Things I Learned From Working In A Restaurant Kitchen

Cooking at home and at a restaurant kitchen are completely different experiences that no one can appreciate unless they actually try the high-stress environment of a restaurant kitchen. I’ve tried it, and vowed that I will never again set foot behind the kitchen doors of restaurant establishments, but I learned a few things along the way – here’s a few.

Protect Your Frozen and Refrigerated Goods

Although restaurants like to advertise using fresh ingredients, they still need to keep a large portion of their stock in the deep freezer or the fridge at least. A drop in temperature can cause food to thaw and is a major food safety risk. Freezer alarms are a perfect solution to this problem, and I think every house should have one. Remember that thawing food and refreezing it before cooking is a food safety risk, so it’s best to know if your freezer stopped working while you’re asleep and then started up again in the morning – giving you frozen food that is  no longer safe for consumption  

Organization Can Improve Anything

Most chefs are used to working in tight spaces – because even if the kitchen is large, there are just as many people and equipment in the way. Keeping your countertop clean and everything organized makes everything much easier. It even helps you avoid wasting time in the kitchen. Also, planning everything ahead of time is a good habit to develop. In a restaurant setting, this takes up a lot of time and requires coordinating between different members of the kitchen staff. For home cooking, this usually isn’t as complicated. Just make sure you give yourself extra time for unforeseen mishaps and delays.

Don’t Be Afraid To Use Seasoning and Butter

If you’ve often found that no matter how hard you try, or which recipe you use – you can’t figure out how to get your meals tasting as good as the restaurant version. Most likely, you’ll find that you’re not seasoning your food enough. Another common trick that restaurants use is adding butter to practically everything. So, all you need to do is start adding those. Of course, keep tasting at every stage of the cooking process, to make sure you aren’t over or under seasoning. 

Use Seasonal Produce

Restaurants tend to buy produce when it’s in season, and plan their menus according to what they find. This means that they can get the best flavor out of their ingredients. If you’ve never tasted a summer tomato from the farmer’s market, then you haven’t really tasted tomatoes. Winter tomatoes – the kind that are either grown in greenhouses or bred for stability, taste bland in comparison. This is the reason why many pizza restaurants use canned tomatoes (which are always picked in season) for their tomato sauce. You should also try to incorporate as much seasonal produce as you can in your meals, so you can work with the best flavors you can find. Most produce that is out of season will be bland, so avoid them at all costs.