Walk into a restaurant kitchen during prep and it can look like chaos. It is not. Every kitchen is built around the same few machines, and every cook has a station: a small area with everything needed for one part of the menu.
Key idea
A station is one cook's work area for one kind of food (grill, sauté, fry, cold, pastry). The line is the row of stations that cook during service. The pass is the counter where finished plates are checked before they go to the dining room.
| Machine | How it heats | Best at |
|---|---|---|
| Range (burners or flat-top) | From below, through a pan | Sautéing, simmering, sauces |
| Oven (still or convection) | Hot air all around; a fan moves it faster in a convection oven | Roasting, baking, braising |
| Broiler and salamander | Strong heat from above | Browning tops, melting cheese, finishing |
| Grill (charbroiler) | Strong heat from below, through grates | Steaks, vegetables, grill marks |
| Griddle (flat-top) | A thick hot steel plate | Eggs, pancakes, burgers, searing |
| Deep fryer | Hot oil all around | Fries, battered fish, crisp coatings |
| Combi oven | Hot air, steam, or both at once | Roasting with moisture, steaming, holding |
| Walk-in and reach-in refrigerators | Removes heat | Keeping food at 41°F or below |
Why it works
Knowing which way heat comes from tells you what each machine is for. A salamander browns the top of a gratin in a minute because all its heat hits the top; an oven would cook the whole dish through first.
Worked example: Pick the machine
You need to brown the cheese on top of a bowl of onion soup in under two minutes.
- The heat must come from above, and fast.
- That is the job of a salamander or broiler.
Answer: A salamander (or broiler).
Common mistake
Calling every hot box an oven. A salamander and a broiler heat from above only; a convection oven moves air with a fan, so it cooks faster and browns more evenly than a still oven at the same setting.
Practice at home
- Draw a map of your kitchen at home. Mark where the heat is, where the cold is, where the water is, and where trash goes. Professional kitchens are laid out so food moves in one direction: from storage, to prep, to cooking, to the pass.
- Find out where heat comes from in your oven: is there a top element (broiler), a bottom one, a fan?
In Meal Prep
- What's in the Kitchen: appliances: a picture guide to small appliances at home