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Kitchen Workflow
Hi everyone,
I’m a culinary student and almost 5 months in the program I’m enrolled in. Our instructor has commented that we are taking too long to prepare the meals.
We already have gotten the hang of doing mise en place for the 2 groups in our class but it seems that we are always falling short at one or two of the three recipes we are required to cook for the day so we end up cooking for more than 3 hours. That already involves plating the food. We did notice that we were getting recipes that always had 1-2 hours preparation time like marinating the meat or letting the food cook in the oven or sauce pan for an hour or two.
May I ask for tips or tricks that can help us shorten the time in preparing most of the recipes during our lab hours? We’d really appreciate your answers.
Thanks!
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2 Replies
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Hey there, Adam!👋
Welcome to the Scoolinary Community! 😊Join our awesome group of food lovers and share your love of cooking. Everyone’s invited!
I’m Sol Damiani, the Community Builder and I’m from Buenos Aires. I’ll bring @sussan_scoolinaryteam and @orsolya-csernak to this thread to know what they would suggest for you to accelarate your procedures.
This is a Community that values your participation a lot: that’s why we created “Masters Game”
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Hi Adam.
Welcome to the Scoolinary community, and thank you for your question.
You’ve chosen a beautiful career in gastronomy, and we’re happy to have you as part of our community. Remember, this space is here for you to ask any questions you may have, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Here are some tips to help you optimize your time in the kitchen:
Mise en Place Optimization:
– Plan Parallel Tasks: While the oven is preheating or meat is marinating, use the time to advance other recipes.
– Strategic Division of Labor: Assign specific tasks to each team member so that preparations progress in parallel, not sequentially.
Pre-Cooking and Advance Preparations:
– Advance Marinades: If the recipes allow, marinate meats the night before or prior to class to reduce active time in the kitchen.
– Semi-Prepared Ingredients: If there are ingredients that can be pre-cooked or pre-cut without compromising quality, do so.
Temperature Control:
– Efficient Oven Use: If you need to bake multiple items, plan so that they can share the oven at the same time, adjusting temperatures and times as necessary.
– Accelerated Cooking: Consider techniques like searing meats before baking or using pressure cooking to shorten cooking times without sacrificing quality.
Parallel Recipes:
– **Maximize Equipment Use**: While one recipe is slow-cooking, work on others that can be managed simultaneously, like sauces or side dishes.
– Staggered Cooking: Start recipes that require more time first, and while they are cooking, proceed with the other preparations.
Process Evaluation:
– Post-Class Analysis: Meet after each session to evaluate what went well and what could be improved in terms of timing and organization.
– Improved Planning: If time allows, practice the recipes outside of class to identify bottlenecks and ways to optimize the process.
Implementing these tips could help you reduce overall preparation time and become more efficient in your classes. Keep practicing, and you’ll see improvement!
Best regards.
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