Stir-Fry

This term is usually associated with Asian cookery. It involves heating a small amount of oil over a medium to high heat and adding various items that are to be cooked. Generally shallow, two-handled steel woks are used, and special gas burners are available to heat them.

Sometimes the various ingredients are cooked separately and then combined before serving. At other times, ingredients that take the longest to cook are added first and ingredients that require very little cooking (such as bean shoots) are added last. Sometimes the food is marinated or the oil flavoured with herbs or spices beforehand.

In all cases the food must be cut small and be of uniform size to aid quick, even cooking. Food is usually cooked in small batches and stirred continuously. It must not be piled up in the wok, as this leads to steaming and sweating. Only the best cuts of meat that require light cooking are used, and the vegetables are kept bright and crunchy.

Principles Of Cooking With A Wok

1.
All ingredients must be cleaned, dried and assembled before starting to cook.

2.
Ingredients must be cut to a similar size and shape, as cooked pieces must look uniform and have the same tenderness.

3.
Most chicken, fish, pork and beef are marinated beforehand, to enhance taste and tenderness. Items are often coated with cornflour prior to cooking.

4.
Some oil should be heated in the wok, swirled around, and the excess removed prior to cooking.

5.
A little oil should be added to meat and fish just prior to cooking. This will aid separation in the wok.

6.
Stir-frying is a very quick process. Items requiring long cooking must be pre-cooked to tenderness by other methods.

7.
Stir-frying requires teamwork – for every person at the wok, others will be preparing, cutting and assembling the ingredients for each order.

Baking involves the exposure of food to dry heat in an oven.

Three types of ovens – general purpose, convection and deck – are used for baking. Deck ovens are wide flat ovens made to accommodate one or two baking sheets side by side.

The heat is controlled by thermostats, often with separate controls for top and bottom heat. The ovens are heavily constructed and well insulated to enable them to build up a store of heat.

Humidity is controlled by a lever that operates a flue in the back of the oven. Baked goods such as bread and choux pastry require a steamy atmosphere, so the vent should be closed.

For meringues, biscuits and to finish off choux pastry goods, where a drying effect is important, the vent should be open. For items such as puff pastry and yeast goods, high starting temperatures are required to make the goods rise before the outside crust is set.

This is often called oven spring. The temperature may then need to be lowered so that the goods can cook through. Items such as baked custards and meringues require constant low temperatures for poaching in a bain-marie or drying as the case may be.

Principles

1. The oven must be heated to the required temperature prior to loading.

2. When laying out small items on a baking sheet, care should be taken to space them regularly. This will ensure a good distribution of heat and even cooking. It is good practice to set out a row along one side and one end, and then fill the sheet using these rows as markers.

3. A sheet of silicon paper may be placed on a baking sheet prior to piping some types of biscuits so that they do not stick and the bottoms don’t colour too much.

4. Large cakes which take a long time to cook should be insulated with several thicknesses of paper on the sides and between the baking sheet and cake tin. This will prevent the outside overcooking before the centre is done.

Cooking involves the application of heat to foodstuffs. The basic object of cooking is to tenderize (or in the case of flour goods such as cake, to stabilize) food so that it will be easier to digest.

There are two other reasons for cooking food. One is related to taste and the physical aspects of eating and nourishment of the body; the other concerns social values related to the preparation and sharing of meals.

These are the foundations on which the attitude of the professional cook is built. Cookery, then, is not only concerned with tenderizing food but also with:

      Ø The creation of flavours through browning and combining different foods

      Ø The concentration of flavours by reduction through boiling or simmering

      Ø The absorption of flavours through long cooking or slow shallow-frying (sweating)

What marks out the professional cook is the ability to make food combinations into attractive, nourishing and appropriate meals for people, whether in hospitals, offices, motels or restaurants. Concern for cooking does not finish with the work at the stove, frier or steamer, but continues to the point where the meal is consumed. A cook must always be conscious of the expectations and needs of the patient, guest or customer.

By way of example, part of the cure for a patient in hospital is appropriate and well-prepared meals. Medicine is helpful, but people are considered only to be well when they do not need medicine and are eating a full diet.

In a restaurant, a customer may be celebrating an important occasion or hoping to impress a guest with the meal you have cooked. In hostels and institutions the meals represent home and the security that goes with it.

In a cafeteria, the plating of the meal and the recognition of the customer in the queue is just as important as the hours of work which have gone on beforehand.

The skill involved in cookery is not only concerned with recipes, but also with the ability to control the amount and intensity of heat applied to a wide range of foodstuffs. The teaching of professional cookery should emphasise this skill.

If the principles and methods of cookery can be mastered, any recipe can be prepared to an acceptable standard.

Here I want to start with some really simple basics about cooking, and today I want to talk to you a bit about setting up and organising your kitchen before creating any meals.

I’ll be going through it how it relates to commercial kitchen situations, and obviously you can just adapt it to how you can make life that little bit easier for you at home.

A well-organised kitchen starts with the preparation of basic ingredients!

It is easy to overlook the importance of kitchen preparation and to consider it as a task not worth the cook’s attention.  But every qualified cook knows it is the first two hour’s work that sets the standard for the rest of the service.

Things left undone during this preparation time, or food poorly prepared, result in low standards of cooking, frayed tempers at the busiest time of the service, and often long delays between courses in the dining room.

Getting things ready is sometimes referred to as the mise en place (putting in place).  You can tell a well-run, happy kitchen by its mise en place.  It does not matter whether it is a cafeteria, hospital or restaurant – just before the time for service, the bustle of the kitchen will die for ten minutes or so.

In this quiet lull you will see the work benches clean and tidy, dishes of food arranged, seasoning boxes full and saucepans gently steaming or the food in the bain-maries ready for plating.  The hot cupboards will be hot and neatly stacked with plates and special dishes.  Cold plates and dishes will also be ready in another part of the kitchen.

Next time I’ll be going through some basic principles of cookery and start covering some of the different methods that can be used…