Dessert Tools and Equipment

Tools, Equipment, and Utensils for Dessert Preparation

• Essential for efficient dessert preparation and designed for specific tasks.

• Measuring cups (dry and liquid) and spoons are used for accurate measurement of ingredients.

• Mixing bowls come in small, medium, and large sizes for combining ingredients.

• Can openers are for opening food containers.

• Cutting boards (wooden or plastic) are used for cutting fruits and vegetables.

• Double boilers are used for temperatures needing to be kept below boiling, such as for egg sauces and puddings.

• Funnels (stainless steel, aluminum, or plastic) are used to fill jars.

• Graters are for grating, shredding, slicing, and separating foods like carrots, cabbage, and cheese.

• Kitchen knives include cook's/chef's knives for general peeling and slicing.

  • Fruit and salad knives are specifically for salad greens, vegetables, and fruits.
  • Spatulas are used for leveling ingredients and spreading frostings.
  • Citrus knives are for sectioning citrus fruits with a two-sided, serrated edge.
  • Paring knives are for coring, peeling, and sectioning fruits and vegetables, featuring short, concave blades.

• Kitchen shears are for opening food packages, cutting tape, or removing labels.

• Scrapers (rubber or silicone) are for blending or scraping food from bowls.

• Metal, silicone, or plastic egg turners/flippers are also used.

• Spoons (solid, slotted, or perforated) made of stainless steel or plastic are for serving liquids and lifting foods.

• Temperature scales are used to measure heat intensity for meat, candy, or deep-fat frying.

• Vegetable peelers (stainless steel with a sharp double blade) are used for scraping and peeling vegetables and fruits.

• Whisks are used for whipping eggs or batter and blending gravies, sauces, and soups and have looped steel piano wires as beaters.

• Wooden spoons are kitchen essentials for creaming, stirring, and mixing and should be made of hardwood.

• Baking pans (loaf pans, cake pans, pie plates, baking sheets, etc.) are necessary for baking.

Equipment

• More complicated tools, including small electrical appliances (mixers) and large, power-operated appliances (ranges, refrigerators).
• Refrigerators/Freezers are for preventing bacterial infections in foods.
• Ranges are used for cooking food.
• Mixers are used for mixing, creaming, beating, and whipping ingredients, with stand mixers being ideal for baking.
• Blenders chop, blend, mix, whip, puree, grate, and liquefy foods.

Types of Desserts and Their Characteristics

Fruits

• Simple, nutritious, appetizing, and easy to prepare/serve.
  • Appetizing aroma, simple preparation, and slightly chilled serving are characteristics of good fruit desserts.

Cheese

• Excellent ready-to-serve dessert from various milks (cow, goat, sheep).
• Varieties differ by milk, cheesemaking procedures, seasonings, and ripening processes.

Three General Types Based on Consistency

1. Soft
   • Unripened cheese
   • Ripened by bacteria
2. Semi-hard
   • Ripened by mold
   • Ripened by bacteria
3. Hard
   • With gas holes
   • Without gas holes

Gelatin Desserts

• Easily prepared, economical, and come in unsweetened granular form (requires softening) and fruit gelatin (with flavor, color, and sugar added).

Custard

• Baked and soft custards vary.
• Creamy baked custards served in baking cups or unmolded with fruit/sauces.

Characteristics of Baked Custard

• Firmness of shape

• Smooth, tender texture

• Rich, creamy consistency

• Excellent flavor

Characteristics of Soft Custard

• Velvety smooth texture
• Rich flavor
• Pouring consistency of heavy cream

Puddings

• Simple to prepare and vary with sauces, including cornstarch, rice, and bread puddings.

Characteristics of Puddings

• Attractive appearance
• Excellent consistency
• Well-blended flavor
• Firmness of shape
• An accompanying sauce adds interest

Fruit Cobblers

• Not fruit pies but 2-3 inches deep, topped with biscuit dough.
• Can be served hot or cold.

Frozen Desserts

1. Ice cream: Smooth, frozen mixture of milk, cream, sugar, flavorings, and sometimes eggs.
2. Sherbet and Ices: Made from fruit juices, water, and sugar.
   • Sherbet contains milk/cream and sometimes egg white for smoothness and volume.
   • Ice contains only fruit juice, water, sugar, and sometimes egg white.
3. Frozen Soufflés and Frozen Mousses: Made like chilled mousses/Bavarians, with whipped cream/egg whites for lightness and frozen in a freezer.

Ingredients for Desserts and Sweet Sauces

Sugar

• Common in virtually all desserts, used in various forms.
• Sugar syrup involves boiling sugar and water.

