I've seen many different types of kitchen where the general cookery of meats is done on a grill, on a plancha or on a range top burner in a pan (either a heavy bottomed pan or a general saute pan). Most traditional lines that I've seen use a grill, newer and more upscale restaurants seem to use planchas (going with that new fad of supposedly flat tops giving the best sear) and good French and Italian kitchens seem to cook their meats on the range top (hence their "saute" cooks are usually quite skilled since they do most of the cooking).
Each method has their pro's and cons and I like them all for different reasons. People love the taste of a traditional grill and those diamond grill marks, although they are very hot and can be a PITA to clean depending on what model or how old your grill is. Plus grill heavy restaurants are always looking for grill cooks since they get burned out faster. Planchas give that distinctive flat top sear and are versatile in that different things can be cooked on the same station (IE you can cook buttered buns and burgers on different sections and can also do a faux saute of sorts for things like shrimp and certain veggies) but people tend to over rely on the plancha and sometimes foods will taste different if the oil or juices from different sections run off into each other (I've had a burger taste faintly of seafood one time). Range tops give a good sear and are good for finishing a steak or other piece of meat with butter (glorious!) and can have the added benefit of finishing cooking in the oven (especially helpful for large pieces of meat, bone in stuff and duck breasts). However, they are harder to get meat temperatures right since your saute cooks are doing a lot at one time and getting the right sear is more difficult hence sometimes over-seared or under seared meats.
If you were opening a restaurant from scratch which one of these methods would you use for meat cookery and why?
Each method has their pro's and cons and I like them all for different reasons. People love the taste of a traditional grill and those diamond grill marks, although they are very hot and can be a PITA to clean depending on what model or how old your grill is. Plus grill heavy restaurants are always looking for grill cooks since they get burned out faster. Planchas give that distinctive flat top sear and are versatile in that different things can be cooked on the same station (IE you can cook buttered buns and burgers on different sections and can also do a faux saute of sorts for things like shrimp and certain veggies) but people tend to over rely on the plancha and sometimes foods will taste different if the oil or juices from different sections run off into each other (I've had a burger taste faintly of seafood one time). Range tops give a good sear and are good for finishing a steak or other piece of meat with butter (glorious!) and can have the added benefit of finishing cooking in the oven (especially helpful for large pieces of meat, bone in stuff and duck breasts). However, they are harder to get meat temperatures right since your saute cooks are doing a lot at one time and getting the right sear is more difficult hence sometimes over-seared or under seared meats.
If you were opening a restaurant from scratch which one of these methods would you use for meat cookery and why?