Probably bettet to call them chunked. They're about as wide as my pinky. Probably cutting a pepper into thirds or fourths. They're fresh.
Do people actually enjoy such large pieces of jalapeño? I scrape plates and I see them left behind constantly, so it seems our customers aren't big fans of the huge chunks.
I can't help but think nobody in the kitchen actually eats jalapeños and has no idea how unappealing a huge chunk of fresh jalapeño can be, at least in my opinion.
But maybe I'm the weird one for wanting them cut smaller?
Are they raw? What is the dish that they are a part of? I don't like chunks of jalapeños, and clearly your diners dont either if you keep seeing them left behind. Also, maybe it's just me but why does your kitchen crew not eat the food they are preparing?
Ah, nachos. And yeah raw jalapeño chunks.
I would fuck up some jalapeños on nachos
For nachos, you should try pickled jalapeños, and slice them half the size of what they are now. A guac, or a salsa, sure use them raw. But in these big pieces, with all the fat of sour cream, maybe beef, maybe guac, and cheeae, the pickled flavor will get folks eating them.
On matchos this sounds amazing to me 🤤
But then again, my GF would disagree so it's probably very hit or miss
Thin slices. A little heat to accentuate the flavor of the food. A big chunk of jalapeno is no more appetizing than a huge chunk of bell pepper. Plus, fresh jalapenos are a gamble. They may be mild, they may be hot enough that you can't taste your food anymore.
Just... fresh unseasoned jalapeno chunks plopped directly on the plate?
Yeahhhh I can kinda see why you're noticing plates with those still remaining.
At least pickle them or something, shit.
Sorry, they're part of the nachos. They put 2 or 3 peppers worth of raw jalapeño chunks on each plate.
For nachos surely you want the jalapenos sliced so thinly that you can have a slice with a few chips and have it balance out. If they're huge chunks then you have to have them with a bunch of chips or cut them up.
Or a bit on e very one or most of them at least
It ruins consistency and food cost even before being binned
We just started making giardineira in house, I might try and play that angle with my chef. If we're already making one pickled product, we could easy do a second.
It'd cut down on food cost too, less wasted jalapeños from both being tastier AND pickled product lasts forever in the walk in.
Plus, even once you've used up all the jalapenos now you've got jalapeno-flavored vinegar, very tasty, I've used that on some Thai noodles.
I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but that's actually worse.
I know...
Yeah, not a fan of pickled jalapeños either. Would rather large fresh chunks to pickled so at least the pickle liquid didn't get everywhere. I love pickles, but not sogging up my nachos.
You give them a quick shake when you are plating, it removes enough liquid that you're never going to make the plate soggy.
The bit of brine that gets into the nachos would just be a flavor boost. It's a huge flavor source, I use pepperoncini brine when I make a pot roast. It's a core ingredient. I also get a fork wet and drip the brine onto a sandwich, It's easy extra flavor.
This is all correct.
Oof, I love spicy food but that's just too much especially in big chunks. One raw jalapeno sliced thinly and sprinkled evenly across a plate of nachos is enough.
No kidding. And jalapeños can vary in spice so much. You could randomly get a super hot pepper and essentially ruin your dinner.
Much better to remove seeds and dice so you can get a tiny bit with every chip.
Lately I've gotten enough flavorless bell pepper like fresh jalapenos that I wouldn't be too concerned, but you're correct and one should be plenty unless someone asks for extras
You’re not weird at all. Huge raw jalapeño chunks are basically a dare, not a garnish. Most people want heat and flavor, not a mouthful of grassy burn.
Slicing them thinner or pickling them instantly makes them way more usable. Right now it just sounds like the kitchen tossing heat on a plate without thinking about how it eats.
The restaurant near me slices them in about 1/4" wheels and pan fries them. Toss with salt and lime juice. Its the best appetizer they have by far
Sounds delicious. I might do that up for my next shift meal.
Take them off the heat a little before they start to get crispy. Just don't eat them on an empty stomach. I did that once, felt like I drank some acid. And not the fun kind either....
That’s the whole dish?
Yep, like I said- its just an appetizer. I usually eat some and put some in whatever main course dish I order
Sounds super yummy
When restaurants make dishes but don't test them
Midwest people who don't like spice, hah.
Also they're changing the menu soon. Fingers crossed we can change it.
I like spicy, but if i got jalapenoes that thick, they better be battered and deep fried. Served with a tasty sauce. And beer.
They’re changing it to mayo-based nachos
I'm a little confused about why you're not asking this question to, like, the chef at your restaurant? Presumably they have a reason for this, no?
New guy, don't wanna rock the boat quite yet. Also he's not there very often...
Pick your battles then, only worth mentioning if someone on hand cares about food waste
Usually helps if you can come at it with financial side and costs
I pickle and can mine from the garden that thick. Lol
Pickled are great. It really mellow out the raw spice of some of the randomly much spicier peppers.
