IMPORTANCE OF KITCHEN AND AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF COOKING FOOD

IMPORTANCE OF KITCHEN DEPT. IN HOTEL AND CATERING ESTABLISHMENT:

This section of hotel kitchen area is the main hub of the hotel and the area where the foods are finished and garnished and served to the guest This area is the main production unit and has many sections or departments as demanded by the menu and the size of the operation. Foods of different cuisines are prepared here. For the better functioning of the main kitchen, it is sometimes divided into sub sections as mentioned before If a food service outlet is at a distance from the main kitchen the kitchen adjacent to this F&B outlet, away from the main kitchen is called a satellite kitchen Generally a Sous Chef is controls the operation of the satellite kitchen, but is responsible to the Executive Chef, who is generally stationed near the main kitchen. The roof top restaurant or the Pool Side Cafe’s are the common outlets with an adjacent satellite kitchen, which aims to serve the guests quicker and more efficiently, due to the proximity to the kitchen The waiter does not have to spend a lot of time for bringing in the food from the mam kitchen, thus food can be served quicker and at the desirable state to the guest During the planning of the hotel, this has to be kept into consideration, because everything revolves round the guest comfort.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF COOKING FOOD

What does ‘cooking’ mean?


Cooking means exposing food materials to heat. The medium of transfer of heat from its source could be water, air or oil. This will be dealt with in detail at a later stage. First let us understand why we need to ‘cook’ food.

In the ancient times, human beings ate / consumed raw meats and other foods like roots and fruits. It was much later after the fire was invented that the concept of ‘cooking’ was known. It is believed that food accidentally fell in the fire and thus the discovery of cooked food. Today we do eat some food in the uncooked (raw) form; though, mostly we associate food with its cooked form.

    Aims and objectives of cooking food:

1. Making food safe for consumption – Cooking sterilizes food partially. The growth of bacteria gets restricted at 40oC (104oF). Non-sporing bacteria are killed at temperatures above 60oC (140oF). For example, pasteurization – milk is made safe by holding it at 63oC (145oF) for 30 minutes or at 72oC (161oF) for 15 seconds. Boiling kills living cells. Spore-bearing bacteria take 4-5 hours of boiling to be destroyed.
2. Making food more digestible – Complex foods are split into simpler substances during cooking. The human body can absorb and utilize these more readily.
3. Increasing Palatability.
4. Making food look better – Heat brings about changes in colour, texture and overall appearance of the food, making it more appetizing.
5. Introducing variety – A single ingredient may be used in many different ways, cooked by different methods and bring about changes in the meal.
6. Balancing a meal – Different ingredients combined in one dish make it easier to provide a balanced meal – i.e. providing all the required vital nutrients to the consumer.

   Various textures:

As explained above, raw foods get exposed to some form of heat and then are called ‘cooked’ for consumption. The term TEXTURE is used to describe the characteristics of a finished (ready-to-eat) food product.  The various textures which are listed down, are difficult to explain in words, they should be felt and understood better. There are very thin differences between some of these, which one should learn better during practical.

1. Firm and close – biscuits and plain short pastries can explain this texture. Raising agents are used while preparing these, but they do not make the product very light or brittle. In fact they are hard as a result of many tiny air bubbles created by raising agents. But the biscuits are not too hard either, because of the fat included.
2. Short and crumbly – nankhatai and tarts are good examples of this texture. Fat included is more than that in biscuits, so it breaks more easily into smaller particles.
3. Spongy – Swiss rolls, sponge cakes, idli and dhokla are spongy. A soft, elastic texture due to incorporation of more air results in this texture.
4. Light – Madeira cake has plenty large holes in it, making it ‘light’. It is firm, but not hard and tough. It is neither as short as a tart nor as spongy as a Swiss roll.
5. Flaky – chiroti, lacchha paratha, chicken or veg puffs and khara biscuits are flaky.
6. Coarse – large and uneven holes are a result of too much of the raising agent or too little liquid. This is not a good texture to have in food; in fact, it is something to be avoided.
7. Tough – too much liquid, over mixing, incorrect mixing, too little fat and long cooking time could result in toughness in food.
8. Hard – another texture which should be avoided as far as possible. In fact, it is considered to be a fault in the product.

