Kitchen Confidential: 10 Dirty Secrets Restaurants Dont Want You to Know - NDTV Food Page 1 of 3

Kitchen Confidential:10 Dirty Secrets Restaurants Don'tW antYou to Know

PragatiShukla,N DTV,M odified:M ay 16,2016 15:07 IST

[Scene 1]
An im peccably creaseless cloth falls neatly on
the table.The chairs are aligned straight.The
m enus are spread outneatly,the condim ents
refilled.The room 's a subtle m ix ofcandlelight
and bayberry-vanilla.Yourtable's a delight.The
m usic has obviously been picked outby
som eone w ith good taste.Ah,don'tyou love
restaurants.Slow ,beautifuland lovely.
[Scene 2]
The pans are falling overin a poolofdirty sink
w ater.The bench is loaded w ith halfcut
veggies.The w aterhas been boiling for15
m inutes.There's a lotofprancing,a lotofheatand a w hole lotofpeople in a space that's notbig enough to handle itall.There's shouting.
Sw eaton brow s.Disturbed concentration.W elcom e to the otherside ofthe restaurant,inside the kitchen.It's furious,m essy and dirty.
N otto sound like an old hag,butit's crucialto stay safe w hile dining out.A study published in W ebM D by the researchers from the
consum erw atchdog group,CenterforScience in the Public Interest,have said thatpeople w ere tw ice as likely to getfood poisoning w hile
dining outas com pared to eating in.Itcan happen atany restaurant,atany tim e and the reasons can fillup pages.Som etim es,the
restaurants see a profitm argin by reusing ingredients undera safe lim it.Som etim es,the staffisn'tas careful-oras bothered -as you
w ould like them to be.
In orderto steerclearofgetting sick,you need som e solid tips underyourbelt.And the bestpeople to give you this am m o? The people w ho
w ork atthese restaurants ofcourse!They're on the inside,they know aboutthe decisions ofthe m anagem ent,they see w hathappens inside
the kitchens and,atlarge,inside theirrestaurants.M ostim portantly,they know the secrets thatare unknow n to the average custom er.Of
course,these are w ide-scale generalizations and notspecific to any restaurantas such.These things m ay orm ay nothappen atevery
restaurant,butindustry w orkers sw earit's quite ram pant.

1.W alk Pastthe Salad Bar,Please:The toppings,fruits and vegetables like carrots,tofu and chickpeas could be heavily reused fordays.At
som e places,toppings thataren'tused one day are stored in a refrigeratorand justreused the nextday.It's com m on forrestaurants to
repurpose ingredients -butit's notalw ays done in the m ostcreative w ay,and you really don'tw antthree-day old chickpeas on yourplate.

2.H ot,H otFries:N orm alfries atfastfood restaurants getold realquick.Ifyou w anta batch offresh,steam ing hotfries,orderthem w ith
no salt.The guy behind the counterw illm ake a fresh batch and it'lltake him three extra m inutes tops.Equally im portant:The servers know
the no-salttrick.It's actually better,according to them ,to justsay you w antfresh fries because then they don'thave to be extra careful
around the fry station and w orry aboutnotgetting salton them .

3.Clum sy,H o:Ifyou drop food atyourtable that's notcovered w ith linens,do notpick itup and eatit.M ostrestaurants use the sam e old
rag to w ipe tables,transferring allthatfilth and germ s from table to table.Sam e goes forthe tray;restaurantw orkers hardly have tim e to
clean them -orthey're cleaned w ith thatsam e old dirty cloth.

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4.The Cold Truth:The ice m achines atm ostrestaurants are alm ostnevercleaned.W hen they do clean it,aftersix m onths oreven a year,
there's m old and black gooey stuffthatcom es outofthe filters and ice holding bins.This com es from a guy w ho has w orked in the
restaurantindustry forover11 years and has seen this firsthand.Sam e goes forthe soda m achines.In fact,a 12-yearold Jasm ine Roberts
proved that70 percentofthe tim e,ice from fastfood restaurants w as dirtierthan toiletw aterin heraw ard w inning m iddle schoolscience
project.

5.W ord-Play:Usually,allthose w arm and toasty w ords on the m enu are m eaningless.The w ord 'fresh'is the w orstoffender-itcould just
m ean 'neverfrozen'orsom ething that's recently been broughtinto the restaurant.Som e restaurants say theirsauces and dips are 'housem ade'butthey justadd som e ingredients to store-boughtsauces and dressings.M ayonnaise is som ething thatis used a lot,even in the
nicer,m ore upscale restaurants.H oney,m ustard,ketchup and otherflavours are aggressively added to m ayo to m ake m any secretsauces.
Othersauces heavily rely on butter.
This one's m ore obvious butanotherw ord to steerclearofis 'ofthe day'and 'specials'-soup ofthe day and chef's specials are usually
m ade from yesterday's leftovers and they're highlighted orm arked dow n untilthey run outofit.W atch outifthe specials contain fish oris
som e kind of'gum bo'-you know they're trying to getrid ofthatstuff-fast.

6.W hat's Good,M y M an? W hen you seek help from yourserverw hile ordering food,keep in m ind they aren'tallow ed to say w hich m enu
item s aren'tallthatgreat.They're trained by the corporates to say everything is good,hearty and dandy.Ifyou do w anttheirrealopinion
though,alw ays ask "w hat's yourfavourite",never"w hat's good?"

7.IW ouldn'tTouch That:Thatpineapple slice thatcom es w ith yourcocktail? Don'teatit.M osttoppings thatcom e w ith drinks are lefton
the barm inus refrigeration forthe entire duration ofa server's shift,and they're used in the nextshiftas w ell.Likew ise,nevertouch the
lem on atrestaurants.They're cutup rightin the m orning,leftoutin the open,handled by w ay too m any people and they're neverw ashed.
They're the m ostunsanitary item you can find ata restaurant.

8.Oh N o H e Didn't:Gotinto an argum entw ith yourserverand w orried he m ightm ess w ith yourfood? Relax.N obody really everm esses
w ith yourfood.The chefs have a reallove fortheircraftand forw hatthey do.Atm ost,the servers w illm ake fun ofyou w ith theirfriends
back in the kitchen,have a chuckle and m aybe overroastyourveggies,butnothing gross happens behind the kitchen doors in thataspect.

9.The Sw eet,Sw eetStuff:A lotofsugarcan be used in dishes you had no idea could use sugar.Itm akes the food look shiny and keeps
you hooked.Itcan be used in the pizza dough -orin a pasta to cutthe bitterness oftom atoes.Vegetables can also be prepared in a 'glaze'
that's fullofsugarand butter.

10.Pass on the Buffet:M ostbuffets are a breeding ground forbacteria forthe sim ple reason thatallthatfood sits atuneven and
inconsistenttem perature.A buffetis alw ays alm ostfullofleftoveringredients,food m ade from starch orfood that's heavy in fat.In the
past,a study atVirginia University found thatsom e buffets didn'teven use realeggs!Instead they used liquid egg substitutes.Yikes.

Source:Hattip to Redditthreads -and to the fantastic chefs and servers fortheirinputs.

Tags:Restaurants,Secrets,Recipes

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