Chef Question

fee1965, Mar 11, 7:29pm
In a restaurant setting, if a customer orders a hot pudding such as sticky toffee pudding, is this stored frozen and then microwaved for serving! Same as with mudcake etc!
lilyfield, Mar 11, 7:34pm
Probably, unless its a restaurant with a huge turn over
davidt4, Mar 11, 8:10pm
Yes, even in top end restaurants.You would be astonished how commonly microwaves are used.
245sam, Mar 11, 8:15pm
Which IMO, especially if the restaurant is not overly busy, begs the question as to why diners often wait so long for their dessert once the order has been taken!:-))
lilyfield, Mar 11, 8:18pm
to give them the opportunity to drink a bit more-- sales tactics
245sam, Mar 11, 8:32pm
I agree - we've always thought that it was a sales tactic too (in other words $$$$$) but hoped that someone might have some other logical reason.:-))
pickles7, Mar 11, 9:08pm
Not from my establishment. Any hot desserts were made on the day, reheated but never frozen.
Ask if you are not wanting frozen, heated.
davidt4, Mar 11, 9:29pm
What do you regard as a suitable interval between main course (or cheese course) and dessert!I think 30 - 40 minutes is about right, but I know that in the US it all happens much more quickly than that.
fee1965, Mar 11, 10:54pm
yes but if you are dining in a dessert bar, you seriously don't want to wait 30 mins +, realistically you want it to be served to you within 5-10 mins
245sam, Mar 11, 11:01pm
fee1965, I agree and whether it's a dessert bar or not, if both/all diners are having cold desserts that would obviously be pre-prepared IMO any longer wait is inappropriate. If however both cold and hot desserts have been ordered, I do expect them to be served at the same time even if the cold dessert could have been served more quickly.
Also IMO the bigger the dining group, obviously a proportionally longer wait could/should be expected for any meal course so that all diners are served as much as possible, at the same time.:-))
davidt4, Mar 11, 11:53pm
Your original question mentioned " In a restaurant setting".A dessert bar is different.
elliehen, Mar 12, 12:15am
Did you own a restaurant/café pickles!How many could you seat!
punkinthefirst, Mar 12, 12:22am
Whether pre-prepared and reheated, or made fresh, desserts still have to be heated, if appropriate,andplated.Icecream, if any, has to be rolled and sauces heated and placed on the plate. then the plate has to be garnished.
Multiply that by the number of desserts your table orders, and the number of tables who order desserts in the restaurant, and you can see that tit is unlikely that you will get your dessert in 10 minutes, even with the fastest chef in the business.
Often the pastry chef is helping out in the main kitchen during service as well, so won't get started on desserts until the main service is well under way. The usual timing allowed between courses is about 30 minutes.
ribzuba, Mar 12, 7:47am
I have worked in places that do both. I have also worked in a place that served Mudcake that had been sitting around for far too long in the fridge and still served so it would have been much better for the customer if it had been frozen as far as I am concerned. I find that in the majority of places I don't order dessert.I only ever do if it really takes my fancy, there is much of a muchness and little excitement in most dessert menus. And as far as timing goes some places may employ a sales tactic of waiting but I would think it would be much more dependent on how busy they are.Most of your average NZ restaurants wouldn't have an exclusive pastry chef and so they have to balance not only the dessert orders but probably the larder ones as well and depending on the place even the mains!