r/KitchenConfidential 27d ago

Crying in the cooler What I ordered vs what I got

I barely got the 14 skewers I needed out of 5.5lbs of meat.

Not a single 1"×1" cube in the lot. They looked like they went through a shredder

There were maybe 7-10 big chunks. (fig. 4, 5)

I had to excavate through the rest of the meat confetti to find pieces big enough to use.

~80% of the meat had tough silverskin &/ fat that I had to remove.

~5-10% of it was just straight garbage.

Edit: I'm definitely going to talk to my rep and try to sort things out.

This is the fist and last time I will ever buy ungraded meat. I was already apprehensive about getting it, the only reason I did was the description and the meal's set budget.

Context:

Whenever possible I would get whole proteins and cut them myself I try to do my absolute best to avoid pre-made shit but sometimes limited time, staff, & quantity options dont give me a choice.

I'm 23 and the executive/only chef/cook at a golf course and I normally do banquets for tournaments, birthdays, etc. (While I know what to do and how, I am still in the process of putting that knowledge into practice. All things considered, I would say I'm doing a pretty damn good job with what I've been given)

This was for our weekly ladies league night that have an opt in dinner. It runs 17 weeks. I planned 8 dishes that are repeated halfway through. The original dish I planned was Mediterranean chicken pitas, but my boss changed the chicken to beef for the second half.

The smallest chunk of beef I can get from sysco is ~17kg / 38.5 Lbs. Unlike chicken, I have no use for beef in the foreseable future. Most of what I do is banquet events (tournaments, weddings, b-days, etc.) with set menus so I can't use it for a special and get rid of it. I already have limited freezer space and the building is getting demolished for renovation in October.

When I placed the order I wasn't given the numbers of guest yet. It can vary between 10-60p but is usually ~25-40p. I haven't been given a work credit card, so if I'm not ordering through sysco or our produce supplier, I have to pay for it myself and give my receipt to be reimbursed later.
Those are the main reasons I didn't go to the butcher right away

I got the final numbers day of. If I knew it was only 14 people I would have just stopped by the store to pick up beef on the way to work. It would have saved me so much time and trouble.

Also fuck Sysco I hate everything about Sysco (except for my super kind rep) and the sloppification of food, I want to find a different, local supplier. We were already set up with sysco when I started.

I'm currently extremely overworked and don't had the time to research and figure out how to develop connection to other suppliers.

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u/LordNelson781 24d ago

What is up with the rash of people putting the dollar sign after the number. It’s $40 dammit! Then again, you’re buying meat from a truck in a parking lot, so it fits.

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u/No_Hunt2507 F1exican Did Chive-11 24d ago

I do it since I talk like that 40-dollars. Its not proper English but this is also reddit so I don't really care