If you are in the service industry and in charge of a kitchen, you are in charge of a space that will constantly become dirty, especially if you are frying food. Here are a few essential tools you will need to have on hand to keep your space clean and presentable.
*Pressure Washer
*Commercial Grade Degreaser
*Deep Fryer Cleaning Implements
*Steel Wool
*Rags
*Gloves
*Specialty Cleaning Products Specific to Your Equipment
You should clean your truck after every shift as described in another section of this course, but if you regularly operate you will also need to schedule time to complete more thorough deep cleans on a regular basis. If you are operating five or more days per week, I recommend blocking off a few hours on a weekly basis. If you are operating four or fewer days per week it may be fine to only schedule deep cleaning on a monthly basis. You will know by the appearance of your kitchen. When you do deep cleans and there is a lot of grease build up to remove, a pressure washer is an invaluable tool. In conjunction with commercial grade degreaser it will be the most efficient way to keep grease buildup to a minimum on your truck. Steel wool, plenty of rags, and protective gloves are also essential items.
As you begin your deep clean I recommend removing the filters in your hood and soaking them in a mixture of water and degreaser, like Skyline’s Orange Thunder. When using commercial degreaser, be sure to wear gloves because prolonged exposure will cause damage to your fingernails, among other things. While your hood filters are soaking, focus on cleaning the walls around your cooking equipment and the area behind the hood filters. Depending on the degree of soil you may be able to do this with a combination of rags, scouring pads, steel wool, and degreaser. Particularly difficult areas may become easier to clean if you heat them with a butane torch before scrubbing. A wise maintenance person once told me that heat is what causes grease to become stuck in areas where you don’t want it, and heat is also what will help remove it. If necessary you can also use a pressure wash to clean the walls of your truck, but doing so will make a mess that will require significantly more clean up. By doing this work regularly, it will still be a dirty job, but it will never be so dirty that the task feels hopeless and overwhelming.
You do not have to take the step of cleaning components of your propane powered cooking equipment every time you deep clean your truck, but it is something that should be done on at least an annual basis. Otherwise carbon build up will lead to ineffective equipment operation, and eventually, costly repairs. If you have a flat top grill learn the basics of deconstructing it. You should be able to remove the surface of the grill and use your pressure washer to remove carbon build up from the back side of the cooking surface. From there you should be able to remove the baffles (metal plates that evenly distribute heat across your grill surface) as well as the gas orifices and burners of your flat top to thoroughly clean them. Simply using the pressure washer should suffice, but for a more thorough clean you can soak these components in the same degreaser solution in which you are soaking your hood filters. If you have a range, removing the grates that pots are designed to rest on should be as simple as lifting them up. The burners may also be easily removed. You can also soak and pressure wash these items.
If you are feeling unsure of your ability to disassemble your equipment it is better to err on the side of caution. If you are disassembling something and you are not confident you will be able to easily put it back together, take pictures as you go to ensure that you will have a reassembly guide to follow later. You can also always seek professional assistance once, learn how it’s done, and then do the job on your own in the future. With regard to a deep fryer or oven, I do not recommend disassembly because reassembly is generally more complicated than with the other pieces of equipment I previously mentioned. That, however, does not mean these items should not be regularly cleaned.
You can use a can of commercial strength oven cleaner to scrub the interior of your oven. Doing this regularly will help keep grease from building up in other areas of the oven you may not be able to easily access. For a deep fryer, if there is carbon build up in its burners using a flashlight to find the problem areas and a can of compressed air to blow them clean will be effective. When you do this be prepared for the carbon build up you remove to blow everywhere. You can do you best to contain the mess by placing a plastic bag over the rear air vent of the deep fryer.
