Kitchen hygiene

[geo0939]

I just caught part of a TV cookery programme where a number of would-be chefs were being put through their paces. I noticed that before a certain dish was taken to the customer the chef, to enhance the appearance, wiped the plate with a piece of cloth which was hanging from his apron. Very soon afterwards the cloth was used to wipe sweat from the forehead of the same chef. I'm curious as to how many other plates and places this cloth would come into contact during the course of a shift in the kitchen. Frankly, after seeing this, I would prefer the food to be slightly untidy on the plate. Am I being too picky?

[nickmo]

Easy answer - don't ever eat in a restaurant. Once you know how the food got on your plate, you will only want to eat roadkill.....off the road.

Don't forget though this TV was based on the cheffing of untrained chefs. Try that in a good kitchen and the next thing on the special of the day would be their genitals. Probably lightly chargrilled and nestling on a compote of teeth puree.

Hygiene is one of the key ingredients in cooking. That's why so many open plan kitchens are in fashion so the diner can watch what goes on. On the other hand, an untrained, pressured cook will do whatever they want. Yum. And no doubt you've seen the expose programmes about what can go on. For goodness sake tip when you eat out or suffer the consequences!!

[Ethel]

"For goodness sake tip when you eat out or suffer the consequences!!"

Thankfully the tips are paid at the end of the meal, so the staff have no idea whether you intend to tip or not.

[JulieEve]

geo039 I saw one of those cheffy restaurant programmes once where the chef actually spat on his cloth and wiped round the plate! I couldn't believe it. None of his colleagues batted an eyelid. Eww!

[mindimplode]

I am a chef with experience of resteraunts of different catering levels. And I'm sorry to say that although I take great pride in my own hygene, I know A LOT of other chefs wouldn't. Nickmo is pretty spot on about the fact that the head chef would (or should) kick off about hygene, but I'm afraid the awful truth is that a lot of business' today care about profits rather than hygene, and in most resteraunts I've worked in, getting the food out to the punter takes priority over cleaning.

The best advice I can offer is this;

1 - Simply eat somewhere that looks clean and well maintained. The chances are that the owner/manager must obviously realise that hygene is an issue, and will have hopefully made his head chef run his kitchen accordingly.

2 - Eat somewhere expensive. If the food in the resteraunt is cheap, then the staff must be getting paid less (or the company isn't making any money). Cheaper staff = less training or experience.

3 - Check out the staff - do they look tidy? If you really are concerned about a chefs responsibility in the kitchen, look at him/her (I know sometimes you can't). They should take pride in their appearence. Tidy uniform with appropriate appenditures, eg. a hair net or rubber gloves.

I'm sorry if these statements are a little of the bloody obvious, but it is that simple. Eating out is always going to contain these risks, and I'm afraid the only things stopping chefs doing what they want is either good management or hygenic personal morals, and some catering establishments have niether.