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Contents {#contents.TOCHeading} ======== [Planning & Organizing Production 2](#planning-organizing-production) [The Problem 2](#the-problem) [The Solution 2](#the-solution) [The Goal 3](#the-goal) [Adapting Preparation to Style of Service 3](#adapting-preparation-to-style-of-service) [SET MEAL...

Contents {#contents.TOCHeading} ======== [Planning & Organizing Production 2](#planning-organizing-production) [The Problem 2](#the-problem) [The Solution 2](#the-solution) [The Goal 3](#the-goal) [Adapting Preparation to Style of Service 3](#adapting-preparation-to-style-of-service) [SET MEAL SERVICE 3](#set-meal-service) [EXTENDED MEAL SERVICE 4](#extended-meal-service) [Mise en Place: The Required Tasks 5](#mise-en-place-the-required-tasks) [Preliminary Cooking & Flavoring 5](#preliminary-cooking-flavouring) [Blanching & Parcooking 5](#blanching-par-cooking) [Marinade 6](#marinade) [Kinds Of Marinade 7](#kinds-of-marinade) [Guidelines for Marinating 7](#guidelines-for-marinating) [Brines 8](#brines) [Procedure for Brining Meats and Poultry 8](#procedure-for-brining-meats-and-poultry) [Preparation for Frying 8](#preparation-for-frying) [Breading 9](#breading) [The Three Stages Of The Standard Breading Procedure 9](#the-three-stages-of-the-standard-breading-procedure) [Dredging with Flour 9](#dredging-with-flour) [PURPOSE 9](#purpose) [PROCEDURE 9](#procedure) [Batters 9](#batters) [Procedure for Proper Breading 10](#_Toc155252904) [Handling Convenience Foods 10](#handling-convenience-foods) [Guidelines for Handling Convenience Foods 11](#guidelines-for-handling-convenience-foods) Mise en Place Cooks need more than just skill to succeed in the food-service sector. They must also be good at organisation and efficiency. In every kitchen, a large number of tasks must be carried out in a short period of time by a small number of people. No matter when these chores are completed, they must all be completed by the same time: service time. Only careful and methodical preparation can ensure that service runs smoothly. The thoroughness and quality of their preparation, or mise en place (meez-on-plahss), is something that good chefs take pride in. This French term, which means \"everything put in place,\" has become common kitchen lingo, not just in professional kitchens, but among home chefs as well. Regular cooks and food-service professionals recognise its relevance to a dish\'s performance. Planning & Organizing Production ================================ Preparation is needed even at the most basic level. If you only make one quick recipe, you must first: 1. Gather your tools. 2. Gather your ingredients. 3. Prepare your raw materials by washing, trimming, cutting, and measuring them. 4. Set up your tools (preheat oven, line baking sheets, etc.). Only after this is done can the true preparation begin. When multiple items must be cooked in a commercial kitchen, the problem becomes far more complex. The core of kitchen organizing is dealing with this complexity. The Problem ----------- Every food-service organization must contend with two inevitable facts: 1. There is just too much work to be done in a kitchen to leave until the last minute, so some preparation is needed. 2. Most dishes are at their best at once after preparation, and their quality deteriorates as they are held. The Solution ------------ To address this issue, the chef must carefully plan pre-preparation. The following actions are usually taken after planning: 1. Break it down - Divide each menu item into its production steps. 2. Pre-Preparation - Figure out which processes may be completed ahead of time. - The first step with any recipe is always part of pre-preparation: assembling and preparing the components. Cleaning and cutting veggies, cutting and trimming meats, and preparing breadings and batters for frying are all part of the job. - If the items can be stored without losing quality, the next steps of a recipe can be done ahead of time. - For best freshness, final cooking should take place as close to service as possible. Individual components of a meal, like as sauce or stuffing, are often made ahead of time, and the dish is assembled at the last minute. 3. Holding - Decide the best technique for maintaining each item at the end of the pre-preparation process. The holding temperature of a product is the temperature at which it is held for service or storage. All potentially hazardous items must be held at temperatures outside the Food Danger Zone. - Steam tables or other holding equipment, is used for sauces and soups, kept hot at temperatures exceeding 57°C (135°F). Vegetables, on the other hand, should only be kept hot for brief periods of time because they quickly get overcooked. - Refrigerator temperatures below 5°C (41°F) are ideal for maintaining the quality of most goods, particularly perishable meats, seafood, and vegetables, before final cooking or reheating. 