 Various consistencies:

Like different textures found in solid foods (which are mentioned above), different ‘consistencies’ are found in liquid foods.
Some substances flow readily, others resist flow and some require force or weight application to start flow.  The concept of consistency is closely related to viscosity.
Factors affecting consistency of liquid are –
·       concentration (of thickening agent)
·       temperature
·       degree of dispersion
·       mechanical treatment
·       time (how long is it after preparing)
Generally speaking, the following consistencies could be found in liquid foods –
A.       Pouring – like water and milk. These do not show any resistance and flow easily / readily. Stocks and some thin soups like consommé are examples of ‘cooked’ liquids having pouring consistency.
B.       Coating – when a starchy thickening agent is mixed with a liquid, and the mixture is heated, the starch gelatinizes. In case of a protein as a thickening agent, it coagulates when exposed to heat.
The liquid is proportionately more than the flour or thickening agent.
C.       Dropping – when a liquid is added to dry flour, it forms lumps as only some flour (granules) gets combined with liquid. Later, when added more liquid, it converts into dough and with some more liquid, it turns into ‘batter’. Here, the amount of solid (flour) is more than the liquid.

      Techniques used in pre-preparation:

Raw materials used in food production are mostly natural products. They are available in various shapes and weights. For example,  no two potatoes or onions will be same in size, shape and weight. No two red pumpkins will be of the same size, shape and weight. Preparing a finished product calls for basic uniformity in size, shape and weight. This is the base for uniformity in cooking and also the appearance of the food. Breaking down the raw materials into required form is called ‘pre-preparation’. Following are a few prepreparation techniques –

·       Washing – superficial dirt is removed during washing. Vegetables, fish, meat and sometimes even eggs are washed with cold water before any other process.Water soluble vitamins and minerals are lost if they are soaked for a long period of time or washed after cutting.

·       Peeling and scraping – spoilt, soiled and inedible portions are removed. Skins of potatoes, carrots, radish or fruits can be removed by peeling.
 
·       Paring – remove surface layers by using a circular motion as in paring an apple.

·       Cutting – reducing to smaller parts with a knife or a pair of scissors. When a chopping knife or a food chopper is used, it is termed as chopping.

       Techniques used in preparation:

When raw materials are ready to be cooked, they are sent to the preparation area or hot section of the kitchen where it gets exposed to heat. Following are some of the techniques in preparation. List may be enriched as and when you start actual cooking.
·       Stirring – this mixes two or more ingredients as they get cooked. Wooden / stainless steel flat spoons, round spoons, perforated spoons etc. of various sizes could be used.

·       Masking – to prevent food from getting burnt in case of baking / roasting, it needs to be masked with some other food material. It can also be done to get a desired colour and appearance.

·       Coating or dipping in batter – as mentioned earlier, batter is a mixture of flour and liquid (mostly equal quantities). Certain foods are dipped in batter and deep fried. The most apt example would be potato vadas
·       Basting – this is a technique which goes hand in hand with roasting. This means to apply fat / butter on the food while being roasted. It helps by protecting the surface from going dry and also by giving a pleasant brown colour to the roasted food.
·       Tadka / baghar – these terms and technique are used in Indian cuisine. Oil is heated to the required temperature and certain spice ingredients are added to it (which should crackle,) then the food (like cooked dal or chopped vegetables) are combined with this. It develops additional taste and flavour to the dish. A peculiar flavour which is the characteristic of the dish can be added through the ingredients in the tempering.


·       Seasoning – seasonings bring about the natural taste and flavours of the ingredients. No dish can be complete without seasonings.
·       Flavouring – these are those ingredients which impart additional flavours in the dishes. Nutmeg powder in creamed potatoes, cardamom powder in Indian sweets like kheers, vanilla essence in vanilla buns are some of the examples.

