Had a talk with a line cook who made me rethink my whole plating style

I was working a Friday dinner rush last week and this young line cook, maybe 22, said my sauce swoosh looked like a tire track. He showed me how he does a simple three dot pattern with his spoon and it took him maybe 10 seconds. I've been doing that swoosh for 8 years because that's how my first chef taught me. Now I'm thinking about how many other habits I picked up that could be faster or cleaner. Have you ever had a younger cook shake up something you thought was just fine?

3 comments

3 Comments

james_bell13d ago

Bro you're really gonna dump 8 years of muscle memory because a 22 year old said your swoosh looks like a tire track? I've seen that three dot pattern a thousand times and it's played out imo. There's a reason your OG chef showed you the swoosh - it catches the eye and fills the plate better than some boring dots. Plus the dots look like someone sneezed sauce on the plate. I'll take a confident swoosh over a fast dot pattern any day.

shane_park9213d ago

My buddy switched to dots and had to re-fire three tables in one night.

nathan10013d ago

older cooks love to act like technique is set in stone but i learned real quick that the best habits come from anyone who shows you a faster way, not just someone with more years. i had a similar moment with a pasta station kid who showed me a two finger grip on the tongs that cut my portioning time in half after i'd been doing it the old way for like six years. the thing about dots vs swoosh though is that dots look dead on the plate unless you use a really glossy sauce and even then they can look like a mistake if you don't space them right. maybe meet in the middle with a teardrop shape - same speed as a dot but with a little tail that gives it movement like a swoosh. you don't have to toss out everything your first chef taught you but you should always be willing to steal the good parts from the new kids.