4. Production Planning - Determine how long it will take to prepare each stage of each recipe. Create a production timeline, starting with the most time-consuming preparations. Many procedures can be carried out concurrently because they do not all require your whole attention at all times. A stock may take 6 to 8 hours to create, but you do not have to stay there watching it the entire time. 5. Examine Recipes - Examine recipes to see if they may be improved for efficiency and quality of service. For example: - Instead of preparing a full batch of green peas and holding them for service in the steam table, blanch and chill them, then heat portions to order in a sauté pan, steamer, or microwave oven. - Instead of preparing and holding a large batch of grilled chicken in mushroom sauce in the steam table, grill the chicken to order, combine the meat with a portion of the sauce, and serve fresh from the pan. The Goal -------- The purpose of pre-prep is to do as much work as possible ahead of time without sacrificing quality. Then, when it comes time to service, all efforts can be focused on finishing each item just before serving, with the utmost care to quality and freshness. Many typical preparation techniques are geared for a cook\'s convenience at the price of quality. Remember that quality should always come first. Adapting Preparation to Style of Service ---------------------------------------- How you plan production and execute your mise en place is heavily influenced by the style of meal service at the establishment. The following comparison of set meal service vs extended meal service highlights the key differences. ### SET MEAL SERVICE - All customers eat at the same time. - Also known as quantity cooking because huge amounts are cooked ahead of time. - Examples include school cafeterias, banquets, and employee dining rooms. The traditional method of set meal preparation, which is still extensively employed, involves preparing the entire amount of each item in a single huge batch and keeping it hot for the duration of the meal service. This approach has two key drawbacks: - Deterioration of quality owing to protracted holding. - Large quantity of leftovers. Small-batch cooking is made possible by modern high-speed equipment such as pressure steamers, convection ovens, infrared ovens, and microwave ovens. The required quantities are broken down into smaller batches, placed in pans ready for final cooking or heating, and then only cooked as needed. The benefits of this technique include: - Fresher food because it is not kept as long. - Less leftovers because unneeded servings are not cooked. Small batch cooking also allows for foods to be made ahead of time and frozen or chilled for later use. ### EXTENDED MEAL SERVICE - Customers eat at different times. - A la carte cooking is often used since customers often choose dishes from a written menu (carte in French). - Restaurants and short-order counters are two examples. Individual items are prepared to order rather than ahead of time, however substantial pre-preparation is done right up to the final cooking stage. For example, the short-order cook must have cold meats, tomatoes, and other sandwich materials sliced and organized, spreads made and ready, hamburger patties shaped, garnishes prepared, and so on. If the cook has to stop serving to do any of these items, orders will be delayed, and service will be delayed. A steak that takes 10 minutes to broil can be cut and trimmed ahead of time, but broiling should begin 10 minutes before serving. Obviously, if the last step in a recipe is to braise the item for 1 ½ hours, it cannot be done while the guest is waiting for an order. An expert cook can predict how many orders will be required throughout the dinner period and prepare a batch that will, ideally, finish braising just as service begins. Note the differences in these two methods for Mushroom Chasseur. In both cases, the final product is mushroom in a brown sauce with shallots, white wine, and tomatoes. 1. Quantity method---Mushroom Chasseur: 2. À la carte method---Mushroom Chasseur: Mise en Place: The Required Tasks --------------------------------- We\'ve talked about planning the production schedule up to this point. Our planning helps us in deciding the chores that must be completed before dinner serving hour. Chefs refer to these preparatory duties as \"doing the mise en place.\" The mise en place is considerable in many restaurants, particularly large ones. It entails preparing stocks, sauces, breadings, and batters, as well as cutting and trimming all of the meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables that the chef anticipates will be required during the meal service. Mise en place takes up a considerable portion of a cook\'s day. This means that knowing how to do mise en place is an important element of learning how to cook. Preliminary Cooking & Flavouring ================================ Advance preparation often involves precooking and seasoning of ingredients before they can be used in the finished recipe. On the most basic level, if a recipe calls for cooked, diced chicken, you must first cook the chicken before going ahead with the dish. In this situation, the entire cooking operation is part of the mise en place or pre-preparation. Blanching & Par cooking ----------------------- Partial cooking is an important aspect of preparation. To evaluate when and how much cooking is required, a certain level of culinary expertise and judgment is required. Any moist-heat or dry-heat method can be used for partial cooking. Simmering or boiling (parboiling), steaming, and deep-frying (particularly for potatoes) are common methods. Blanching can refer to any of these processes, however it usually refers to very quick cooking. Blanching or par cooking is done for four main reasons: 1. To improve the holding quality. Heating helps preserve foods by: - Destroying germs and bacteria that cause spoilage. - Destroying enzymes that discolour foods and cause them to decay (as when potatoes become brown). 