Ours is this spot, I think. It's where the catch tray goes on our flat top. I'm not even sure how to clean this, but it's making me all sorts of twitchy. Damn thing's nothing more than a greasy buffet for roaches.
Posted Apr 23, 2015, 1:21 AM UTC
the kitchen i work in now is pretty freakin clean. in addition to our daily cleaning (including the awesome self cleaning on our combi ovens), each station is responsible for their shelve and area int he walk in at all times and a specific deep cleaning 2 times a week. on top of that, we have a janitor service that is constantly cleaning, sweeping, taking out the garbage. on top of THAT a night cleaning crew comes to deep clean the stuff that needs extra work and also comes in friday nights to steam clean the hood system (we'll spot clean them when needed during the week) everything is is big lexans and cambros in the walk in so nothing can be left in a box in the corner to rot.
that being said, at the last kitchen i worked in, it was the sides of the 6 eye stove and the flat top stove that got hella greasy and the underneath compartment of the fryer. no matter how hard i bitched and tryied to stay on top of that, it was always caked in grease
We're pretty clean, but the... equivalent to head chef... and myself are both new. We've been trying to get old staff in to gear on cleaning but it's going a bit slow. Pest control guy was in today and said it's the cleanest he's ever seen it, though. But I can't for the life of me figure out how to get in to that cavity under the flat top.
whenever i've seen flats tops being worked on, they always use pliers and a crow bar and the top comes off. maybe play around with that?
If you can see it, can you get a hose in there and just wash it into a bucket? Maybe use a brush intended for a fryer if necessary to scrub.
Probably the inside of my ice cream machine, where the run off can go sometimes. Maybe it's not that bad. I should look tomorrow.
I know that catch tray. They forget about it for a couple of weeks and then everyone goes "eeewwww!!!"
Edit: oh yeah, also discovered beluga lentil sprouts in the ice machine drain. It grew a patch of grass! It was discovered after finding a cockroach nest behind the dairy fridge. We just had fumigation done too. That restaurant is closed now.
Probably the same place in my kitchen though I don't have a picture of it. Either the that or the inside of the grease trap under the sink if that counts
One of my old places had a corner of the walk-in that was forever referred to as "Mucha Mierda" after an unpleasant discovery.
We had a good sized walk in with really tall racks. So tall, that our tallest cook (6 feet) could barely reach the top shelf on his toes. There was this one corner on the highest shelf that was very random. It was kind of a walk-in grave yard for random quart containers with weird, one-off sauces, left over bits of random stuff, etc. Anyway, we'd always just jam shit up there and forget about it for a while.
One day Leo, the dishwasher, decided to do a DEEP clean on the walk-in. That little bastard moved the big ass rack after taking off as much as he could, pulled it up, and yelled: "Oh shit! Mucha mierda-uey!" Sure enough, every time we jammed shit up there, something popped open and keeled over and spilled into a corner of the walk in. It was just a fucking giant skid mark of ancient glazes, dressings, and, overall, mierda.
We have a similar walk in but we keep immortal stuff in that place, like preserved lemons and kimchi. And I'm the 6 foot guy who has to check on it all.
Being a fucking tall cook, man. I swear every kitchen was designed by someone who was 5' tall soaking wet. Every kitchen has the corner of doom where you will whack your head every day until muscle memory has you walking around like a hunchback
We have cords for plug ins hanging down. I'm one of like three people that has to tilt their head or duck when walking. :/
Also. All our counters are short as hell. Heavy prep days, my back takes a beating.
6'5" here (more in my clogs)- a deep, full sized hotel pan under my cutting board has saved my back big time. For really short counters I've used a bustub. The 4-6" less to bend over really makes a difference.
My mind!
Mine, too! I just thought that didn't count...
I was going to say my black, black heart.
You still have one? I was told to get rid of it after my second week and that I'd be better off without it.
Not my kitchen but between built in line fridges in "older kitchens". Where they have been foolishly built with small crevasses between each other, upon an unmoving base. To clean between them is futile beyond a scrubbie duck taped to a thin piece of metal, nearly impossible to clean. The stuff between them, could probably be used to start the bacterial culture to start another planet, via primordial ooze.
I worked on a line with that "feature" fortunately someone had caulked all the gaps and cracks shut.
There's this spot where the gas lines connect to the wall that's pretty fucking gnarly. I don't remember anyone getting to it for inspection time and I certainly don't remember getting dinged for it.
Im pretty lucky, I'm working at a place that has been open for ~2 months with brand new equipment, and we work damn hard to keep it that way. Occasionally the backsplash to our flat top gets gnarly after a rought night, but its nothing that a couple shots of un diluted D-grease cant handle. Our chef gave us the option to have a cleaning service come in after service every night, but we all decided that we would take the pride (and overtime) that comes with cleaning your own station.
Overtime?! For cleaning your own kitchen?
Yeah, i know, right?
Just wait - they've only been open 2 months, once they see how expensive that costs, management will be howling about how they need to cut overtime. Happens every time, in every sized establishment...
The night cleaners room, and the floors under the line that he's supposed to clean.....
I work as a barista in my school's cafe. The dirtiest place is literally where we make the drinks. I hate working here and will probably quit soon because it's so disgusting and nobody will do anything about it.
You know, in my kitchen we have the policy that if you don't like something, you have the right as an employee to change it. Get that shit clean!
To clean the part of the flat top where the grease drains down to the catch box at the bottom is super easy. It looks like all that gunk is probably really stuck on there, but in my experience, it's never really on there that hard. What I do is take a wet rag after I clean the rest of the flat top at the end of the night and I stuff it down in there with the handle of a wooden spoon and work it around the four corners and the gunk comes off easily. You could also use a bunch of wadded up paper towels if you don't have a rag to spare for this but it's not nearly as effective.
My fucking mouth.
Behind the fryers. We have our hot line up on an elevated ledge so we are unable to move any of the equipment. We hose back there once a week but really its impossible to get completely clean. Really not a huge issue though, I'm quite proud of how clean our kitchen is.
I had a trap just like that I. My last gig. I bought a toilet brush, got some oven cleaner and went nuts on it after service. Still didn't quite hit the books and crannies, but it was a damn sight better than before.
The wall behind the 140qt mixers, which are bolted to the floor. They're just impossible to clean behind
behind the fryers, I keep saying we need to get back to special cleaning days, but the owners say they don't have the money for it...
Dishwasher had a half dead plant in a sani-bucket hidden under the triple sink, I don't know if he was trying to nurse it back to health or it was there for companionship but he looked really bummed out when I told him it couldn't be in the kitchen and would be better off in the sunlight.
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