            EFFECTS OF HEAT ON COOKING

We all know that most food preparation involves heating the food, whether by roasting, baking, grilling, frying, or searing. We know that during the cooking process, red meat gets brown, liquids become solid, and flavors change. But have you ever wondered why that is? In order to help you better understand the cooking process, we’ve explained the basics of why food reacts the way it does when it’s heated up.

Proteins: Coagulation

Plant- and animal-based foods are made up of long molocules called proteins. When they’re heated, the proteins break up and lose moisture. This makes them change from a liquid (or semi-liquid) to a solid in a process called coagulation in food.
Temperature this starts at: 140 degrees F
Examples: hard boiled or fried eggs

Starches: Gelatinization

When starches are heated, they absorb liquids around them. This makes solid starchy foods softer. Starches can also be added to foods like soups and stews that are mostly liquid for thickening purposes. The whole process is known as gelatinization.
Temperature this starts at: 150 degrees F
Examples: pasta and rice getting larger and softer after boiling, flour thickening a soup

Sugars: Caramelization

Heated sugar tends to turn brown and change flavor. This not only applies to the sugar we actively add to foods, like baked goods or desserts, but to the naturally-occurring sugars in foods, as well. This process, known as caramelization, is responsible for the majority of flavors we associate with cooking. Since this happens at a higher temperature than water boiling, it also explains why foods only brown if prepared with dry heat methods.
Temperature this starts at: 338 degrees F
Examples: brown top of a creme brulee, bread turning brown as it bakes

Water: Evaporation

This is the process most people are probably familiar with from science class. When water is heated, the molecules move faster and faster until they turn into a gas (steam) and evaporate. Because water is in so many foods, this explains why foods get more dried out when they’re cooked.
Temperature this starts at: 212 degrees F
Examples: water boiling, spinach losing shape

Fats: Melt

Unlike water, fats won’t evaporate when heated, though they do melt. At room temperature they can be solid, liquid, or somewhere in between, but all of them become liquid when heat is applied to them. Because it takes much higher temperatures to burn foods that fit in this category, they’re often used as a medium to cook foods, rather than just as an ingredient.
Temperature this starts at: varies depending on fat
Examples: using butter or oil to pan-fry

As you can see, there are a lot of different scientific reactions that happen to your ingredients when you throw them on the stove or put them in the oven. One or more of these reactions can be happening at the same time in order to give you the results you want. So, the next time your food isn’t cooking perfectly, think about how you can adjust the amount heat you’re using to cook it with.

methods of mixing foods

1. Beating: - generally applied to thin mixtures of liquid. Should be done with the aim of incorporating air. E.g. Beating of egg in cake making.

          This term is used synonymously with whipping.

1. Blending: - mixing one or more ingredients thoroughly with a help of blender/whisk/ or a food processor/mixer.
2. Cutting in: - incorporation of fat in flour with the help of a knife by cutting is called as cutting in. this produce a coarse division of fat and does not result in blending.
   1. E.g. Cutting of fat into pastry mixture.
3. Creaming: - softening of fat by frication of a wooden spoon or by hand. This is generally followed by incorporation of sugar as in cake mixing.
4. Folding: - mixing mixtures by lifting and dropping motion. The edge of the spoon is used. The mixture is carefully lifted and turned completely and then gently replaced.
5. Kneading:-Manipulating by altering pressure with folding and stretching motion. The food is pressed with the knuckle. The dough is brought from outside of the basin to the centre and at the same time the bowl is moved so that the different sections are kneaded at the same time. This will ensure even distribution of ingredient.
6. Rubbing in: - Rubbing of fat into flour with the help of fingers. Rub until the mixture becomes like a bread crumb. This is normally done with the tip of your finger.
7. Rolling in: - rolling of fat in the dough as in the puff pastry. (Butter) into the soft dough this is normally done with rolling pin.
8. Pressing in: - This is done to shape up the cooked foods e.g. Cutlets or as, the method to separate the liquids from solids by weights or mechanical pressure as in the making of paneer.
9. Stirring:- Mixing foods with a suitable tool such as a spoon by a circular motion in a concept with the pan To prevent the food from burning.