The Station-Style Restaurant Kitchen
An emblematic business cookhouse is outlined in a way, giving
the centre stage to prominent stations. Technically, a station is a dedicated are
or space where a specific type of food is curated. They hugely contribute to
the effortless running of the commercial kitchen.
The restaurant menu plays a vital role in determining the
type and number of stations your busy cookhouse will have. Some restaurants
have various stations equipped with exclusive commercial catering equipment.
While others might have just a few of them (maybe one or two) with specialised commercial kitchen equipment. Such areas are only performing food preparation tasks for specific
menu items of the business establishment.
The Cookhouse Army
Rightly termed as Army, the kitchen members perform a mammoth of tasks in an entire business working day to ensure hassle-free functioning of any restaurant of food trade establishment. They execute multitasking jobs in a highly efficient manner, together in a team with technically designed kitchen equipment. Some of the team members are well-experienced chefs and some are seasoned specialists for specific cuisines.
There is a beautiful French way
to address them as brigade de cuisine
which means ‘kitchen staff’. But the ‘cookhouse army’ or the ‘kitchen brigade’
is much above and beyond that. A few will be food work area supervisors while
some would be exclusive bakery artists.
Cookhouse armies have shrunk in
size over the past few years. Technology oriented commercial kitchen types of
equipment have innovated to multitasking and convenience. Restaurants have
turned personalised now with customised services and preparations. Modern cookhouse
equipment allows the army to accommodate large volumes of output and exclusive
orders. In the 19th century, food establishments had multiple hands
to perform painstaking tasks like chopping, slicing, dicing and more.
But today times, the line of
command is prominent. Food preparation is still sorted at various designated
stations.
Your commercial kitchen can
roll out oodles of recipes and dishes if you station-style it. How? Let’s take
a look.
Fry Station
Do
you know where are the crispy French fries or chicken wings are prepared? Here,
right at the Fry Station. This area is dedicated to frying jobs- French fries,
chicken wings, onion rings, burger patties and similar such foods are curated
here. Commercial fryers are installed here along with commercial freezers
nearby. This is so because maximum frying food inventory is of the frozen
category, so its easy accessibility is facilitated. Other important equipages
are tongs, big bowls for breading and fry nets or baskets.
Freshers
or aspiring chefs take off at this station in a restaurant. Fry stations are
separate from other kitchens in huge commercial grade cookhouses. But you may
find Fry along with Grill station in compact business establishments.
Grill
Station
For
those juicy lip-smacking grilled chicken and soft kebabs, this station is
responsible. Grill arena has gas char grills ( in radiant or rock type), Gas
griddles, broilers and flat top grills installed within its area. You will also
find a cooling unit in this station which neutralises the temperature of this
area. This area is dotted with tongs, brush for greasing the food, and many
herbs and seasonings to be used according to the menu items.
Chefs working at the Grill Station should come with seasoned experience in terms of proper cooking of the particular food item on the grill. Grilling is a blockbuster if you know the right temperature of cooking for different types of dishes. Experience comes with time. So, fresher assisting them should have a close observation of how the chef handles food and plates the dish.
Sauté
Station
You
will find the finest of cooks and chefs hovering here. With their expertise,
they infuse magic in preparing the twisty dishes in their den at the Saute
Station. Cooks at this spot work like some food bots with so many pair of
hands. Simply put, chefs at Saute station are required to prepare multiple
dishes at one time. Time management, handling food storage areas, right kind of
kitchen designing, proper ventilation through exhaust hoods- all of this is
responsible to efficiently handle tasks at this arena. You will find a saucier
here some times who handles sauce making and pan-frying inputs in the same space.
This
station is dotted with gas burners with oven, ranges and cooktop gas stoves,
tongs, pans in different sizes a wide range of chef tools. A dedicated prep
area is also attached to this spot which has a variety of cooking requirements
like spices, herbs, seasonings, boards (chopping and cutting).
Pizza Station
This station is a
showstopper in restaurants where pizza is included in your menu. As the world’s
favourite cuisine, a Pizza Station is well-equipped with all the
commercial-grade pizza prep types of equipment. You should invest in pizza prep
tables, freezers and upright storage fridges, gas burners with an oven or huge
ranges. A walk-in fridge with a prep area is a lethal combination for the Pizza
Station.
Should I have all of them?
Well, this depends on budget, space, and your planned menu. You can merge space as it will save space, money and a low number of staff members. This kind of guidance can be looked up to the commercial kitchen equipment supplier in your area.
Comments
Post a Comment