I work at a country club with a bunch of old people and they all agree that this method of storing frozen portioned pre-sliced cheese steak slabs is superior: remove from packaging, slightly thaw, roll 1.5 slightly thawed slabs together, portion bag, re-freeze, thaw before service to cook and serve. My point of view is the frozen slabs are a superior storage method because they need less storage space, keep indefinitely, and don’t cost 30 minutes of labor of rolling flat meat into portion bags. The old heads maintain that I am legitimately stupid for holding this belief, and are all looking at me like I’m a dummy stupid head. Please tell me if I’m right, if they are, or if this doesn’t even matter.
by sername807
32 Comments
Depends on how bad your line cooks are I guess?
so portioning them before soring in the freezer? not sure what the issue is
You’re right, they’re wrong. But if you fight this battle, you’ll lose the war.
Slabs will cook faster and hold less space. But does it matter? No. Not really.
Does it save time portioning it when an order comes in?
If you’re rolling flat meat in the bag, it will thaw just as fast. If your bunching up the meat and then rolling the bag, it will take a little longer to thaw.
You would be legitimately stupid to carry on with the argument, do it the way they do it, why cause trouble?
Should be laid out flat before freezing. Cooks and thaws much faster that way
Ok listen thats just old school shit. It’s a little outdated, sure it is, but it the logic isn’t crazy at all. If you don’t go though that much or it’s slow , you can control it better. It’s frozen shaved steak who gives a shit, pull it day of and your fine. Kitchen work is a alot of dumb tedious shit that don’t make sense
You’re wrong. They’re right. Suck it up buttercup and swallow that pride and you’ll learn more and be a better cook.
People really like it when the new guy comes in with an attitude and tells them they’re wrong about everything. Keep it up.
https://i.redd.it/72b81t5qsdmf1.gif
just to add on to the chorus here- play by their rules. you can try it your way in your own kitchen or when youre a bigger deal around there in a few years. You havent even had time to test why they do it qnd mentally compare it to your method over a 3-6 month period. youll be fine with an extra 30 min of paid labor. Not even extra if youre not coming in early or leaving late for this.
Wait if you use 10 lbs of beef every week… whats the best method here.. I shouldn’t portion? Do I leave it all unthawed. Do i freeze the whole thing?
It saves time during the busy period. When it’s busy, and people are buying this, you won’t have time to prep every single portion. So, you portion it beforehand.
I don’t see the disconnect here. Why do we do prep work? So we don’t have to do the prepping during service?
Get back to cutting. The old heads are right.
I don’t understand this paragraph you’ve written.
What product are you buying, and how exactly are you handling it?
Are you buying a frozen product? What is a ‘1.5 slightly thawed slab’?
What do you mean ‘roll together’?
Yeah, I don’t understand this lol
The lower or more erratic the volume, the more portioning makes sense.
Are they paying you by the hour? If so then explain why you’re bothered by getting paid to do a simple task. If he’s paying you $17 an hour to clean the subway tile with a toothbrush you’re still getting paid the same an hour. I think the real issue is you don’t want to work, you just want to show up to get the paycheck. On another note you’re an entry level employee who knows nothing about projected business for the week nor do you know anything about labor costs or food cost. Id say your packaging it like that so they don’t throw away 3/4” of the case at the end of the week when u sell 2 whole cheesesteak sandwiches and left the whole case thawed because you think you know best.
Just do the work and open your ears, maybe you will learn something.
Over the course of the year, this saves on waste.
There are probably 100 + systems in our kitchen we could do better or stream line or what ever. But if you are new and you start talking about what we can do better.. well you probably won’t last.
I really hate that dumb redditism of giving something you’re taking a picture of the finger, especially something like this, it makes you look stupid.
I learned it is better to have a practical solution that you are willing to try and prove. Then it becomes your job to do the cheese steak and clean the machine.
I would never say this is stupid why dont YOU do it like this.
Also I would do a flat frozen portion. Like a layer/sole of a shoe. It would cook faster. That is how I seen it come in when ordered from a vendor. Also parchment paper inbetween portions can help limit plastic wrap usage. You can crack off the portions too. Seen that as well
Things that save prep time often cost ticket time in my experience. I’d much rather have a long prep list that I can take at my own pace, than a stressful line shift because nothing is portioned. (PORTION THE GODDAMN FRIED PICKLES IF YOURE READING THIS DANIEL)
Freeze flat, easier to use, can cook from frozen
This advice is usually for new management, but works for everyone really.
When you’re new to a situation, don’t suggest changes until you’ve been there long enough to be able to clearly articulate the pros and cons of the way they’re doing it now. And if you do suggest a change ensure it keeps the same pros, and eliminates at least two cons.
Nobody likes someone who steps into a situation and starts wanting to change things without understanding why it’s that way in the first place. Taking that time and having that understanding will go a long way in eliminating battles.
Yes, you are overreacting, and the middle finger makes it even worse.
its anti waste. think on it a bit
I used to have a boss who always questioned a process by asking, “Is that best practice or a T.T.W.W.A.D.I?” (Pronounced TWATI). (TTWWADI, stands for That’s The Way We’ve Always Done It). So many hills we died on were over tradition, not best practice or efficiency.
I dont understand the problemo. This label missing a date is more of an issue in my book.
An old man gave me advise at one of my first jobs a long time ago. “The boss isen’t always right, but they’re always the boss.” Most of the time, unless there’s a safety/legal issue, the best thing to do is just follow the system that the business uses. Even if you think its suboptimal, you’ll just be the asshole rocking the boat fot “no reason.”
Yes, you’re overreacting by flipping off your shaved steak
Portions allow you to take what you need. How do you handle the slab? Thaw the entire slab and hope to use it all?