2. To conserve time. Finishing parboiled veggies during service takes less time than cooking and finishing raw vegetables. Large batches of ingredients can be blanched and chilled before being completed to order. Items that take too long to cook completely to order, such as roast duck, are often roasted halfway to three-quarters done and then finished as orders come in. 3. To eliminate unpleasant flavours. Some meats and vegetables with strong flavours are blanched to make them milder and more appealing to customers. 4. To allow the product to be further processed. Blanching is used to loosen the skins of vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and peaches, as well as some nuts. Marinade -------- To marinade something means to soak it in a seasoned liquid to: 1. Flavour the ingredient. 2. Tenderize the ingredients. The acids in the marinade have a minor tenderizing effect. For maximum tenderness, it is still necessary to match the correct cut of meat with the proper cooking techniques. The marinade can also be used as a cooking medium and incorporated into the sauce. Vinaigrettes, or vegetarian marinades, are served cold with vegetables as salads or hors d\'oeuvres, with no further cooking or processing. Marinades have 3 primary ingredients: 1. Oil or Fat Oil helps retain the moisture in the meat. It is sometimes left out, especially for long marinations where the oil would only float on top, away from the product being marinated. When a neutral flavour is needed, tasteless vegetable oils are employed. Speciality oils, such as olive oil, are used to add flavour to the marinated dish. 2. Acid from vinegar, lemon juice, wine. Acid assists in the tenderization of protein. It transports tastes (both its own and those dissolved from spices and herbs). When using strong acids, such as vinegar and lemon juice, exercise caution. An overly acidic marinade will partially coagulate the protein in the meat, giving it the appearance of being partially cooked. When the meat is cooked, the texture will be less appealing. Strong acids can be used in marinades in tiny amounts or for a short period of time if the meat is marinated for a few hours. 3. Flavourings---spices, herbs, vegetables. Depending on the purpose, a variety of options are available. Whole spices release flavours more slowly, making them better for long marination. ### Kinds Of Marinade 1. Cooked When long-lasting quality is required. Cooked marinades are becoming less popular because of modern refrigeration. Cooked marinades have the advantage of releasing more flavour into the marinade when it is cooked. 2. Raw Most commonly used for long-term refrigeration marination. 3. Instant The flavour and applications are diverse. Marinating time might range from a few minutes to many hours or overnight. 4. Dry. A dry marinade, also known as a dry rub or a spice rub, is a salt, spice, and herb mixture that is rubbed or patted into the surface of meat, poultry, or fish. In certain circumstances, a small amount of oil or another wet ingredient, such as mashed garlic, is combined with the spices to form a paste. The item is then chilled to allow the flavours to penetrate. Before cooking, the rub can be left on the food item or scraped off. This method is commonly used for grilled meats. Dry marinades work well for flavouring meats. Dry marinades, by definition, do not have the modest tenderizing effects of liquid marinades because they do not include an acid. ### Guidelines for Marinating 1. Marinate under refrigeration (unless the product is to be cooked for only a few minutes). 2. Remember: The thicker the product, the longer it takes for the marinade to penetrate. 3. Use an acid-resistant container, such as stainless steel, glass, crockery, or some plastics. 4. Tie spices in a cheesecloth bag (sachet) if easy removal is important. 5. Cover the product completely with marinade. When marinating small items for a short time, you may use less liquid, but you must then turn the product frequently for even penetration. ### Brines A brine may be considered a special kind of marinade. The primary use of brines is in curing, (explained later in this course). However, many chefs also use them for roast poultry and pork because of their tenderizing and moisturizing effects. Brines are rarely used for red meats. A brine is mostly made up of salt dissolved in water. Chefs generally add sugar to the brine to neutralize the strong salt flavour that can be imparted to meats. Herbs and aromatics can also be added to the brine, but they have a weak flavour impact. ### Procedure for Brining Meats and Poultry 1. Assemble the following ingredients: Water 1 gal 4 L Kosher salt 4 oz 125 g Sugar 3 oz 90 g Bay leaves 2 2 Dried thyme 2 tsp 10 mL Whole cloves 4 4 Peppercorns 1 tbsp 15 mL 2. Combine the water, salt, and sugar in a stockpot. Make a sachet by tying the herbs and spices in a piece of cheesecloth. Add the sachet to the pot. 3. Bring the water to a boil, stirring to make sure the salt and sugar are dissolved. 