7 replies to this topic

[mskerr]

Inspired by the "absurdly simple cooking questions" & the couple other iterations on the topic... I have heaps of simple-bordering-on-stupid restaurant questions. I usually forget to write them down, though... they will come back to me though!

To start:

I thought with proper BBQ/grilling, you didn't want flames to touch the meat directly - just the smoke. Is this so? I've seen at BBQ restaurants where they keep dousing the meat with water, and you get a nice dramatic flame and lots of smoke, but is this mostly for effect, and does it actually dry out the meat?

[gfweb]

Meat is dried by temperature and over cooking. Pouring water on the meat is not moisturizing.

[ChrisZ]

I have wondered how large pie and tart shells - the sort with vertical sides - are blind baked in commercial quantities.

As a teenager I worked in a bakery, and small tart shells were blind baked in tin trays (8 x 4 for 32 at a time I think) simply by stacking an identical tray on top, this worked because the tart shells had sloping sides and I guess the trays were designed to be stacked. But we didn't make any large tarts, and the ones we bought in all had the same sloping sides style, not the perfectly vertical side that you would expect of a cheesecake (for example).

Trays for large tarts / pies / cheesecakes with vertical sides can't be stacked, and in commercial situations I'd be surprised if they mucked around with parchment and ceramic beads. So how is it done?

[HungryC]

Inspired by the "absurdly simple cooking questions" & the couple other iterations on the topic... I have heaps of simple-bordering-on-stupid restaurant questions. I usually forget to write them down, though... they will come back to me though!

To start:

I thought with proper BBQ/grilling, you didn't want flames to touch the meat directly - just the smoke. Is this so? I've seen at BBQ restaurants where they keep dousing the meat with water, and you get a nice dramatic flame and lots of smoke, but is this mostly for effect, and does it actually dry out the meat?

If you're seeing a dramatic flame up, then water is not what's being used to douse the grilling food.

[The J]

I thought with proper BBQ/grilling, you didn't want flames to touch the meat directly - just the smoke. Is this so? I've seen at BBQ restaurants where they keep dousing the meat with water, and you get a nice dramatic flame and lots of smoke, but is this mostly for effect, and does it actually dry out the meat?

With BBQing, you want the smoke to cook the food. With grilling, flame can touch the meat.

[mskerr]

I thought with proper BBQ/grilling, you didn't want flames to touch the meat directly - just the smoke. Is this so? I've seen at BBQ restaurants where they keep dousing the meat with water, and you get a nice dramatic flame and lots of smoke, but is this mostly for effect, and does it actually dry out the meat?

If you're seeing a dramatic flame up, then water is not what's being used to douse the grilling food.

I'm pretty sure it's water because it looks like it creates a lot of steam... could the flare up be from the water making contact with hot fat drippings?

Edited cuz I put "flame" instead of "steam"

Edited by mskerr, 17 February 2013 - 10:12 AM.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I have wondered how large pie and tart shells - the sort with vertical sides - are blind baked in commercial quantities.

As a teenager I worked in a bakery, and small tart shells were blind baked in tin trays (8 x 4 for 32 at a time I think) simply by stacking an identical tray on top, this worked because the tart shells had sloping sides and I guess the trays were designed to be stacked. But we didn't make any large tarts, and the ones we bought in all had the same sloping sides style, not the perfectly vertical side that you would expect of a cheesecake (for example).

Trays for large tarts / pies / cheesecakes with vertical sides can't be stacked, and in commercial situations I'd be surprised if they mucked around with parchment and ceramic beads. So how is it done?

I've often done it by nesting several sizes of vertically-sided pans/trays one within the other for blind baking. But honestly, I prefer slope-sided trays simply because the finished pie/tart is so much nicer looking.

I'm very curious as to where you've been getting cheesecakes with crust up the sides, though? I have never once seen one nor made one with more than a bottom crust - and I do muck about with parchment for the sides of those, even in large quantities.

Edited by Panaderia Canadiense, 17 February 2013 - 10:32 AM.

[Baseball123]

Does anyone know what companies McDonalds and Chipotle get there can liners from?