ORIGIN OF MODERN COOKERY
Cooking neither has been a discovery nor has it been an invention. It has
been an evolution and food has changed with times and societies. It is one of
the basic requirements of survival for humans. Cookery is defined as a chemical
process, the mixing of ingredients, application and withdrawal of heat,
decision making, technical knowledge and manipulative skill. Inshort, it is an
art and technology. It covers the process of preparation of cooking. It follows
a flow pattern which commences with the purchasing and selection of materials,
their handling, processing and the ultimate presentation of the dishes to the
customer.
The
art of cooking is ancient. The first cook was a primitive man, who followed by
the invention of fire. He discovered that the meat heated in this way was not
only tasty but it was also much easier to masticate and easy to digest also.
This age is called as pre-historic age. Later on, with the invention of
transport system and development of agriculture, the concept of cooking
changed. The raw materials cultivated and collected from the forest and field,
were transported one place to another and hence , consumed fresh. Then later
on, with the invention of spices further increased the concept of cooking,
because the taste of people changed slowly. The concept of exchanging thoughts
and ideas among various cooks gave birth to a new age cookery. The
introduction of mughlai dishes, shahi food items, traditionally preparation
started. Mughal emperor, gave various ideas about cooking which now a-days it
also followed.
After
the colonies were built and the civilization set in, societal structure started
developing based on the type of work being done by different people. The advent
of British era gave a new turning point to the Indian cookery. During this
period the number of food experts visited India from Britain and the other part
of world. People learnt the concept of International cookery by exchanging
their views and ideas. The concept and contribution of scientific development
like- microwave oven, refrigerator, griller, salamander etc. helps
the cook to change the style of preparation according to the demand of
customers. The concept of fast food or ready to eat meal packet arises from
here around the world.
The
development of several hotels and restaurants in the field of tourism also has
increased the chances of selling the business of food. It shows that the
concept of cooking will find its new way to develop further and the new avenues
will keep opening for the society. Thus, we see how food has evolved from
centuries, and we don’t know really where the future is going to lead us to.
Levels of skills and experiences
To understand a professional kitchen, we must have different skills and experiences,
as –
1 The knowledge of basic things – In the hotel industry, the first skill
based on knowledge, knowledge about the product, cooking, and organizational
profit. Identification of food items recognizing their qualities, ways of
receiving items, storing them, washing and preparing. A new comer should imply
all such basic skills in the kitchen at the time of cooking on daily basis. It
is expected that from the catering institute only such knowledge and skills
should be imparted amongst the student for achieving the success in the
industry.
He/She must have the knowledge about the
Product-Process-Profit-People .
2. The knowledge of implementing basic control over the kitchen activities
– It is expected to the new staff that they should know and implement the basic
knowledge related to the control system. Such knowledge includes the sense of
responsibility of their work and duties, punctuality, honesty etc. If a staff
unable to perform their duties in a sincere manner the management can take a step
against him.
3. The sensibility of co-operation among the staff- Its also
a type of skill which doesn’t require any training. We should
remember always that for better output we have to work together.
4. The sense of understanding the need of others – A good staff will always
be justified by comprehensing the need of others. At a times, it is observed
that many staff report to the duty beyond the scheduled time. It is also
noticed that when the staffs are not coordinating well than it is advisable for
the supervisor to apply an analytical approach in order to understand the
problem rather then giving punishment. A comprehensive decision should be
always taken out of a good faith so that kitchen activities don’t get hampered.
Such skills of interacting with the sub-ordinates should be very
much effective.
5. A sense of recognising the quality of good things – It is true that when
a senior staff fail to recognize the good quality of raw materials at the time
of receiving from the suppliers, then the supplier will be ready to make fool
the staff members. The newly joined staff should have the skill and
knowledge in the field of recognizing the good quality of raw
materials.
Product,
process, profit and people move one by one. A food service provider
should be able to offer the most enjoyable dining experiences to the customers.
In which a chef behind the scene contributes greatly to the financial viability
of the business. Customer satisfaction is main for further growth
and development of an organisation. It happens only when a good quality of
raw-materials/ product is taken so that it can give a better taste, eye appeal,
flavour, hygiene and presentation. Standardization is one of the biggest
challenge for our hotel industry. The first 3P-process, product and
profit, can’t happen unless there is a human touch involved to give
final touch to the product.