Gelatine

• Sets cold molded desserts, the base for jellies, creams, and mousses.

Egg Yolks

• Mixed with flavorings, sugar, and cream/milk for custard, or whisked over hot water for sabayon.

Egg Whites

• When beaten, air is trapped in bubbles for soufflés/mousses (soft peaks) and meringues (firm peaks).

Fruit

• Ripe, perfect fruit is the base, requiring little effort to create attractive displays.
• Can be pureed, baked, or poached for pies, soufflés, and puddings.

Cream

• Decoration/accompaniment or recipe ingredient.
• Whipped cream is effective in trifle and combined with rice, sugar, and milk for rice pudding.

Batters

• Simple mixture of flour and water for crepes and pancakes.
• Also used to coat fruit for fritters.

Nuts

• Available whole, ground, roasted, or caramelized.
• Provide flavor for creams and ice creams.

Chocolate

• Melted for fillings/batters or poured over desserts.
• Cooled chocolate can be shaped into decorations.

Sweet Sauces

• Flavored liquid blend that adds flavor and enhances food appearance.

• Fudge: Soft confection made of butter, sugar, chocolate.

• Sauces alter appearance, flavor, color, and moisture.

Kinds and Varieties of Sauces

• Rich sauce complements simple desserts.
• Light sauce complements rich desserts.
• Hot fudge contrasts with cold pudding or vanilla ice cream.
• Hot sauces made just before use.
• Cold sauces cooked ahead, then chilled.

Thickening Agents for Sauces

• Improve sauce quality.

1. Starch
2. Cream
3. Eggs
4. Rice flour
5. Grains
6. Cornstarch

Dessert Sauce Categories

1. Custard Sauces: Vanilla custard sauce, with variants like chocolate.
2. Fruit Purees: Purees of fresh/cooked fruits, sweetened with sugar.
3. Syrups: Such as chocolate and caramel sauce.

Guidelines for Vanilla Custard Sauce

1. Use clean, sanitized equipment and follow procedure.
2. Whip egg yolks and sugar to prevent lumps.
3. Scald milk before combining with yolks.
4. Slowly beat hot milk into beaten eggs and sugar.
5. Cook egg mixture in simmering water, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.
6. Test for doneness by checking if the mixture lightly coats the back of the spoon.
7. Cool the sauce immediately in ice water, stirring to cool evenly.
8. If sauce curdles, stir in cold milk and blend at high speed.

Storage of Sauces

• Should be in airtight containers, in a cool, dry place, away from moisture, oxygen, light, and pests.
• Sauces with starches, egg, milk, cream are prone to bacterial contamination; keep out of temperature danger zone.
• Store thickened sauce in refrigerator and never leave at room temperature.

Accompaniments, Garnishes, and Decorations for Desserts

• Dessert Syrup: Flavored simple syrup to moisten cakes; add flavorings (extracts, liquors) after cooling.
• Cream Anglaise: Stirred vanilla custard sauce of milk, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla, stirred over low heat until lightly thickened.
• Pastry Cream: Contains starch and eggs, used as cake/pastry fillings; can be used as custard sauce with additional liquid.
• Custards: Milk, sugar, eggs, and flavorings used as pie fillings, desserts, and bases for baked puddings.

Art of Dessert Plating

• Desserts should be visually appealing.

Garnishes that add attraction

1. Fruit garnish
2. Nut garnish
3. Chocolate garnish
4. Cookie garnish

Guidelines in Plating Dessert

1. Make garnishes edible.
2. Keep it clean and simple; don't crowd the plate.
3. Garnishes should relate to the dessert.
4. Layer flavors and textures.
5. Experiment with different plates.

Plating and Presenting Tips

1. Plate: Choose the right size, shape, and color; avoid crowding.
2. Color: Use a variety to enhance the presentation.
   • Green is fresh and cool.
   • Red is passion and excitement.
   • Black is sophisticated and elegant.
   • Blue suppresses appetite.
3. Texture: Contrasting textures add visual interest.
4. Keep things clean: Food within the rim of the plate and should not be crowded.
5. Garnish to Impress: Use appropriate, edible garnishes that complement the dish and correct size.

Storing Cold and Hot Desserts

• Desserts with egg/dairy present health hazards if not stored properly.
• Cooled desserts must be covered with plastic or in lidded containers before storing in a cool room.
• Handle desserts with uncooked eggs with extreme care to avoid salmonella.
• Egg custards contain protein, so heat and cool properly/quickly to prevent bacteria growth.
• Cool any dessert not for immediate consumption rapidly and store in a cool room.
• Keep pre-prepared dessert hot above 65°C; discard after service if kept warm in a Bain-Marie.
• Keep desserts with milk/cream refrigerated until the last moment to prevent food poisoning.
• Check with supervisor/organizational requirements for limited storage life.

