Foods that are commonly cooked wrong in hospitals are listed below. These simple items can make a direct impact on your patient satisfaction.
Pasta
Over and over again I have seen hospital cooks cooking pasta in a way that would make my old Chef Papini from the CIA turn over in his grave. Pasta is meant to be boiled in an adequate amount of salted water. More than often, hospital cooks place pasta in a hotel pan, cover with water and then place in the steamer. If your cooks are doing this, please make them stop. The BHC's will show you an easy way to serve al dente pasta in a high volume operation. Pasta should ideally be served when it comes out of the water. It should have a slight bite to it. The natural starch that is in the pasta helps thicken sauces and adds body to dishes.
In our world, it is often impractical to cook pasta to order. The best way is to cook pasta ahead of time and then shock it in ice water. The pasta should then be reheated in small batches as needed and placed into service. The best way is to have a small kettle or pot going at all times with boiling water. When your servers need more, the cooks simply dip the pasta in the boiling water using a china cap. In just a few second, you will have hot pasta, toss lightly in olive oil and serve. If your cooks are cooking pasta ahead of time and placing it in warmers, you are sure to serve an overcooked soggy mess to your customers
BHC Hint: When cooking fresh pasta it must always be cooked to order. Fresh pasta does not hold well and should never be placed in warmers. You might as well not serve it.
If using dry pasta follow these simple guidelines:
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
In our world, it is often impractical to cook pasta to order. The best way is to cook pasta ahead of time and then shock it in ice water. The pasta should then be reheated in small batches as needed and placed into service. The best way is to have a small kettle or pot going at all times with boiling water. When your servers need more, the cooks simply dip the pasta in the boiling water using a china cap. In just a few second, you will have hot pasta, toss lightly in olive oil and serve. If your cooks are cooking pasta ahead of time and placing it in warmers, you are sure to serve an overcooked soggy mess to your customers
BHC Hint: When cooking fresh pasta it must always be cooked to order. Fresh pasta does not hold well and should never be placed in warmers. You might as well not serve it.
If using dry pasta follow these simple guidelines:
- Allow 1 gallon of water for every pound of dry pasta. Add 1 oz salt to each gallon. The water should be slightly brackish but not unpleasantly salty. There is no need to add oil, unless you like to waste oil. It does nothing to the outcome of the pasta.
- Bring the water to a boil. This is essential to properly cooked pasta. If the water is not boiling, the pasta will come out gummy and undercooked.
- If using a tube shape pasta add it all at once and frequently stir until properly cooks. If using long pasta like spaghetti or linguini, you should add the pasta by fanning out the strands so they do not bind.
- When finished the pasta should be cooked but have a bite to it. Drain the pasta thoroughly and then place in ice water to stop the cooking process. Reheat as needed.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
Roast Turkey
Here is another one. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this simple cooking technique totally butchered. It is often done by cooks who do not know any better, they are just doing what they were told to do 2 days ago or 20 years ago. This is so easy to fix. I hope that every food service director and chef reads this and if they get nothing else from this website, I hope they at least get this.
Roast turkey has to be ROASTED! The BHC's will share their secret to the best roasted turkey our there (we roast it).
The common recipe that I have seen is for cooks to take either frozen or semi frozen turkey breasts or BRT turkeys (which are Boned, Rolled and Tied whole turkeys that have white and dark meat) and place them in a roasting pan. They then add water to cover or almost cover the turkeys. They then wrap the whole pan in aluminum foil and place it in an oven for hours. The result is an overcooked, improperly executed mess. The turkey is always dry and has no flavor. There is nothing more wrong then this.
Let us show you how to properly roast a turkey. Please also refer to our Black hat Chef cooking techniques for more detailed information
For a Perfect Roast Turkey:
I always tell my cooks. Think back to Thanksgiving. Do you ever remember you mother of grandmother taking frozen turkey and then placing it is a roasting pan, covering it with water and then wrapping in foil. The answer is no. Those turkeys were cooked with love. If they never cooked turkey that way, why are you?