Attitude and behaviour in the kitchen – Kitchen is quite a dangerous place to work in. In many
areas, accidents can occur. If the basic rules of the kitchen are not known to
the staff or not followed by the staff. The three main causes of accidents in
the kitchen are – distraction, haste and failure to observe safety
rules and regulation.
Distraction in kitchen is usually caused by the personnel working in
kitchen. It occurs when a staff is working with the knives or electrical
machines and busy in talking or in some other work then in this case it prove
dangerous to him.
Haste, happens when our kitchen is not set. Therefore it is important to
set up the work station in a way that everything is within reach. All the mise
should be in place. The golden rule of kitchen is – not to run , no matter how
urgent the task is…
Failure to observe rules and regulation – In a busy operational kitchen, sophisticated
machineries are provided to perform jobs effectively and all the machines come
with safety and handling manuals. Any deviation could result in fatal
accidents. So, we have to work carefully in the kitchen.
Apart
from that, the staff members should have better coordination among each other.
# Food Safety and Kitchen Hygiene - Hygiene is the science that deals with sanitation
and disinfection. Food safety and kitchen hygiene related to the cleanliness of
the kitchen. Food that is produced in the kitchen has to be safe and hygienic
so that when a guest eats should not give any complain to the chef. Good food
is that is free of contaminants and will not cause any harm. Hygiene
is more than cleanliness. It involves all measures necessary to ensure the
safety and wholesome of food during manufacture,distribution,transportation,
receiving, storage,issuing,processing,preparation and handling,sales and
service.
Contamination of food is a major hazard that entails the occurence of any
objectionable matter in or on the food. There are three types of contamination
named as -
1. Physical contamination
2. Chemical contamination
3.Microbiological contamination
1. Physical contamination - The unwanted harmful substance found in the food is called as
Physical contamination. The list of foreign bodies are- dust,dirt,stones,insect
bodies,glass, plastic pieces,wood dust,hairs,nails etc. This type of
contamination can easily be brought under control if we will careful to our
work. Wash the food products, equipments and clean the areas always before
starting our work.Food should always be covered with the pan before serving.
Keep the area clean always.
2. Chemical contamination - This contamination takes place in the food items in the form of
excessively used of fertilizers,pesticieds,insecticides,veterinary drugs, etc.
It comes through excessive addition of preservatives in foods such as
jam,chicken sausages salamis etc.
Chemical food poisoning can cause long term illness and severe disease as
cancer,skin disease etc.
3. Microbiological contamination - This contamination takes place due to the
presence and multiplication of food poisoning bacteria. Bacteria are single
celled organism found everywhere in air,soil,water. While most of the bacteria
found in nature are harmless to humans, a few are harmful and causes damage to
mankind.
Food poisoning bacteria may be brought into the food from different sources
as - at the time of food handling, serving to the guest.
It comes through insects,rodents,animals,birds,and from the environment as
soil,air,water.
It generally comes under the raw food products as
meat,poultry,eggs,fish,milk,water etc. through sewage,irrigation or from
surroundings.
Microbiological
contamination takes place by three different methods ,as -
Direct,Drip and Indirect contamination. We should always try to eradicate
it.
# Safety procedure in handling equipments : In
kitchen area, there are many safety instructions which we need to follow to
prevent accident. Safety is utmost important for ourselves. It is required at
every point while performing our work. A responsible chefs always
check the safety measures at their work place. The following points
should be adopted for the purpose of safety procedure in handling different
equipments. These are as follows :-
1) Checking the entire kitchen after entering into and before the work
started - The kitchen staff should
check each and every items in kitchen as ranges are working proper or not,
machines are in good condition or not , if not then than tell to head chef and
then its the chefs responsibility to contact with the maintenance department
and asked him to rectify the problem. And on the contrary, it becomes the duty
of maintenance dept. to keep the things in proper working condition.
2) Proper knowledge of handling equipment :- All the staff of kitchen dept. must have the
ideas about the equipments handling, how to use. if not then check the
instructions written over the electrical equipments and follow the instructions
in a proper manner. The electrical machines should be dis-connected after every
use. Dont touch the electric with the wet hands. Check the gas knobe after
every use. Here the responsibility of senior staff to organize the various
training on small scale to give some knowledge for the safety purpose as fire
fighting training,safety and security etc.
