An Overview of Food Preparation

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An Overview of Food Preparation

• What everyone in hospitality should know about
  the business of food and how professional
  kitchens work

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Situations where kitchens are located

• There is a huge diversity of establishments
  within the hospitality industry
• Whilst many sell and serve food the target
  market and style of food sold differs

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Establishments involved in food production

• Restaurants
• Cafes
• Taverns
• Hotels
• Motels
• Schools
• Roadhouses
• Hospitals
• Prisons
• Clubs
• casinos

• Bistros
• Cafeterias
• Industrial canteens
• Transport (air, rail, sea)
• Colleges and universities
• Fast food outlets
• The armed services
• Function/convention centres
• Emergency and relief catering
• Outside or event catering
• Community services

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Food production kitchens vary in size, output,
staffing levels, hours of operation, levels of
staff experience, available equipment and
capacity of equipment.

• Lets look closely at some examples

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Fine dining restaurants

• A fine dining restaurant can be defined as having
  an international or classic menu
• A classic menu is one that has a certain sense of
  style and presentation.
• The kitchen brigade in fine dining restaurants
  operate on the traditional old European model.

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Fine dining restaurants contd

• This style of restaurant may be located as part
  of an international hotel or may stand alone. It
  should be noted that such restaurants , because
  of high operating costs , present a considerable
  economic risk.
• A restaurant operating as part of an
  international hotel or resort is likely to be
  subsidised by the overall food and beverage
  operation, because the establishment may consider
  the restaurant to be prestigious to its target
  market.

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Fine Dining Restaurants contd

• The pace of service is leisurely with usually
  only one sitting within the designated dining
  period.
• A customer dining in this style of restaurant can
  enjoy a sophisticated atmosphere and be served by
  experienced, highly skilled staff.
• This type of food service usually commands the
  highest prices for food and service in order to
  cover costs of quality ingredients and very
  experienced staff in both the kitchen and dining
  room areas.

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Layout of a fine dining kitchen

• The physical kitchen layout is usually well
  planned with separate areas for members of the
  brigade who have preparation and cookery
  responsibility for certain dishes and/or areas of
  the establishments menu.
• Food may be plated up all items on the plate and
  then served to the guest or
• Served on a gueridon trolley each item meal on a
  separate tray on the trolley and the waiter
  silver serves ( using a fork and spoon) the food
  onto the guests plate.

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Typical Commercial Kitchen
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Open Kitchen
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Mise en place A French term referring to having
all the ingredients necessary for a dish
prepared and ready to combine up to the point of
cooking.
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Chefs preparation bench
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Hotel Kitchen
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A la Carte / Bistro restaurant

• A la carte restaurants are usually less formal
  than fine dining restaurants ( yet may still be
  stylish)
• They make up the largest category of restaurants.
• Most are moderately priced (but some are fairly
  expensive) and offer a menu that is extensive,
  varied and interesting, often incorporating
  different cooking styles and nationalities. Some
  a la carte restaurants focus wholly on a cultural
  theme and specialise in one cuisine.

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A la carte restaurants contd

• The kitchen staff vary in skill level and
  organisational structure depending on the
  particular establishment.
• Generally there is multi-skilling between staff
  members to a greater degree than a formal
  restaurant, with kitchen staff performing many
  more varied tasks and often providing meals for
  more than one sitting.

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A la carte restaurant contd

• The food production team is usually smaller than
  that within the kitchen of a fine dining
  restaurant.
• The layout is usually simpler and similarly there
  is usually less equipment.
• The organisation is less formal and structured
  and some food items may be purchased in a
  prepared state as the establishments labour
  force is limited.

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The travel industry

• Food production is a major part of the travel
  industry
• Airline food production takes place in
  well-equipped and very clean kitchens near
  airport facilities
• Airline food preparation is characterised by the
  use of high technology techniques using either
  cook-chill or cook-freeze

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Travel Industry contd

• These systems maintain plated foods for set
  periods of time at a hygienically safe level.
• Staff preparing foods would include a range of
  kitchen hands and process workers along with
  dieticians and highly qualified chefs.
• The chefs fulfill a dual role of providing
  limited special dietary/ethnic/religious dishes
  and first class meals and secondly having
  managerial responsibilities such as food
  purchasing and staff rostering.

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Railway Food

• Railway food may be pre-cooked similarly to
  airline food or cooked whilst in transit by
  trained cooks and chefs in a specially prepared
  kitchen called a galley.
• Most country area trains have pre-prepared simple
  meals that just need to be reheated by an
  attendant who doubles as a bar attendant and a
  food attendant.

