09.08.06
Cleaning House
I had to stay late today to help with the cleanup in the kitchen. It is arduous work, and hardly the glamorous stuff you dream about when you are going to cooking school, but I think that is why they make you do so much cleaning in culinary school - get you ready for the reality that is the deep clean of the professional kitchen.
So I want to point out something to all the people who love to spread the doom and gloom of the restaurant world. Everyone talks about all the stuff that goes on “behind the scenes” in the kitchen - the stuff you don’t want to know about, the “horror stories” of how badly your food is handled in a professional kitchen.
Well I want to go on record and say that from everything I have seen, it is mostly a bunch of bull. I only say “mostly” in light of how nobody can be 100% perfect with all things that are done, but I would say we do better at Tirolo than I do in my own home.
Perfect example: There is NO “5-second rule” at Tirolo. My house has about a 3-minute rule.
 Warning labels? We don’t have time to read warning labels! Start spraying and scrubbing! |
And the deep clean we did today (and do every Friday) is another example of how the professional kitchen is generally better than what you may do at home. I mean really, how many of you take apart your stove once a week and clean it out completely with high-powered (gloves necessary) cleaning chemicals? How many of you sweep, mop, deck brush AND squeegee your floors once a week with bleach water? When was the last time you changed the fat and scrubbed out your deep fryer?
We do all this and more every week. Hell, it’s so clean on Monday AM in there, I almost don’t like cooking on it. (I find a grill with just a LITTLE bit of grease on it gives me better results.) But the point still stands - this kitchen (and other professional kitchens I have seen) is not a den of horror stories where past-due food is picked up off the floor to be served undercooked in a sauce that has been reheated 12 times that week. It just doesn’t happen.
If you want your food to be handled right and responsibly, a trust-worthy and clean kitchen is most likely going to do a better job than you would at home. I have the chemical burns to prove it.
Stumble it!