Apart
from that , handle the knives also carefully. Never leave the knive in a sink
of water it can cut your hand. Always clean and wipe the knives after every
use.
- Hold the knife always away from the body. When carrying a knife ensure
that blade faces downward to avoid injury to self or to others.
- Dont hide your knife under anything, it can harm you.
- While using knife, keep our mind and eye on job.
- Do not attempt to catch a falling knife, let it fall.
- Do not play with the knife.
- Always keep your knives sharp. So, these are some basic rules which we
should follow while handling.
3)The habbit of keeping the inflammable things away from fire - Inflammable things like oil, fat, paper
bags,plastic containers,spirit etc. should be kept apart in reach of fire. So,
that we can work safetly. But still, some mishappening can take place in the kitchen.
So, we must have the knowledge about the safety measures. Moreover, a proper
briefing at the begining of the session should be done to avoid any kind of
confusion.
Apart
from that always wear kitchen uniform in kitchen - Avoiding to wear
anything other than uniform. As the uniform is made on the basis of our
comfortability. our uniform is made of cotton, the possibility of meeting an
accident through the fire is less. And hence, it protect us and it also used as
a dress code.
# HIERARCHY OF A KITCHEN DEPARTMENT - Everyone cannot become a chef. One can never
stop learning in the kitchen. Many people wants to become, but only a few, who
reach a certain level of proficiency ,called as a chef. Chef
Augustus Escoffier is one of them who become a great professional
chef. He introduced a system known as Brigade or hierarchy in a professional
kitchen. This brigade or hierarchy has been modified according to their
requirements. Now-a-days the requirements of the kitchen are different and hence,
hierarchy has changed a little. This has made so that every kitchen
staff can know their sense of accountability and ownership.
# Duties and responsibilities of Executive chef - He is the head of food production department.
- He/she looks after the administration and operational job of the
department.
- He/she can recruit ,promote and can dismiss the staff.
- He gives different training and motivation to their staffs.
- He plans the menu and make the budget for his dept. after discussing with
F&B manager and GM.
- He is responsible for standardising the menu and also for food costing.
- He plans the different food festivals and theme.
- He attend the various meetings, behavioural and vocational training for
the kitchen development.
- He is responsible for maintaining the standard of the hotel.
- He makes the duty roaster along with the sous chef.
- He is responsible for entire dept. relation.
- He reports to the General Manager.
He
carries overall responsibility for all aspects of production, for the quality
of products served, for hiring and managing the kitchen staff, for controlling
costs and meeting budgets, for co-ordination with other departments etc.
# Duties and responsibilities of Sous chef - In large establishment, there may be a number
of sous chef according to their particular sections, especially there are
separate kitchen like grill room, restaurant, banquet etc.
- He is the person who assist the exe- chef.
- He works under the exe- chef and responsible for administrational and
operational job of the dept.
- He is responsible for controlling the CDPs.
- He checks the monthly reports and passes to the exe- chef.
- In the absence of Exe-chef , he performs his duty.
- In the absence of CDP , he performs his duty.
- He collects the budget from all the sections of the food production dept.
and give it to Exe- chef.
- He reports to Exe-chef.
# Duties and responsibilities of Chef de Partie - He is responsible for a particular section of
kitchen dept. In other way , he is the sectional incharge.
- He is responsible for smooth operation and day to day functioning of his
section.
- He makes the budget of his section.
- He is the station head and have the skilled to cook every dishes.
- In the abence of Sous chef and DCDP, he performs their duty.
- He is entirely responsible for his group throughout the working period.
- He reports to the Sous chef.
# Duties and responsibilities of Demi Chef de Partie(DCDP) - He is also in a supervisory level.
- He takes the charge in the absence of CDP and perform his duty.
- He performs his duty with the commi.
- He reports to the CDP.
# Duties and responsibilities of Commis - They are the main base of the kitchen
department.
- They are responsible for prepairing the food,cleanliness and smooth
functioning of the dept.
- They are responsible for their particular sections and prepares the food
as per the standard of the organisation.
- There are three levels in commis as commi 1,2 and 3.
- They report their duty to CDP.
