Cert III Commercial Cookery flashcards

31 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Danger zone

The temperature range between 5°C and 60°C in which bacteria multiply rapidly. High-risk foods should spend minimal time in this range during storage, preparation, and service.

Two-hour four-hour rule

Food held in the danger zone under two hours may be refrigerated or used; between two and four hours it must be used immediately; beyond four hours it must be thrown away.

Cooling requirement

Cooked high-risk food must cool from 60°C to 21°C within two hours, then to 5°C within a further four hours, using shallow trays or blast chilling.

Reheating temperature

Previously cooked and cooled high-risk food must be reheated rapidly to at least 75°C and reheated only once to limit bacterial growth.

HACCP principles

Seven principles: hazard analysis, determining critical control points, setting critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification, and record keeping.

Cross-contamination control

Prevent transfer of bacteria by using colour-coded boards, separate utensils for raw and ready-to-eat food, and storing raw items below cooked items in refrigeration.

Declared allergens

Egg, milk, peanut, tree nuts, sesame, soy, fish, shellfish, wheat and other gluten sources, lupin, and sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more must be declared.

Manual dishwashing steps

Scrape, wash in hot detergent water, rinse in clean hot water, sanitise in solution or hot water, then air dry on a rack without towel drying.

Standard breading

A three-stage coating of flour, egg wash, then breadcrumbs; chilling before frying helps the coating adhere and prevents it detaching in hot oil.

Mother sauces

Béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise, and tomato. Derivatives include mornay from béchamel and demi-glace from espagnole plus brown stock.

Roux stages

Equal weights of flour and butter cooked to white, blond, or brown stage; darker roux adds colour and nutty flavour but thickens less.

Stock simmering rule

Stocks are simmered gently, never boiled, because boiling emulsifies fat and clouds the stock; fish stock simmers only twenty to thirty minutes.

Meat doneness temperatures

Core temperatures: rare 55°C, medium rare 60°C, medium 65°C, medium well 70°C, well done 75°C; minced meat must reach 71°C.

Portion cost formula

Cost per portion equals purchase price divided by usable yield, where usable yield accounts for trim, bone, and cooking loss.

Deep-frying temperatures

Dense items such as chicken pieces fry at 160–170°C; thin or pre-cooked items at 175–190°C; oil degrades faster above 190°C.

Catering quantity planning

Quantities are calculated from covers multiplied by portion size, plus a wastage buffer, and scheduled against service times to avoid danger-zone holding.

Wok hei

The seared, smoky character produced by cooking over very high heat in small batches so moisture evaporates quickly and food browns rather than steams.

Asian mise en place

Aromatics such as garlic, ginger, chilli, and spring onion are chopped and sauces blended before heating the wok, because cooking is fast and unattended.

Balancing Asian flavours

Dishes balance sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami elements using sugar, lime or tamarind, fish sauce or soy, bitter greens, and fermented pastes.

Soy sauce types

Light soy is saltier and used for seasoning; dark soy is thicker and sweeter for colour; kecap manis is a thick sweet Indonesian soy condiment.

Curry paste frying

Fry the paste in thick coconut cream until the oil splits and aroma releases, then add protein and thin coconut milk to build the curry.

Jasmine rice method

Rinse rice until the water runs clear, then cook by absorption using roughly one part rice to one and a half parts water by volume, and rest before fluffing.

Sashimi freezing rule

Fish served raw must be commercially frozen to −20°C for seven days or −35°C for fifteen hours to destroy parasites before preparation.

Noodle blanching

Fresh wheat or rice noodles are blanched briefly in boiling water, drained, and tossed with a little oil to stop clumping before the final wok toss.

Kitchen brigade

The hierarchy of executive chef, sous chef, chef de partie, commis chef, and kitchen hand, each with defined station duties and reporting lines.

Food cost percentage

Cost of goods sold divided by food sales, multiplied by one hundred; a rising figure indicates waste, over-portioning, theft, or supplier price increases.

FIFO stock rotation

First in, first out: older stock is used before newer stock, and deliveries are labelled with date and checked against order and temperature.

Hierarchy of control

Risk controls ranked from most to least effective: eliminate, substitute, isolate, engineer, administrate, then personal protective equipment.

Manual handling rule

Keep the load close to the body, bend the knees, avoid twisting, and use a team lift for heavy or awkward items above roughly sixteen to twenty kilograms.

Cleaning versus sanitising

Cleaning removes visible soil and grease using detergent; sanitising then reduces microorganisms to safe levels with heat or a correctly diluted chemical solution.

Usable yield percentage

Usable weight divided by as-purchased weight, multiplied by one hundred; it adjusts purchase cost for trim, bone, and preparation loss.