4. Let cool, then refrigerate until completely cold. Remove the sachet. 5. Put the meat or poultry into the brine. Poultry must be weighted to keep it submerged. Refrigerate. 6. For large cuts, marinate for at least 6 hours or as long as 2 days. For small pieces, such as chops and cutlets, marinate 2 to 6 hours. 7. Remove the meat from the brine, dry it, and continue with the recipe. Treat the brined meat like fresh meat. 8. Discard the used brine. Brine salt concentrations range from 3 to 6%. The procedure\'s formula yields a 3 percent concentration, so you might double the salt (and sugar) if required. Because of the high concentration of salt and sugar in the meat, pan drippings may not be suitable for deglazing. Also, the sugar may burn to the bottom of the roasting pan, so you may want to put a little water in the bottom. Preparation for Frying ====================== Except for potatoes, most deep-fried meals are first coated in a protective layer of breading or batter. This coating has four functions: 1. It aids in the retention of moisture and flavour in the product. 2. It protects the fat from moisture and salt in the food, which would otherwise hasten the breakdown of the frying fat. 3. It prevents the food from absorbing an excessive amount of fat. 4. It improves the product\'s crispness, flavour, and appearance. Breading -------- Before deep frying, pan-frying, or sautéing, some ingredients are breaded by coating them with breadcrumbs or other crumbs or meal. The Standard Breading Procedure is the most often used procedure for applying these coatings. ### The Three Stages of The Standard Breading Procedure 1. Flour. Helps the breading stick to the product. 2. Egg wash. A mixture of eggs and a liquid, usually milk or water. More eggs give greater binding power but increase the cost. A small quantity of oil is occasionally added to the egg wash. 3. Crumbs. Combine with the egg wash to create a crisp, golden coating when fried. Fine, dry breadcrumbs are most often used and give good results. Also popular are Japanese-style dry breadcrumbs called panko (Japanese for "breadcrumbs"). These coarser crumbs give a pleasing texture to fried items. Other products used are fresh breadcrumbs, crushed cornflakes or other cereal, cracker meal, and cornmeal. Instead of breading by hand, delicate seafood like scallops and oysters can be breaded using a series of wire baskets dipped in flour, egg wash, and crumbs. The technique is the same, except that the baskets are used to lift and shake off any excess before transferring them to the next basket. To keep one hand dry while breading, use your right hand alone for handling the flour and crumbs (if you are right-handed; if you are left-handed, reverse the method). When the product is moist, use your other hand to handle it. Never touch a wet product with your dry hand if you want to keep it dry. To finish breading an object that has been dipped in egg wash, set it in the pan of crumbs and push more crumbs over the top of the item, and then pat them down so that both sides of the item are covered in dry crumbs before picking it up. ### Procedure for Standard Breading Process 3. Dry the product to get a thin, even coating of flour. 4. Season the product---or, for greater efficiency, season the flour (step 3). Do not season the crumbs. The presence of salt in contact with the frying fat breaks down the fat and shortens its life. 5. Dip the product in flour to coat evenly. Shake off excess. 6. Dip in the egg wash to coat completely. Remove. Let excess drain off so the crumb coating will be even. 7. Dip in breadcrumbs. Cover with crumbs and press them gently onto the product. Make sure it is coated completely. Remove. Carefully shake off excess. 8. Fry immediately or hold for service. 9. To hold for later service, place the breaded items in a single layer on a pan or rack and refrigerate. Do not hold very moist items, such as raw clams or oysters. The breading will quickly become soggy. 10. Strain the egg wash and sift the flour and crumbs as often as necessary to remove lumps. Dredging with Flour ------------------- ### Purpose Dredging is used to coat a product with a thin, even layer of flour. Meats that are going to be sautéed or pan-fried are often dredged in flour to give them an even, brown hue and to keep them from sticking. Before deep frying, vegetables such as zucchini sticks are occasionally coated in flour to give them a light golden colour and a very thin coating. ### Procedure Follow steps 1 to 3 of the Standard Breading Procedure above. Batters ------- Batters are semiliquid mixtures that include wheat or another type of starch. They\'re used for deep frying, to create a crisp, delicious, golden-brown coating. There are numerous batter formulae and variants. 1. Milk, water, and beer are among the many liquids used. 2. Eggs can be used or not. 3. Thicker batters result in thicker coatings. A thick batter results in a heavy, unappealing coating. 