# Trainee/Apprentice - These people assist the commis to run the operation smoothly.
# Co-ordination of kitchen with other department - As we all know, kitchen is called
as the heart of the hotel industry. In a hotel, there are major 4
departments F&B, F.O & A.O. These departments are the major revenue
producing dept. They provided about 70%-80% of revenue in different manner.
Apart from this, we have minor operating and revenue producing departments also
including- Store,H.R, Engineering, Sales&marketing,Finance,Gym,Spa etc.
To
run an organisation only an individual dept. could not do anything , it
requires other dept. also to coordinate well among each other.
Everyone has to work as a team to do well. So the co-ordination of kitchen with
rest of depts. in the hotel requires. The people outside of the hotel, who
directly or indirectly influences the business called as External
customers as - Suppliers, Media,Guests, Govt. officials etc., and the
depts. inside the hotel who influences the business are called as Internal
customers as - F.O,F&B Service,A.O,Store,H.R etc.
# Co-ordination of Food-Production Dept. to F&B Service dept. - Service department plays an important role for
running the organization. It acts as a bridge between the guest and the chef,
and helps to communicate the requests and opinions of food by taking feedback
from guests.
* Service operates sales in various outlets. It supplies the ordered food
on time.
* Service sells the food and markets the chefs speciality by bringing more
and more sells and satisfying the customers.
* It gives the order of guests to chef and placed the order on
time to the guest.
* It informs about non-availability of dishes in advance to avoid any
confusion.
* It informs about the possibility of the turnover of the customer in
various outlets, so that the correct number of portions may be maintained at
the time of arrival.
* It informs various orders through Kitchen Order Ticket(KOT) to the chef.
# Co-ordination of Food-Production Dept. to F.O - F.o communicates the daily arrival list
of guest to the kitchen,which helps the chef to forecast their production.
* It informs the chef about various functions to be organised in the hotel
premises from time to time.
* It informs about the arrival and departure of the guest to the chef.
* It informs about the total inhouse guest to the chef so that
they may be ready for taking the orders for food.
* F.O personnel circulates the VIPs list in the kitchen for placing
amenities or any special requests of the guest.
* It also assist the guests in making their dining choices.
# Co-ordination of Food-Production Dept. to A.O - There are some important points related to
the co-ordination between kitchen and H.K department.
* It informs to kitchen dept. about the availability of the guest in the
rooms.
* It informs about the requirement of the linen,
uniform,mop,dusters,soaps,detergents, cleaning
agents etc. to the kitchen staff.
* It provides the clean uniforms to the kitchen staff on daily basis.
* Kitchen also needs the coordination with H.K dept. for various cleaning
activities to
be carried out
in the kitchen in various section from time to time.
* It also helps in cleaning the garbage before the shift completed on daily
basis.
* It also helps in dish washing through KST dept..
* It helps in kitchen regarding pest control and fumigation in kitchen
dept.
* It also plays an important role for running the kitchen dept.
# Co-ordination of Food-Production Dept. to Maintenance - It helps to the kitchen staff to trace out any
fault or defect which might lead to an accident as leaking from gas.
* It helps to fight the fire problems arising from time to time.
* It helps to make a fire route suitable for facing the fire problem.
* It helps at the time when the gas is not working, machines are not
working,water problem etc. at that time kitchen staff will contact to this
dept. for rectifying the problems.
# Co-ordination of Food-Production Dept. to Store - This dept. provide raw materials to the kitchen
dept. at the time of requirement.
* The store dept. store the raw materials nicely so that kitchen staff can
take their requirements any time.
*Chefs must give sufficient requirements for the orders to be procured and
so that maintaining of par stock levels are also decided by the chef.
Apart
from the above discussions kitchen co-operates with the other remaining depts.
also in an indirect manner i.e, through spa,gym, purchase &sales
etc. However, in case of emergency the co-operation may be extended as per
guest need to save the good name of the hotel.
# Co-ordination of Food-Production Dept. to Human resource - HR dept. helps chefs to find the
skilled people and facilitate recruitments by helping chefs to take
interviews and trade test.
* Joining formalities of the new staff ,induction, orientation, locker
facilities etc. are deal by this dept..
* Appraisals and career developing of the kitchen people is liased with the
H.R dept.
* H.R Gives training to kitchen staff.
