A professional kitchen is a well-oiled machine that is routinely serviced. During my time as a waiter, chain chef and barista in restaurants and cafes, I have enjoyed the convenience of being open in the quiet hours before sunrise and waiting for the incessant rush. But the last guest to be served was not the end of the day: energetic and exhausted, my team joined in as we cleaned every surface and every plate and brushed off every crumb. The leisurely routine was a relaxing exercise to get away from the constant stress of kitchen chores.
As one of the thousands of restaurateurs who lost their jobs in the first wave of the pandemic last March, like many others trying to mentally escape the confines of my quarantine, I made it into my kitchen. While a lot of things are out of anyone's control these days, I've calmed my mind by treating my eat-in kitchen like a professional kitchen. By keeping everything as clean and organized as I would at work, and literally bringing my restaurant tools home, I am ready to be successful. You can do it too - here's how.
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Make a cleaning checklist and follow it every night
Every night I go through my own "final checklist" for the kitchen: I sleep better because I know I'll be fresh the next day. After dinner, I stack the dishes in the sink and wash them immediately. If you went to a restaurant and the dirty dishes from last night were still on the tables, you probably wouldn't eat there and keep your kitchen on par. It's so much easier to cook dishes while you're still in your head (and before they're covered). I'm also sure that standing by the sink after a meal helps with digestion in one way or another.
While the dishes are drying, I use a sponge or rag (much more durable than running half a roll of paper towels every night) to clean all surfaces in the kitchen, not just the counter where I cooked my food. In a restaurant, the stove, dining tables and counters are cleaned every evening. Your kitchen may not need floor-to-ceiling scrubbing, but it can be fun to throw all the crumbs on the floor with no embarrassment, even if they need to be swept away right away.
Don't forget about the horizontal surfaces that can get dirty during the cooking process. Clean the refrigerator sections with a mild food cleaning solution, e.g. B. a 1: 1 mixture of white vinegar and water. Each shiny clean surface only a complete sweep left - that is, among all surfaces and skirting boards, not just around them.
Finally, I put all the dry dishes away and look at them. I know that with a clean kitchen, I can immerse myself in the recipe I want the next day. Any professional chef will tell you that with a proper completion checklist, opening shifts is a breeze, and little to do when everything is in place.
While these simple chores don't seem like much at the end of each night, routine makes all the difference in keeping your kitchen clean and organized. Just throw in music, strong punk or rap music always stimulates me and cleans like it's your job. You will end every night with confidence.
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Integrate restaurant needs into the kitchen-cum-living room
The routine of a kitchen checklist keeps things clean and organized, but why not go a step further? I've incorporated some tools into professional home kitchens that have become essential for greater control and consistency.
All of the kitchens I've worked in use Cambro food storage containers . Because of the standard size and shape of these clear, thick plastic containers with engraved dimensions, we could always know what ingredients, where and how many we had. Still, these containers can be difficult to find outside of a restaurant specialty store and are best for storing large servings of raw materials like flour and sugar. However, deli plastic containers are also useful for storing loose ingredients as well as leftovers that are contained and organized. Regardless of the volume, the deli containers can easily be stacked so that they can be easily stowed in the pantry and refrigerator. The lids have a universal size.
"First in, first out" is the absolute rule of thumb for every restaurant refrigerator. This means that the oldest food must be used first and you cannot always trust your memory. Soluble food labels make it easy to mark the date and contents of your ingredients and leftovers to make sure everything runs out before they spoil.
Tape has been my favorite label in the past (tape works too), but it often leaves a sticky residue on my packaging that is difficult to remove. To save your new packaging, immediately rinse the removable labels with hot tap water.
The bad truth about most household stoves, especially if they are not new, is that their temperature will never be exactly what you set them to be. Most are just a few degrees, but after a few batches of burnt cookies and doing some research, I found my oven was running over 30 degrees warmer than the temperature it was set to. An oven thermometer is cheaper than buying a new oven and will give you the most accurate and consistent temperature reading. For restaurant quality meals, consistency is key.
Chest freezers were just as valuable as toilet paper in the first wave of quarantines, as people sought more storage space than usual for their larger groceries. While I don't tolerate hoarding, it was difficult to get food in my little freezer, not even for a couple of weeks. In retrospect, I can't believe I was able to feed myself before doubling the space in my freezer. Now all of my bulk meals like beans, grains, and leftovers (packed in deli containers!) Have plenty of space, as does staples like butter and frozen vegetables. The efficient use of space also allows me to experiment with more frozen recipes like ice cream cake and pre-cooked dinners .
Small household kitchens require efficient use of all living spaces. professional kitchens are the same. Hanging pots and pans on a breadboard instead of stacking a pile in a closet makes the equipment organized and decorative. One look into Julia Child's kitchen in Cambridge should be all you need.
Most dashboards are easy to install, but the sturdy control bars work just as well for renters and those less agile who want to drill holes in the wall.
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