Food Production and Culinary Fundamentals
Food Production and Culinary Fundamentals tests classical kitchen method: brigade roles, knife cuts, stocks and mother sauces, cooking methods at correct temperatures, and yield and portion arithmetic.
Brigade and knife cuts
Executive chef, sous chef, chef de partie (sauce, fish, grill, pastry), then commis. Standard cuts: julienne 3 mm x 3 mm x 40 mm; brunoise 3 mm cubes; macedoine 8-10 mm cubes; batonnet 6 mm x 6 mm x 60 mm; chiffonade for leafy herbs and basil.
Stocks and mother sauces
White stock uses raw bones; brown stock uses roasted bones; fumet is fish stock. Never boil stock: simmer at 85-95 C, skim, strain. The five mother sauces are bechamel (milk plus white roux), veloute (white stock plus blond roux), espagnole (brown stock, brown roux and tomato), sauce tomate, and hollandaise (a warm butter emulsion with egg yolk and lemon).
Cooking methods
Moist: poaching 65-80 C, simmering 85-96 C, boiling 100 C. Dry: roasting, grilling, deep-frying at 175-190 C. Combination: braising and stewing. The Maillard reaction browns protein above about 140 C and needs a dry surface; caramelisation browns sugar.
Worked example
10 kg of striploin is bought at 12 JOD/kg, so the cost is 120 JOD. Trimming loses 25%, leaving 7.5 kg edible portion (EP). At a 180 g portion: 7,500 / 180 = 41 whole portions (41.6 rounded down, because a part portion cannot be sold). Food cost per portion = 120 / 41 = 2.93 JOD. At a menu price of 11 JOD the food cost is 26.6%, which fits a typical target band.
Traps
Boiling stock so it turns cloudy; adding all the liquid to a roux at once; letting hollandaise overheat and split; repeating the myth that searing seals in juices; frying below 165 C so food turns greasy; carving meat without resting it first.