Part One - Professionalism Chapter 4 – Kitchen Essentials 1 – Professionalism and Understanding Standard Recipes Part One - Professionalism

What Does It Mean To Be a Culinary Professional? To be professional is to be courteous, honest, and responsible in your dealings with customers and coworkers. A culinarian is one who has studied and continues to study the art of cooking. The attributes of a culinary professional include: Knowledge: A professional culinary program provides the culinary student with a basic knowledge of foods, food styles, and the methods used to prepare foods. Skill: Culinary schooling alone cannot make a culinary professional. Practice and hands-on experience provide the skills necessary to produce quality foods or organize, train, motivate, and supervise a staff. Flavor, aroma, taste: Culinary professionals must produce foods that taste great, or the customer will not return. Judgment: Culinary professionals must use discretion and appropriate behavior with coworkers, supervisors, and employees.

Attributes of a culinary professional - Knowledge Have to identify, purchase, utilize, and prepare a variety of foods Are required to train and supervise a safe, skilled, efficient staff To do this successfully, culinarians need to understand and apply certain scientific and business principles Can join professional organizations such as the NRA – National Restaurant Association

Attributes of a culinary professional - Skill Need schooling, practice, and hands-on experience Experience comes with time Most graduates start in entry-level positions

Attributes of a culinary professional – Flavor, Aroma, Taste Must produce food that tastes great, or the customer will not return Professional chefs are judged on the ability to produce the finest flavors Flavor = refers to all the sensations produced by whatever ins in the mouth, but mostly the food’s aroma and taste Aroma = how something smells Taste = our ability to identify substances like foods, minerals, and poisons

Taste – in detail 4 main tastes – sweet, salty, bitter, sour New one you may not have heard of is the 5th taste sensation Umami = savory (think of things that have no sweetness, like meat or mushrooms)

Attributes of a culinary professional – Judgment Must use discretion and appropriate behavior with coworkers, supervisors, and employees Use sound judgment when ordering, developing menus, etc. Good judgment comes only with experience

Attributes of a culinary professional –Dedication Becoming a culinarian is hard work Long hours Hectic pace Physically and mentally taxing

Attributes of a culinary professional –Pride Pride: It is important to have a sense of pride about a job well done. Pride extends to personal appearance and behavior in and around the kitchen. Uniform consists of closed-toed shoes that are non-slip; trousers (black and white checked, or plain black); clean, pressed, white double-breasted chef’s coat; clean, ironed apron; clean neckerchief, usually knotted; hat (called a toque) Show pride by keeping yourself neat and clean!

Attributes of a culinary professional – Respect Respect = having consideration for others Respect yourself first Respect others’ privacy, physical space and belongings, and different viewpoints Golden rule In a professional kitchen, this is threefold Respect ingredients Respect guests Respect coworkers

Attributes of a culinary professional – Personal Responsibility A person is responsible for the choices he or she makes Accept responsibility and stay in control of yourself and your emotions Don’t make excuses Learn from mistakes Ask for help when you need it Be punctual Take initiative

Workstations A workstation is a work area in the kitchen dedicated to a particular task. Workstations using the same or similar equipment for related tasks are grouped together into a work section. Good kitchen design maximizes the flow of goods and staff from one area to the next and within each area itself. A kitchen-brigade system is a method for staffing a kitchen so that each worker is assigned a set of specific tasks. A dining-room brigade is led by the dining room manager (maître d) who generally trains all service personnel, oversees wine selections, works with the chef to develop the menu, organizes the seating chart, and seats the guests.

The kitchen brigade system Chef de Cuisine / Executive chef Highest level possible. Usually with diploma or certificate, often more time spent doing organization and paperwork than actually cooking. Coordinates all kitchen functions Sous Chef Second in Command. Responsible for the physical operation of the kitchen, including supervision as well as preparation.

The kitchen brigade system, cont. Chefs de Parti Saucier: fish, sautéed dishes, stews, hot hors d'ouevres, hot entrees and sauces. Commands after the sous chef. Rotissieur: Prepares items roasted in the oven and on the spit. Works under the Saucier. Friturier: fry cook - responsible for deep fried foods. Works under the Saucier. Grillardin: responsible for grilled foods. Works under the Saucier. Garde Manger: Processes raw meat, cold dishes, forcemeat, pies, galantines and cold hors d'ouevres. Next in line after the saucier for command. Charcutier, and Butcher: work under the Garde Manger Entremetier: Vegetable cook, responsible for soups (sometimes saucier does this), vegetables, pasta, and foods made of flour, eggs and cheese.. Potager: soup cook, originally was under the supervision of the Entremetier Patissier: Pastry chef: all basic desserts, hot desserts, cold desserts, frozen desserts and hot and cold pastries. Boulanger and Glacier: work under the Patissier Other cooking stations are Tournant (swing cook), de Garde (duty chef), de Nuit (night chef), Banquet chef, etc. Commis: assistants to the chefs de partie. Usually journeyman cooks. Apprentices: training in each of the parties in turn to learn the entire kitchen.

The dining room brigade system The maître d’hôtel, known in American service as the dining room manager, is the person who holds the most responsibility for the front-of- the-house operation. The maître d’hôtel trains all service personnel, oversees wine selection, works with the chef to determine the menu, and organizes seating throughout service. The wine steward (chef de vin or sommelier) is responsible for all aspects of restaurant wine service, including purchasing wines, preparing a wine list, assisting guests in wine selection, and serving wine properly The head waiter (chef de salle) is generally in charge of the service for an entire dining room. Very often this position is combined with the position of either captain or maître d’hôtel. The captain (chef d’étage) deals most directly with the guests once they are seated. The captain explains the menu, answers any questions, and takes the order. The front waiter (chef de rang) ensures that the table is properly set for each course, that the food is properly delivered to the table, and that the needs of the guests are promptly and courteously met. The back waiter or busboy (demi-chef de rang or commis de rang) is generally the first position assigned to new dining room workers. This person clears plates between courses, fills water glasses and bread baskets, and assists the front waiter and/or captain as needed.

Section 4.1 Summary Professionalism means being courteous, honest, and responsible in one’s dealings with customers and coworkers. It also indicates that a person is maintaining standards for his or her work and behavior. Professional culinarians have knowledge, skill, taste, judgment, dedication, pride, respect, and a sense of personal responsibility. A kitchen brigade is a system of staffing a kitchen so that each worker is assigned a set of specific tasks. A traditional dining-room brigade is led by the dining room manager (maître d’) who generally trains all service personnel, oversees wine selections, works with the chef to develop the menu, organizes the seating chart, and seats the guests.