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🎙️ EP210 — The obsession that makes you a great cook is the same one that keeps you from being there for anyone else. Can a cook balance the kitchen with partners, family and friends?

🎧 In This Episode:

🌙 Working While Everyone Else Is Free

🔥 When Cooking Consumes Your Whole Life

🚪 Knowing When the Hustle Should End

🔁 Why the Kitchen Survives Your Vacation

💍 Missing a Wedding for a Restaurant Opening

🎄 Holiday Services Without Wrecking the Team

💘 Dating When You're Always Working

⏰ How Kitchen Schedules Are Changing

👨‍👦 Being a Head Chef and a Dad

🗣️ Asking Your Chef for Time Off

💰 Being Honest About Salary and Conditions

📆 Is the Four-Day Week Realistic?

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🎙️ EP209 — Australia has healthy wild meat in abundance but no habit of eating it: can a chef change what a country puts on the table? Chef Jo Barrett, The Age Good Food Guide's 2024 Chef of the Year, turns wild deer, boar and goat into pies, dim sims and venison schnitzel people actually order,

🎧 In This Episode:

🦌 Why Australia Is Overrun with Wild Deer

🚁 Deer Shot from Helicopters, Then Left Behind

🐊 Alligator Meat on a 12-Hour Bus Ride

🐟 Why Wild Fish Gets Eaten and Deer Doesn't

🏠 How a Chef's Ingredient Becomes Home Cooking

🥧 From Pet Food to Wild Deer Pies

🔗 Every Deer Traced from Shot to Plate

❄️ Wild Meat Is Never the Same Twice

🌏 The Food Knowledge Australia Lost

🔮 Could Australia's Wild Meat Feed Other Countries?

🐇 The $40 Rabbit and the Forbidden Horse

👨‍🍳 What Cooks Miss from Inside the Kitchen

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🎙️ EP208 — Leaving the line isn't starting over: the years you spent cooking are your unfair advantage everywhere else.

🎧 In This Episode:

🧭 What Else Can a Cook Become?

✈️ Working in Europe as a Foreign Cook

🛋️ Getting Too Comfortable in Fine Dining

🛂 Losing a Dream Job Over a Visa

🧪 Making the Jump to R&D

🎲 Why Careers Beyond Restaurants Happen by Chance

🧩 Why Copying Someone's Career Doesn't Work

🃏 Your Kitchen Years is an Unfair Advantage

🪜 Skipping Steps on the Way Out

🍅 Furqan's Work for Heinz Ketchup

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🎙️ EP207 — The better you are at keeping a broken kitchen running, the less reason anyone has to fix it.

🎧 In This Episode:

🚧 Where Adapting Stops Being Professional

🧳 Taking a Job Without Seeing the Kitchen

🐀 Rats, Old Pipes and Building Management

🥚 When the Owner Ignores Food Safety

🗣️ Undermining Authority in Front of the Team

🔥 What Rough Kitchens Teach You

🧾 À La Carte vs. Tasting Menu Pressure

🔑 Before You Rent a Restaurant Space

☀️ Underground Kitchens and Natural Light

⚙️ Reliable Equipment vs. Fancy Tech

🚰 Cooking at Events with No Running Water

🏡 The Kitchen Space You'd Buy

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🎙️ EP206 — It shouldn't be two teams: the kitchen and the floor win or lose the same service together.

🎧 In This Episode:

⚔️ Why the Kitchen and the Floor Clash

🍽️ The Skills Behind a Great Floor Team

👀 Why Cooks Should Work the Floor

📣 Overpromising and the Communication Gap

🎭 Tact, Timing and Choreography on the Floor

🧱 How Bad Bosses Push Good People Out

🤗 Warm Service Without Groveling

📚 The Best Books on Restaurant Service

🥜 Accommodating Allergies Without Losing Quality

🧩 Connecting the Dots in a Guest's Meal

🧭 Planning Events with Every Department Head

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🎙️ EP205 — Better restaurants often pay less, and nobody teaches cooks about finances: why are so many of us struggling to make good money?

🎧 In This Episode:

💸 Why Better Restaurants Often Pay Less

🏦 Michelin Restaurants Don't Make Money

⚖️ Stars, Short Hours, Good Pay: Pick Two

🙋 How to Ask for a Raise

📚 Why Nobody Teaches Cooks About Finances

🏭 Better-Paying Jobs Outside Restaurants

📝 Writing a Business Plan While Working

👔 Are Owners to Blame for Low Pay?

🔪 Are Cooks Paid Fairly for Their Skills?

🧠 Thinking Like a Business Owner

💶 Earning More vs. Saving More

💼 Side Income Without Quitting Your Job

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🎙️ EP204 — Low pay, long hours, starting at the bottom: are kitchens only built for cooks who start young, or is there an advantage to starting at 30, 40 or 50?

🎧 In This Episode:

⏳ Is 30 Too Late to Start Cooking?

🎨 Bringing Skills From a Past Career

🚪 The "Run a Section by 35" Rule

🧑‍🍳 What Outsiders Bring to the Kitchen

👅 Learning to Eat, Not Just Cook

🏖️ Don't Open a Restaurant to Retire

🧪 Food Careers Beyond the Line

📉 Why Restaurants Fade: Trends vs. Good Food

⭐ Should You Stage in Michelin at 35?

🏺 Craftsman or Hobbyist: Why Foundations Matter

🗺️ Make a Plan, Find Your Edge

🪂 Why It's Still Worth the Leap

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🎙️ EP203 — What should every cook actually know? Culinary fundamentals, who decides what they are, and whether they have changed?

🎧 In This Episode:

🧪 Why Nobody Makes Stock Anymore

🧭 Who Decides What the Fundamentals Are

📋 Having a Plan and a Clean Section

🍳 What a Trial Shift Really Tests

🥬 Cleaning Vegetables and Picking Salad

🥗 Making a Dressing and Seasoning It

🍶 The Japanese Order of Seasoning

🌡️ How Heat Changes Texture

🐟 Cleaning Fish, Poultry and Whole Animals

🥩 Chasing the Maillard Reaction

🍲 The Five Stocks to Master

🍮 Pastry, Doughs and Writing Recipes

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