4. Leavenings are often used to make a product lighter. These include: - Baking powder - Egg whites, beaten. - Carbonation from the use of beer or seltzer in the batter. More on different types of batters used is covered later in this course. Handling Convenience Foods ========================== Convenience foods have grown in significance in the food service industry. Their importance has reached the point where no professional cooking student can afford to be ignorant of them. A convenience food is \"any product that has been partially or completely prepared or processed by the manufacturer.\" In other words, by buying a convenience item, you are allowing the manufacturer to do some or all of your preparation for you. Of course, you must pay for this service, which is reflected in the product\'s price. Although buying the convenience product will most likely cost more than purchasing the raw materials, you will save money in greater kitchen efficiency. Processed foods for restaurants and institutions range from partially prepared items that can be used as ingredients in your recipes, like frozen fish fillets, peeled potatoes, concentrated stock bases, and frozen puff pastry dough, to fully prepared items that can be reconstituted or served as is, like frozen prepared entrées and frozen pies and pastries. Some goods, such as frozen French fries, are widely accepted, although other more fully prepared foods continue to elicit resistance from both customers and operators. In general, the more completely a product is prepared by the manufacturer, the less it reflects the individuality of the food-service operator---and the less opportunity the cooks have to impart their own personality and quality. Is a product prepared from scratch superior to one built from a convenience base? Most quality-conscious chefs would most likely say \"Yes!\" However, the right answer is, \"Not if the homemade stock is poorly made.\" There is no alternative for quality and attention, regardless of the items you use. Fresh product has the potential to be the best, but not if it is improperly stored or handled. Of course, proper handling is also needed for convenience meals to keep their quality. The key to understanding and dealing with convenience foods is to think of them as regular items with some pre-prep done rather than as completely separate products from your regular raw materials. Convenience foods are not a replacement for culinary knowledge and talent. They should be a tool for the good cook, not a crutch for the bad. Handling convenience products requires as much mastery of basic cooking principles as it does fresh, raw materials, especially if you want the convenience product to taste as close to the fresh as possible. Guidelines for Handling Convenience Foods ----------------------------------------- 1. Handle with the same care you give fresh, raw ingredients. Most loss of quality in convenience foods comes from assuming they are damage proof and can be treated haphazardly. 2. Examine as soon as received. Particularly, check frozen foods---with a thermometer---to make sure they did not thaw in transit. Put away at once. 3. Store properly. Frozen foods must be held at 0°F (--18°C) or lower. Check your freezer with a thermometer regularly. Refrigerated foods must stay chilled, below 41°F (5°C), to slow spoilage. Shelf-stable foods (dry products, canned goods, etc.) are shelf-stable only when stored properly in a cool, dry place, tightly sealed. 4. Know the shelf life of each product. Nothing keeps forever, not even convenience foods. (Some, like peeled potatoes, are even more perishable than unprocessed ingredients.) Rotate stock according to the first in, first out principle. Don't stock more than necessary. 5. Defrost frozen foods properly. Ideally, defrost in a tempering box set at 28° to 30°F (--2° to --1°C) or, lacking that, in the refrigerator at 41°F (5°C) or lower. This takes planning and timing because large items take several days to thaw. If you are short of time, the second-best way to defrost foods is under cold running water, in the original wrapper. Never defrost at room temperature or in warm water. The high temperatures encourage bacterial growth and spoilage. Do not refreeze thawed foods. Quality will greatly deteriorate. Certain foods, like frozen French fries and some individual-portion prepared entrées, are designed to be cooked without thawing. 6. Know-how and to what extent the product has been prepared. Partially cooked foods need less heating in final preparation than raw foods. Some cooks prepare frozen, cooked crab legs, for example, as though they were raw, but by the time the customer receives them, they are overcooked, dry, and tasteless. Frozen vegetables, for a second example, have been blanched and often need only to be heated briefly. Manufacturers are happy to give full directions and serving suggestions for their products. At least you should read the package directions. 7. Use proper cooking methods. Be flexible. Much modern equipment is designed especially for convenience foods. Don't restrict yourself to conventional ranges and ovens if compartment steamers, convection ovens, or microwave ovens might do a better job more efficiently. 8. Treat convenience foods as though you, not the manufacturer, did the pre-preparation. Make the most of your opportunity to use creativity and to serve the best quality you can. Your final preparation, plating, and garnish should be as careful as though you made the dish from scratch.