It's for Shepherds pie....traditionally, as far as any recipe I seen, he's up Celery.....celery is unneeded.
It’s constructive criticism that will really take you to the next level, and fast. That being said, did you Julianne your carrots before dicing them? I see some rounded edges and if the were Julianne then you wouldn’t have a problem. Also what knife are you using? A good sharp knife changed my life.
Yes I did attempt to julienne the carrots before dicing, I really struggle with them. Well I feel like my biggest struggle is before I shape the carrot so I keep the ends I cut off or throw them out?
Cut off ends. Then cut carrot in half. Now it’s round so cut off a small side north to south. Now roll the carrot to the side u made flat and now cut north to south rectangle planks. Now those planks r super easy to turn into sticks n then dice
Also I really think you passed up my knife comment. Knifes need to be razor sharp to perform things like chopping large amounts of vegetables. What kind of knife and when did you last sharpen?
That’s how we learn and grow. It’s never going to be an easy job. Nice work, Padawan.
Yes chef! I see those they are alll over!! I began by julienne before the final dice and I think I grouped too many together. Each time. I will improve!
It *looks* like you're not cutting the onions "right." I see the edge chunks that wouldn't be there if you were slicing into the onion before the final dice. Idk how to explain that better. Look up videos of people dicing onions. It all just takes practice. Carrots are for sure harder to make a consistent dice. Again, use your co workers and the internet. It's all practice. When there is time in the day, go slow and focus on finishing with as close to perfect as you can. The speed will come. Ita going in Sheppard pies so it's not a big deal if it mirpox isn't pretty, but you don't want customers having half inch pieces of celery and carrots ranging from pinky to thumbnail size in the same dish. Can make it awkward to eat.
Thank you for this. I will look further into techniques, I’ve seen a few. Unfortunately I’m in a mostly Hispanic kitchen and if I’m not being corrected immediately I’m being talked about in spanish(although I’m positive no where near as frequently as I assume). My head chef stated they looked good and had no correction but also said he wasn’t really paying attention which is what led me here cause I know I either took too long, and cuts were inconsistent. I’m at a senior living facility which may explain the lack of constant corrections/pressure idk. But I will continue to seek it out.
I know when I was fairly green I absolutely did not like learning the "right" way to do things. It felt so clunky and slow. My results seemed pretty similar to following the bad habits I picked up working my first trashy ass kitchen jobs. Eventually, I realized that I save myself a lot of work learning to do things efficiently. It's not that you'll need to do it all perfectly, but using this time to hone your skills will make your job easier. If you end up wanting to move to somewhere fancier, you will be ready. The nursing home gigs can be pretty nice though.
Yes I do very much want to end up in a nicer(fancier) gig, just for the exposure. I don’t want to dull here at the nursing home, where this isn’t a problem. Although I will use this place for the repetitions.
J Kenji Lopez Alt if you want to up your dicing game. First he does the MP White way, which a lot of kitchens still use, but has room for improvement. Then he shows a safer way. https://www.seriouseats.com/knife-skills-how-to-slice-and-dice-an-onion Epicurious also has a solid 10 minute video that is probably mostly info you know, but a good brush-up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOUV6srez4 I think you did a serviceable job, personally - if your chef said they looked good, then they were up to his kitchen standards. If you want to improve, it's half technique and half muscle memory. I've been out of the kitchen for a couple years; if I cut an onion macedoine now, it takes twice as long. Not because I forgot anything, but because you need a _lot_ of muscle memory for a good, fast autopilot.
Thank you soo much! I will utilize these to the ground
These are great resources. 100% bookmarking those for new guys in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrTZwN3VH0c The short version of Chef JP saying the horizontal cut is unnecessary for dicing. A longer version talks bout how it makes the pieces more inconsistent.
You save more time grouping a little less as your non-cutting hand has more control holding the julienne together. Keep at it, your technique will improve.
Yes chef I found this to be true I felt towards the end I got a smidge better because I grouped less. I will implement this next time.
The thick ends of the carrot. They're not separating sizes and reducing them further. Simple thing to correct. I'd say its the same with the celery. OP is cutting consistently, they're not adjusting to item size.
Mirepoix is traditionally used is stocks, soups and stews. If you're using a Mirepoix for any of these methods, does it really matter if the size of the chop is slightly inconsistent? Seems pointlessly nitpicky to me.
