Firstly thanks for reading it!
I should have made it clearer about the menu - that 40 includes jackets, pizzas, baguettes, but is mainly meat that comes in from the butcher vacuum packed and gets grilled to order. We get deliveries every couple of days so freshness isn't a problem. Of the other items, Pies and Puddings have to be made in large batches - we can easily get through 50 portions of pie in a day over summer, so over the quieter winter times we make them up and freeze them down. Everything comes down to the taste test - for example our burgers are home-made with just mince, onion, herbs and seasoning - nothing else. We found purely by accident that cooking one from frozen actually has a better texture than fresh as it binds together better.
The knack was getting 3 or 4 dishes out of each ingredient, so cod fillets could be battered with chips, grilled with herb butter on salad, used in fish pie or breaded into real fish fingers for the children's menu.
With 4 or 5 people in the kitchen, the menu wouldn't be a hassle to serve - one person works fryers, one the grill, one the hob and one plates up. 1 person trying to do it failed miserably!
I'm going to get agency staff in for a little while, but with in-house training I don't need an excellent hotel chef - I need a cook who can organise the kitchen.
I promise the next blog will be more cheerful though!
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Originally Posted by Conrad
