Kitchens Hygiene

As a chef we are following standards procedures in food preparation when it comes to food safety. There is where is HACCP comes.  Hazard Analysis and Critical Control point is a systematic approach to food safety. This apply to all kinds of food service and pharmaceutical productions.

In the kitchen the chefs are required to follow the hygiene standards. Specially in the places where municipality is very strict when it comes to HACCP. This is why we are informed and all the information regarding to HACCP is readily and always available for us to read and understand the food safety.

Every Hotels kitchen has their Hygience officer who is en- charge in giving information and trainings to the chefs regarding HACCP. They are roaming around the kitchen making sure that standards are implemented and followed.

HACCP basically discuss the source of bacteria, cooking temperature, storing temperature, danger zone, etcetera.

I am full

Most of the food that i found in cafeteria are not my taste, but I am very hungry and I need to eat something. Good thing they have clear vegetable soup I took some in one plate then I take also some indian egg curry, I just remove the sauce. Then the egg I put it on the soup and that is what I eat with the rice. It's good and now I am full.

Buffet preparation.

Today is my first day in  my new kitchen. This restaurant is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, Buffet and ala carte mediterranean cuisines. My chef de partie ask me to observe how the systems work so that i can adapt as soon as possible. They also ask me to do the plating which I found very easy. These are some of the buffet food that I plated.

Promotion over happiness

I really like the kitchen where I am working now, I like these Italian chef team. With them I feel so comfortable, these Italians are nice people, happy people. They maybe speak a lot of bad words but its fine for me those are just expressions. So bad that  I need to leave.

Three days ago my Executive Chef called me on his office and ask me if I know why he called me. I said maybe you're going to transfer me to another kitchen. And I am right, he ask me if I am happy. I answer no because I like it in my kitchen now. Then he explained to me that I need to grow and I have no chance for a promotion in my kitchen now and he can only give me promotion as a Demi chef de Partie in another kitchen. He told me I need to choose wether I stay in my Italian kitchen but will not get promotion or he will move me and will give me promotion.
That's a promotion, how can I say no with this kind of offer, I didn't ask for it and it was the chefs decision.

Good salary, big responsibility, new kitchen, new people, new cuisines for my new position. The thing that bother me the most is the new people, the chefs that I am going to work with.
I remember the days when I was new in the kitchen that I almost give-up not because of the work but because of the peoples attitude.

These good salary, responsibility, new kitchen, new cuisines are the best part because with these things I am going to learn new things that for sure a big help in moulding my future.

Tomorrow I will start to work in my new kitchen, new new new everything. I just hope that life will be good here.

Celeriac

Yesterday I helped main kitchen team in preparing their mise en place for today's function. I peeled 4 boxes of celeriac and then I slice it very thin using the slice machine. It was tiring but it's okay. They're going up make a celeriac gratin.

Special order

Special order means a little bit problem with the chef, specially if the mise en place for that order is not readily available.
Today I just arrived in the kitchen and there is one special order. A normal ensalata(mix green salad: goat cheese, cherry tomato, grilled artichoke, orange segment with lemon dressing) but the guest wants it with cucumber and spring onion and wants to have a fresh lemon juice as a dressing. We do not have cucumber and spring onion in the kitchen because of that I need to run to other kitchen and ask for those stuff. The good thing when I run down they have it ready on their table. And they gave me.
Sometimes it's very difficult to borrow some stuff from other kitchen because we know they also need those.

Sometimes also you need to steal stuff from the fridges of other kitchen. These are sometimes the cause of arguments of every kitchen.( hotel has one main kitchen where most of the stuffs like vegetables, meats etc are there)

So these are the cucumber that I took from main kitchen cold section.

Chefs attitude

"Position change the attitude of the person."

Workplace is a small place where we learn and understand the attitude of other people. People we are working with are like family member that we knows their attitude their likes and the things that can make them soft.

Let's talk about the kitchen where the chefs are working.
Attudes of persons evolve as they grow in their position, you're going to notice it once you are working with them for long time. Of course something bad and something good that is neccessary for their position. Lets talk about that.

Legumier, Commis, Cook 1,2 & 3
These kitchens staff are normally the YES CHEF of the kitchen, Ask them to do something and they will do it. Their attitudes, their bad attitude is rarely to see because they are new in the kitchen, because they need to show that they can work in the kitchen with the must needed attitude.
Soon they will become comfortable working with the chefs and these time you'll get to know them better and these time also they start to complain, they start to argue. The good thing they start to express their ideas. These way they will get a promotion and they become Demi chef de partie.

Demi Chef de Partie.
There are two kinds of demi chef de partie. The first one is the newly hired and the old one or the one that is promoted from commis.
These  promoted from commis is more comfortable working with the team, He is trying to balance his attitude towards the other chefs because he is in the middle position. He was a commis before so he needs to consider his fellow commis. The good thing is he has now more power to express his ideas because he knows his chefs and he has experience in the same kitchen and in the same team.
This newly hired demi chef de partie is sometimes uncomfortable in the beggining. He is trying to figure out the working attitude of every chef in the kitchen. Most of the time he is asking information about the kichens specially the standard in the their kitchen. This demi chef de partie has his own knowledge but he knows that his new kitchen has their own standard that he needs to follow. Throug timw he will be comfortable and his ideas will be heard.

Chef de Partie.
The chef de partie is the in-charge of the section of the kitchen what he wants  must be done. He has more experienced and what he is doing is based on what he learned and what the Sous chef told him.
They are sometimes coming to be arrogant because they do not listen to their commis and demis. They don't let them to explain.

Sous Chef.
Souse is the head of the kitchen. He is the manager of the kitchen he is the one who do the food costing, scheduling, ordering and so many things in the office. Aside from that he also needs to work in the kitchen during the service. Normally during service he went to the guest table and ask about the food if the guest like it and talk about anything else. Most of the time they do the plating it means that evey foods are passing from his hands to plate so he knows if the food is good or not. He taste the food before plating it. If he think the food is not good he will start to yell and give bamboo to the team, specially to the one who cook the food.
A good chef sometimes need to be  strict and is required otherwise the kitchen will be relax. Sometimes if the kitchen is relax they forget to do the small thing that sometimes is the cause of big problem.
The good chef ask ideas from his staff or from the other chef. He deligates responsibility to everbody for a better working environment.