WHT

I thought JC had given Drew the boot. having missed the first 20 Min. of the show did something else happen?

it has to do with the temp that the different microbes die at relitive to the cooking temp of the food.

Funny but I can only tjink of a few beers here in the states that come that way. I wonder if it an industry thing?

If you have to do that make sure you rince the beans. I have noticed that if you don't it tastes funny.

Is there such a thing as good ziti? My experiences with the dish are sadly limited to school cafeterias, banquets and fundraisers. The few times I have ordered it out have not been a lot better. Not as dry but bland and uneventful. I was fooled once here in Chicago as they call it Mostaccioli instead of Ziti. I avoid it at all costs. I would love to have someone prove me wrong but I guess it will not happen soon.

I was just thinking of foods I didn’t like and still in some cases don’t like to this day. For me it’s Muller’s (or any brand.) Macaroni with butter. Too plain and my mom served it too often. The funny thing is other plain pastas don’t bother me for some reason. Though I consider baked ziti to be Satan’s own work, but for other reasons. What is it for you?

When you mention the 30-60 people if they are all eating basically the same thing you are cooking like they do in institutions or catering. A close offshoot of home cooking just on a much larger scale. Were the rub comes in is if you have to prepare say 5 different entrées for the same number it night be closer to a short burst at a restaurant. If 3 of them want breakfast, 10 dinners and the rest several lunch items, short order cooking. I think a lot also depends on the environment you are cooking in. Working a station at a restaurant is a lot different than slinging hash at a diner. Even working multiple stations depending on what’s needed can give it a different feel. Some people like having to do the same thing night after night while others like some variety. As an example I worked at a couple of pizza joints. Essentially the same menu and responsibilities at each place but different environments. Cook and plate all non-pizza foods. Subs, sandwiches, Cheessteaks and some pasta dishes along with the burger and fry type stuff. One a boardwalk stand by the ocean and the other an air-conditioned kitchen in a joint outside an army base. Same sort of hours and foods but each had a different feel to it and a slightly different approach. At the beach it felt more relaxed and like you were hosting a cookout. At the Hub it felt like you actually did something professional. About the only major difference was at the beach it was paper plates and boats, while at the Hub it was real plateware. Funny how the little things change how you feel about veal Parm.

I started out working in places that were family run. The staff meal could be anything from leftover whatever to menu items that had a low cost. Pasta, rice burgers and other sandwiches. In some of the corporate joints as the head cook I could have just about anything I wanted, this got lame rather quickly. Some places forbid you from tasting the food you worked with. The reasoning being that if you followed the protocol and formula all would be fine. Every so often during a roll-out we might be able to sample dishes, more often than not it was the servers that did and not the cooking staff. I have worked in places that I would not eat if you paid me. Usually because I needed the job at the time more than any other reason. The funny thing is out of all the places I have worked over the years the places I remember the most are the ones with the most reasonable policies about staff meals. Why? Because they were the places it was fun to work and the turnover was low. There will always be people that abuse any policy put in place. That should not be a reason to put restrictive policies in place to punish the rest of the crew.

You are so right but most places won’t acknowledge that even if you show t5hem the tax code. Some places are so penny wise and pound foolish it frightens me. As an example a well-known fun time eatery bakes its own potatoes to make an appetizer from the skins, they have to scoop out most of the potato by hand. A small amount of that is used to make a cream of potato soup. The rest is thrown out in the trash! It is not used for staff meals, side dishes or anything else. If you get caught eating it you are fired for stealing. Same thing with the fresh broccoli, only the tops are used. The stem and shaft gets tossed. They claim it is better than using the equivalent frozen product and cheaper too. Go figure.

I worked at a place like that in the late '90s. Here is the kicker, they charged the staff $3.85 per shift for meals. It was limited to items on the childerens menue and you got charged even if you did not get tha chance to eat. being a broiler and saute' guy I hardly got time to wipe the sweat off much less eat! My "meal" was usualy coffee and a Marlboro.

The chicken strips would!

I guess you didn't read his interview. His parents live near JC.

I think the concern is that it's losing money while it's packed with people. It might be different if it was a normal restaurant, without the leg-up of network TV and tourists by the bus-load. Good point. but what we have here is not just loss but money being thrown out needlessly.

It comes from old English refering to the salt crystals. A form off rock salt was used that was the size of a corn kernal.

Thanks for bringing that up. We know its done, we just don't want to see it.

You may wan to look at the NY state law on the web. You can serve at 18, to dispence you have to be 21. Splitting hairs, Yes.

Maybe he was to be a sacraficial lamb from the begining?

In some states it is. I know NJ has a truth in menu law. I don't remember about NY.

You got it! Kinda like you see in most citys where a guy has "deals" on VCRs or such.

It will repeat this week. I thought I saw the same thing.

One would think he would.

Same here. Kinda sad isn't it. Yikes I thought I was the only one.

I wish they had shown one of the cards. I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to make a $1.80 card. full color, gold hotstamped mylar with an embossed crest, die cut to look like a meal? Maybe scratch-and-snif of the meatballs?

It sounds like they where selling pork for mixing with fatty beef for meat balls or other dishes. I would gring my own if at all possible. You can buy a crank grinder set for under $50.00.

From the sound of it I would bet strong money on chemical contamination. soap mor than likely.