Cooking
More Hospitality Notes 2024/April/10
The Food Service Industry
~ The chef, once considered a domestic servant,has become respected as an artist and skilled craftsperson
Origins of Classical and Modern Cuisine
#1 Boulanger
Modern food service began in 1765 when a Parisian named Boulanger began selling dishes that he referred to as “restoratives”
Boulanger means Baker
Restaurant comes from the verb Restaurer, meaning ‘to restore’
Bonus question*
Guilds: Random people couldn’t become butchers or sell eggs - you had to be licenced
Innkeeper: a person who owns or manages an inn or, sometimes,a hotel) Provided the customers with the menu
Guests had little or no choice and ate what was cooked that day
Boulanger’s establishment, changed the rules, by providing customers with choices, changing world history
#2 Carme
The great chef of the French Revolution time in 1793 was Marie-Antoine Careme
Founder of Classical Cuisine
Became the first to display pieces, wedding cakes, sugar sculptures, and ice cravings
#2 Escoffier
Georges-Auguste Escoffier was the greatest chef of this time
Two main contributions were simplifying of classical cuisine, the classical menu and the reorganization of the kitchen
Escoffier’s elaborated multicourse banquets consisted of 20 separate dishes
Modern Developments
Development of New Equipments
Controlled heat of modern cooking equipment (used to use fire to cook)
Motorized equipment (everything was done by hand before)
They use to dig a hole in the ground to refrigerated foods so they don’t spoil.
Development and Availability of New Food Products
Fresh foods are available all year round
Exotic delicacies are now shipped from anywhere in the world all year round
Development of prevention techniques (know 4):
Freezing
Canning
Freeze-drying
Vacuum-Packing
Irradiation (Process of exposing food to a controlled amount of energy called irradiation)
Smoking
Curing (With Vinegar or Salt)
Convenience foods: Typically a complete meal, that has been prepared commercially at a factory and requires little or no cooking by the consumer. -> Packages cold cuts, canned corn, pre-cooked chicken, IQF peeled and deveined shrimps
Bonus Question*
IQF stands for individually Quick Frozen
Professional cooks think convenience food products are a threat. They fear these products will eliminate the need for skilled chefs because everything will be prepared and done by machines.
Modern Cooking Styles
French Chefs in the late 1960s and early 1970s became famous for a style called Nouvelle Cuisine (new cooking) meaning they rejected many traditional principles, such as a dependence on flour to thicken sauces and instead urged simpler, more natural flavours and preparations with lighter sauces and seasonings and shorter cooking times
The Organization of Modern Kitchens - Apr/15/2024
The way a kitchen is organized depends on FOUR factors:
The Menu - the menu is a basis for the entire operation
The Type of Establishment
Institutional Kitchens
Schools
Hospitals
Employee lunchrooms
Airline Catering
Military food service
Correctional institutions
The size of the operation (the number of customers and the volume of food served)
The physical facilities, including the equipment in use
The Classical Brigade
Escoffier divided the kitchen into departments, or stations, based on the kinds of food they produced
A Station chef was placed in charge of each department
The major positions are: REMEMBER FRENCH NAMES**
The chef is the person in charge of the kitchen (ie. restaurants)
The executive chef is a manager who is responsible for all aspects of food production, including menu planning, purchasing, costing and planning work schedules. (ie hotels/banquet halls)
The soup chef is directly in charge of production. The sous chef takes command of all staff and food productivity when the chef of executive chef is not around or busy with other duties.
The Station chefs, or chefs de partie, are in charge of particular productions.
The following are the most important station chefs:
Sauce chef or saucier prepares sauces, stews, and hot hors d’oeuvres and sautes food to order (Highest position)
Fish cook or Poissonier prepares fish dishes
Vegetable cook or entremetier prepares vegetables, soup, starches, and eggs
Roast cook or Rotissuer prepares roasted and braised meats and their gravies and broils meats and other items to order
Broiler cook or Grillardin prepares the broiled items, deep fried meats and fish
Pantry chef or Garde manger is responsible for cold foods, including salads and dressing, pates, cold hors d’oeuvres and buffet items
Pastry chef or Patissier prepares pastries and desserts
Relief cook/swing cook or tournant replace other station heads when they are not available to work (like supply teachers)
Cooks and assistants help with the particular duties that are assigned to them. EXAMPLE-> the assistant vegetable cook may wash, peel, and trim vegetables. With experience, assistants may be promoted to station cooks and then to station chefs.
The working chef is in charge of operations that are not large enough to have an executive chef. Also handles one of the production stations.
The Short-order or line cook is the backbone of the kitchen during service time. The cook may handle the broiler, deep fryer, griddle, sandwich production and some sauteed items/
Skill Levels
The name chef is for one who is in charge of a kitchen or part of a kitchen OR once you become certified (write your cook exam on red seal)
The word chef is french for Chief or head
The general categories for group skills:
Supervisory - the head of the kitchen, whether called executive chef, head chef, working chef, or kitchen director
Skilled and Technical - The cook are the backbone because they carry out the actual food production to be served to the customer
Entry Level - workers that require no particular skills or experience; are assigned work as washing vegetables and preparing salad green