Just realized I used to spend hours hand-dicing mirepoix every morning

Back when I started at this Italian joint in Brooklyn around 2012, I'd show up at 6am to chop onions, carrots, and celery by hand for like 45 minutes straight. Now with the robot coupe I can blast through a 50-pound case in under 10 minutes. Honestly, I miss the rhythm of it sometimes, but my wrists thank me every day. Has anyone else switched to machines for prep and felt weird about it?

2 comments

2 Comments

blake_martinez2d ago

That 45 minutes of crying over onions is a rite of passage we all went through, and it's funny how we romanticize the grind until technology saves our bodies. @the_joel, I see the same thing happening everywhere - people clinging to hard work for the sake of it when a smarter solution is right there.

the_joel2d ago

My buddy at this steakhouse in Queens told me he used to cry every morning dicing onions by hand. His eyes would be burning for the rest of the shift but he felt like a real chef. Then they got a robot coupe and he was sad for a week but now he just laughs about it.