Rob: I certainly feel your pain with regard to how hot it gets back in the
kitchen. When I did my externship, the back was always quite warm, though
the boss would run a little fan in the corner that helped a little. I was
always glad I worked mornings that summer. But I actually used to walk
three blocks in the Vegas heat, in full uniform, to get back home in the
afternoon. Your story brings to mind Anthony Bordain's first book, where in
he talks about working at The Rainbow Room in New York City after he
finished at the CIA. He described the kitchen as a long line of griddles
and stoves on one side, and clouds of steam from the steam tables and
kettles on the other side. He said it wasn't uncommon for cooks to pass out
on the line from heat exhaustion. I can't even imagine a work environment
that bad. The bakery at the strip property where I worked at least footed
it for AC in all the kitchens on the property, including the bakery, so I
never had to deal with anything like that.
Jon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob" <captinlogic@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2017 5:03 AM
Subject: [blindcooks] Re: Working with Pie Crusts
Since I work at a pizza and chicken joint again, I am not looking forward to
summer. We not only have pizza ovens, but two commercial deep fat fryers. I
believe they are pressure fryers, because we have these big round baskets on
legs. I haven't worked with them yet though.
I'd like to get a pressure fryer just to try one out, but they start at 1500
dollars and I think they are only for restaurant usage. I.E, large, bulky
and not very comfortable in a home kitchen.
You can bet that we lowly peons won't get air conditioning in the back,
while the guests up front will be nice and comfy.
It won't be as bad up here as out there in Vegas, but still, bad enough.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Rawlings" <twosocks76@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2017 04:59:00 -0700
Subject: [blindcooks] Re: Working with Pie Crusts
Rob: Somehow, pizza dough isn't a big deal for me, but I don't like making
pizza during the hot months here. Heating up my oven to 500 degrees when
it's well over 100 outside just isn't practical when a power bill at the
peak of summer is often around $250 - $300 a month. But oh man do I love
pizza done right in my cast iron skillet. Emily and I agree it's far better
than most take out joints. Valerie, I remember those large mixers very well
from my days at the bakery. I used a 60-quart machine for most of what I
made, but the pancake batter got made in a larger 140-quart model. I had
to have help wheeling the mixing bowl down to the tipper tie machines
because I was always afraid of tipping it over and losing the batter. The
tipper tie machine was something where you had three horseshoe-shaped steel
racks swhich were used to hold open each of four 2-gallon heavy duty plastic
bags. I'd then use a one-gallon metal pitcher to pour in the pancake
batter. You'd then twist the bag at the top and run it through a thing that
cut off the top of the bag and stapled it shut with a small metal clamp. I
still shutter to think what could happen if some poor sap ever was stupid
enough to get their finger in there. As to puff pastry and other rolled-in
doughs, I'd hate to find the stuff at the store only to find that it was
made with puff pastry shortening rather than butter. There just i0sn't any
substitute for butter in any rolled-in pastry.
Jon
