Thursday, February 10, 2005

Yeah Yeah

Welcome to the real world, right.

Fryer station is pretty tough, not because anything there is beyond my skill level, it certainly isnt. But you constantly have a number of things going on in a 360-degree environment (Let me pre-empt you here Dad- "360 degrees? Thats a pretty hot kitchen!") It can be tough keeping track of everything you got going on. Especially since I don't get order slips, I just have to remember what comes in. And we all know how good I am at remembering stuff.
Heres a run down of the food I deal with-

Cheese Bites- PAIN IN THE ASS. They're mozzerella triangles coaoted in corn starch and skewered on a stick. When one gets called, I drop it in tempura batter fish it out (making sure the bites are far enough apart) hold it over a tray ot bring it to the fryer, hold it in the fryer for a few seconds to form up, then drop it in. Prep a plate with marinara sauce, then pull the stick out, slide off the bites (the stick is of course piping hot) and arrange them on the plate. Really sucks to have a bunch of these going on when your'e busy.

Crab Cakes- Pretty easy. Just drop three cakes on the flat top. Prep a plate with sweet potatoe slaw and pepper sauce, flip the cakes, then plate them. The hardest part is finding room on my counter for the prepped plates, and making sure the cakes don't fall apart when I flip them.

French Onion Soup- Pour the soup in a metal crock. Put in a crouton. Lay the cheese on top. Put it in the salamander. Wait a few minutes till the cheese starts browning then take it out. Put it under the hat lamps. I try to keep six up there all the time. The really bad thing about these for me is that I have a real easy time forgetting about them when they're in the salamander.

Fries and chicken strips- No problem, I can keep these pre-made under a heat lamp. Only thing is to remember to pull them out in time.

Hot dogs and hamburgers- I just handle the baskets. If one gets called I just need to have the bun and fries ready to go. Hardest thing is making sure I keep track of how many are called.

Catfish- Hate it.Can't keep these pre-cooked, so if I get three orders of them in four minutes it's a real pain to keep track of which pieces in the basket go out when.

Grilled cheese- No problem, just like back home.

I think thats it. Of course while all this is going on I have to remember to keep my station clean, empty my trash, make sure I'm stocked etc etc. So none of the above things is actually challenging by itself, but when I've got orders for three cheese bites, four crab cakes, a grilled cheese two catfish, the last soups just got taken and the servers are demanding to know where there aps are, it gets kinda hectic.

3 Comments:

At 4:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ben,
I remember back when I watched Rocco's crappy show that I was always so suprised that the orders just got yelled out and then the chefs just had to remember what they had to make. Is that what it's really like? I don't know how you do it, I would be lost within 3 minutes.
Jen
PS What's a "hat lamp"? And what's a salamander?

 
At 9:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ben,
I'm also wondering how a salamander can survive in a 360 degree environment. I suppose by wearing a hat lamp....
Your Father

 
At 12:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, two cheese bites, one crab cakes and one french onion soup, hold the salamander. Please. oh and it was me that loved the snow flake site. I forget to sign my name. But I'm guessing Bill knew it was me anyway.

 

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