# How long before working saute?



## girlygirl1324 (Dec 9, 2013)

Hello culinary world,

I'm curious about how long does it usually take a beginning line cook to be promoted to the saute station?

3 months?

1 year?

If your a professional chef, or line cook, how long before you started actually cooking on the stove?

Thanks!


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

I worked the cold line and stayed for about 1 month , then my chef taught me how to work saute slowly ( while still working cold line ) for about another month. Then i worked saute basically ever since. 

Its usually my favorite station to work , i like how its fast paced , and its probably less challenging then grill , but probably requires more attitude and just as much organization to do.  

So in total it took me 2 months. 

Then on my second job , i started working saute the moment i stepped in the kitchen... 

Just one thing though , dont get to eager to work saute , it takes time , before i started working saute i was being trained and taking baby steps. 

Remembering saute has to be in sync with the other stations , to master saute , you also have to know everyone elses station <_< , thats at least how i take it into account , considering saute can take less time and is faster you have to be in sync with grill , fish , etc... because their is no need to delay a table because the sides , veg , acompaniments, etc.... werent done on time or were done ahead of time and got cold.


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## kingfarvito (May 7, 2012)

It took me about 6 months from the start of my first job to saute. Keep in mind in all the kitchens I've been in this is a station that is best worked by a person that is not at all timid but still knows how to keep the ego in check enough to time food prefectly and take orders from stations to get timing right.


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

kingfarvito said:


> It took me about 6 months from the start of my first job to saute. Keep in mind in all the kitchens I've been in this is a station that is best worked by a person that is not at all timid but still knows how to keep the ego in check enough to time food prefectly and take orders from stations to get timing right.


Agreed , the person who works this station may get stressed but won´t show it.

He/she is calm , collected , fast , and organized , as well has good timing. Just like any station is can make or break a service , i also find this station less forgiving , because it can slow the entire line down because of any little item.

I also found that people who are too timid , or too anxious crash and burn on this station. Usually the timid ones , are so slow , they hold up the entire line.


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## rustbelt (Nov 21, 2013)

KaiqueKuisine said:


> Agreed , the person who works this station may get stressed but won´t show it.
> 
> He/she is calm , collected , fast , and organized , as well has good timing. Just like any station is can make or break a service , i also find this station less forgiving , because it can slow the entire line down because of any little item.
> 
> I also found that people who are too timid , or too anxious crash and burn on this station. Usually the timid ones , are so slow , they hold up the entire line.


I agree about being calm and organized. There will be hiccups that ruin the symphony on the stove and I have worked with too many saute cooks that have just lost it mid service and never regained control. Nothing frazzles a saute cook more than the broiler cook slowing down a ticket for a mis-timed item in the middle of that Saturday night rush while simultaneously running out of Mis-en-place. Sometimes it takes a deep breath and knowing at the end of the shift the chaos will end.

Over confidence is also a big issue. Not being able to ask for help from the Sous or another staff member will get a person stuck every time. If you are in the weeds on this station and don't ask for help, get a life preserver, the ships going down.


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

rustbelt said:


> Over confidence is also a big issue. Not being able to ask for help from the Sous or another staff member will get a person stuck every time. If you are in the weeds on this station and don't ask for help, get a life preserver, the ships going down.


So right about this.

If i know im pressed im the first to demand help. People with too much pride shouldnt work on this station.

Think about this in many restaurants they have someone doing hot apps , fish , and working grill , and broiler , you provide components to all these dishes and stations , thus you have to be organized and fast.

Worst experience i have found though is when you are working serveral pasta dishes along with doing your regular tasks at saute , the rush is amazing , but the stress and demand for perfection is so high , you cant allow room for error.


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## ktanasy (May 6, 2010)

The sauté station is my favorite and I still work this station in my own restaurants simply because I became very good at it. This station requires a lot of organization skills and pre-planning in regards to having everything ready at hand. I was fortunate to learn the French method of sautéing that seems to be the best method in my opinion. You should learn and master all the other stations in the kitchen before taking on this station, once you master it you’ll never want to work anywhere else.


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## r6zack (Jul 23, 2012)

rustbelt said:


> Sometimes it takes a deep breath and knowing at the end of the shift the chaos will end.


Possibly one of the best statements I've ever read regarding a line cook! I used to repeat "it'll all be over soon" in my head over and over, but now... I love that rush haha. My exec chef runs saute and while the other 3 guys rotate between grill, fry, and pantry, he stays. I've been there for 1.5 years and it'll probably be another 1.5 before he gives me the chance to run that station. Keep in mind though, the way our kitchen is set up, Saute is the station that gets the orders, calls them in, and pretty much runs the kitchen.


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## jgraeff1 (Jun 3, 2013)

Sauté is a beast of a station, you can go from cool and collected to frazzled trying to juggle cooking and picking food up in a flash. 

Particularly why I love it. The rush and the competitiveness that it takes. I'm always trying to better myself. Some guys wonder why I try so hard on slow nights when I don't have to. For me it's practice for when I'm busy, plus I'm only bettering myself. The faster I can move and more organized I am the less I actually have to try.

No matter how good you are, at some point you will need help and it's good to ask or take it when given, something I learned the hard way. Always own your station, but don't sink the ship because you have too much pride.

The best advice I can give, be humble, organized, have confidence, and have fun. Also plan your moves a head of time-
For me if I get a ticket for a snapper, veal and gnocchi. My first step is get 3 pans, turn two on full blast other cold. Pull snapper and veal, flour veal sorry aside, bread snapper and turn last pan on, add cream to hot pan, then veal to other hot pan and snapper to the now warm pan. Etc just know your moves ahead of time, how long does each thing take. Work smarter not harder. If you can work all three
Pans at one time without turning back and fourth for each thing it saves tons of time. 

Before working sauté master every other station. There is no set time before is out somewhere there only whether or not I feel they can handle it.


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## linecook854 (Feb 13, 2013)

The thing that frazzles me most on saute is looking over at grill and he is lost, everything is going down in flames at this point. This is the most frustrating because even when I'm hitting all the right notes on saute if grill isn't doing well nothing on my side is going out the way it needs to.


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## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Best service i had on saute was 115 people....

Me running saute, while running grill partially.

The smoke covered the kitchen and we were going blind xD

Literally all we had that day was me, my chef, and salad cook,(grill guy got a day off) that rush was scary, and incredible all at the same time.../img/vbsmilies/smilies/cool.gif


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