Death of a Chef

    As the food industry moves into discovering new ways to be green and environmentally conscious, the fast food industry will be at the forefront of any technology if it can shave a 0.001 percentile off their costs worldwide. Only ten years ago, the world players in the fast food industry got together not to talk about the environment or how their cooking oils were polluting the water tables, but to discuss the problems of labour shortage and high turnover. 
    Burger King, McDonalds and Tricon Global (Also Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC) between them have over 60,000 restaurants worldwide and employ over 4 million people. They came together because of these growing problems to discuss and exchange ideas on how to redesign their kitchens and eventually eliminate the need for training. Jerry Sus of McDonalds said, “Make the equipment intuitive so that the job is easier to do right, more than it is to do wrong”. “The easier it is for him to do the job, the easier it is for us not to train him”, said John Reckert of Burger King. The end result was also the discovery of foodservice platforms that could also reduce the time in training by the amount of labour needed. Since the fast-food industry is very transient, the need for such methods are crucial to the survival of the industry. (Schlosser, 2001).
    Many of the fast food chains gave suggestions and pictures and photographs showing the production methods of how they put together a burger. Could this be the future for casual dining restaurants? As labour becomes more of a problem, will these solutions spill over to the fine dining markets and the hotels market? How will the external environment in which we live affect the overall kitchen design and product? 
    Kitchen technology and kitchen designs are at a crossroads right now. As labour shortages increase and operational costs soar, so will the demand for better technology to help offset these costs. Restaurants and hotels will be looking for new ideas in reducing their costs while increasing production and maintaining a consistent product. If this means equipment that can do the job of a chef or enable an untrained cook deliver a product of similar quality, restaurants and hotels may eventually incorporate it.

Automatic for the Japanese

A Japanese kitchen has become a feature, if not a pre-requisite at hotels and large restaurants with ambitions of standing out in the industry. Japanese food has been on the uptrend of late and is very popular among various strata of society. Most hoteliers and restaurateurs prefer Japanese food preparation the old-fashioned way. When faced with the options of automatic machines, which would aid the speed of the process, they more often cite reasons such as “personal touch” and “human skills”. However, let us take an alternate view and consider the many benefits of using equipments. Assuming a customer orders 5 pieces (a conservative amount) of sushi, a 50-seater restaurant with 2 turn-over for lunch, would need 500 pieces. Thus, if the same was assumed for dinner, the demands per day would be for 1000 pieces of sushi. 
    As for sushi rice balls, it would be wise to consider using an automatic Sushi Maker such as the Autec ASM410 or ASM340L, which can produce over 1000 pieces of sushi rice rolls in various sizes in an hour. There are also a variety of other equipments, such as the multi-nigiri maker, which produces sushi rice balls, makunouchi rice and onigiri rice balls. Also, there is the norimaki maker, which automatically wraps the sushi rice rolls with nori for Tatemaki (short) and Yokomaki (long) versions of norimaki. Accompanying this is the manual Norimaki cutter, which has cutting widths of 30mm (6 pieces), 22mm (8 pieces) and 20mm (10 pieces). Interestingly, there is also a shari maker (free-standing and table top versions available) from Autec, suitable for preparation of the desired mix of sushi rice and mixed rice with vinegar, vegetables, etc. It has an automatic stirring system to produce a less sticky rice. The drum bowl is Teflon-coated and the main body is fully covered with stainless steel.
In short, automatic is not only systematic, it is good mathematics.

High Speed Oven - Amana AXP 20

     Amana has recently introduced a high-speed oven, which proves useful for a multi-purpose and busy kitchen. This high speed combination cooking oven has a small foot print and a bigger cavity and simple to use program. This equipment does not require an exhaust hood and works with metal pans. It produces results 15 times faster than traditional cooking methods. It is essentially a combination of a radiant, convection and microwave heating with a cavity space of 1.07 cubic ft. The temperature ranges from 200- 520°F, with 0-100% microwave power. Interior and exterior finish is in stainless steel. It stores up to 360 different cooking programs and has a built-in catalytic convertor to filter grease and odour. It is UL- KNLZ certified for ventless installation and has a limited 3-year warranty. It is highly recommended for limited space and energy savings.

Did you know…?

Some interesting facts.....

• Chinese parsley is not parsley. It’s another name for Cilantro.
  
  
• Cream of tartar is not cream of any kind. It is the crystallized acidic deposits found inside wine barrels. It is used mostly in baking and when added to whipped egg whites, will increase their volume.
  
  
• Peanuts are not nuts. They are legumes, i.e., plants with pods containing edible seeds. Soybeans, green beans, peas, and lentils are also legumes.
  
  
• Pot roast is not roasted. It is braised, a wet heat cooking method whereby an item is cooked in small amounts of liquid at low temperatures for an extended period of time. Roasting is a dry heat cooking method performed in an oven or over a fire.
  
  
• Wild rice is not rice. It is a kind of grass.
  
  
• Cuttlefish are not fish but a type of Cephalopod related to squid and octopi. Cephalopods are a sub classification of mollusks.
  
  
• Hamburgers are not made from ham, but from ground beef.
  
  
• Oxtails do not come from oxen, (although they did in years gone by). Today, they are the tail meat of calves or cows.
  
  
• White chocolate is not chocolate but the natural vegetable fat found in cocoa bean. Sugar, milk solids and vanilla are added to flavor and sweeten it.
  
  
• Sweet potatoes are not potatoes but a root belonging to the morning-glory family.
  
  
• Herbal tea is not tea. It is made from a conglomeration of herbs and spices, not tea leaves.