tyronebcookin

Oven Cooking - Chicken

For cooking chicken oven baking/roasting seems to be the best. I buy a 40 pound box of random chicken breasts (because its usually the cheapest way to buy it AND it doesn't come frozen). In the picture below you see I have covered three full sheet pans with aluminium foil and covered that with non-stick spray.

The inside of the case/box is usually four bags of chicken breasts. Usually huge in size, some still connected together like the shape of a set of lungs.

Lay them out on the sheet trays smooth sides up (actually it really doesn't matter but that's my preference) and season them liberally with Montreal Chicken seasoning or the seasoning of your choice. Good ole salt will do too!

It takes this chicken about one hour to cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Then you can start checking the internal temperature with thermometer. AND/OR use the below kind of thermometer and set an alarm to go off when the internal chicken temperature is 165 or 170 Fahrenheit just for that extra push. After that check several thick random pieces with the Thermopen (thermometer) to make sure its done on all trays.

Depending on when your going to use the chicken let it cool on the speed rack or put it in the warmer. This is the same chicken we use for chicken salads, soft taco/burrito, chicken & pasta alfredo, chicken w'rice/egg roll...and can also be used for BBQ Chicken sandwich day. We change the lunch up by changing presentation, cuts, or sauces while using and cooking the chicken the same way. This keeps the ordering, cooking, and planning simple. A versatile cheap cut of meat.

Scrubbing The Floor - Once A Month

To get started make sure and rinse the mop out real good first, then ring it out. You will need to use the mop one time in the beginning (behind the refrigerator and freezer after scrubbing) without having the bucket.

When using the mop bucket and a brush to scrub the floor I either use this...And follow directions on jug...

Or these two products...And use one cap full of bleach and 2 drops of Dawn AFTER filling the mop bucket with water.

If this mixture doesn't seem "sudsy" enough then add a little bit more lemon disinfectant (it has a cleaner in it) or a couple of ADDITIONAL drops of Dawn in the bleach water.

I make fresh mop water the same way. (minus any extra "suds")

Before scrubbing the floor let's remove all the unnecessary stuff in our way. The trash can by the sink and the culinary tool box...

The other trash can by the end of the table and the laundry bag by the freezer...

Also the speed rack and alto-sham warmer in this area...

You can roll or carry it all out right outside the door and front of service window.

The best way to start is to quickly scrub the floor behind the refrigerator and freezer, mop it...

Then push it all back into place.

Now your ready to do the rest of the floor.

I wet the floor down with the brush and scrub small areas of the floor real good.

After getting everything scrubbed down (floor should not be flooded with water) go back and mop the whole floor. Use the same mop bucket just make some fresh mop water.

Staying in one area till all the excess water has been mopped up and floor is clean. Ring out the mop head as many times as necessary and continue to mop small areas at a time till the whole floor is done.

When you are through the floor should look pretty clean (or even more so) and not any more wet than a usual day of sweeping and mopping.

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Through experience we found this the most efficient way to do it.

Efficient: achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.

Once A Year - Exhaust Hood

About once a year the exhaust hood needs the intake air filters cleaned. The filters (2 of them) are on the roof and can be accessed through removing two screws on top of the intake unit.

Here are some pictures after I already removed the two filters for cleaning. I generally just spray the filters out real well with water sprayer at kitchen sink. Maybe if they are real bad you can let them soak for awhile in the 3-sink in the kitchen then spray the filters out and let them run a couple of time in the automatic dishwasher.

Takes two screws to remove the top and to get to the filters to slide them out.

Here is the exhaust fan unit for the actual "exhaust". The belt, pictured below, can be bought at Grainger in town on Jordan Lane. (click the link) The belts are not that expensive so we just get them there. There may be other places you can purchase them. Always buy at least 2 at a time so there is always a backup. You can use a socket set or some hand wrenches to loosen and tighten the bolts in order to put another belt on BUT if the belt has already broken off I usually put the new belt all the way on the motor pulley and partially on the fan pulley and give it a quick spin and the belt will pop all the way on like a tight bicycle tire without ever having to use any tools.

