Oh my, how do I best summarise this week except for aching back, tired and sore feet (5 hrs standing every day) and more muscles thanks to heavy lifting? :)
Kitchen world is not very different from the business world (the world I know) from an operating model point of view, because in a pro kitchen at the very basic level, you need the organisational skills (how to organise and structure your work station), team management skills (it's not a one-man show because the entire team needs to work together to deliver final results/products), process flow skills (certain tasks need to be performed in a certain order within a given timeframe), role and responsibilities of each team member, and last but not least the knife skills and time management skills.
Objectives: deliver a vegetable soup (the end result) at the required time to the chef (client) for expectation, tasting and feedback :)
Tasks: preping kitchen and work station, getting & distributing the produce, peeling, washing, cleaning, cutting, cooking, plating and delivering the end result
It was all moving at high pace, and because I still lack basic knife skills 101 (cutting, shredding, slicing, dicing, chopping etc to yield different end results of the produce), I struggled to deliver on time. All I can do is practice over and over again at home :)
Cutting has an impact on cooking time, taste/consistency and of course apparence of the produce. If you chop and bruise the onion, it will release more liquid when cooking or frying, which will impact the taste or structure compared to "clean cutting". I am here to learn new skills and techniques, not to debate on this statement :)
New knife skills & French cooking terms acquired
Paysanne = cutting veggies to yield for instant 1 cm in height by 2mm in thickness
Macedoine = cutting veggies in equal cubes, for instant 1cm by 1cm
Parer and many new words ...
Day 1 cooking - veggie soup with crouton and cheese
My cutting was terrible, but crouton toasting was done correctly.
Day 2 cooking - veggie soup with pesto
My cutting improved a bit, but still not neat or even. Luckily I haven't cut myself yet :)
But I need to work faster, much much faster :(
Guess what I will be doing this weekend? Practice on my knife skills - cutting, slicing, shredding veggies and once it's there I need to work on my speed - so here I come :)
Have a nice weekend, folks.
MEP :)
Kitchen world is not very different from the business world (the world I know) from an operating model point of view, because in a pro kitchen at the very basic level, you need the organisational skills (how to organise and structure your work station), team management skills (it's not a one-man show because the entire team needs to work together to deliver final results/products), process flow skills (certain tasks need to be performed in a certain order within a given timeframe), role and responsibilities of each team member, and last but not least the knife skills and time management skills.
On day 2 things were moving at reasonable pace. We got our cooking uniforms and safety shoes and a tour in the pro kitchen facilities, storage facilities, dish washing area etc. I felt lost in this building as well as in the pro kitchen :)
On day 3, it was straight in the kitchen to start PRODUCTION :) Objectives: deliver a vegetable soup (the end result) at the required time to the chef (client) for expectation, tasting and feedback :)
Tasks: preping kitchen and work station, getting & distributing the produce, peeling, washing, cleaning, cutting, cooking, plating and delivering the end result
Cutting has an impact on cooking time, taste/consistency and of course apparence of the produce. If you chop and bruise the onion, it will release more liquid when cooking or frying, which will impact the taste or structure compared to "clean cutting". I am here to learn new skills and techniques, not to debate on this statement :)
New knife skills & French cooking terms acquired
Paysanne = cutting veggies to yield for instant 1 cm in height by 2mm in thickness
Macedoine = cutting veggies in equal cubes, for instant 1cm by 1cm
Parer and many new words ...
Day 1 cooking - veggie soup with crouton and cheese
My cutting was terrible, but crouton toasting was done correctly.
Day 2 cooking - veggie soup with pesto
My cutting improved a bit, but still not neat or even. Luckily I haven't cut myself yet :)
But I need to work faster, much much faster :(
Guess what I will be doing this weekend? Practice on my knife skills - cutting, slicing, shredding veggies and once it's there I need to work on my speed - so here I come :)
Have a nice weekend, folks.
MEP :)
No comments:
Post a Comment