This needs to stop! you can be the change that is needed. Cook the food correctly.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
Roast turkey has to be ROASTED! The BHC's will share their secret to the best roasted turkey our there (we roast it).
The common recipe that I have seen is for cooks to take either frozen or semi frozen turkey breasts or BRT turkeys (which are Boned, Rolled and Tied whole turkeys that have white and dark meat) and place them in a roasting pan. They then add water to cover or almost cover the turkeys. They then wrap the whole pan in aluminum foil and place it in an oven for hours. The result is an overcooked, improperly executed mess. The turkey is always dry and has no flavor. There is nothing more wrong then this.
Let us show you how to properly roast a turkey. Please also refer to our Black hat Chef cooking techniques for more detailed information
For a Perfect Roast Turkey:
- Make sure turkey is thawed. Season with salt, pepper and fresh sage. Rub outer skin with oil and melted butter
- Place turkey in roasting pan. I like to use a bed of mirepoix for the turkey to rest on. Mirepoix is 2 parts onions, one part celery and one part carrot. Place turkey on top of mirepoix and place in 350 degree oven. Please note that no liquid should be added to the pan. Roasting is a dry heat method of cooking. Another point is that roasting food should never be covered. Covering food traps moisture which will result in the item being steamed rather than roasted. The deep color you are seeking will not be achieved if covered.
- Cook turkey until an internal temp of 160 is reached at its meatiest part. The carry over cooking will achieve 165 which is essential for food safety for poultry.
- Allow turkey to rest for at least 1/2 hour before slicing. This will allow the juices to redistribute and not leak all over your cutting board.
- Follow directions in cooking techniques to make pan gravy from the fond and the mirepoix the Turkey roasted on.
I always tell my cooks. Think back to Thanksgiving. Do you ever remember you mother of grandmother taking frozen turkey and then placing it is a roasting pan, covering it with water and then wrapping in foil. The answer is no. Those turkeys were cooked with love. If they never cooked turkey that way, why are you?
This needs to stop! you can be the change that is needed. Cook the food correctly.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
Grilled Chicken Breasts?
Probably the first thing I saw being cooked wrong in a hospital was a grilled chicken breast. The cooks would take frozen chicken, or partially thawed chicken, place it on a sheet pan and put it in the oven to cook. Some of the more inventive cooks would at least throw some salt and pepper on it (usually too much pepper) and then place it in the oven. The result was an over-cooked and extremely dry piece of chicken.
This chicken would then be sent off to various areas of the kitchen to be served or further prepped. Some of it would end up in wraps, some on a pizza, some on a salad and some would just be served as an entree. It was really bad.
We teach our cooks to grill the chicken correctly. Here is a quick recipe that can help drive your satisfaction. Bad food is easy to prepare, serving excellent food requires standards, accountability and education.
BHC Hint: Never use prepared Italian dressing. The dressing has way too much sugar in it which causes your grill to burn up, resulting in a bitter-sweet chicken breast with an off color.
Black Hat Chefs Quick Chicken Marinade
2 cups canola oil
3 T Fresh shredded basil
1 T fresh oregano
1 t crushed red pepper
2 T kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 T chopped garlic
1 t cracked black pepper
1 whole lime juiced
Mix all ingredients
Place thawed chicken breast in marinade using enough to cover the breast. Allow to marinade for at least 4 hours but they can be marinated overnight.
After the breast are marinated, place them on a charbroiler ( a flat top grill may be used as well) and grill, flipping one time until an internal temp of 165 degrees is met. Serve immediately. Do not cook breast ahead of time. They must be batch cook to ensure freshness. For food safety reason, never reuse the marinade. It must be discarded after use.
