Basic Food Preparation Tips for your Restaurant

Basic Food Preparation Tips for your Restaurant

Are you thinking about stepping into the food business? Do you want to serve high-quality, delicious food that would tempt people to return to your restaurant again and again? Do you want to plate up your amazing culinary marvels on time and avoid the unnecessary rush and hassle in the kitchen? If you do, some insider tips and tricks can help you get the food ready quickly and easily without wasting your valuable time, energy, and resources during the rush hours.

The first and foremost tip for ensuring success in the restaurant business is to serve fresh, healthy, and hygienically prepared food. Here are some basic tips to get food served without creating panicky situations and kitchen disasters and deliver perfectly turned-out menu selections every time.

Tip # 1: Get a food processor

When orders start coming in, you must work fast without sacrificing food quality while running a commercial restaurant. To prepare your ingredients, you must ensure you have all the help you need.

Machines and food processors are a great help in a commercial kitchen. A good industrial food processor for your restaurant can be a valuable investment. You can chop, slice, shred, grind, puree, and whatnot with your food processor. They help make the perfect sauces, salads, sorbets, and spreads with almost no labor.

Tip # 2: Make the preparations

Your menu will decide what ingredients you need to source from appropriate vendors. Sourcing meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, and herbs from reliable vendors and keeping track of existing stock is a key part of daily preparations. Freshly sourced ingredients add to your credibility.

The second step you must take in advance is preparing the ingredients. It makes one look very professional and thorough. It also helps avoid the unnecessary stress in the kitchen when hungry customers wait impatiently to get served.

Most restaurants prepare the food they need to cook or assemble in advance. They chop, slice and dice the vegetables, marinate meat, poultry, and fish and prepare spices and herbs in separate containers. The chefs have access to all these containers, making it easy to prepare the food in no time.

When you have everything to hand, chopped up, pureed, and ground, you only need to toss, cook, and serve the delicious delicacies.

Tip # 3: Keep it clean

Make sure to thoroughly wash and clean everything before preparing your food, including your hands, utensils, fruits, vegetables, and the countertop. Cross-contamination is possible if the food comes in contact with bacteria on the hands, countertop, or utensils.

Wash your hands thoroughly with an antibacterial hand wash. Wear your gloves to avoid any skin contact with food. Soak the meat, fruits, and vegetables in cold water to eliminate dirt and pesticides. However, soaking food in water for longer than necessary will make them lose essential minerals and vitamins. Avoid that. Dry the food with a clean cloth after washing it because bacteria tend to grow on moist surfaces.

Tip # 4: Separate the working stations

You should keep the ingredients separate before cooking. Keep the meat away from the vegetables. Do not use the same cutting board and utensils for vegetables that you used for poultry.

The best way to do this is to divide your kitchen into stations. A separate station for meat would be a great idea, where one can cut, cook and wash it, keeping it away from the raw vegetables and fruit.

Tip # 5: Keep an eye on the temperature

Food items need to be stored separately based on their temperature. Poultry, fish, and other kinds of meats, for example, need comparatively lower temperatures than fruits, vegetables, and dairy. If one fails to provide them with the required temperature, the food might spoil, resulting in food contamination.

Apart from that, a food thermometer is one of the basic needs in a kitchen. It would be best if you made sure that the food, poultry especially, is thoroughly cooked and not raw, as the bacteria in meat doesn’t die until it is fully cooked. Keep it somewhere warm once the food is cooked and there is still time to serve it.

Tip # 6: Do not compromise on the flavors

While salt is very important to bring out the flavors of the food, it is crucial to know that the food should be well seasoned with other spices too. Neither overuse the spices nor underuse them. A good way to judge the right amount is to follow one key principle. Do not allow the spices’ flavor to overpower the main ingredients’ flavor. The chicken should taste like chicken and not a peppercorn. The flavors of the food stay in your customers’ memory and force them to come to you next time they think of going out to eat.

Tip # 7: Keep it Healthy

Focusing on healthier alternatives for food preparation adds to the credibility of a restaurant. It is recommended that you steam the food rather than boiling it because the food loses valuable nutrients during the boiling process. It is also best to use small amounts of good quality oil. You may want to use a non-stick pan to eliminate the extra use of grease in your cooking.

Tip # 8: Perfect Presentation on the plate

Lastly, the presentation of the food is as important as the actual taste itself. A meal must appeal to all the senses, and where aromas can tempt the appetite, the presentation can make the meal appear more attractive and tastier. The look is the first experience of the meal, and if it is aesthetically pleasing, it is more likely to be judged delicious. The first element necessary for plating is to choose a plate whose color, size, and shape are well-suited to serve as a background for the meal you plan to serve. Also, it should be easy for your customers to eat from the dish. While plating, start with the most portions of the meal and then avoid filling the plate, create height instead to make it visually interesting. Create vibrant and colorful contrasts using a variety of sauces, vegetables, and garnishes. Combine different textures to add depth and variety to the plate.

Conclusion

These tips can help you save time and keep it healthy and clean. To provide the best quality of food in your restaurant and retain your sales, you must serve freshly prepared, perfectly seasoned, and well-presented dishes that are still warm when served. Reduce the customer wait times without compromising on the quality of the food. It is very important to be organized. You should also be well aware of the spices you use. Value your customers, and prioritize their health over your convenience.