Okuzeka
Culinary Arts & Cooking vocabulary · Service & Plating

In the weeds

Meaning in culinary arts & cooking, with examples

phraseCommon term

In culinary arts & cooking, in the weeds means: Kitchen slang for being overwhelmed and falling behind with the work.

In Turkish: sipariş yükü altında yetişememek

How it is used

Usually used with be; it describes workload pressure, not a physical location.

Example sentences

  1. The grill cook was in the weeds after several large orders.

    The phrase indicates the station is falling behind.

  2. She asked for help before the pastry station got in the weeds.

    The request aims to prevent the team becoming overwhelmed.

Common collocations

  • be in the weeds
  • get out of the weeds
  • stationAn area of the kitchen where one cook or a small team prepares one type of food, such as the grill, fry, sauce or garnish station.
  • serviceThe period when a restaurant is open and the kitchen is cooking and sending out orders, such as lunch service or dinner service.

More terms: Service & Plating

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: