NABTEB Catering Craft key terms

The business of preparing, cooking and serving food and drink for people at events, workplaces, schools or institutions, either on the customer's premises or at a central kitchen.

The broad service sector made up of businesses that provide food, drink, accommodation and entertainment to guests, including hotels, restaurants, caterers, bars and fast-food outlets.

A catering arrangement in which food is prepared in the caterer's own kitchen and transported to a separate venue such as a wedding hall, office or school for final service.

A basic raw food item bought in bulk for kitchen use, such as rice, flour, beans, cooking oil, sugar or fresh vegetables, before any preparation or cooking takes place.

Food that spoils quickly within days or hours unless kept under refrigeration or freezing, for example fresh meat, fish, milk, eggs and most fruits and vegetables.

The dried edible seed of a legume plant, such as beans, lentils, cowpeas or groundnuts, used as a cheap source of protein in soups, stews and porridges.

The usable weight or number of portions a raw commodity gives after trimming, peeling and cooking, expressed as a percentage of the weight bought.

The French term for having everything in its place: all ingredients measured, tools arranged and workstations set up before cooking or service begins.

The traditional kitchen staffing structure in which each cook has a defined role, such as sauce cook, vegetable cook or pastry cook, under a head chef.

The planned sequence in which food moves through a kitchen, from delivery and storage through preparation and cooking to plating and washing up, designed to avoid crossing clean and dirty paths.

Heat transfer by direct contact between a hot surface and food, as when a steak cooks in a hot frying pan or dough browns on a hot baking tray.

Heat transfer through the movement of air or liquid, as in an oven with a fan or a pot of boiling water, where moving hot fluid carries heat into the food.

Heat transfer by invisible waves travelling through space, as when food browns under a grill or in a microwave, without touching the heat source.

The browning that occurs when proteins and sugars in food react under dry heat, producing the brown crust and savoury flavour of grilled meat, toast and fried foods.

The browning and sweetening of sugar when it is heated strongly, giving colour and flavour to syrups, sauces, baked goods and roasted vegetables.

Briefly plunging food into boiling water and then into cold water to set colour, loosen skins, remove strong flavours or prepare vegetables for freezing.

Cooking food gently in a liquid held just below boiling point, around 70 to 85 degrees Celsius, so delicate items such as eggs, fish and fruit stay tender.

Cooking food in liquid kept at a gentle, steady bubble just below boiling point, used for soups, stews and tough cuts that need long, slow tenderising.

A long, slow, moist method in which food is cooked in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot, often after browning, producing a thick sauce and tender meat or vegetables.

A combined method in which food is first browned in fat, then cooked slowly in a covered container with a little liquid, suited to tough meats and firm vegetables.

A thickening mixture made by cooking equal weights of fat and flour together, used as the base for white sauce, béchamel and many gravies and soups.

Serving a measured, consistent quantity of food to each guest using scales, scoops or ladles, so that costs are predictable and customers receive fair value.

A catering and restaurant term for one diner served at a meal; the number of covers tells the kitchen how many portions to prepare and helps calculate revenue per seat.

A menu offering a fixed set of courses at a fixed price, with limited or no choice, commonly used in hotels, schools and banquet catering.

A menu on which each dish is listed and priced separately, allowing guests to choose individual items and pay according to what they order.

The transfer of harmful bacteria or other contaminants from raw food, hands, boards or equipment to ready-to-eat food, often through shared knives or unwashed surfaces.

The temperature range of roughly 5 to 63 degrees Celsius in which bacteria multiply fastest, so hot food must be held above it and cold food below it.

The safe temperature at which cooked food is kept before service, normally above 63 degrees Celsius for hot food and at or below 5 degrees Celsius for cold food.

The set of practices that keep food safe and free from harmful micro-organisms, including clean hands, clean equipment, correct storage and safe temperature control.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point: a system that identifies where food safety hazards may occur and sets checks at critical points to prevent or remove them.

A diet supplying all the nutrients the body needs in the right proportions, built around energy foods, body-building foods and protective foods, plus water and fibre.

A nutrient needed for growth and repair of body tissues, found in meat, fish, eggs, milk, beans, groundnuts and soya; it also supplies energy when other sources are short.

A written or printed list of the dishes available at a food service operation, arranged in a logical order and showing prices or choices for the guest.

The process of choosing dishes for a menu by considering the customer, the occasion, nutrition, season, cost, available equipment and staff skills.

Dough made by folding butter into dough in repeated layers, so that steam and fat separate the layers during baking to give a flaky texture, as in puff pastry.

The elastic protein network formed when wheat flour is mixed with water and worked, which gives bread its structure and traps gas produced by yeast.

The final rising period during which shaped yeast dough is left in a warm place so the yeast produces gas and the loaf doubles in size before baking.

The cost of the ingredients used to produce one serving of a dish, calculated from the standard recipe and the yield of each commodity.

The cost of food sold expressed as a percentage of food sales revenue, used to judge whether a catering operation is pricing and controlling its menu correctly.

Sales revenue minus the direct cost of the food and drink sold, showing the money left to cover wages, rent, fuel and other running costs.

The level of sales at which total revenue equals total costs, so the business makes neither profit nor loss; above it, each extra sale adds profit.

A person who spots a business opportunity, takes the financial risk of starting and running a venture, and organises the resources needed to make it succeed.

A written document setting out a venture's goals, target market, products, costs, expected income and marketing approach, used to guide the owner and attract finance.