How do restaurants prepare meals in a shorter time than at home?

[k.udhaya]

How do restaurants prepare complex foods / recipes in a much shorter time than it usually takes at home?
I take this food as an example:

View: https://youtu.be/u66pG73UroY


I had kept chopped onion, cut tomato pieces, cashew milk, marinated chicken etc. ready before I turned on the stove. But the stove time itself took me about 40 minutes (sauteing of onion and tomato, mixing of chicken with different masala powders and boiling chicken).

But when I order the same food in a restaurant, it doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to reach my table. How do they prepare it so quickly? If you were a chef, what would you have done to achieve this?

 

[JAS_OH1]

I am not sure about restaurants in the Netherlands. Windigo might have an answer for this as she is a retired chef.

In the US, some restaurants buy some foods premade, portioned, and frozen, and the ones that do not spend a good bit of time doing prep work during the day and have a team in the kitchen who work together to get food out to the tables expeditiously.

garlichead could perhaps explain how they do that in Canada.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Most of the food is already prepped, such as sauces & gravies. Other things like steaks & meats & burgers are cooked in minutes. Foods that are BBQ'd are cooked ahead of time. It's all about the timing of things to be cooked.

 

[medtran49]

How do restaurants prepare complex foods / recipes in a much shorter time than it usually takes at home?
I take this food as an example:

View: https://youtu.be/u66pG73UroY


I had kept chopped onion, cut tomato pieces, cashew milk, marinated chicken etc. ready before I turned on the stove. But the stove time itself took me about 40 minutes (sauteing of onion and tomato, mixing of chicken with different masala powders and boiling chicken).

But when I order the same food in a restaurant, it doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to reach my table. How do they prepare it so quickly? If you were a chef, what would you have done to achieve this?

I'm sure the base of what you made was already made in a restaurant. Besides getting a finished dish out quickly, things like that always taste better after they sit for a while.

I recently made a curry base on the weekend, then we finished the dish in a little over 20 minutes later in the week, and the only reason it took that long was because the rice had to cook.

Restaurants precook a lot of things so they can get food out fast.

 

[Windigo]

Mise en place ( food preparation on the cooks station) is the answer, plus bigger equipment and higher temperatures than a home kitchen. Mise-en-place - Wikipedia

Most of the day of a cook consists of preparation, we chop, pre cook, and set our seasonings aside for when the guests come. Things like your curry sauce and rice will have been made in advance on the day itself, so only the chicken needs to be prepared when you order it. This is true for restaurants that make everything from scratch.

If they use frozen produce, service is often even faster. Places like pubs, lunch establishments and fast food places use more of that.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I´ve done occasional work in restaurants and totally agree with what Windigo says above. You´d be amazed how many food items, sauces and even pastas can be prepared beforehand, leaving only the protein/main ingredient to be added and the garnish on the plate.
"Curry" restaurants sometimes go even further. They make a "base" sauce/gravy which will be used in a majority of the dishes. If you want a medium curry - add more chile powder. If you want a Jalfrezi - add peppers and a bit more spice. If you want "Balti" - bung a few fresh herbs into it. That kind of thing.

 

[garlichead]

Generally in the course of the day I work that same hours getting food ready compared to the hours we actually cook and serve the food.

 

[The Velvet Curtain]

In Indian restaurants they have pots of pre-made base gravies, and meats like lamb will be already cooked, so it is a quick stir fry of the protein and veg, add the gravy and adjust the flavour to suit. In other restaurants, all the ingredients will be prepared in advance and more reheating goes on than they would admit to.

 

[garlichead]

Some fast food restaurants use banks of microwaves and call it a day with everything coming in pre prepped.

 

[Windigo]

I´ve done occasional work in restaurants and totally agree with what Windigo says above. You´d be amazed how many food items, sauces and even pastas can be prepared beforehand, leaving only the protein/main ingredient to be added and the garnish on the plate.
"Curry" restaurants sometimes go even further. They make a "base" sauce/gravy which will be used in a majority of the dishes. If you want a medium curry - add more chile powder. If you want a Jalfrezi - add peppers and a bit more spice. If you want "Balti" - bung a few fresh herbs into it. That kind of thing.

Yes exactly this! That's also why often at a fast food place, the main specialty is for instance hamburgers. Only the toppings differ, so a constant stream of burgers can be served quickly.

 

[TastyReuben]

When we were dating, my wife was a bartender at a national chain restaurant, similar to a place like Applebee’s today.

I’d meet her after her shift and always ask if she’d managed to get something to eat, and she’d laugh and say, “Yeah, microwaved alfredo,” or “Yeah, microwaved stir fry,” or “Yeah, microwaved quesadillas!” - meaning a large portion of their menu was just microwaved food.

I always laugh at my mom when we go out because she wants all her food cooked entirely from scratch, not precooked, and out on the table five minutes after she orders it. Her two most common complaints are, “What are they doing, growing the potatoes back there?” and “This tastes like they made it earlier and just reheated it.”

 

[k.udhaya]

I'm sure the base of what you made was already made in a restaurant. Besides getting a finished dish out quickly, things like that always taste better after they sit for a while.

I recently made a curry base on the weekend, then we finished the dish in a little over 20 minutes later in the week, and the only reason it took that long was because the rice had to cook.

Restaurants precook a lot of things so they can get food out fast.

Hi,
Thanks for your comment. In the video that I shared, which portion of cooking do you actually mean as 'base'?

 

[k.udhaya]

Mise en place ( food preparation on the cooks station) is the answer, plus bigger equipment and higher temperatures than a home kitchen. Mise-en-place - Wikipedia

Most of the day of a cook consists of preparation, we chop, pre cook, and set our seasonings aside for when the guests come. Things like your curry sauce and rice will have been made in advance on the day itself, so only the chicken needs to be prepared when you order it. This is true for restaurants that make everything from scratch.

If they use frozen produce, service is often even faster. Places like pubs, lunch establishments and fast food places use more of that.

Thanks for your comment.
"curry sauce and rice will have been made in advance on the day itself, so only the chicken needs to be prepared when you order it"
Well, for this kind of curry, it generally doesn't go well if you cook the chicken alone separately (if that's what you meant). All the veg. ingredients and the chicken together have to be let boiled in the pan for about 20 mins. And that's exactly I am not sure how they manage to reduce.

 

[k.udhaya]

I´ve done occasional work in restaurants and totally agree with what Windigo says above. You´d be amazed how many food items, sauces and even pastas can be prepared beforehand, leaving only the protein/main ingredient to be added and the garnish on the plate.
"Curry" restaurants sometimes go even further. They make a "base" sauce/gravy which will be used in a majority of the dishes. If you want a medium curry - add more chile powder. If you want a Jalfrezi - add peppers and a bit more spice. If you want "Balti" - bung a few fresh herbs into it. That kind of thing.

Thank for your comment.
"They make a "base" sauce/gravy"
In the video that I shared, can you tell me what exactly is the base that I can prepare beforehand and keep ready? Also, later when I add chicken and let it boil with the base, will they mix well?

 

[k.udhaya]

I am not sure about restaurants in the Netherlands. Windigo might have an answer for this as she is a retired chef.

In the US, some restaurants buy some foods premade, portioned, and frozen, and the ones that do not spend a good bit of time doing prep work during the day and have a team in the kitchen who work together to get food out to the tables expeditiously.

garlichead could perhaps explain how they do that in Canada.

Thanks for your commment.
This dish is basically an Indian food. I would like to try it at home.