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?

People saying fresh egg for scrambled eggs, fair enough, but what is being added to the mixture? Feels like tonnes of milk and butter/margarine. I never add anything to my eggs when I scramble.

Indeed. The Yorkshire pudding/pancake/crêpe batter mixture makes a wonderful mark up.

I was a two hotplate crêpe maker for a few years on a street stall. One side savoury, the other side sweet. We are the DJ's of the catering world. It combines theatre with rapid turnover, cheap ingredients and nobody sits down and starts to make a fuss.

Pizzaiolos are more like the cocktail waiters or mixologists of the food industry, with all that flinging dough in the air and catching it business.

I was just a samurai of the spatula.

not even butter, salt or pepper?
Isn't that dry and boring?

Had a long hospitality career and have NEVER worked in a hotel that has used powdered eggs. No idea where you heard that from but it most certainly is NOT the norm.

yes, the mark up on pizzas is huge.
i had a crepe suzette from a stall in France when I was about 14 . It was marvellous

I worked at a Little Chef for a few years from the late 90s and they didn't use powdered eggs then. The scrambled eggs and omelettes all came ready frozen. Fried eggs were cooked from fresh, but any with a broken yolk had to be discarded. We were told that was why we couldn't make our own scrambled/omelettes, because broken yolks were a contamination risk. When I started, the pancakes were made on site from powdered mix, but they then switched to frozen ones. Apparently to help portion control but they were a bugger to separate so there was a lot of wastage!

Putting some salt into the beaten eggs and letting it stand helps, I only use eggs, salt, pepper and some butter in the pan instead of oil.

Then you can make them very creamy just down to the heat control and how you stir/scramble them. Lower heat, lots of circles with a spatula, and take the pan off the heat just before they look 'perfect' and they'll carry on cooking. Everyone assumes theres loads of butter/milk etc in my eggs and there isn't!

Bonnie Tyler likes eating lots of powdered egg and giving off farts

Pasta is a great mark up too. Pasta and pizza, that's what you want. The punters love it too because it's quite safe with no risk of Tropical Diseases as described in this classic tune too. Everyone's a winner and that's the truth!

l

Back in the days of Little Chef someone I knew called in for breakfast. But the postman hadn't delivered the egg so that was off the menu. I'll presume it came in a parcel and was powdered. Gary Eats on YouTube has just posted a vlog of Rick Steins chip shop. A return visit after a disappointing first visit but seemingly the fish has been recooked from earlier and gets sent back/refunded. Lots of tricks in the food industry to maximize profit/please shareholders
Just seen the post about little chef. But this one did say the postman usually brought the parcel

I was just a samurai of the spatula.

I won’t lie to you you sound just like Nessa from Gavin & Stacey

DS late teen had to tell a restaurant worker to wash his hands after going to the loo the other week. He was just about to walk straight out 🤮

Slightly tangential to the original discussion...
I was in a queue at a motorway service station just before 11.00 one day. The guy in front of me asked for a full breakfast and they put his selections on a plate: bacon, sausage, tomatoes, beans, fried bread, fried egg. And then just as he was about to take the plate, they said "oh, sorry, we don't serve breakfast after 11.00". He argued with them but they said that the tills couldn't ring up breakfast after 11.00 and they threw his food in the bin and took all the trays of food away.

11.00 had arrived while they were making his plate up

Worked in hotels for years, never one where scrambled eggs weren’t made from actual eggs. Obviously I haven’t worked in ALL hotels but 4 of them in the South West, 3/4 Star rated.

Not in premier inn or travelodge

lol, I just watched that last night.
He looked so genuinely disappointed to have been let down again.
Pretty shocking really the fish did look like it had been refried and it wasn't cheap!

How much is KFC paying you? Who says 'herbs 'n' spices'?

It’s done the opposite for me, it sounds excellent.

My ds works at kfc, and I can vouch for the chicken being cooked fresh on site each day. The pieces do come frozen, but once defrosted they’re seasoned and cooked to order. Even the kitchen staff don’t know the ingredients in the spice mix though!

I've worked in hotels, no powdered egg! But you can buy cartons of liquid egg (basically all the misshapen eggs are sold that way)

That's not true. If my husband makes scrambled eggs 'properly' then they are a uniform colour, I like mine quickly cooked and rubbery, then they are white and yellow

@AlwaysFreezing

I make raita and tzatziki with mint sauce

Exactly, we've run pubs, restaurants, clubs etc (and not always served scrambled egg tbh!) but this BULLSHIT doesnt help anyone. This should be pulled

that is what makes their gravy so delicious! Sometimes it’s made without the greasy chicken bits and it doesn’t taste anywhere near as nice 😋

I worked at KFC as a kid and this is true. The mash potato is also made out of powder and water.