Chefs Dish It Out

[The Hot Pepper]

Are you a chef? Cooking with heat? Dish it out! Tell us your stories (good and bad), menu creations, etc.

No guests, search engines, or regular members can see in here. So talk freely!

Have questions for chefs and chef/owners? Ask!

(This was created so TB could tell us about his new job. But all chefs, please chime in!)

 

[wheebz]

why make omelettes when you can just do mash ups

i used to do this every morning before i went to physics class in college

tater tots first into a pan with oil, brown, add your onions and peppers and pepperonis, add your beaten eggs and seasonings, mix it all up with a spatula, and throw in your cheese and bam, done

no fancy schmancy folding or prep work, mash it all up and you are golden

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

^^ Some fancy chain sells that and calls it the skillet. Top Chef just started again, someone went home for an omelet. So many people cannot make them properly and I fall into that about 50% of the time.

 

[Scovie]

Anyone who lands in my neck-o-the-woods can have their choice of flattop omlet or 12" non-stick saute p[an omlet.

What's this? some kind of diversion? Omelets at SalsaLady's house?

No way.

Biscuits and Gravy, 2-3 eggs OE. Period.

I ain't fallin for your wicked trickery.


omelets at SLs... sheesh.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

I'venever been a big biscuits & gravy fan. Blashphemy, I know.

I d love me some eggs Bennedict though. mmmmmm

Local BBQ joint also does awesome breffas. They use ham from their smoker instead of canadian bacon, and it's about 1,000X better.

Best dang Bennedict I ever had.

And what's up with all the snooty fancy Bennedicts lately? Spinach Bennedict? Guacamole Bennedict? Come on - if something has a name, leave it the hell alone!

I ordered a Reuben not long ago and was asked "do you want pastrami or corned beef"? My jaw dropped. I said "uhm, I want a Reuben." - waitress says, "yeah, you can have your choice of pastrami, turkey or corned beef'. I just bit my tongue and said "corned beef please". She then asked me what kind of bread I wanted it on.

I was speechless. I wanted to scream.

Finally regaining composure I said "I'm sorry Ms - a Reuben is a corned beef sammich on Rye (preferrably marbled) with sour kraut, swiss cheese and Russian dressing, grilled - that's it. It's a named sammich"

she shook her head & walked away like *I* was the crazy one.

Aggh.

What is this country coming to.

Omelets at SLs... sheesh.

I'm in!

 

[salsalady]

I briefly thought of doing omlets at the NWCF, and even more quickly vetoed that idea..... too much work to attempt with what will likely be a hangover. Besides, I'm looking forward to sweet potato waffles.

Boss, making HB's like that at home, you know they're real potatoes. The stuff you get in restaurants....looks the same with the crispy golden, that's what I was saying was most likely frozen shreds.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I don't see how golden brown and crispy means frozen. : scratches head :

That's the goal. And with the potatoes being fresh and not frozen, and the weight, you get that nice paper flat surface, with shreds on the sides.

Frozen patties of hash browns are formed and usually bumpy not flat (like Ore-Ida), because they hit the deep fryer not the griddle. If they do hit the griddle, still, bumpy, because they don't weight them, since they are formed. Even worse, some are par fried.

But do you mean some places use actual frozen shreds of potatoes, not patties? Like shredded cheese, but frozen potatoes? If that's what you mean, no, I didn't know that.

This is exactly how I like 'em! Exactly!! (Fritz's Railroad Restaurant... roadtrip to Shawnee, KC anyone?)

Pic credit: http://www.urbanspoo...sh-browns-photo

Omelets, hash browns.. what's the next topic here. Patty or link?

 

[texas blues]

Sorry boss but we used to get hb's frozen out of a bag just like the ones shown in the pic.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Damn, you learn something new every day.

Well I like to make them when they look just like that. And I like to create a crispy layer that cracks with a fork. Haven't had any at a restaurant in a long ass time.

You guys sure know your hash browns! I thought the frozen fare would look like Ore-Ida only.

 

[texas blues]

The way I like to do hb's is what in Alaska we called "homefries".

Skin on boiled spuds cooled and rough chopped. Then onto a hot greased griddle. Butter helps them to brown up nice.

