If there’s one thing that separates the pros from the home cooks, it’s how clean your work area is when you’re getting ready to cook, cooking, and finishing up. Be assured that if you can’t keep a spotlessly clean station in a professional kitchen as you work, you will not be on the schedule the next day. This simple truth of cleanliness in the kitchen is the cornerstone of our new series, Clean Cookin’.
In this episode, Nashville country artist Mickey Guyton is welcomed into the kitchen of celebrity Chef Jamika Pessoa to make some delicious lasagna rolls. But before they dive into the cooking, Chef Pessoa breaks down the steps of cleanliness necessary to operate a pro kitchen. Step 1: “Everything Starts Clean,” which means that you need to clean your kitchen — and your hands — before you pull a single thing out of the fridge or fire up the stove. Step 2 is where a lot of home cooks can get into the proverbial “weeds,” but it’s a crucial step — “Clean As You Go.” While this seems obvious, it’s really what separates the pros from the novices. Make a mess? Clean it up right away. You’ll have more space and less room for contamination.
Naturally, having the cleanest possible kitchen is of paramount importance because you don’t want to get people sick — and a messy/dirty kitchen is the fastest way to that terrible outcome. No one wants to make themselves, their partner, or family and friends sick with their cooking from a disastrously messy and unkempt kitchen.
Chef Pessoa has more advice for keeping the kitchen clean while also offering an outstanding lasagna roll recipe that you can try at home (in your super clean kitchen). So watch the whole episode above to see it all.