Count Up
As tickets come in, first count up the needed ingredients prior to placing any food on the grill. For example, count up the number of hamburger patties, fries, hashbrowns, orders of sausage, bacon, etc. Get everything out you will need prior to placing food on the grill.
Set Up
To set up is to plan ahead. After counting up, it's time to set up. Before cooking any food, plan where the food will go on the grill and after it's been cooked. Get the plates out and up on the board, the bun tops on the grill and the bottoms on the plates before putting any food on the grill.
Timing
The proper cooking time of the various food items is important. Some items, such as hashbrowns, omelets or grilled sandwiches take longer than other items such as hamburgers, fries or sausage. Start orders by putting the items on the grill that will take the longest and leave the faster cooking items for later.
Communicate
When workloads require that there are two cooks, communication is important. The runner or egg/toaster person should count up and help set up by saying, example: "we need four hashbrowns, two orders of bacon and one order of sausage." The cook will concentrate on cooking the food and reviewing guest checks. Then again, the runner or egg/toaster person would say as eggs go on the plates, "hashbrowns to go on this OE, sausage on this OM."
Handling the Rush
There will be periods when orders keep coming in wave after wave. When this occurs, prepare batches of tickets. Take an appropriate group of tickets (4,6,8) stopping at a logical point. Count up the food components for the current batch. Prepare that batch and begin preparation for the next batch as you do.
Station
Readiness
Between orders and before walking away from the cooking area:
- Scrape the Grill: Do this immediately after removing food items from it and before walking away to do anything else.
- Wipe the Tools: Inside the grill pad towel. It keeps the grill board free of grease from the tools.
- Wipe the Grill: Use the bottom of the folded grill pad to wipe the grill after scraping it. It keeps the oil on the grill from baking on.
- Keep Tools on the Board: Set the tools on the grill board, not in the trough, after you have wiped them as described above.
- Wipe the Board: with a Sanitized Towel.
Grill Pad Towel
- Keep the Grill Pad Towel Folded into Half: In this manner, you can wipe the tools in the fold and use the bottom of the towel to wipe the grill.
- Keep the Top of the Grill Pad Towel Clean: Do not wipe the food turner on the top of the grill towel
- Do not Use the Grill Pad Towel for Wiping the Grill Board: It's a food contact surface. So keep at all times a sanitized wiping towel for cleaning the grill board.
Making a George Webb Hamburger
There is one way to make a George Webb hamburger:
Place bun top on grill first! The bun top needs to be served warm and the warming process needs time. Place bun bottom on board (or plate). Get out the patty, pickles, lettuce, mayo, etc. Place the patty on the grill. If hamburger is with fried onions, grab the onion can and bring it over to the meat. Grab a few onion pieces and apply to top of meat. Flip patty as soon as it's grayish brown underneath and before shrinkage occurs. If with cheese, add the cheese immediately. (If necessary, squirt a little water to help melt the cheese.) To remove the patty and put the hamburger together, scoop the bun top, place it on the patty, then scoop both and place on bottom bun.
Never!
- Never press, pat, or squeeze the patties!
- Never flip the patties more than once
- Never over cook the patty. The cooked patty should not be noticeably smaller than the original size!
Quiz
What's the First Step to Making a Hamburger?
Answer: Bun top(s) on the grill first!
Fried Onions for Burgers
Never cook the onions separately on the grill. Never cook the onions in butter. Apply the onions to the top of each burger patty. When you flip the patty, the onions will cook in the juice from the meat and the heat from the griddle.
Storage and Keeping of Fresh Sliced Onions
Store onions in the stainless steel onion can. Rinse the onions by filling the can with cold water. Keep the can filled with fresh cold water. Pour off the water periodically, and add fresh water.
Egg Preparation
Over Eggs
- 2 eggs
- medium heat
- teaspoon butter
Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat. Carefully place the eggs on top of the melted butter. Cook on the first side until about halfway done, then "flip" the eggs and continue to cook on the other side. Cook until the eggs are to the desired degree of doneness. Depending on how the eggs look, you might flip the eggs back to the first side in order to present the "prettier" side.
Doneness:
- EASY is very runny yolk and slightly runny white around the yolk
- MEDIUM is runny yolk but white is solid
- HARD is yolk cooked completely through
Flipping Fried Eggs (In the Pan)
We "flip" fried eggs in the pan instead of using a spatula. It takes a little practice but it's easy and fun once you get the hang of it.
The Secret
The secret to flipping eggs is: "lower the away edge of the pan downward... so the eggs slide down.... then use the far edge of the pan to pull the eggs towards you".
So drop far edge of pan down and pull, drop and pull, drop and
pull.
How to Learn It
- Practice with toast. Toast a piece of bread,then spend several minutes flipping it in the pan until you can flip the toast from one side to the other without it flying out of the pan.
- Practice with one (1) egg. Melt a teaspoon of butter in the pan over a medium flame. Then gently crack open the egg onto the melting butter. When the egg has firmed up some, lower the "away edge" of the pan so the egg slides downward.... then pull the egg towards you. Continue to practice the egg over and over. When the egg gets too overcooked and rubbery, throw it into the garbage disposal sink and start again with a new egg.
- Practice with two (2) eggs. Put a teaspoon of butter in the pan over a medium flame. Gently crack open the first egg and then the second egg onto the melting butter. Let the eggs firm up and then lower the "away edge" of the pan so the eggs slide downward.... then pull the eggs towards you.
- Practice, practice, practice. Go ahead and break some yolks. The only way to learn it is... trial and error.
- Practice every day for at least 15 minutes. Go ahead and break some eggs. It's better to do that now, than later.