Question
Michael Baun
How can I think about cooking stations and incorporate them into my home kitchen for the different cooking process. What would an ideal prep station look like?
Answer
So this is interesting for home. Uh, you know, uh, let me first address the, the, the restaurant scenario where, you know, we have, um, uh, a cooking station that is set up with containers of all of the ingredients that we use, and that functions very well. And very importantly, because of repetition, right? We may produce a given dish 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 times in a day. And so it becomes very important to have within reach, you know, each of those ingredients. And then of course, we'll have a backup of each of those things in the refrigerator. So when this container runs out, you know, in a matter of seconds, I can replenish it. In the case of home cooking, we're probably not producing that much food. So, uh, a, uh, you know, a cooking station is gonna look different, of course, the, the prep station. But think about, you know, what it is. Uh, think about those same principles. Think about what it is that you do reach for commonly, you know, whether it's cooking oils, whether it's spices, uh, or, um, other, other things like, uh, maybe you use multiple kinds of salt. Uh, maybe you use different types of, uh, flowers for preparing this flatbread for dredging this item for thickening, you know, this other sauce. And, uh, are those things within a reasonable distance from, you know, where your cook station, where your, where your cutting board is, and the cutting board, you know, in terms of the prep station, you know, ideally is gonna be pretty close to your cooking station. So it might be adjacent to your stove top. In many cases, it's gonna be right, you know, behind you relative to one another. So in other words, it's just turning around to get to, you know, your other station. And then you have refrigeration, uh, in any kitchen, which is gonna be that the third point of that, uh, kitchen triangle that we think about, uh, when it comes to design and efficient movement. And you can have multiple triangles, uh, in your kitchen, okay? You might have, you know, one source of refrigeration, uh, or two with a cook station in the middle, and then your cutting board prep station behind you. So you have some different ways to reach, uh, for different products. Uh, this is gonna be true of, of dry storage or pantry areas, uh, where you might have, you know, one over here and one over there depending on your house, right? So, you know, what we have done is, uh, uh, just a couple steps off. The kitchen was a, uh, you know, a coat closet and we converted that to, uh, a pantry and it's one of, you know, two pantries in the kitchen, uh, because we needed all that space. And, uh, so, you know, think about minimizing your movement, uh, and then also think about putting the most commonly used items, you know, within that shortest reach or shortest distance of travel. In, uh, pro kitchens we use what's called a speed rack. And a speed rack is, um, it's a, it's a, a frame with slats on it that you can slide in sheet pans. And this sits on four casters, so you can easily wheel this thing around. And I, I've only met a couple of people, uh, whose spouses I think would allow them to have a speed rack in their home kitchen. And I'm still working on this, but, uh, that's a great solution. Certainly in a professional kitchen, a speed rack is indispensable for prep and for just general convenience, you can, you can move that around and, and use it, uh, to hold dry things on an ongoing basis. You can use it to stage your prep. You can use it to let dough proof if you're baking. Uh, there's so many great usage for uses for a speed rack. They also come in short half versions that are about counter height. And so that can be a possibility too, um, in terms of incorporating, uh, in incorporation into your home.
