Commercial Cookery and Kitchen Operations
The kitchen brigade and workflow
Understand the classical brigade (executive chef, sous chef, chef de partie, commis, kitchen hand) and how a modern kitchen may flatten it. Know the sections - larder, sauce, grill, pastry, vegetable - and how the pass coordinates timing so a table's dishes leave together. Learn mise en place, the importance of a prep list, standard recipe cards, portion control, and yield testing, because these drive both consistency and cost control.
Cooking methods and food science
Classify methods as moist (poaching, steaming, braising, stewing), dry (roasting, grilling, baking, shallow and deep frying) and combination. Know what heat transfer is occurring (conduction, convection, radiation) and how it affects the result. Understand the Maillard reaction and caramelisation, the role of gluten and starch, emulsion and coagulation, and why resting meat improves juiciness. Be able to explain the effect of salt, acid, fat and heat on flavour balance.
Safety, hygiene and stock control
Know correct knife handling and sharpening, manual handling, burns and scalds prevention, and gas and electrical safety. Learn FIFO and date labelling, correct storage temperatures and segregation of raw and ready-to-eat food, and how stock rotation reduces waste and cost. Understand the purpose of a food safety program and the records a kitchen keeps.
Traps and a rule of thumb
Traps: calling braising a dry method; describing searing as 'sealing in juices' (it does not); confusing FIFO with LIFO; and forgetting that portion control is a cost control, not just a presentation tool. Rule of thumb: for a method question, name the heat-transfer medium first (water, steam, air, fat, direct radiation), then the technique. Example: braising is a combination method - dry heat seals the surface, then a covered moist cook in liquid tenderises connective tissue.