Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning

Today for some reason everyone in the kitchen was going xrazy with the cleaning!We didn't have that many people booked tonight so during the beginning of service when it was quiet - everyone was cleaning. Not just the regular cleaning we do everyday, but intense, deep cleaning. Taking out refrigerator drawers and scrubbing, taking all the trays out of the freezer and replacing them with new ones, moving work tables and benches and scrubbing behind them, etc. This is a great thing to do, but what always struck me as odd is why our kitchen porters don't do the bulk of that work for us. Every other kitchen I have worked in, the chefs have focused promarily on the food and service, and the kitchen porters are so called not because they just do dishes, but because they also clean, organize, replenish stock, and do other odd jobs around the kicthen that does not involve the preparation or handling of food. Here, we even sweep and mop the floors ourselves. I understand cleaning up after oneself and organizing your own station, but add on all the extra cleaning we do and we are there an extra two hours or so after service!

Other than that today went well, I prepped in the bar making sticky toffee pudding apple crisp, butter cookies, etc.