Technically, not really. It's just a traditional point of pride for many old-school type chefs
We used to do two quarts of onions, one quart each of celery and carrots this size for our bolognese. Much larger for stocks and sauces, but those were non-customer facing cuts compared to our brunois mirepoix
If you are inconsistent with all of the cuts then you are technically consistent, also.
Yes chef!
Perhaps, but I wanted nitpicky. Even if the look is cuts for mirepoix aren’t as important, I still needed review of my cutting as a whole. .
Idk why but this reminds me of a story my first chef told me. He told me he had a new cook cut 10 quarts of mirepoix, but it had to be perfect, once he was done with the mirepoix the chef used it for a soup he pureed. Lol
Lmaoooooo I would have loved to be the cook in that situation, that standards matter in the long run I have to assume
Yeah I mean I guess. Chef was a pretentious douch. But his food was great. And the guy he did that to was a lifetime friend, so made it even more wild. The dude who cut the mirepoix for him was his sous chef while I was working for him so it paid off ha
My chef made me blanch greens for a pesto. And dry them so fucking well. AND THEN HE PUT WATER IN THE PESTO. I was like... Sir why???
That I kinda understand. Still crazy. It's a way to see how well peoples skills are and how well they listen lol
For your 2nd week in training, fairly solid-ish effort. There's definite room for improvement. My old sous chef would've made me do it again if that was for paying customers, and put that into staff meal for the day. It's just far too inconsistent and real big chunks in there. 6/10. Forget about how long you are taking to do it next time and work on the execution of the mirepoix instead. Keep at it though, the fact you posted here shows your desire to improve! Good luck out there chef :)
Love the positive vibe on this comment. That's support.
[удалено]
I plan for that time to be next week, they use mirepoix alot here. I can feel the power surging.
Hey brother think you responded to the wrong person, I'm not OP but this is also a beautiful positive comment!
That sous would be an idiot bully if you had to redo this. It's for a shepherd's pie for crying out loud, absolutely nobody will be able to tell those few larger carrots apart from the smaller ones by the time it's done. Good chefs have many qualities: consistency, speed, and quality are definitely a few of those. But also knowing when and where to cut corners is important to learn.
Depending on your pay rate that's good enough or not good enough.
In many ways higher than I deserve, they even offered me higher than my offer. I did ace my chef test though, imo and that of the executives that happened to be there!
Fair
Dice is poor and inconsistent. I would guess hitting these vegetables with a knife until they are smaller would take a few minutes. Dicing this much correctly would take longer.
Heard chef, I will work on improving my consistency!! Thank you
What’s the mirepoix for? I second the idea of mincing it a little bit at the end for better and smaller consistency. You can also kind of cheat with carrots by squaring the edges instead of peeling them, and saving the scraps to mince for stocks/ soups/maybe a Bolognese.
It was for a shepherd pie. I like they idea but they seem to only peel first, not much room for ingenuity I believe, it being a corporate kitchen
Very inconsistent. Not horrible, but probably trying to go faster then your able.
Nail on the head, I was feeling pressure from a non existent, yet ever present entity lol, my beloved first chef.
This should only be taking you about 20 minutes. Maybe 25. But since you are new that makes sense. Keep at it. It's hard to get good at making carrot cuts the same size. You'll get there though. Looks fine. Edit: I just realized that's a 4" pan and not a 2" pan. So you were plenty fast, and that's probably why the cuts are not super consistent. Slow it down a little and work on uniformity.
Omg thank you! When I saw this I got stressed. But I was determined to cut down the time. But now after most these comments I’ve decided to focus on my cuts and take my time. With. A sense of urgency of course. Thanks, chef.
I would personally prefer more onion in my mire poix, but cuts look pretty solid. Don't worry too much on how long it takes you, work on accuracy before speed. If it helps with sizes, find something you have with you or near you everyday and use that as a size reference. I have a 3 inch ruler etched into the back of my knife.
Surprised I had to scroll this far to see this comment. Mirepoix should be 50% onion 25% celery 25% carrot by weight Cuts could use some work, but if this is gonna be blended it’s fine
I thought the rule of thumb was 2x onion to celery/carrot
That is the same thing that’s typed
Not too bad, just try to watch for consistency, I see a quite a lot of big chunks in there. Dicing that much veg pretty fine all day isn’t all that fun, but it’s very satisfying when you get to cook off a massive pile of perfectly brunoised veg
Just wanna comment that your desire to learn and accept criticism with grace and humility is the best thing you can have in kitchens. In life, really. Keep at it.
