Cookery for the Hospitality Industry

Introduction

In addition to acquiring the ability to season food appropriately and to develop a palate for taste, the most important skill a chef needs to master is an understanding of the principles and methods of cookery.

The chef needs to understand the effect that the method of heat application and the type of heat applied to food has on the finished product. A dish may fail miserably simply because an inappropriate method of cookery has been employed or has been executed poorly. Therefore, the skill involved with cookery is not only concerned with recipes, but also with the ability to control the amount and intensity of heat to a wide range of foodstuffs. If you are able to master the principles and methods of cookery, you will be able to prepare any recipe to an acceptable standard.

Food is cooked for several reasons: to make it more digestible, to make it safer to eat, to make it more palatable and to change its appearance. The chef needs to be constantly aware that the selection of the method of cookery will have a direct bearing on the techniques used in the preparation of ingredients.

The amount and intensity of heat applied to food items must take into account the following:

• the density of the food – whether the food is hard or soft

• the type of food – whether the food is of animal or vegetable origin

• the size and thickness of the food being cooked

• the combination of ingredients being used

• the type of heat to be applied

• the quality of the equipment being used to cook the food – thin-bottomed frying pans and saucepans transfer heat unevenly, and can result in poorly cooked food.