Recently at a dinner party we hosted there was a visiting chef who decided to cook for us. Little did we know that this chef cooked in our kitchen like he would in a large industrial sized kitchen complete with his own personal dishwasher. Unfortunately our kitchen is NOT an industrial sized kitchen and I AM the requisite dishwasher.

There were pans in the sink, vegetables stalks strewn over the counters, numerous forks, spoons and utensils used and abused at will and of course plenty of garbage.

This aftermath left me feeling a little embarassed…”Was my kitchen not good enough?” I asked myself while cleaning up after the storm or was it that it wasn’t prepared for him?

I thought about this and realized that all people have different cooking/entertaining styles. Some of us (myself included) like to work very clean. I use a pot, spoon or fork and I immediately wash said spoon, fork or pots.

Others are tornadoes. It’s as though they are on the “Iron Chef” If they don’t use every utensil, ingredient and oil in their cooking then they will somehow have failed and thus be judged by all.

Well, I know how to prepare for me but how do I prepare for them?

It’s easy, I think like them…

“What does think like them mean?” you may ask.

If you are aware of their needs from the start, you can easily save your kitchen and the eventual mess YOU will have to clean up. Follow these simple steps to make sure your kitchen is workspace ready.

• Make sure you have a waste receptacle large enough to hold everything in one fill. You do not want to continually change those under the counter cans through out the cooking experience. I have seen garbages changed 4 full times between the start of cooking and the serving of the meal. 3 times too many for me!!
• If you have a dishwasher, be sure to have it empty and let your guests know what they can put inside. Avoid putting pots,pans, knives, cutting boards and utensils in the dishwasher. one to save your equipment and two to have available for subsequent use.
• If you have too, wash the dishes, utensils by hand while the cook is preparing the meal. This way you can stay on top of a larger mess, be able to recycle utensils and such and if you are the one cooking, have a clean workspace available. Most Food poisoning comes from cross contamination. If you keep a clean workspace and continuosly clean your equipment, then it is unlikely any of your guests will ever be sick.
• If you have a double sink, keep one free for washing of dishes and the other for vegetables, straining and rinsing.

If you follow these simple steps, you can easily have guest chef’s in your home and ensure that the dishwasher he is bringing is not you.

Cheers