Upgrading the menu, without a kitchen

[felipetruji]

Hi Folks,

My name's Felipe, from Colombia (South America), I'm not a professional cooker just an enthusiast so  I'm looking advice from the community to help me get in the right direction...

My wife owns a small café-gelato-bar in a small town, through the years the place has slowly been transforming itself into something like a pub (not like the sport irish pub), we serve some local artisanal brews, and it a really nice place that people seems to enjoy.

Aside from the café menu, we offer the waffles, ice cream cups, milkshakes, fruit juices and smoothies so we are fine on the sweet side, however we only have a few subpar sandwiches on the menu and people is asking for more salty stuff.

The problem is that we don't really have a kitchen, only two commercial grade waffle irons, this contact grill (http://www.unox.com/en/sc_p_rig_neri_xp010er), a microwave oven, a commercial blender, an induction cooktop, and that's it, and for the time being we can't afford on getting a full kitchen or any new hardware.

So i'd like to have ideas from the community on what do you think we can do if we want to upgrade our menu (on the salty side) when we don't really have a kitchen to work with? something obvious i'm missing?

 

(excuse me for my bad English)

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by felipetruji (log)

[Okanagancook]

Your waffle iron could be used for all kinds of creative salty goodies.  Take a look at this:  https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/behind-the-scenes-waffle-iron-frenzy

[djyee100]

Could you tell us a little more about your "local artisanal brews"? I assume these are some kind of beers. Are you looking for salty foods to match the beers?

[felipetruji]

6 minutes ago, djyee100 said:

Could you tell us a little more about your "local artisanal brews"? I assume these are some kind of beers. Are you looking for salty foods to match the beers?

 

yes I meant beers, and yes i'd love to match the beers.

 

[Kerry Beal]

Couple of Instant Pots you could add soups, stews and chilis - that will keep themselves warm in the pot. 

[djyee100]

Cheese goes so well with beer, and it has salt. Grilled cheese sandwiches or Mexican-style quesadillas. Some kind of empanada with cheese.

 

Any kind of highly seasoned meat. Mini-burgers, smoked sausages, kebabs. I'm thinking of kofta kebabs that are made of ground meat; you form them around a skewer.

 

Popcorn in the microwave with oil and salt, and you can add spices too.

 

Any kind of salted fried potatoes goes great with beer, but maybe not a practical dish for your kitchen equipment. If you start with parboiled potatoes, already cut up, and fry them on your stovetop, that might work.

 

If you go with an instant cooker for braised meat, you could make braised meat slider sandwiches, like pulled pork sandwiches, that are fantastic with beer. I'm thinking of something like this:
http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/beer-braised-pulled-pork-27755

Edited February 27, 2016 by djyee100 (log)

[IndyRob]

I would search for Muffaletta.  It's a New Orleans sandwich of Italian heritage.  No cooking is required.  In fact, two (capacolla and sopressetta) of the three meats typically found in it are cured, not cooked (mortadella is, but is usually bought that way). 

 

The olive salad that is spread on the bread is usually quite salty.  And I think it would lend itself nicely to substitution of what's locally available.

[Okanagancook]

All great ideas.  The thing about using the waffle maker is that you are making a signature item that customers will remember.  'Have you had the waffle sandwiches at .....'

you can make crispy potato cakes with the waffle maker, needs some experimentation but you could have the potatoes ready for heating and crispening in the waffle makers.  You could put various spices in them and/or serve with different sauces.

 

good luck and do let us know how things turn out.

[shain]

Take a look at this recipe collection in Serious Eats . They have plenty of unique and simple recipes, many of which are savory. 

[suzilightning]

You might try a web search "savory waffle recipes"