Package Prepared Foods

• Skills and knowledge to package and label foodstuffs for storage/transportation.

Select Packaging Materials

• Food packaging encloses food for physical, chemical, biological protection and tampering resistance, providing nutrition information.
• Aims to keep food in good condition until consumed and encourage purchase.

Functions of Good Packaging

• Provides a barrier against dirt and contaminants.
• Prevents losses (leakage).
• Protects against physical/chemical damage (air, light, insects, rodents).
• Provides protection/convenience in handling and transport during distribution and marketing.
• Helps customers identify food and use it correctly.
• Persuades consumers to purchase.
• Clusters small items together.
• Prevents wastage during transport/distribution.

Types of Packaging Materials

• Leaves, vegetable fibers, wood, papers, earthenware, glass, plastics, metals.
• Leaves (banana leaves, corn husk) do not protect against moisture, oxygen, odors, or micro-organisms, so are not suitable for the long-term.
• Vegetable Fibres (bamboo, banana, coconut, cotton) are flexible, lightweight, reusable, but do not protect against moisture pick-up microorganisms, insects, or rodents.
• Wood: Offers good protection, but plastic containers have largely replaced it.
• Paper: Inexpensive but highly absorptive and easily torn; newsprint is toxic and should not directly contact food.
• Earthenware: Used for storing liquids/solids such as curd, yoghurt, beer, dried food, and honey; sealed with corks, wooden lids, leaves, wax, or plastic sheets.
• Glass: Withstands heat, doesn't react with food, protects from crushing, resistant to moisture, gases, odors, and microorganisms, reusable, transparent.
• Can withstand heat treatments like pasteurization and sterilization.
  • Disadvantages: Heavy, easy to break, potential hazards from cracks/fragments.

Preparation of Glass Containers

1. Inspection
2. Washing
3. Rinsing
4. Sterilization
5. Sealing and Capping
6. Cooling

• Plastics: Can be soft/hard, sheets/containers, various thicknesses, light resistance, and flexibility.
  • Flexible films: Low cost, good barrier properties, heat sealable, wet/dry strength, easy to handle, little weight and fit closely to the shape of the product.
• Metal: Provides total protection, tamper-proof, convenient presentation.
  • Disadvantages: Heavy, higher transport costs, heat treatment unsuitable for small-scale production.

Package Food Items

• Package food items in compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Procedures.
• Adopt appropriate packaging method according to enterprise standards.
• Label foods according to industry standards.

Food Safety on Storing and Transporting Foods

• Food Packaging: Prepares goods for transport and sale, ensuring the product reaches the end-user in good condition at minimal cost.
• Food is packed in terms of quality, shelf life, microbial condition, and portion control. Food spoilage is caused by poor packaging.

Factors in Spoilage of Food

a. pH of food: Indicates acidity; low pH is acidic. b. Moisture content: Relates to the physical state and affects microbial growth/chemical changes. c. Amount and nature of fat content: High fat content accelerates spoilage via oxidation. d. Enzyme system: Chemical processes like fermentation/hydrolysis lead to changes in texture, flavor, odor, and color. e. Initial Microbial load: The number of microorganisms present before packaging.

Classification of Packaging According to Use

• Primary package: Directly contains the product.
• Secondary package: Contains a specific number of unit packs.
• Tertiary package: For bulk transport/storage.

Occupational and Health Safety Procedures in Packaging Foods

• Steps on how to package meat before freezing:

1. Divide meat into serving sizes.
2. Use a plastic zip bag with extra room.
3. Flatten the meat in the bag.
4. Squeeze out air and close the zip.
5. Date the bag.

Methods of Food Packaging

• Home Canned Foods: Fruits/vegetables placed in glass jars, sealed by heating and using rubber-stopped jar tops. Seals need to be airtight to prevent that growth of bacteria.
• Freezing and chilling food: Vegetables and fruits are often frozen.
• Canned foods: Foods are cooked before being placed in the can to prevent E. coli contamination.
• Foil Packaging: Foil wraps/pouches are filled and sealed with heat to retain moisture. Best for dried fruits, baked goods, or grain products.

What Must Appear on the Label

• Name under which it is sold
• List of ingredients
• Quantity of certain ingredients
• Net quantity
• Date of minimum durability
• Any special storage instructions/conditions of use
• Name/business name and address of the manufacturer/packager/seller
• Place of origin of the foodstuff
• Instructions for use where necessary
• Beverages with>1.2% alcohol by volume must declare their actual alcoholic strength