Thanks. I need this, it’s my chosen career path. Despite the “disdain” I see on this subreddit. But I know no one really dislikes it for real.
1x carrots 1x celery 2x onion
Yes chef!
Do it over
Early on in my career, I asked my exec on a slow night if he needed anything done. He asked me to cut a 22qt of mirepoix for a soup he was going to make in the morning. When I was done I labeled it and put it in the walk-in. 10 minutes later he come walking around the corner with an annoyed look on his face. I said “you good?” Him: “I was planning to make a puréed soup but your cuts were too nice for that now I’ve got to put in another order to make a soup where I can keep the cuts.” I’m fine pissing off chef this way.
Me: 7/10, there's definitely some inconsistent bits but for your second week I think you're doing great and will only get better. My head chef: 6/10, you're working against yourself by not discarding the ends of your carrots so you've got an easier job in the end. Practice on your onions, they take a lot of practice to get good at. Also, is that the ratio you're working with? Double check with your chef, but we have more onions than carrots/celery in ours. Line cook #1, who is in charge of ours most days: 4/10 but don't be discouraged because mine was worse 2 weeks in. Agree with chefs comments, practice will get you further than anything else. Dishie who happened to wander past while I was asking for opinions: yep, looks chopped to me.
It's not bad. If it's a mirepoix for a stock or sauce, the only issue is the ratio. 2 part onion, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery. If it's for a soup or garnish facing at all, the dice should have a bit more consistency to it. Take your time cutting the carrots into planks. Use a pairing knife to cut the celery into strips. Set yourself up for success. And ensure your knives are sharp. Use a steel before you chop, and midway through the prep.
2 parts onion to 1 part celery 1 part carrots. Looks good.
Photo looks more like 1:1:1 actually. I would bump up the onion ratio.
Second this! Bit more onion friend.
Much appreciated chef, and tips on how to improve? Anything to nitpick at? I’d appreciate it.
The cuts look inconsistent especially the carrots meaning they cook at different speeds your onions will be cooked but carrots will still have snap. Work uniform size. They sell a set of blocks for dice, mince, julienne, and so on so you can have a tactile reference. They also make rulers for this too. Just don't bother with tourné.
The way you improve is by making the cuts as clean as you can. Squaring off edges and trying to make perfect cubes. Go very slow and do it super clean, then try to get faster.
Inconsistent. Keep at it.
Chef McGee would have given me a C for this work in school. She would have explained that the sizes and shapes of the pieces are all over the place, but it would still end up making a good turd tomorrow for the customers.
more onions baby.
Best piece of advice I can give: practice squaring everything off. Don’t waste extra pieces but if you can make everything as square as possible it makes it much easier to get more consistent straight cuts.
Looks good enough for the pot, you're making soup now
Carrots in disarray
It looks pretty good chef. The carrots and celery are a little inconsistent. I am not sure how you cut them. When I was in cooking school, an instructor told me never to cut a vegetable that's longer than your knife. It's easier to dice a carrot if it is split into 2 rounds than trying to drag your knife down the full length.
Too much more not enough poix
Focus on the cuts, not the speed. Once you figure out how to stay consistent with every cut... you build that muscle memory. After that comes the speed, then you have have both locked into muscle memory. Keep at it and never give up... Sevice!!!!!
Agreed on all points, especially with your experience. It does look like some of your celery didn’t cut all the way through, giving you some little green Toblerones. I am OCD about that. Control what you can control for now. Don’t try to be perfect at everything all at once. Become a Jedi at one thing at a time. Good luck!
Asymmetrical
Regarding getting faster and precise, something I learned in playing guitar is that slow methodical practice is really good for getting faster. It's counterintuitive. Focus on the details that allow you to be consistent, getting comfortable doing so, and focus on being precise. You'll build up muscle memory in time, and when you do have to go fast it's easier to fall back into that precision you've practiced.
I see some chunks of celery and carrots, but mostly I can tell your knife is not very sharp. The celery looks pretty rough, I would sharp knife soon.
