In European countries, such as Germany, England, Denmark, and others, more and more food trucks are conquering big cities, and now, kitchens are also being built at home. As with any natural food truck, equipment is essential here, too. Everything is neatly arranged in the smallest space: sufficient work space, high-quality technology and plenty of storage space. Great looks, easy maintenance and clever details make for an efficient kitchen. We bring the street food trend into your four walls and show how you can create a food truck kitchen that doesn’t travel the country mobile but stays home.
Street food and finger food are becoming a new trend
Street food is trendy. Mobile kitchens in food trucks are increasingly used at street food festivals or food truck markets in big cities such as the UK, Germany, and America to offer delicious and creative food.
Mobile food trucks usually have a flexible location compared to home food truck kitchens. Here, you can get delicious, high-quality dishes, often specializing in regional dishes and snacks. You can enjoy a quick, healthy meal after shopping or a tasty snack during your lunch break. A quick refreshment with delicious food right in your hand satisfies your hunger and is delicious and usually very healthy. Many food trucks also specifically offer vegetarian or vegan dishes, supporting the latest nutritional trends.
Delicious food is often prepared in food trucks right in front of customers. This way, you can see directly what products are used and the excellent quality of the ingredients. Healthy and varied—this is what the street food trend is about because street food has always been a healthy alternative to fast food. It is usually served in bamboo bowls or napkins, wrapped in paper, or skewered on wooden sticks.
Go to a street food festival!
Food trucks are becoming increasingly popular, so much so that street food festivals are now held in many cities. Many food trucks regularly attend weekly markets or set up shops in permanent market halls to offer delicious, freshly prepared food from hand to mouth.
The food truck market has penetrated the digital world through various cellphone applications. These applications show the location of the food truck market, the menu served, and the prices, making it easy for people to find the location and the food menu.
By the way, this food culture originates from America: information was obtained that the first version of food trucks has existed here for several hundred years. Since 2010, food trucks have finally arrived in Europe, such as the Netherlands and Germany, and have inspired more people here.
Kitchen technology for food truck kitchens
The mobile food truck trend can easily be transferred to a full kitchen at home on your own four walls. Like food trucks, well-thought-out technology with intelligent functionality is also essential here. However, there is one thing you can safely avoid: long queues, because dear friends and guests like to wait patiently at the dining table or the counter until the delicious food is ready to eat. Convenient kitchen appliances help you cook quickly, deliciously and easily.
Modern ovens with steam jet technology make meat dishes like slow-braised pork juicy and tender. An integrated grilling thermometer with three measuring points helps to precisely read meat doneness, making tender pork or spicy beef a perfect hit.
The new induction cooktops are also highly efficient for preparing delicious, energy-efficient roadside meals. A unique addition is the range of stove accessories: the Teppan-Yaki attachment allows for Asian dishes such as tender satay skewers, burgers, and steaks to be perfectly served on a grill plate, and exotic Thai curries can be prepared with a wok attachment.
But especially when frying burgers, the pungent smell will quickly disappear. This can easily be prevented with a modern extractor hood. This device works quietly and powerfully, so every food truck kitchen is odour-free, no matter how small.
It would help to have a powerful refrigerator with plenty of storage space to keep ingredients fresh. In the fresh drawer with Vitafresh technology, fruit and vegetables stay crisp, and meat and fish stay fresh.
A fast, quiet, and powerful dishwasher is best suited for the kitchen to ensure all cooking utensils are cleaned quickly and can be reused. The washing zone is also conveniently equipped: a large sink and a fitting with a retractable shower hose help reliably clean even large pans.
Planning a kitchen in street food design
Whether small or large – food truck kitchens can be planned into any size room – in fact, they are suitable for small kitchens because food trucks are also narrower. Well-thought-out equipment becomes even more critical here so that the available space can be utilized to the maximum. It is helpful to plan floor-to-ceiling kitchen cupboards so that storage space can be used up to the ceiling.
Open shelves in narrow niches or shelves on the wall give cooking utensils a place. Not only does it store well in a wire basket, but it also looks decorative. Ceiling-mounted hanging systems are ideal for hanging pots, kitchen utensils or dried herbs. Cast iron pans or shiny copper pans are very effective here. If you have room for a small bench in the kitchen, you can create additional storage space with a pull-out cupboard under the seating.
Of course, trendy food truck kitchens look great, too. There are almost no limitations when it comes to design. Calm colours such as grey, anthracite, brown, black, or dark green are popular for kitchen fronts. They can be easily combined with steel, stone, or wood elements, accentuating today’s modern-rustic look. Kitchen fronts should be non-sensitive and easy to clean. Who wants to spend time cleaning when they could be enjoying street food?
The worktop in a food truck kitchen should also be a highlight, as it is the work surface where salads are chopped, sauces are mixed, and delicious burgers are topped. Materials that are easy to clean are also suitable for the design. Worktops made of real wood, natural stone, stainless steel, or decorative materials can withstand heavy loads and attract visual attention in a food truck kitchen.
The sturdy and rugged kitchen handles add the finishing touch, perfectly reflecting the industrial style of the food truck trend. They often have a unique vintage touch and look like they were forged and made by hand.
The kitchen environment must also be designed appropriately to skillfully complete the look of a food truck kitchen: an alcove back wall made of glass or stainless steel works just as well as a back wall with natural tile or a tile look.
