I Cleaned a Deep Fryer Today

The zen art of focused attention is not appreciated in our want it now commercialized consumer society. I was at work today (at a fast food restaurant) and like every one else in the world, or at least the rest of the people like me I was working hard at finishing my job as fast as possible while achieving the best end result I am capable of.

We have four very large deep fryers and part of my job is to filter or change the oil daily. I have only recently been given this position (kitchen porter) and the fryers had been neglected in the area of deep cleaning. In the defense of the restaurant the oil is always clean and by no means does what I am talking about effect the quality or safety of the food. That having been said they were caked with congealed orange-ish greasy sticky fat, and in addition to that there was plenty of charred baked on carbon.

I have been in my position as kitchen porter for exactly one week and I have an entire restaurant to bring up to my admittedly high standards, so I had not yet gotten to the arduous task of really bringing these fryers back to life. I have however managed to get the dumpster area so clean I would honestly eat off the concrete directly next to either of the bins. I have also given that treatment to the back area, the walk in freezer, the walk in cooler, the dry stock area, and the sidewalks outside. In my opinion this is an impressive amount of progress in one week.

So I was done with three out of four fryers, and my manager tells me as I am draining the fourth that she wants one of them to shine today. This will be my "task" for today. I found her wording to be rather condescending, but hey, she is the boss. So I say to her that I don't have a putty knife to scrape the crap off of them and at this point of decay a steel wool pad is a preferred scrubbing tool. She responds that I have everything I need and the job should only take five or ten minutes.

I proceed to collect all the materials required to complete my mission. Here is a complete list of what I had.

1. A green scratch pad
2. Husky (kind of like Ajax but for carbon on stainless steel)
3. A pairing knife
4. Latex gloves

An hour of sweating, scrubbing, burning the shit out of myself, and cursing loudly exactly two times the fryer were clean. I found myself more than a few times completely lost in the painstaking task of carefully removing the carbon and grease build up with the flat bit of a paring knife. During those times I thought to myself about pride and making sure that your work is the best work you can do regardless of what it is that you do. When the day comes I own my own restaurant and I require my brigade to deep clean the kitchen every night after service I can tell them honestly that I did what they are doing but it was worse.

I came home today with water blisters from 360 degree stainless steal, but more importantly I walked out of work today knowing that I did good honest work with improvised tools. I relaized today that I can be a real chef because I can do the work. And even if I am the only one willing to do it I can trust myself to do it right.

I hope no matter who you are or what you do that you will be or have been asked to do a ridiculous task at an insane time with no tools. There is no better feeling than walking away knowing you did the fucking job and you did it well.

Cook Tops And Oven Heating 101

Here I am again writing in a food blog about basic cooking techniques. If you are an experienced cook and set in your ways, by all means disregard everything I say. If you are new and stumbled here or maybe a friend told you about the place, I hope you pick up a few techniques.

Today I have a few things to say about how to apply your heat to your food. Because as they say all good food amounts to are ingredients plus heat.

When you are cooking things in a pan almost 85 percent of the time you want to get your pan hot in advance. Recipes rarely mention this fact. All of your baking recipes will say "preheat oven to 350 degrees" but when it comes to cooking on your stove top they will barely give it a mention. Whether you are sauteing, frying, or any other matter of cooking on the burners, you almost always want to get your pan hot first. I will give you a very simple example.

When I fry an egg I set my burner to medium/high and let my pan sit for a few minutes until my pan and my burner are the same temp. I will then remove said pan from the burner for a few seconds and add my butter. What we are achieving in this circumstance is quickly melted, and unburned butter. Put the pan back on the burner for a few seconds and it quickly returns to temp, drop in your egg and BLAMO!

When it comes to your more often mentioned cooking medium (the oven), almost everyone I know does not let it preheat long enough. I am not sure why this is. I suspect its a combination of getting in a hurry, and the desire to conserve energy. Let's address these issues one at a time shall we?