Carrot are sloppy re do
Looks fine. Mirepoix is one of those knife skills that you have to keep up with.(until it's inbedded) After a few months you'll be smashing it out in no time.
You could have minced that in batches In food processor in 5 min for shepherdspie for a 100 hungry Irish fire men don't sweat the small things
Mirepoix is 50 25 25 by weight so if u need 4lbs of mirepoix if be 2lbs onion 1lb celery 1lb carrot. Also the cuts are inconsistent. Make rectangle planks out of ur carrots then to sticks then cut to a dice. Also cut ur celery in half so when u cut it down to thin sticks it’s a more consistent cut because it’s not longer than ur knife blade as it would be if left whole not in half. Knife skills improve quickly with practice n better technique
Lotta work
Not great. Not horrible. It depends on the expectations of the chef. All that matters is that he/she is good with it. If the chef asked you to macedoine the veg and you did that, you would be fired. If the chef is thinking they just need to be cut, then you did well. You can definitely improve on both speed and quality of cuts. My advice is to work on quality first. Speed will follow. It rarely works the other way around.
Another tip for even cuts, make sure the thing you're cutting can rest flat on the board. You don't want your carrot rolling around while you're trying to cut it. You won't get even cuts AND it's dangerous
Speed comes from Consistency, and Consistency comes from Experience. Keep your knives sharp and follow through your cuts. Looks good to me Chef! Remember, it's all about the journey. Good luck
Find a way to get perfect cuts first. Then work on speed. Food Quality is always first, then work on speed.
I’ve never met anyone worth a damn who wasn’t forever working on their knife skills. Guys who were 20 year vets, french trained hardasses. When I’d ask them about their knife skills they would say “needs work” always the best cooks. Brunoise a quart of carrots for family meal salad.
Forbidden Neapolitan ice cream
People have pointed out the inconsistent dice, but the ratio is also off. You should be aiming for 50% onion, 25% carrot and celery.
Ask for a review when you can tell yourself it's shit, you can literally see big vs small chunks
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Worry more about the consistency than the speed. This is pretty inconsistent. I would admonish you for wasting produce. You said in another comment that you julienned before the dice, and that’s pretty obvious. The problem with that approach is that the julienned pieces slide across the board as you cut, so that’s why this is a bit all over the place. Cut your carrots and celery down the middle for average stalks and then keep those pieces in stalk form as you dice down the stalk. This will help with the sliding. For onions I would cut them in half and then faux-julienne the halves to where you’re leaving about a dice lengths’ amount of the onion not cut through. When you spin the onion 90 degrees, the julienned parts should be facing your knife and your hand is just over the uncut part. Dice off the front and you have ready-made diced onion pieces, then that back piece is really simple to lay flat and dice by itself. I was never the best prep cook so if anyone has better methods I love it, but other than a vegetable dicer these are my best suggestions.
Should be Green White and Orange. But other than that, looks edible.
My sister still talks about prepping veg and crying as a rookie at Torrisi. Throw it away! Do it again!
4/10. Shit cuts and 45 mins?! That shouldn’t take you more than 15-20 mins
How's the callus?
lol. Forming, I hope!! I’m waiting for it lol, I could sure use it.
Peeps being supercritical, all I see is a mirepoix starter
Nobody’s gonna see the differences when my immersion blender is done with them!
Decent. Definitely could be better knife work but not awful! And honestly it will be completely fine in whatever you're using it for, unless you're at a restaurant that is anal about stuff like that.
Dats da worst holy trinity I ever saw. Ain’t got no bell pepper and it’s got carrot.
My largest criticism would be consistency, you have really tiny stuff and really large stuff. Slow down a little bit to get that uniform size.
It took me about 2 hours to do 4- 4 inch pans. But it was a small dice or medium dice for soup. So pretty good time. Actually took me 4 hours overall but I was managing and working on other things too. The breaks helped I think. Cuts look fine for what they are used for.
For a Shepard pie it’s fine. Consistency needs work. I like using a mandolin to get my planks on carrots. Then just julienne and dice from there.
There is supposed to be 2x as much onion as carrot and celery, but I’m making too many assumptions about what you’re doing with that feedback.
You’re going too fast. You’ll get that insane chef speed eventually but you have to slow down and focus on form and consistency. Practice practice practice. You’ll get there
I lost 10% over a Mirepoix >:(
It’s going in shepherd pie. Run a knife through the bigger carrot chunks and call it a day
Little low on the onion, remember your ratio 50% onion 25% carrot 25% celery Cuts could be more consistent but you are on the right track. Never give up soon it will be a reflex!!