Please notice that no where in this recipe does it call for a sheet pan and an oven. Grilled chicken must be grilled.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
This chicken would then be sent off to various areas of the kitchen to be served or further prepped. Some of it would end up in wraps, some on a pizza, some on a salad and some would just be served as an entree. It was really bad.
We teach our cooks to grill the chicken correctly. Here is a quick recipe that can help drive your satisfaction. Bad food is easy to prepare, serving excellent food requires standards, accountability and education.
BHC Hint: Never use prepared Italian dressing. The dressing has way too much sugar in it which causes your grill to burn up, resulting in a bitter-sweet chicken breast with an off color.
Black Hat Chefs Quick Chicken Marinade
2 cups canola oil
3 T Fresh shredded basil
1 T fresh oregano
1 t crushed red pepper
2 T kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 T chopped garlic
1 t cracked black pepper
1 whole lime juiced
Mix all ingredients
Place thawed chicken breast in marinade using enough to cover the breast. Allow to marinade for at least 4 hours but they can be marinated overnight.
After the breast are marinated, place them on a charbroiler ( a flat top grill may be used as well) and grill, flipping one time until an internal temp of 165 degrees is met. Serve immediately. Do not cook breast ahead of time. They must be batch cook to ensure freshness. For food safety reason, never reuse the marinade. It must be discarded after use.
Please notice that no where in this recipe does it call for a sheet pan and an oven. Grilled chicken must be grilled.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
The ol' frozen vegetables in a 6th pan trick
Here is a good one. Ask yourselves how many times you have seen this. I have witnessed this in every hospital I have worked at. I have never quite understood the mind set and I have spent years trying to fix this. For those cooking vegetables correctly, let me explain this.
The cooks take vegetables, like corn, carrots, green beans etc and they put them in them in a pan such as the one pictured. They then place this in the steamer and cook until they are usually way over cooked. The problem with this is the very center of the pan will be the last to cook, by that time the outer part is extremely over cooked. If your cooks are doing this, please make them stop. Once again a simple thing like cooking vegetables correctly can have a direct impact on your patient satisfaction.
The correct way is to cook them in rolling boiling water. If you insist on using a steamer lay the vegetables out flat in a 2"full perforated pan. Steam until the correct doneness and serve immediately.
Here is our recipe for gingered carrots
1pound carrots
1 T butter
1.5 T fresh chopped ginger
1t salt
1t pepper
2 T honey
1/2 lemon juiced
Method
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until al dente. Carrots should still have a bite to them.
Drain
Place butter and ginger in a sauté pan. Add carrots, honey,salt /pepper and lemon juice.
Cook until carrots are just soft and a nice glaze begins to form.
These carrots are perfectly cooked and are delicious.
The final test is to sit down with these carrots and the ones the cooks are serving, You be the judge on which one is best.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
The cooks take vegetables, like corn, carrots, green beans etc and they put them in them in a pan such as the one pictured. They then place this in the steamer and cook until they are usually way over cooked. The problem with this is the very center of the pan will be the last to cook, by that time the outer part is extremely over cooked. If your cooks are doing this, please make them stop. Once again a simple thing like cooking vegetables correctly can have a direct impact on your patient satisfaction.
The correct way is to cook them in rolling boiling water. If you insist on using a steamer lay the vegetables out flat in a 2"full perforated pan. Steam until the correct doneness and serve immediately.
Here is our recipe for gingered carrots
1pound carrots
1 T butter
1.5 T fresh chopped ginger
1t salt
1t pepper
2 T honey
1/2 lemon juiced
Method
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until al dente. Carrots should still have a bite to them.
Drain
Place butter and ginger in a sauté pan. Add carrots, honey,salt /pepper and lemon juice.
Cook until carrots are just soft and a nice glaze begins to form.
These carrots are perfectly cooked and are delicious.
The final test is to sit down with these carrots and the ones the cooks are serving, You be the judge on which one is best.
Written by Chef Jim McGrody
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Email: blackhatchefs@gmail.com
Email: blackhatchefs@gmail.com