Prepare and decorate the food truck kitchen.
The food truck trend is very similar to the industrial style: the rustic look, rough materials, and sturdy surfaces also look great in kitchens with a food truck look and provide a modern and rustic look. Warm colours from the soft spectrum, such as grey, brown, anthracite, or navy, have a simple effect and work well with wood, metal, or steel tones. How about trendy walls made of brick or natural stone and wood-look floors?
The dining room is transformed into a modern street food-style bistro with steel tables, benches, and wooden or leather seats. Textiles like fleece rugs or wool pillows add a touch of comfort to a food truck kitchen and create a home-like atmosphere.
The most popular street food snack
And last but not least, there is a glimpse of what can be conjured up in this kitchen! Who isn’t tempted by the thought of delicious burgers, hot dogs and BBQ? This is the most famous American street food, usually in the United States!
But a food truck kitchen can prepare a more comprehensive selection of dishes than just American cuisine! How about Mexican night? Burritos, nachos, enchiladas, and tacos are on the menu here!
Asian cuisine is the opposite: stir-fries, Thai curries, and noodles are balanced, healthy and super delicious! It’s easy to bring Asian culture and lifestyle into your kitchen!
Of course, Turkish cuisine should not be overlooked here, as börek or meat satay is a dish worth trying. Frying is no problem in a food truck kitchen, either: the famous fish and chips, langos, and fries are child’s play here!
As soon as this dish is deliciously eaten, dessert is still missing, and what could be better than ending a unique and successful evening of street food in your food truck kitchen with sweet crepes, cupcakes or muffins?
And so you can start immediately with delicious street food in a food truck kitchen, we have a great recipe for pulled pork burgers.
Pulled pork burger recipe
“Pulled pork” is a slow-braised cut of pork that is pulled apart with two forks after cooking and is ideal for burgers.
The perfect “pulled pork burger” relies on tender, juicy meat and the proper seasoning. The meat is marinated several hours beforehand in a dry spice called a “rub” so that as much flavour as possible can penetrate the meat.
Thomas, a food blogger at Bacon Zum Steak, shares his perfect recipe for pulled pork and rub. The rub has the typical BBQ aroma: a mix of savoury and sweet with a hint of spicy. The rub forms a nice crust as the sugar caramelizes, protecting the meat underneath from getting too dry.
Ingredients for 12-14 pulled pork burgers:
To wit:
5 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp mustard flour
3 tbsp salt
3 tbsp paprika powder (sweet)
3 tbsp paprika powder (mild or hot)
3 tbsp ground pepper (black)
3 tbsp ground pepper (white)
Two tablespoons cayenne pepper or chilli powder
2 tbsp cumin powder (cumin)
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp ginger powder
For pulled pork and burgers
3 kg pork neck or pork shoulder
For vegetable stock: celery, onion, garlic, salt, pepper
300 ml orange juice with pulp
Two large apples
Two large onions
12-14 burger patties
Burger sauce or mayonnaise
barbecue sauce
Bacon
Your salad of choice: lamb’s lettuce or classic American slaw
Kitchen helper:
Oven dish or casserole dish
Digital oven thermometer
Preparation:
Mix the rub ingredients and a sufficient amount of the spice mixture into the patted dry meat, rubbing it into several places. Then, cover the meat and put it in the refrigerator to rest for at least 12 hours (preferably 24 hours). Before the meat is placed in the oven, it must be removed from the fridge and left to stand at room temperature for another 2 hours.
Preparation:
With the help of an oven dish, a stock is made, which is then pureed into the pulled pork. To do this, make vegetable stock from 500 ml of water, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, then boil it for one hour. Pour the vegetable stock through a sieve, mix it with the orange juice, and place it in the oven dish with the diced apple and chopped onion. Alternatively, you can put the vegetables directly into the bowl and cook them too. Meat juices and fat are then dripped into it, which, together with the rub, gives the drink its unique taste.
Set the oven to 120° top and bottom heat with air circulation and place the pork neck on the rack (if there is no air circulation function, the meat should be turned over once at a core temperature of 75°C). Place the oven tray in the oven as low as possible. Each kg of meat takes 3 hours of cooking time with air circulation, so a 3 kg cut takes 9 hours to cook. With top and bottom heat without air circulation, the time required for meat is 3 hours longer; with 3 kg of beef, the result is 12 hours. Finding the right moment between doneness and juiciness is essential so the pulled pork is not too dry later.
When air-circulating braising, we recommend occasionally adding cold water to the drip tray so that there is as little liquid as possible at the end of the cooking time. The taste of the meat broth is more intense when compared to pulled pork.
Once a core temperature of 92° is reached, the meat can be removed from the oven and rest for at least 45 minutes until the temperature drops to 50°. During this resting time, the braised pieces of meat re-infuse the meat juices and remain friendly and juicy. Meanwhile, pour the stock over a sieve and collect the apple and onion pieces.
Now separate the meat with especially pulled pork claws until longer meat fibres are formed.
Now, the burger can be topped. Add chopped apples, onions, mayonnaise, and pulled pork to the burgers. You can also fry up bacon and a fried egg and put it on the burger. A signature cole slaw or lamb’s lettuce salad makes a perfect pulled pork burger.