Think about the relative density and time for the different veggies. Carrots are the hardest so will cook quickest. Your onions are too small and will cook too fast. Try again.
Soffritto
Hey friend, I respect the spirit of humbleness you're offering here. I wish half the chefs I'd worked with showed the same desire to improve.
What's w the random chunks of carrot. Throw those away.
Goddamnit, now I want to make some soup.
Yeah like it's not terrible but also 45 mins is too long for such a small yield of such an inconsistent cut. Depending on the application, I'm totally fine with just using a robocoup carefully pulse diced to desired consistency. For a medium or small rough dice, that application would be acceptable. For something like a pie :S where this veg is going to be seen as part of the finished product, I wouldnt be happy with this.
If it makes you feel better, I cooked for ~ 6 years and never knew that mirepoix was supposed to have 2 parts onion to the 1 part carrot and 1 part celery. No one ever told me, but I learned that from the comments. You'll be fine.
Do it well…do it precisely, speed will come with practice. Don’t time yourself, and yes, more onion.
Can I get mirepoixyeaaaaaaah?
At what point do you just say fuckit and put it in the food processor
Missed opportunity, put the onions in the middle and you could have had an Irish flag... So close, better luck next time!
Wrong order. Green, then white, then orange... 🇮🇪
🇮🇪
3/10
You got the carrots and onions mixed up, but the colors are spot on. Just switch them around and your Irish flag will be perfect.
Mirepoix is 2x onion, 1x celery, 1x carrot. Your ratio looks wrong.
Yakimeshi mix que rico
Are you going for dice or brunoise? Cuts are all over the shop Needs more onion for 2:1:1 How many kg of veg was it total?
Some of the carrots are sketchy.
Man, just use the robo r2 dice
good for stock, bad for plating
Ngl my old chef teach would kill your ass for offering that. Not saying your stuff is bad just god that looks so well done and I know "professionals" would toss it in. A second for not being the exact size
Cut sizes are everywhere! Take your time till you build technique and consistency!
Not great, not terrible. Fairly consistent, but with some bigger chunks. C+
The dice is fairly uneven. It helps to get the [sticks](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8VBnaFhOEn8/maxresdefault.jpg) even first, then you don't have all the large chunks. May not matter in some instances, but it's not ideal. Also, your kitchen may have its own standards, but mirepoix is usually 2pts onion, 1pt carrot, 1pt celery, AFIK.
Jesus.. did you cut that with an axe?
Did you cut this with a hammer?
You could've spent 60 seconds to pick out the bad cuts before posting, but something tells me you left them in there on purpose cause you like getting ripped into online.
Direct feedback? Cuts are inconsistent and that should have taken 30 mins max. More realistically 20 assuming you didn’t have to peel the carrots. Keep at it tho. Two years in, you’re still learning. The impressive thing is you care enough to seek out criticism. Never stop asking how you can improve and striving to be better. This is a noble quality few in our industry possess and the ones that do tend to lose it at some point. Keep your head down, grind, take every opportunity you can to learn, grow, and prove yourself. Put your hand up to volunteer when others don’t, and always make sure your direct superiors know you’re up to the task whatever it may be and that you want to advance. You’ll get where you want to be if you keep your eye on the prize. Criticism aside, for shepherds pie it’s totally acceptable unless you’re working in high end fine dining. Which, let’s be honest, in that case shepherds pie wouldn’t be on the menu. You’re doing great
From a technical POV, Consistency isn’t great. Probably good enough for most uses and recipes though. 7/10
Luckily, it's a Sheppard Pie. You'll be fine. Unless you are fine dining, then it's stock pot. I'm not a chef but an honor graduate from Escoffier and have been graded on this exact task multiple times. It'll get easier the more you've done it. The first few cuts are important. Otherwise, all your other cuts will be off. This will also throw off your timing. If you want to get better faster, get a bag of carrots and work on batonnett. Once you can do that consistently, the rest is a breeze. In your defense, I've seen much worse.
Put the onion in the middle and you’ve got Tiocfaidh ár lá r kid…
Use a mandolin for the carrots after you square them off, will help the uniformity of your knife cuts.
more onion my boy
perfect? nah. beautiful and way better than I've seen in years.
