SRL
Senior Cook
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2009
- Messages
- 129
A question for chefs with more recent training...
I have been watching episodes of Kitchen Nightmare at the Hulu site. In one episode, Chef Ramsey completely ripped the local chef in his usual brutal style over his practice of buying fresh salmon, halibut, etc., portioning it and freezing for later reuse. He also ripped him for thawing the frozen portions in containers of water inside the walk-in.
Now it's been almost 30 years since I was in restaurants, but that was a very common practice back then. It reflects the fact that some fish are just way bigger than you can use while fresh over a weekend in a lower-volume restaurant without having too much waste.
My question is, if that's so bad, what's the better practice? Not to offer fresh at all? Pack the specials with different preparations of the same fish in an effort to use it all before its quality deteriorates? And what would be considered a better way of thawing the frozen portions? The use of a covered water bath seems debatable, but hardly harmful in any way. And thawing while under refrigeration is clearly the right way to go.
Thanks for any insights!
I have been watching episodes of Kitchen Nightmare at the Hulu site. In one episode, Chef Ramsey completely ripped the local chef in his usual brutal style over his practice of buying fresh salmon, halibut, etc., portioning it and freezing for later reuse. He also ripped him for thawing the frozen portions in containers of water inside the walk-in.
Now it's been almost 30 years since I was in restaurants, but that was a very common practice back then. It reflects the fact that some fish are just way bigger than you can use while fresh over a weekend in a lower-volume restaurant without having too much waste.
My question is, if that's so bad, what's the better practice? Not to offer fresh at all? Pack the specials with different preparations of the same fish in an effort to use it all before its quality deteriorates? And what would be considered a better way of thawing the frozen portions? The use of a covered water bath seems debatable, but hardly harmful in any way. And thawing while under refrigeration is clearly the right way to go.
Thanks for any insights!