Getting in a hurry: We all want to eat, very few of us get home and think "I'm not hungry, but I think I will cook a casserole." Realistically this takes our hard work and turns it to shit. Food will not cook properly in a rushed oven. You may have well put in a T.V. dinner.

Conserving Energy: Here is a logical idea you may over look. You will use more energy attempting to cook your food in an under heated oven. If you introduce cold or even room temp ingredients into a heating oven you will drop the temp with the food and opening the door, causing your oven to work twice as hard and use twice the energy to get back up to temp.

Another point of interest is the amount of heat you loose by opening your oven a hundred times while you are baking. Honestly, put it in and leave it. Check it a few times if needed, feel free to baste, or flip, but ask yourself this question... Do I reallllllly need to see whats going on in that magic oven wonderland?

So there are a few things to remember while you are in your kitchen. Remember you won't learn anything if you don't try, and experience is the best bed mate in the kitchen. Now don't even consider going and checking that roast!

Food Safety and Equipment Care

So there are some basic cooking rules and practices which I think a lot of food bloggers take for granted. A lot of people don't understand the things you should and should not do in the kitchen. I will cover the stuff I can think of, and add more in later postings, this might be a little random here and there but over all it should really improve your confidence in the kitchen.

BASIC FOOD SAFETY

You cook for people right? Your friends and family, co-workers, and neighbors. You don't want to kill them or make them really sick do you? Of course you don't. So you need to have good sanitary practices in your kitchen.

Keep your kitchen and work space clean. Every time you cook clean your cook top, and the walls around you stove. Keep your oven hoods clean and grease free. Also sanitize and disinfect your sinks, and counter tops. While you are working keep your area clean and organized. Rinse out your prep dishes as you go, and you will find when it's time to serve your guests you have very little work to do afterward.

Even if you are working in an immaculate kitchen there is still the risk of cross contamination. In a perfect world everyone would have three color coded cutting boards. Red for red meat, blue for white meat, and green for vegetables and fruits. And you would never allow those foods to cross those color boarders during prep. That having been said, in my kitchen I have two cutting boards. This is the minimum allowable if you are going to prep fresh ingredients. One of my cutting boards is glass. This non porous surface is easy to clean and disinfect during the prep process to avoid cross contamination. The other cutting board is wood. I use this one to prep herbs, vegetables, and fruits. And remember to wash your hands often. I am always vigilant about bacteria, it is not a joke, food poisoning can kill you.

CARING FOR YOUR TOOLS

You are an artist. You use tools to create your art. These tools should be properly cared for. Whether you use Wal-Mart brand pots and pans, Or Royal Doulton cookware. If you care for it properly it will serve you well.

Clean your pots and pans IMMEDIATELY after using them. Dry them thoroughly and replace them in a cool dry place. Never use metal utensils on non stick pans, you will scratch off the Teflon coating, and that coating will end up in your food.

Keep your knives sharp. If you own the finest handmade German cutlery it will work for fuck all if its dull and ignored. Your knives should do the work for you. Clean your blades every single time you go from cutting one thing to another (cross contamination!) and when you store them its the same as your pots and pans. Dry them thoroughly and store them in a cool dry place.

Remember to take a great sense of pride in what you do and how you do it. The next installment will be basic cooking procedures. Now go sharpen your knives!

Lessons Part 2

Another installment of everything I know I learned from Gordon Ramsay.

• A Clean Kitchen is a happy kitchen

• You can fuck off out of the kitchen if you don't like it

• No one wants to eat pretentious food except for food critics

More to come...

Everything I know about a kitchen I learned from Gordon Ramsay

Everything I Know I Learned From Gordon Ramsay Part One.

• Say fuck... fuck off... what the fuck... curse a lot generally

• Everything worth eating is simple yet elegant and clearly defined on your pallet

• If Customers Don't Come in... Go Out and Get Them

• Be Honest to Yourself and Cook Within Your Ability

• Your Kitchen Team is Your Family You Spend More Time With Them Than You Do Your Real Family

• Never Fuck With Another Man's Kitchen Unless He Asks You to

More to come later...