I've been wondering how restaurants are able to serve food so fast. How are they able to serve thick steaks in 20 – 30 minutes?
Here's the process that I know of:
- Bring the steak to room temperature (20 minutes)
- Pan sear it for around 2.5 minutes on each side
- Put it in the oven 15 minutes.
- Rest it for 10 minutes.
That's like 50 minutes.
Another question is how do they manage the steaks? Do they have several in freezer ready and when the stock goes down, they start to thaw the one that's frozen? Or they don't even have frozen steaks? How are they able to keep the steak for a long period of time without it going bad (let's say it's a slow week for the restaurant)? When I buy a steak and put it my freezer, it only last 3 days before it turns gray.
Best Answer
When I worked the wheel at a local restaurant, we served 4oz medallions of filet mignon that went from fridge directly to grill. Only took about 5 minutes on each side, then the steak was plated and sent to the table. There was no "wait until room temp", oven or rest stage. The rest stage wasn't necessary because we weren't pre-slicing the steak before sending it out. By the time the steak leaves the grill and makes it to the table, it has hit a satisfactory rest period.
Larger cuts would require the oven, but those too, would not require waiting until room temperature nor the rest period.
I can't speak for chain restaurants. The restaurant I worked in would order and prepare the fresh protein twice a week (Thursdays and Mondays). The protein was held in the walk-in cooler. When rush comes, the chef that works the wheel uses several 6" pans that separately contains all the proteins in a smaller fridge nearby.
Of course this is only my experience. Like I said, I can't speak for larger restaurants.