‘On the line’
This is where the cooking is done in most restaurants. Being “on the line” simply means you’re a line cook. This is one of those phrases that is literal because, in most restaurants, this area of the kitchen is arranged in a straight line.
Most culinary students get experience in the kitchen as line cooks on their paths to becoming chefs. Line cooks are the front line infantry of your kitchen army and this is where a lot of new cooks start.
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‘On deck’
As orders come in, the chef or cook in charge of running the pass lets the line cooks know what dishes are coming up, or what’s “on deck”. Just like baseball, this is what’s coming up next.
The chef or cook running the pass calls out what’s on deck so the line cooks can set up what they need to efficiently cook the next meal. If the order has a particularly time-consuming dish to prepare, this practice gives the line cook a head start on it before starting the rest of the dishes.
‘86’d’
Cooks use the term “86’d” when the restaurant has run out of a dish. A dish can also be 86’d if the chef is unhappy with how it’s being prepared and wants to take it off the menu for the time being. It can also be used to get rid of someone by kicking them out of your restaurant.
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This phrase might actually be the oldest term on this list and one of the most debated. Like so many slang terms and phrases, there is some dispute about the earliest usage in popular culture. One thing that we know for sure is that it was definitely in use by 1933 when Walter Winchell used it in a column exactly how it’s used today. There’s also disagreement about whether it was actually in use or whether Winchell was trying to coin the phrase and gain some additional notoriety.
The origins of this particular term are interesting because there is nothing remotely intuitive about it, unlike many of the other terms on this list. The origins are so muddled that even the fact checkers at Snopes were unable to narrow it down to a definite original source.
We may not know exactly where this term comes from but there is no shortage of theories. One theory is that some bars and restaurants were not permitted to have more than 85 patrons on their premises at any one time so the 86th person would be denied service. It is possible that “86’d” started as rhyming slang for the word “nixed.”
Yet another theory posits that the origin is from Article 86 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This article includes the AWOL (absent without leave) section of that code that makes it a crime for one serving in the military to fail or refuse to go to his or her appointed place of duty.
At the end of the day, we have no idea where this term came from but it is definitely one of the most important kitchen slang phrases to know.
‘Mise’
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This word is French so it is pronounced “meez” and it refers to the French phrase, “mise en place”. Directly translated, this phrase means “everything in its place”. If you hear a cook say they are “mise-d out for the day” it means they’re fully prepared and all of the prep for each dish is ready to go.
Mise-ing everything out can look like having all of your vegetables peeled, chopped, and ready to start cooking. This makes the entire process much more efficient and streamlined.
‘On the fly’
If you hear “on the fly” in the kitchen, it means a server needs a particular dish as soon as possible. It could be that the server forgot to put the order in or a cook forgot to make it but the point of this phrase is to make it clear that you need to drop everything and get this dish out pronto.
‘Comp’
The term “comp” simply means complimentary. This may be used to give away something for free as part of a promotion, for a birthday, for a special customer, or to smooth appease a customer who has a complaint.
‘In the Weeds’
If someone tells you that they’re in the weeds, they need your help and they need it now. Being “in the weeds” is being so busy (or slammed) that you’re so overwhelmed and behind that, you’re about to lose control of the situation.
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