Lost a $200 duck breast last night because I flipped the thermostat instead of the hood vent

Line cook handed me a perfect sear. I reached for the overhead. Hit the oven dial by mistake. Oven shot up to 500. Duck went from medium rare to shoe leather in 90 seconds. Had to comp the table. Ever done something that dumb mid-service?

2 comments

2 Comments

abby_wilson5129d ago

I mean, I get what you're saying but honestly I think this is more about the cook not double-checking their setup than some fragile service thing. A good line cook should always know where their hands are going and have the muscle memory to grab the right switch without looking, not just hope the equipment doesn't trick them. Maybe it's just me but that duck getting wasted is on the cook for not checking the knobs first, not on the universe or bad luck.

linda50029d ago

Yeah the "went from medium rare to shoe leather in 90 seconds" line really got me. I used to think stuff like this was just bad luck or a weird one-off thing. But honestly your story totally changed my mind because I can see now how easily it happens when you're in the weeds and muscle memory takes over. I always blamed the equipment before or thought it was a lazy cook thing but you actually had a perfect sear and one dumb move ruined everything. It makes me realize how fragile a good service can be with just one bad split second decision. Thanks for sharing this because it really made me rethink that whole mindset.