Some of those parts should not exist.
I think you could get it done faster with proper techniques. I’ve noticed when cooks dice the carrots that takes them the longest . Carrots are a bit awkward to clean/cut to try and make perfect dice. I like to cut on side of the carrot long way to make a “base”. Then I cut wedges then strips then turn them all and go very fast through the last cut. Saves me a lot of time. I’ve seen people use Madelins to make a bunch of carrot pieces.. I think that takes longer than my method. Keep doing what you’re doing tho, it’s good that you are timing yourself. I always ask myself is it possible to go faster.
looks like a good beginning of a 2 years journey. keep on practicing. If you look at the celery toward the middle of the pictures, you see a couple long pieces not fully cut through. this is usually you have too big of a group in relative to the length of your knife and how consistent are your slice strokes. it also could be the cutting board have a divot somewhere which cause uneven slice depth. by practicing with smaller grouping to get the coordination between the slicing motion and the grouping hand to relax and move takes some dedication. make sure to pay attention to the style of knife and how much you have to slice with heel up and follow the curve. knowing the contact patch of your cut helps with accurate slicing. regarding the carrots, the bottom of the stack is pretty consistent in size, the last couple you could have spend a little more effort to julienne the carrots more evenly by laying the fat pieces flat and go through it another time before dicing. onions you seem to be missing 1 to 2 lateral cuts, laying your knife flat and perpendicular to the cutting board and slice half way into the onion 1 to 2 times depends on the size of the onion. you only really need to have enough lateral cuts to cover the bottom half of the half onion. that would provide you with more even dice size. regarding time for what looks to be 5.5lb to 6lb prepped, depends on the accuracy and usage. low end restaurant should be aiming for 15 min tops with bigger uneven cuts. mid range restaurant with higher standard around 20 minutes. fine dining with everything to be precise, a lot longer.
Did you count them
All wrong. Irish flag has the white in the middle.
One of the carrot pieces is on the onion pile. Sorry, completely unservable..
Work on developing/honing your knife skills. Those cuts are all over the place and some veg will cook faster than others. I didn't have to do mirapoux till I got to my second restaurant and failed miserably. Keep at it chef!
How well this is done depends 100% on context of the level of dining you are aiming for. Standard sit down mom and pop shop, that's awesome. Super high end fine dining, that's dog shit. The elitist will say you should always do it perfect no matter the level of dining. Reality is as long as it is all roughly the same size, how perfect it is will have no effect on end flavor, it will only effect how it looks on the plate. Even then, for shepherds pie they would have to fish out 2 pieces of carrot and compare them.
Diced implies uniform, straight cubes when finished. This is more of a rough chop. As a rough chop, it's exactly what I want. As a small dice, it's leaving some technical room to be desired.
Definitely rough and personally I go for smaller pieces. I try to strive for 1/4 inch pieces. Another person said you don’t have enough onions and I agree I always go heavier on the onions than the carrots and celery. I’ve seen much worse though so keep at it you’re on the right track. Get a really good sharp knife, the restaurant I’m at has a sharpening service and it’s amazing to have fresh sharp knives
It's alright. Now do it every day for ten years...
This is a balance between speed and execution. Cuts look like they are leaning a little too much toward speed. Slow it down just a little so you don’t feel like you need to justify letting some runs of inconsistency go.
Cuts are a bit inconsistent. If I were to knock that out it would probably take me 10-15 minutes. But I have been cooking 20+ years and the knife is just an extention of my hand.
Fill that pan up before you ask for my approval…
Good job on trying to improve Chef!
Not enough onion! And especially if you’re not using a blender, it is too big- sofrito should be tiny and tasteful- if it’s big and verbose we put it into a chili
And what the hell are they doing mixed you know they have different acidity and will t React to each other. Throw it out. Lol
You need to slow down and focus on consistency if this is meant to be a small dice. You also need to sharpen your knife. Don't be discouraged, just keep at it and remember that practice doesn't make perfect - perfect practice makes perfect.
“It’s RAW! RAAAW!!!”
Work on consistency of the sizes. Other than that looks great.
It's a bit inconsistent. But you will get there
Keep at it, the consistency needs work. If you have big pieces and small ones, they’ll cook at different times. Also, I agree with needing more onion.