hockey puck

Definition

A burger or other protein cooked so far beyond well-done that it achieves the density and texture of sports equipment. The result of either customer insistence or cook negligence.

Example Usage

"Customer sent back their burger, said it was a hockey puck."

Origin

Kitchen slang comparing overcooked meat to the hard rubber disk used in ice hockey

Fun Fact

Some chefs refuse to serve hockey puck burgers, claiming it violates their professional integrity.

Source: Professional kitchen slang

Related Terms

Intermediate

the dying

The final, often frantic portion of service when the last few orders trickle in and the kitchen is desperately trying to close down. Everyone's exhausted, but nobody can leave until these last tickets clear.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

stretch

To make insufficient ingredients cover more portions than originally planned, usually through creative dilution or portion reduction. The culinary equivalent of loaves and fishes, but with more anxiety.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Advanced

sprench

A greenhouse industry portmanteau of 'spray' and 'drench' that describes a watering technique more thorough than spraying but less saturating than drenching. It's when you give your plants a proper drink without drowning them. Proof that every profession needs unnecessarily specific jargon to feel legitimate.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

Al Dente

Italian for 'to the tooth,' meaning pasta cooked so it still has a slight bite. It's the razor-thin line between perfectly cooked and 'my Italian grandmother would disown me,' and somehow every amateur chef claims to nail it every time.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Intermediate

commis

A junior cook or apprentice in a professional kitchen, usually fresh out of culinary school and eager to prove themselves. They're one step above dishwasher and several years away from not crying in the walk-in.

🍳 Food / Culinary

Beginner

chef

The head cook who runs a restaurant kitchen with the authority of a drill sergeant and the stress levels of an air traffic controller. Traditionally the person responsible for menu creation, staff management, and throwing the occasional pan when orders back up. In home cooking circles, it's become a pretentious way to say 'person who watches too much Food Network.'

🍳 Food / Culinary

Translate This Term

See “hockey puck” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Intermediate

finisher

A brutal exercise or circuit performed at the end of a workout to ensure complete metabolic destruction and questionable...