Stuff I didn't know about restaurants until recently

[samarrange]

I am very old, but I only learned this year that hotel buffet scrambled eggs are usually made from powdered egg. That explains why they are a uniform colour. Scrambled eggs made from scratch have yellow and white bits.

On the plus side, I also learned recently that the chicken (or at least the "Original Recipe" pieces) at KFC is made from scratch in the shop every day from fresh chicken pieces, flour, and herbs'n'spices. I had imagined it was all done in a factory somewhere and then cooked from frozen.

What are some other bits of restaurant knowledge that surprised you?

And yes scrambled eggs in a not brilliant buffet chain type place always seem bland and slippery and too smooth, no curds. It's well worth eating them somewhere smaller or independent made to order.

Aww, I was reservations clerk. But did a lot of overtime waitressing, conference and banqueting and in Midnight Blues

I'd hope this isn't common, but someone I worked with married a butcher who explained that he supplied the local 250 bed hotel with any meat right on its use by date
Apparently the owner had a whole group of independent butchers doing this for him, and not surprisingly paid them a tiny fraction of what the meat would have cost originally

I went to a Morrisons in store cafe and asked for poached eggs (as opposed to fried eggs as I had just come from Slimming World!!). They said they did not have any although it was on the menu and there were boxes of eggs! Then of course I realised they probably did not use fresh eggs for them and had 'ready made ' ones that they had run out of!!!

sounds good business sense if the meat was used in the next day or 2

_

This is a link to one short by a youtube channel by Drew Talbot. He mainly does shorts about the craziness of working in hospitality but longer videos as well and even storylines like a little soap opera with recurring characters who frequent Bistrot Huddy.

It's very true to life. You can get quite invested and forget that it's just one man playing everybody. Here's another favourite of mine: "Bartender Sign Language."

https://youtube.com/shorts/nJAwNmhFlrs?si=uMLf7qCYXsgUdyMX

Ooh this is brilliant! I didn’t know that. Good to have another use for the mint sauce that just sits forlornly at the back of the fridge awaiting the very occasional roast lamb dinner.

I worked at McDonald's on the late 80s when they bought in the egg mcmuffin and we had to break the eggs. Hence I can break one in each hand at the same time.

Many years ago I saw frozen scrambled eggs in a cash and carry warehouse. Grey blocks of the stuff. I have never been able to think of a situation where you could reheat frozen scrambled egg but not actually cook it from scratch?

Omg! I love the Brighton Grand! Stay there lots! Is it powdered eggs? I like them

I used to work at travelodge and they used to bin the buffet breakfast when the time is up. I just felt so sad tipping 20 sausages into the bin so I used to sneakily take some home for my dogs 🥹 they didn’t want us to eat it 🙃

Well, KFC gravy tastes great- because they make it properly with the heat drippings! That’s how I’d make my gravy at home.

When I worked in an upmarket gastro pub, all the veg scraps from the serving dishes they’d use for Sunday lunch went on to make the Soup of the Day on a Monday morning. So they’d all been on people’s tables and uneaten and just not eaten! We used to put them in a big vat when we cleared.

We also used to store cubes of butter in water 🤷🏻‍♀️

The waste from buffet hotel breakfast is shocking honestly! Some bag it up for TooGoodtoGo but lots just lob it in a bin. So I never feel guilty about taking extra wrapped in napkins for lunch later 🤣

Yes add a bit of cumin powder, chilli and lemon juice to jar of mint sauce to yogurt for raita. Or garam masala instead of cumin

I remember being shocked that crispy seaweed from the Chinese was in fact cabbage.

And that the finely chopped onions on McDonald's burgers were dehydrated.

The horrifying realisation a penguin biscuit is just a bourbon with chocolate round it.

I still want to know why every single pub in the whole of the UK is incapable of making vaguely passable, freshly cooked roast potatoes?! And why we need a Yorkshire the size of a lion's head?

This is why I’d never order a fish curry!

I think it's tricky to do good roast potatoes because they start to lose their crispness and go a bit soggy when they're kept warm. Especially if they put a lid on them. Yorkshire pudding go a bit biscuity from being under the heated light things

And why we need a Yorkshire the size of a lion's head?

because they cost pennies to make but look impressive and are delicious.
Restauranteur's dream food

@FanofLeaves , the uneaten veg used for soup is properly minging. But I don't get pps' revulsion at the KFC gravy making. I haven't eaten meat since the 80s, but that's how you're meant to make gravy, isn't it? With the meat juices?

@butterbeancasserole is there anything you’d like to share or think we should all know from a food hygiene or eating out perspective?

I was always told to avoid minestrone soup as it’s all the veg that are past their best

something I was taught by my parents growing up was to check out the toilets before ordering food, if a cafe or restaurant has the attention to detail to ensure they are kept to a high standard it bodes well. It’s the hospitality equivalent of checking if a candidate has polished their shoes for a job interview

I am in hotels A LOT.
Most have stopped using powdered eggs.... In fact I haven't seen that in at least 6 or 7 years. Some use the fresh eggs that come in cartons, but most are using actual eggs.
Small disclaimer that these are 3,4 and 5 star hotels. I am unsure about motels and other places.

My scrambled eggs made at home never have white bits, I find that super gross. I whisk mine thoroughly.

Also I worked in KFC as a teen and all spicy plus original chicken was made fresh, but the poppers and nuggets are obviously frozen.
The mash is powdered too, which won't surprise anyone.

The worst thing about KFC tha to discovered was watching staff swap the time stamps on the chicken in the heated cabinet to say it had just been fried when it was hours old.

they are used to make the egg for pork pies with egg in, the kind that are made and sliced up.

I don’t know what hotels you stay in but I can rest easy at night knowing I don’t have to suffer from powder eggs.

you see I think that's a good thing to use veg up that's getting past its best.
I like to hear when restaurants do this as I like the ethos of reducing food waste, plus it means they are actually makin food themselve not just buying Brakes..
Love a minestrone

The Premier Inns that I have been in certainly use whole eggs to scamble - they generally only scramble or poach them to order, but always have fried on the buffet.

I can't see it would make much sense to get powdered egg to use for scrambled when you'll already have to have a shed load of real ones on hand as well to fry and poach.

These sound amazing (the egg cylinders). Is it like a long tube and you crack a load of eggs into it, then seal the ends and boil it in tube format?