Cook Chill

1. 0 INTRODUCTION Cook-chill and cook-freeze food productions are ways of producing foods that have been employed by many different organizations determining from the types of foods and services that the particular organization offers. These types of cooking methods work hand-in-hand with the kitchen designs. Kitchen design refers to the layout of kitchen equipment and positions of the working sections to produce foods that meet the needs of customers and thereby reaching the goals of the establishment. 2. 0 A KITCHENA kitchen is described as a building or a room in a building that has been specialized for cooking purposes only. Different establishments have their own types of kitchens with different designs that serve different purposes. Some kitchens are designed special for catering customers on transit such as Fast Food restaurants but some kitchens has to cater for a specific group of people using a specific type of service, thereby it has to have the right number of employees w ho will do the job and enough equipment to save time as well as energy. 3. 0 KITCHEN PLANSThere are different types of kitchen plans that have a specific purpose of operations. If a kitchen is designed for a particular way of production, it has also specific type of equipment available in that kitchen plan. There are different types of kitchen plan some of them are discussed below. 3. 1 Corridor kitchen A corridor type of kitchen, the appliances, cabinets and counter space are arranged on two facing walls. If the room is not too long, this can be an efficient kitchen. However, if both ends of the kitchen have doors, traffic through may create confusion. 3. 2 U-shaped kitchenThis type of kitchen is usually considered to be the best type of a kitchen which has the best work triangle because of its convenient arrangement and short walking space between appliances. It has a determined floor space and accommodates a determined number of workers. 3. 3 L-shaped kitchen This type of a kitch en creates an easy-to-use work triangle. If the kitchen space is large enough, an eating center can be included. This is the situation whereby customers serve themselves. 3. 4Center type of kitchen This type of kitchen is the most common type of kitchens that most establishments have employed.The working area is on the center as the name suggests but does not provide enough space. Figure 3. 4. 1 3. 5 Island type of kitchen All the necessary equipment in the kitchen is placed back to back in the middle of the working area. This type of setting requires an adequate space to allow an easy flow and enough space between the equipment for easy cleaning and to avoid creating dark areas that introduces insects. 4. 0 WORK CENTERS A work center is an area that focuses on a particular type of work activity such as preparation or cooking.Includes appliances and work space and that the necessary equipment is stored within for easy reach as depicted in figure 4. 0. Figure 4. 0. A chef preparing a meal from a working center. 4. 1 Refrigerator-freezer center * The refrigerator and the freezer have space next to them to use when loading or unloading foods. * A storage space is needed for items used to package food for refrigeration. * Storage space for items used when serving refrigerated or frozen foods. 4. 2 Range center(gas/ electric range) * Cabinet storage for foods used at this center. Storage space for pots, pans, cooking tools such as ladles, wooden spoons and pot handlers. 4. 3 Sink or cleanup center * Appliances such as dish washers and food waste disposers are found in these centers * Adequate space for stacking dishes 4. 4 Mixing center * Can be between two centers * Has several electrical outlets * Storage space for measuring, mixing and baking equipment and all the necessary ingredients 5. 0 TYPES OF KITCHEN ORGANISATIONS 5. 1 Conventional kitchen * They are suitable for small establishments They have fixed menus and banquets operating on rational basis * All dep artments are grouped together in blocks * Preparation and finishing are done in the same area 5. 2 Combined preparation and finishing kitchen * They are suitable for medium sized hotels or establishments * Preparation and finishing are done in the same section * In principle, preparation and finishing are totally or partially separated depending on the establishment 5. 3 Separate preparation and finishing kitchen( Satellite kitchen) * They are suitable for large establishments Preparation and finishing are done in separate sections; mis-en-place and the other one for finishing * Each section consists of one housing all the equipment for preparation of the dishes * Usually, they have no ranges, frying pans or steamed jacketed pots. Instead, they have grills, microwaves and Bain Marie. * 5. 4 Convenience food kitchen * a system of interest to the establishment that has no preparation kitchen but purchases only convenience foods * deals with the finishing of foods only and mostly canne d foods * require refrigerated and dry storage areasIn selection of these types of kitchen, consideration should be given * numbers of meals to prepared at each meal period * types of services * customer prices * system for serving meals * serving times for hot and cold meals 6. 