Both the intake and exhaust unit have seperate electrical switches close to their motors so you don't have to turn the exhaust switch off in the kitchen to work on them. Just climb the ladder to the roof and switch off the one you want to work on.

Both Pastor Will Umbarger and Jim Cochran have some experience with this maintenance job so if you have any questions they should be able to help you out!

Dishwasher Use

Our dishwasher was never made for real heavy-duty dish washing. Mildly soiled dishes at best. It uses both detergent and sanitizer BUT because it doesn't have its own internal water heater it makes it harder to wash the dishes completely clean and/or remove a greasy film WITHOUT doing some pre-preemptive cleaning to the dishes before going in the dishwasher.

The hot water we use comes from a water heater and its output usually tops out at just above 120 degrees F. AND this just happens to be the temperature the Health Department looks for the on the gauge on the dishwasher when its running a cleaning cycle.

High-temp machines require an additional booster water heater to provide sanitizing hot water above 180° F (82.2° C) during the rinse cycle BUT this also cleans the dishes better during a regular wash cycle.

We use a detergent and a sanitizing solution. If you click on the picture of the two buckets I think it will enlarge enough for you to see the writing on them. Both of these can be ordered through Halsey or pretty much ANY food service company. (Sysco, US Foods, PFG...)

The dishwasher is also capable of running a "rinse aid" on one of the cycles. This is not necessary by the Health Department AND we have found that even when we use a "low-temp" rinse aid for our low-temp dishwasher it isn't very effective. It doesn't work well enough to justify the cost.

Cleaning Dishes

Here is our simple technique: Wash dishes with HOT water, soak dishes in COLD water.

Why do we do it this way? (Read DISHWASHER USE first!)

Sometimes the hot water seems to be limited from the water heater tank and our dishwasher does not have an internal water heater so in essence we need all the hot water for it to run and clean its best.
Most pots and pans do not require hot water to soak and remove stuck on food
If a pot/pan/dish is extremely greasing but not really dirty we then use the Soap Water (again that Dawn dish detergent cuts grease the best) and hot water to remove the grease or greasiness. But if it needs to soak we can still use the cold water before scrubbing with the hot.

The key to this system is because most starch and protein based foods absorb the water and loosen up over time with faucet temperature water. Hot water tends to re-activate, tighten up, or otherwise continue to cook food in the dish making it even harder to release from the dish.

Even sugar based sauces or food that is soaked with cold water will eventually, given time, absorb the water and loosen its grip. We hardly ever have one dish that JUST has to be washed right away to be used again.

Give it time, let it soak. Don't work hard scrubbing dishes when its not necessary.

Another technique we use is spraying a dish down right away even if we are not going to clean it. This helps keep leftover food and liquid from getting a chance to dry on and make it harder to clean. When you carry a dish over that looks like its going to be hard to clean, spray it quickly, and then leave in sink. DO this when the dish doesn't necessarily need to soak.

The following are a few examples:

Macaroni & Cheese (shells) - fill with cold water.

BBQ Chicken baked with sauce in it. Fill with cold water.

Another view...See the crusty black stuck on residue on sides of pan?

Here both pans have soaked about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cheese and starch sprays off with ease with hand sprayer before using dishwasher.

Crusty black stuck on residue burnt to the sides...

Now wipe of with one swipe of the soapy green pad.

Both wash off quickly and are run through the dishwasher. No need to stand there a long time trying to scrub hard with a more abrasive cleaner.

Sometimes cooking starchy things like potatoes, pasta, and rice can be a hassle to get out of the pans BUT if you don't need to get it out of the pan right away then just cover it and put it into refrigerator and clean it out the next day. The starches then get cold and clump together (to their-self) instead of to the pan and make it easy to clean them out of a pan. Example below.

I just pulled this pan out of the refrigerator after sitting overnight. The day before the rice was HOT and sticking very hard to the pan.