The potato makes a difference too.

The best ones are the soft variety, i.e. new red, or Yukon Gold type tate's.

Never russet's.

Too starchy.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

We have home fries here at every joint. The hash browns are more in the South. Worst place here for home fries uses baked potatoes and they leave the skin on and it tastes like paper got into them because it separates from the potato. And they vary from the basic to more fancy with rosemary etc. Some places have the orange looking ones, real soft, a little tomato paste or something, etc. I've made this style at home with adobo and different things.

 

[Scovie]

Sorry boss but we used to get hb's frozen out of a bag just like the ones shown in the pic.

They come in a brown bag like the french fries do, and taste like wet cardboard.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

I see the foodservice ones like (right):

But I've seen these before. They don't get as flat and crispy as fresh because they throw them on the flattop frozen so they keep that basic shape and don't get paper flat surfaces.

I can usually tell by how fresh they taste, and how they look. But I could be wrong too. But I'm pretty sure the ones I like are fresh.

 

[Scovie]

For sure. the difference is like night and day.

 

[salsalady]

So what's next?

patty-v-links

burger on the grill-v- flattop

sausage in the B-n-G gravy-v-plain cream gravy

 

[Scovie]

sausage in the B-n-G gravy-v-plain cream gravy

Please NO.

 

[salsalady]

NO what?

 

[texas blues]

So what's next?

patty-v-links

burger on the grill-v- flattop

sausage in the B-n-G gravy-v-plain cream gravy

Small burgers 1/4 pound or less rock on the flattop.

Burgers over open flame ala backyard or open flame are good for that char taste but not my first choice.

I'm a smashed grilled slider kinda' guy.

It could be the burger/pizza cognition theory that more or less is that the first burger or pizza you had as a child and rocked you is the one that sticks in your mind and that you crave. Pizza rather than burgers is more so I reckon but the same theory. I can remember my mother making small burgers in cast iron. Maybe that's why I crave what I crave. I also remember my mother making a pizza from a biscuit/Bisquik style of crust. Damn if I don't crave that every now and then. It's crazy.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Omelets, hash browns.. what's the next topic here. Patty or link?

So what's next?

patty-v-links

burger on the grill-v- flattop

sausage in the B-n-G gravy-v-plain cream gravy

Hey! I said that already.

Okay then...

I like dem patties. Yup. I like sausage egg and cheese on a buttermilk biscuit (with pepper jam!) or croissant. Buttermilk first! Then croissant. Bagel too. I eat that more often here because it's what's avail. NY thang. But gotta love the buttermilk. In Jersey there's pork roll. Most people get bacon. Any regional brekkie sammich by you?

The links... on the side. I hate when I order a sandwich and it's split links. Nooooooooooooooo! I do like the links though. The ones that pop and squirt ya in the eye.

 

[salsalady]

Might be sumpin to that theory TB..

so we're off on a char/grill -v- flattop discussion?



The char/grill does give it that flamed flavor. I like it. And they get those cute cross-hatch marks that look so awesome!


edit- I didn't take the time to quote it, but that's what I was referencing. and I don't like "[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]The ones that pop and squirt ya in the eye.[/background] "







2edit- prolly gonna have to delete that one in the am~~~~ aw what the heck, it is in the EXTREME forum....but still wanna keep it .....sorta.....clean....

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Small burgers 1/4 pound or less rock on the flattop.

Burgers over open flame ala backyard or open flame are good for that char taste but not my first choice.

I'm a smashed grilled slider kinda' guy.

It could be the burger/pizza cognition theory that more or less is that the first burger or pizza you had as a child and rocked you is the one that sticks in your mind and that you crave. Pizza rather than burgers is more so I reckon but the same theory. I can remember my mother making small burgers in cast iron. Maybe that's why I crave what I crave. I also remember my mother making a pizza from a biscuit/Bisquik style of crust. Damn if I don't crave that every now and then. It's crazy.

Good burgers are good burgers man. You can't really compare one style to the other. You have to compare within the style. Like with all foods. Like comparing Tex-Mex to an al pastor taqueria. You just don't do it. You hit one Monday, and the other Tuesday, and enjoy.