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Railway kitchens

• Interstate and long distance rail travel provides
  a more sophisticated food production unit with
  trained cooks and chefs preparing foods in the
  galley while the train is in motion.
• Some long distance European and Asian trains
  provide different menus for first class, tourist
  class and economy passengers.

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Hospitals and prisons

• Hospitals and prisons are another sector of the
  food production operations that have a captive
  audience
• In prisons the customer or guest has very
  little offered in the way of service and relies
  upon the financial and welfare policies of each
  state and territories.

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Prison and Hospital Kitchens

• Food production staff vary from the very
  experienced head chef (often termed the food
  service manager as this person must not only have
  food knowledge but be able to control a tight
  food and labour budget ) to food production staff
  such as trained and qualified chefs.
• Most welfare establishments operate on a cyclical
  menu- that is , a set menu operating for
  breakfast , lunch and dinner and repeated every
  28 days.

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Outside Catering

• Outside or event catering requires food
  production to be managed in a different location
  to the main or central kitchen.
• Food production is usually for a specific event
  such as a wedding in a marquee or for a special
  event such as a carnival, race meeting or street
  festival, where food may also be provided in a
  marquee.

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Outside Catering contd

• Forms of outside catering include spit roasting,
  barbeques, picnics and formal sit-down meals.
• Food production staff need to be very well
  organised in order to orchestrate these functions
  as all food and equipment must be taken to the
  venue to be set up.

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Outside catering contd

• The food production staff need to set up a
  temporary on-site kitchen and hire portable large
  kitchen equipment.
• This style of catering demands that staff also
  fully understand the on-site legalities, such as
  local health regulations, car parking
  restrictions, garbage disposal and utility
  functions such as gas/electiricity supply.

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Outside catering contd

• These functions and events require great detail
  in planning as with shipping, running out of
  food or equipment has no solution.
• Staff have to be versatile such areas of
  catering require people who are not only
  multi-skilled in kitchen operations but are also
  able to perform duties such as setting up
  portable kitchen equipment or organising front of
  house staff.

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So lets take a closer look at the types of
kitchens and how they are organised.
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The Kitchen

• When you first walk into a commercial kitchen ,
  everything will seem a little strange!!
• The equipment and work areas are on a larger
  scale to what you may be used to in a domestic
  kitchen.
• The food is prepared and cooked in specific areas
  of the kitchen
• Once you have worked in a commercial kitchen you
  will understand why equipment and benches are
  placed the way they are.

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Kitchen layout

• The layout of a commercial kitchen must be
  planned around an efficient and systematic flow
  of foods from receipt of goods to the service of
  meals
• Details concerning water, fuel, drainage,
  lighting and ventilation are also important to
  any well-designed kitchen .

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• When a kitchen is built , it is designed to
  achieve maximum efficiency of time, labour and
  product.
• To achieve this a number of factors are taken
  into account
• The type of menu
• The type of establishment
• The type and method of food service
• The number of meals to be served and the length
  of service
• The size, shape and location of the food service
  and the position of the kitchen in the
  establishment.

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Food Flow

• The usual flow of food through an establishment
  is
• Goods enter the store, where they are checked
• They are stored in dry or cool storage or the
  freezer
• Goods are passed onto different areas for
  preparation
• The food is cooked
• The food is either held or served straight away.

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Receipt of goods

• Checking and weighing foods
• Dry store freezer or cold store
• Vegetables Meat Poultry Dairy Fruits
• Fruits Fish Vegetables
• Groceries
• Preparation
• Cooking
• Service

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Food preparation areas

• Equipment is usually positioned in those
  preparation or cooking areas where it is used
  frequently.
• In wet preparation areas for fruit and
  vegetables (usually located near the vegetable
  store) , equipment includes sinks, stainless
  steel benches, food mincer, potato drum peeler,
  chipper, slicer and shredder.

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Cooking Areas

• Equipment in these areas is usually grouped into
  island sites with benches between or on each
  side.
• Equipment which cooks with water , such as
  atmospheric or pressure steamers, tilt pans and
  stockpots, is grouped together near floor drains,
  while equipment for short order cooking, like
  grills and frypans are positioned near
  ventilation to remove heat and fumes.

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Service Areas

• Equipment used to hold food hot or cold for
  service, such as a bain-marie, hot press or
  refrigerator is positioned near the dining room
  entrance. Beverage and toast making facilities
  are located near the service section for quick
  and easy access by waiters.
• Refer to handout with diagrams of food flow
  patterns

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Cleaning and washing areas

• Pots and pans are washed in separate areas or in
  areas near their use, depending on the size of
  the kitchen. Dishes and glasses are washed in an
  area close to the serving section. Equipment
  located in this area includes the dishwasher,
  large sinks, stainless steel benches, food
  disposal unit, rubbish bins and cleaning
  equipment.