(Video may be a little shaky, somebody had to hold the camera! LOL)
Low Cost Fresh Baked Bread
Using frozen dough balls from Sam's Club for low cost bread and minimal use of freezer space while also creating several varieties of bread items. Ideas for small commercial kitchens based off of my current experience as Food Director for a private academy.
(Video may be a little shaky, somebody had to hold the camera! LOL)
(Video may be a little shaky, somebody had to hold the camera! LOL)
Hot Wings / Buffalo Wings
Last week I talked about the men's retreat. One of the food items we had at the men's retreat was hot wings or buffalo wings.
When doing wings I don't like to mess around with the piddly pieces so I'll buy the fresh jumbo wings and cut them down. Wings usually tend to lose a lot of water. When defrosting (and cooking) frozen wings you end up with some real small wings that look terrible!
We season the wings beforehand and bake them up on large sheet trays in the oven. We flash fry the wings as needed. Our standard wing sauce that we like to use is half Frank's hot sauce and half butter (melted) and mixed together.
Our wings are always cooked through and taste great because we season and bake them first before frying. We don't use flour or any other coating on our wings when we deep-fry them. The skin that's already been baked crisps up real nice and crunchy as it fries and it holds up well adding hot sauce later.
When doing wings I don't like to mess around with the piddly pieces so I'll buy the fresh jumbo wings and cut them down. Wings usually tend to lose a lot of water. When defrosting (and cooking) frozen wings you end up with some real small wings that look terrible!
We season the wings beforehand and bake them up on large sheet trays in the oven. We flash fry the wings as needed. Our standard wing sauce that we like to use is half Frank's hot sauce and half butter (melted) and mixed together.
Our wings are always cooked through and taste great because we season and bake them first before frying. We don't use flour or any other coating on our wings when we deep-fry them. The skin that's already been baked crisps up real nice and crunchy as it fries and it holds up well adding hot sauce later.
Men's Retreat
Weekend before last we started our annual men's retreat on that Friday night. I was suffering with a bad hack that I just could not cough past or get better. Unbeknownst to me I was developing or already had pneumonia. It was a rough weekend but a great time!
It was the standard menu (as in almost identical to last time)...man food. We started Friday night with grilled ribeye steaks and loaded baked potatoes. Yes, we had some veggies. Broccoli. And some real nice yeast rolls. Followed by apple and pecan pies served with vanilla bean ice cream, some of that 'all natural' stuff.
Saturday morning we used the leftover ribeye's to cut up as tips and cut & fried the baked potatoes from the night before. Also served bacon, eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy...had butter, jelly, jam...you know all the extra stuff with coffee, milk, and/or orange juice to drink.
Lunch was pretty simple, meatball or kielbasa sub sandwiches with chips.
I was going to do nachos mid afternoon but everybody was still so stuffed I just added them to the dinner menu. We had a late dinner that night about 730 or 8pm I think. We had Nachos, hot wings, and homemade pizzas! And of course anything else left from all the other meals were thrown out there too! The remainder of pies And ice cream came out again afterward.
The funny thing about the equipment there in the kitchen is sometimes the ovens are a bit quirky. Last time we did pizzas it was a two step process...the oven was hot enough to cook them but left the bottom soggy, so we threw them on the flat top grill for awhile and it seemed to remedy that. But, my right hand man last time (PW) was not going to be there for the dinner this time!!! So he went around telling everybody about how I was going to make my homemade pizzas then he split on me!!! LOL
BUT I figured out a way to do it and pulled it through even a little easier than last time and with crispy crusts! I started making all crusts that afternoon after all my dough balls had ample time to relax. Then I started shaping my crusts and par-baking them on sheet pans to a light golden color/crust. Later that evening I just sauced and topped my par-baked crusts and they had enough structure I could finish them straight on the oven rack which produced a nice crispy crust on bottom without another step in the process. Success!
Sunday morning is always simple, homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee...then cleanup and off to church service!
Everything came out great!
This year my sous chef, Roberto, was there attending the retreat but he still helped out! And thanks to several other men at the retreat who helped! ~ Always a great group of guys.
It was the standard menu (as in almost identical to last time)...man food. We started Friday night with grilled ribeye steaks and loaded baked potatoes. Yes, we had some veggies. Broccoli. And some real nice yeast rolls. Followed by apple and pecan pies served with vanilla bean ice cream, some of that 'all natural' stuff.
Saturday morning we used the leftover ribeye's to cut up as tips and cut & fried the baked potatoes from the night before. Also served bacon, eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy...had butter, jelly, jam...you know all the extra stuff with coffee, milk, and/or orange juice to drink.
Lunch was pretty simple, meatball or kielbasa sub sandwiches with chips.
I was going to do nachos mid afternoon but everybody was still so stuffed I just added them to the dinner menu. We had a late dinner that night about 730 or 8pm I think. We had Nachos, hot wings, and homemade pizzas! And of course anything else left from all the other meals were thrown out there too! The remainder of pies And ice cream came out again afterward.
The funny thing about the equipment there in the kitchen is sometimes the ovens are a bit quirky. Last time we did pizzas it was a two step process...the oven was hot enough to cook them but left the bottom soggy, so we threw them on the flat top grill for awhile and it seemed to remedy that. But, my right hand man last time (PW) was not going to be there for the dinner this time!!! So he went around telling everybody about how I was going to make my homemade pizzas then he split on me!!! LOL
BUT I figured out a way to do it and pulled it through even a little easier than last time and with crispy crusts! I started making all crusts that afternoon after all my dough balls had ample time to relax. Then I started shaping my crusts and par-baking them on sheet pans to a light golden color/crust. Later that evening I just sauced and topped my par-baked crusts and they had enough structure I could finish them straight on the oven rack which produced a nice crispy crust on bottom without another step in the process. Success!
Sunday morning is always simple, homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee...then cleanup and off to church service!
Everything came out great!
This year my sous chef, Roberto, was there attending the retreat but he still helped out! And thanks to several other men at the retreat who helped! ~ Always a great group of guys.
Favorites This Week
Below are a few things I found this week I like. Each picture was borrowed from, and has a link to the original post so hopefully I am not breaking online etiquette. Merely trying to bring attention to some cool ideas and a few new things.[click pics for link back to articles]
Ah yeah sounds like a good easy one! Bourbon Baked Apples, or maybe spiced rum, or cider? Looks delicious for cold weather! Over at How Sweet It Is!
Cool Idea!
Free Prints for the KITCHEN!
For Real? This looks like a delicious 'replica' of Avalanche Bark from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - Recipe Included! ~ From The Brown Eyed Baker!
Roasted Sweet Potato - Bulk Prep
Need a few pounds of sweet potatoes this holiday season but prefer not to use the canned ones? Let your oven due the work for you! Very little actual prep time involved besides waiting on the oven to cook them.
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