Raw is a different story, hah.
Compleeeeeeetely different. Absolutely not compl"eat"ly.
That's weird but that said, you're going to find that large amounts of food waste in a restaurant is pretty normal. And a lot of things are put onto a plate just to be thrown away (like greens with appetizers). Maybe the chef/owner thinks these are a nice decorative touch? I dunno.
Are they pickled?
You learn to pickle jalapenos, and you will have some loyal fans.
The best pickled jalapenos I've ever had is easily Blaze Pizza, or one of the homemade batches that I didn't eff up.
But they shouldn't be so thick, maybe as thick as an almond.
I should practice some pickling and create some to present the chef. I've. Even meaning to try making giardineira, too...
Any suggestions?
I snack on whole jalapeños and habañeros from the balcony garden. Chunks, I'll eat.
Personally, if running a restaurant I'd batch slice them thin and white vinegar + salt pickle them. Saves time during rush hours and avoids food wastage.
I've wondered at phở/Vietnamese noodle soup restaurants about what happens to the ample basil, jalapeño, mung bean sprout and lime slices served alongside phở and not used. I hate food wastage. I hope they find their way onto other plates in some safe form (cooked or cleaned).
If it's on a plate and doesn't get eaten it goes in the trash. Sorry.
I'm not a fan of food waste either, but you;re not saying you'd want someone's unused jalapenos/basic/bean sprouts, are you?
Sprinkle salt and eat them
Firstly, depends on what kind of cuisine.
Second, maybe the cooks just aren't very good with a knife.
Raw jalapeño on nachos are delicious, but 1-2cm slices is just fucking lazy. 3-4mm is what I'd consider chunky for sliced chillies.
Raw, not at all. Cooked down in something like chili I’d be ok with it. Mention to the manager/GM that you see a lot of them left on plates a couple of times randomly. They’ll pass it on if you don’t want to engage with the cooks directly
I’ve lived in places with good Mexican food, and bad Mexican food. That’s bad on nachos, the jalapeños should either be pickled or sliced super thin. Preferably pickled. Where I live now is more Midwest kinda cuisine and the amount of raw jalapeños I’ve scraped off things… I like spice but I would scrape large raw chunks directly into the trash.
I like that on a bahn mi where it'll mix with all the other flavors and fatty mayo. I'm a pepper fan and think of fresh jalepenos as mild-medium spicy, but large chunked jalepenos aren't ideal from just a flavor balance perspective. They end up dominating the bite in most things. Sounds like whoever's doing prep is being lazy lol
This is exactly it. It'll overwhelm any other flavors, so it's really not adding to much to the dish unless you really love fresh jalapeno, which I don't think a lot of people do in this manner.
Yeah, seems like a wild choice for the kitchen to make. No idea how you ought to deal with it though, best of luck
Unless they’re grilled or something, I want my jalapeños cut thin.
I like jalapenos, but I want the choice to eat as much or as little as I want (they have varying degrees of spice). Big chunks make that harder. Also, theres a poor ratio of fat ass pieces of jalapeno on a nacho or two.
This logic doesn't follow. Isn't it harder to remove thinly sliced jalepeno and easier to eat around thicker jalepeno chunks?
I see what you mean. I WANT jalapeno though. In my head, im eating that whole chunk in one bite, especially because the dish we're talking about is nachos, whereas smaller slices I could omit, add one small slice, or multiple small slices.
A restaurant near me does this on their nachos.Super annoying because the jalapeño chunks roll off the nachos as you try to eat them.
The Mexican place near me makes pickled whole jalapeños and baby carrots and they give you a couple carrots and one jalapeño with every taco order.
It’s my favorite part of the meal. I eat the jalapeño like you’d eat the pepperoncini that comes with a pizza. Bite the end off and squeeze it out over the food.
Fuck I want tacos now
My guess is that you can pick them out easily if you don’t like them. For me, more jalapeño, more better. However, I’d rather have a bunch of thin sliced.
If I'm cooking jalapenos I'm okay with them being a little thicker, but for raw or pickled I like them pretty thinly sliced.
It depends on the dish, I guess, but I live in the American southwest and usually see jalepenos cut about the width of my pinky (or seeded and quartered). I see them diced in chile sauces and pureed in salsas. I often see rounds about a pinky-width. Jalepeno chunks are great though, and give customers more control over how spicy their food is. You'll see more left on the plate because they didn't have to send the whole dish back because it was too spicy. They just took off a few bits. Raw jalepeno chunks/rounds or small whole jalepenos are an exceptionally common garnish where I live.
For the additional cost of a half hour of labor, slice the jalapenos 1-2MM thick with a food processor, dump them into a lexan along with some smashed garlic and whatever other herbs or spices you want, and pour hot quick pickle brine overtop. Let them brine for 24 hours and then serve.
You will stop seeing them left on the plate.
Thick jalepeños?? People will choke dude, PEOPLE WILL DIE!!