0 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE THE DESIGN OF A KITCHEN 1. Service requirement: Management should be well aware of a food service objectives before planning its kitchen, type of menu and target numbers, etc usually determine the type of equipment to be in the kitchen 2. Space availability: One that maximizes space wage or that ensures efficient usage of space. 3.Amount of capital expenditure: Have an accurate idea of spending available since finances will often determine the overall design and acceptability. 4. Type of equipment available: Space provision for ventilation and power supply of the kitchen. 5. Use of convenience foods: Design of a fast food kitchen using ready-made foods will be different from that of a kitchen serving †¦. la carte menu. 7. 0 FOOD HYGIENE A number of factors may affect the quality and wholesomeness of food. * The premises, equipment and conditions in which it is stored * The care taken by food handlers to avoid contamination from other foods.Large scale handling of food by staff not trained or conscious of hygiene requirements is a major source of infection. In such circumstances, cross-contamination can easily occur. * Allocation of the kitchen * The number of people passing by the kitchen * Contact of cooked food with raw foods or utensils and surfaces contaminated by raw foods is likely to become infected * Segmentation of cooking sections may contaminate high risk foods such as cooked poultry and meat (pies, soups, stock) milk, creams, custards, shellfish, eggs, cooked rice and dairy products. 8. COOK-CHILL FOOD PRODUCTION Cook-chill, according to John Campbell,David Fasket and Victor Ceserani (2008), is a catering system based on the normal preparation and cooking of food followed by rapid chilling storage in controlled low-temperature conditions above freezing point, 0–3? , and subsequently reheating immediately before consumption. The chilled food is regenerated in finishing kitchens, which require low capital investment and minimum staff. Almost any food can be cook-chilled provided that the correct methods are used during the preparation. 8. 1 THE COOK-CHILL PROCESS The food should be cooked sufficiently to ensure destruction of any pathogenic microorganisms. The process must begin as soon as possible after completion of the cooking and portioning processes, within 30 minutes of leaving the cooker. * The food should be to 3? within a period of 90 minutes. Most pathogenic organisms will not grow below 7, while a temperature below 3? is required to reduce growth of spoilageand to achieve the required storage life. However, slow growth of spoilageorganisms does take place at these temperatures and for this reason storage l ife cannotbe greater than five days. The food should be stored at a temperature of 0–3? and should be distributed under such controlled conditions that any rise intemperature of the food during distribution is kept to a minimum. For both safety and palatability the reheating (regeneration) of the food should followimmediately upon the removal of the food from chilled conditions and should raise thetemperature to a level of at least 70?. The food should be consumed as soon as possible and not more than two hours afterreheating. Food not intended for reheating should be consumed as soon as convenientand within two hours of removal from storage.It is essential that unconsumed reheatedfood is discarded. 9. 0 COOK-FREEZE FOOD PRODUCTION This type of food production is similar with the cook-chill system of production. The only difference is temperature conditions that the foods are placed in. 10. 0 COOK-CHILL AND COOK-FREEZE FOOD PRODUCTION RELATING TO THE KITCHEN DESIGN A type of a kitchen determines what type of food production system to be employed. 1. A conventional type of kitchen produces fast foods therefore, it can adopt the cook-chill production system.It would be easy to reheat the foods in the microwave than to start preparing; beef stew takes long to prepare and for a fast food restaurant, time matters most. 2. L-shaped kitchen creates a large working area which also creates room for the cook-chill or cook-freeze equipment since the equipment is big and requires a larger space e. g the blast chillers and deep freezers as in figure 10. 0. Figure 3. 0. A chef preparing a meal using a Blast chiller. 3. A u-shaped kitchen, though considered to be the best, would not be the best type of kitchen for a cook-freeze type of production.The equipment might need one corner of the room which cannot be possible because the corners might be occupied with other equipment. 4. A corridor kitchen might also not be suitable for cook-chill systems because the equipmen t is placed in the sides of the kitchen which creates much space for an easy work flow but little storage and working areas. 11. 0 Conclusion Cook-chill and cook-freeze are food production methods that are commonly used nowadays to produce food in most of the hospitality establishments worldwide.The cook-chilling and cook-freezing areas in the kitchen are compatible parts of the kitchen plan and design, therefore, for these areas to exists in a kitchen it has to be planned at first when building the kitchen. BIBLIOGRAPHY Fellows, PJ(2000). Food Processing Technology: Principles And Practice 2nd ed. Woodhead: Cambridge Food Standards Agency(2002). The Composition Of Foods,6th ed. MacCance: Cambridge Kowtaluk, H. & Kopan, OA. (1990). Food For Today(4th ed). McGraw-Hill:New York