My last post reminded me............

Most restaurants cook off baked potatoes by wrapping them in a tinfoil
"baker wrap" and throwing them in the oven. Then they can throw the whole
tray on top of the oven to keep it warm/hot and sell the potatoes as they
are needed. A try that comes out at 5pm will be goot till at least 7:30
this way.

Now the correct way to serve said potato is to have the line cook slice it
open (in the foil usually) just before it goes out. The customer sees a nice
steaming spud, and it's all ready to accept butter / sour cream /
horseradish or whatever the diner see's fit to deposit in the potaoe.

Simple right?

What happens when a house doesn't cut open the potato 1st? Aside from the
fact that it might be bad in the middle (seen THAT happen) - the house
advantage is that it can recycle the spud if the foil remains undisturbed.
This might not be totally legal in some states - but it happens. Most places
will cut them in half and gut them to make fried tater skins , or twice
baked potatoes. Same thing happens to the "real" leftovers at the end of the
night.

But what if it's early in the night and a spud comes back in with the
wrapping still intact? An unscrupulous kitchen will throw it right back on
top of the oven - to go back out for dinner.

Which is why.... if I leave the whole potato untouched, I carefully insert
a little note and fix the foil back up nicely:

"Congratulations!! You got a fortune potato!!! It can't predict the future,
but in a past life (about 5:30pm on xx/xx/xx this was MY potato and I was
too full to eat it. I just thought you should know that. Enjoy!! "

I know a house that started cutting them open within a week of my visit....
hmmmmm???

--W



"Clams Canino" wrote in message
news:O78ab.491222$o%

If I get a chance I'm gonna try to
smuggle a note into a recess in the boat evil grin.

Sound like that fortune needs a cc to the local health dept.

"Clams Canino" wrote in message
news:Jl8ab.491264$o%2.219480@sccrnsc02...
My last post reminded me............

Most restaurants cook off baked potatoes by wrapping them in a tinfoil
"baker wrap" and throwing them in the oven. Then they can throw the whole
tray on top of the oven to keep it warm/hot and sell the potatoes as they
are needed. A try that comes out at 5pm will be goot till at least 7:30
this way.

Now the correct way to serve said potato is to have the line cook slice it
open (in the foil usually) just before it goes out. The customer sees a
nice
steaming spud, and it's all ready to accept butter / sour cream /
horseradish or whatever the diner see's fit to deposit in the potaoe.

Simple right?

What happens when a house doesn't cut open the potato 1st? Aside from the
fact that it might be bad in the middle (seen THAT happen) - the house
advantage is that it can recycle the spud if the foil remains undisturbed.
This might not be totally legal in some states - but it happens. Most
places
will cut them in half and gut them to make fried tater skins , or twice
baked potatoes. Same thing happens to the "real" leftovers at the end of
the
night.

But what if it's early in the night and a spud comes back in with the
wrapping still intact? An unscrupulous kitchen will throw it right back on
top of the oven - to go back out for dinner.

Which is why.... if I leave the whole potato untouched, I carefully
insert
a little note and fix the foil back up nicely:

"Congratulations!! You got a fortune potato!!! It can't predict the
future,
but in a past life (about 5:30pm on xx/xx/xx this was MY potato and I was
too full to eat it. I just thought you should know that. Enjoy!! "

I know a house that started cutting them open within a week of my
visit....
hmmmmm???

--W



"Clams Canino" wrote in message
news:O78ab.491222$o%

If I get a chance I'm gonna try to
smuggle a note into a recess in the boat evil grin.

Yanno, "In theory" there is nothing wrong with sending an untouched spud
back out still hot in the wrapper. But it's just not *right*. I already
proved (albeit benignly) that it can be tampered with, that's enough to make
it uncool.

I figgered that it was up to the 2nd owner to decide what to do with it.


-W

I don't really have a problem with untouched spuds turning into skins, ditto
unused and untouched rolls turning into croutons - both spend time in a 375
degree deep fryer. But to just send it back out to the next customer -
that's shaving food costs a little TOO tight.


"Insomniac" wrote in message
news:k59ab.493111$uu5.84847@sccrnsc04...
Sound like that fortune needs a cc to the local health dept.

"Clams Canino" wrote in message
news:Jl8ab.491264$o%2.219480@sccrnsc02...
My last post reminded me............

Most restaurants cook off baked potatoes by wrapping them in a tinfoil
"baker wrap" and throwing them in the oven. Then they can throw the
whole
tray on top of the oven to keep it warm/hot and sell the potatoes as
they
are needed. A try that comes out at 5pm will be goot till at least 7:30
this way.

Now the correct way to serve said potato is to have the line cook slice
it
open (in the foil usually) just before it goes out. The customer sees a
nice
steaming spud, and it's all ready to accept butter / sour cream /
horseradish or whatever the diner see's fit to deposit in the potaoe.

Simple right?

What happens when a house doesn't cut open the potato 1st? Aside from
the
fact that it might be bad in the middle (seen THAT happen) - the house
advantage is that it can recycle the spud if the foil remains
undisturbed.
This might not be totally legal in some states - but it happens. Most
places
will cut them in half and gut them to make fried tater skins , or twice
baked potatoes. Same thing happens to the "real" leftovers at the end of
the
night.

But what if it's early in the night and a spud comes back in with the
wrapping still intact? An unscrupulous kitchen will throw it right back
on
top of the oven - to go back out for dinner.

Which is why.... if I leave the whole potato untouched, I carefully
insert
a little note and fix the foil back up nicely:

"Congratulations!! You got a fortune potato!!! It can't predict the
future,
but in a past life (about 5:30pm on xx/xx/xx this was MY potato and I
was
too full to eat it. I just thought you should know that. Enjoy!! "

I know a house that started cutting them open within a week of my
visit....
hmmmmm???

--W



"Clams Canino" wrote in message
news:O78ab.491222$o%

If I get a chance I'm gonna try to
smuggle a note into a recess in the boat evil grin.

"Clams Canino" wrote in message . net...
Yanno, "In theory" there is nothing wrong with sending an untouched spud
back out still hot in the wrapper. But it's just not *right*. I already
proved (albeit benignly) that it can be tampered with, that's enough to make
it uncool.

I figgered that it was up to the 2nd owner to decide what to do with it.


-W

Haveing worked in a few kitchens I could tell you some horror stories.
The best ones would be when I ran a small pub for a old fellow who
dove the dumpster every morning to see what happened in the pub the
night before. We would really have to watch him to see that he did not
bring back some green roast beef or bad tomatoes and try to stick them
back in the cooler... Don't worry, I had someone stationed on him
every morning.
Scotty