Now that you are allowing any components that could use a soak to benefit from that process you are ready to clean your deep fryer’s basin and change its oil. If you are operating regularly, this should be done a minimum of once per week. If your concept involves a high volume of frying, it may be necessary to change your oil everyday. While fried foods often produce a high profit margin, it is easy to overlook that the frying oil itself is a food cost and should be factored into your calculation of the cost of your fried menu items. An easy way to tell when your fryer oil needs to be changed is to monitor the color of the oil. Fresh oil is clear enough that you should be able to see the grates that rest on top of a fryer’s burners and support fry baskets when they are in use. If your oil becomes dark enough that you can no longer see these grates it’s time to change your fryer oil. Since fryer oil is absorbed by the food it is cooking, you may need to top off your fryer’s oil level several times before you need to change the oil completely.
Clean Fryer Oil vs. Dirty Fryer Oil
As you use your fryer, debris settles at the bottom of the basin. Occasionally, this debris may keep your fryer from draining properly. As such you will want to have a fryer brush handy to easily free up any blockages as you drain your dirty oil. Before draining oil make sure that it is at a temperature where it will not burn you or you are properly equipped to protect yourself from potential burns. I have been the victim of fryer oil burns across my chest, and I do not recommend the experience.
For most deep fryers a five gallon bucket will suffice for holding dirty oil of which you plan to dispose. Attach the drain pipe to the fryer drain opening, place your bucket beneath the pipe, and then open the drain valve. Once your fryer is drained of liquid there may still be debris at the bottom of the basin. If this is the case you can use a long handled slotted spoon to remove as much of that as possible. At this point your fryer may be sufficiently clean. If this is the case, simple close the fryer’s drain valve and remove its drain pipe, dispose of the dirty oil in a health department approved receptacle, and add fresh oil to your fryer. If your fryer needs additional cleaning you can take the extra step of using a commercial fryer cleaning product, often known generically as “boil out.” This product is sold in powder form. Following the directions on the container, add the appropriate amount of product, and then fill your fryer with water. Next turn on your fryer to the advised temperature, and allow it to run for the amount of time indicated on the instructions. Typically this is between five and ten minutes. After you have turned off the fryer drain and dispose of the water and boil out solution. Next thoroughly rinse your fryer with water to be certain that no residual boil out remains in the basin. Last but not least, remember that oil and water are not friends. Before you add fresh oil to your fryer be certain you have thoroughly dried the basin or you have given it sufficient time to air dry. Failure to heed this step is likely to cause your fryer to overflow during its next use and potentially leave the fryer operator with serious burns.
Now that your fryer is clean you are ready to take any components that have been soaking, pressure wash them, wipe them down, and return them to your truck. After you have done that you can clean your refrigeration and dry storage areas as needed and then begin cleaning your floor. I find that the most effective way to do this is to splash degreaser onto the floor and then spray it with your pressure washer, being mindful of where your floor drains are. Before doing this you should lift items you do not want to get wet out of low storage areas. For particularly stubborn areas, you may need to get on your hands and knees and apply elbow grease with a rag or steel wool. Once your floor is clean wipe it down with rags or a mop. Finally place anything you have taken out of the truck or temporarily relocated back in its proper location and take your dirty rags and mop to your commissary mop sink or laundry facilities for cleaning.
At this point you can consider your deep cleaning complete unless you also desire to clean the water lines of your plumbing system or the exterior of your truck. Cleaning your water lines is as simple as running a cleaning product through them that can be found at any RV supply store and following the instructions on the package. Washing your truck’s exterior can be done by visiting any carwash that offers sufficient overhead clearance to accommodate your vehicle or doing it yourself just as you would wash any other car. Neither of these tasks need to be done on a weekly basis.
Key Takeaways:
*Clean to a minimum standard after every shift
*Schedule separate deep cleaning time according to how often your truck operates
*Always have rags, gloves, commercial grade degreaser, and specialty products specific to your tools and equipment on board
*Soak any components you can in degreaser solution while you work on other tasks
*Change fryer oil and remove debris from fryer on a regular basis; strain in between uses
*Remove dry storage and refrigerated items to be able to thoroughly clean crevices and shelving
*Clean floor and return items to proper place as last steps of any deep clean