INSTRUCTING KITCHEN STAFF

The main cook is responsible for teaching staff how to cook recipes devised by him or her in an abbreviated, professional way. These recipes are a kind of shorthand, a checklist of ingredients and method, a variety of pointers rather than the usual recipe of full measurements found in cookbooks.

Develop a card system or file away recipes on a computer so that you can always find the required recipe at short notice to give it to a new chef who may not have cooked the dish before or is not familiar with your method.

Compile a master file in which each recipe is under headings such as soups (hot and cold), salads (warm and cold), chicken, fish, beef, lamb, liver and so on. For desserts you could have sub-headings such as ice creams, English puddings, fruit tarts, dairy desserts, pastries and basic preparations such as proper custard or chocolate sauce.

Add the date when the dish was on the menu, where the original recipe came from, its page if from a cookbook. Cross-indexing is also helpful, for example, lemon-based recipes.

Add notes to recipes too if they have been modified: the temperature needed to be changed, the type of chocolate giving the best results, how many servings each recipe yields.

Example of long recipe and its shortened version

Long recipe

Apple tart on puff pastry with a caramel sauce: for 2

4 Golden Delicious dessert apples, peeled, halved and cored

2 thin rounds of puff pastry 15 cm in diameter and pricked with a fork to

prevent rising

lOg caster sugar

knob of butter

sugar syrup (see page 132 in Divine Desserts)

caramel sauce (see page 134 in Divine Desserts)

• 1.Pre-heat the oven to 170°C. Cut the apples into very thin slices and arrange around the pastry in a circle, starting at the edge and working towards the centre.
• 2.Sprinkle the apples with sugar then dot with the butter.
• 3.Place the tarts on a baking tray and bake for around 20–25 minutes or until the base is cooked and light brown. If the apples have not caramelised well place under a grill or salamander, covering the edges of the pastry so that they don’t burn. Or use a blow torch.
• 4.Glaze with the sugar syrup and serve with several tablespoonfuls of caramel sauce.

Shortened version

Apple tart recipe: for 2

4 apples, peeled, cored and cut thinly

2 rounds of puff pastry

caster sugar

butter

sugar syrup (see recipe 132 in Divine Desserts)

caramel sauce (see recipe 134 in Divine Desserts)

Put apple slices on pastry in circles, sprinkle with sugar, add butter. Bake in 170 C oven until browned and caramelised. Continue with blow torch if necessary. Glaze with sugar syrup. Garnish with caramel sauce.

GUIDE TO FOOD QUANTITIES

Lunch and dinner parties

When calculating how much you will need to provide per person, dinner parties are straightforward if it is the tried and tested three course formula: one good ladleful of homemade soup, one chicken breast per person, vegetables to match, one slice of lemon tart, one or two scoops of home-made vanilla ice cream. Simple. You can do it with your eyes closed. For extra reassurance, look at the general measurement guide below.

Canapés

Choose food that will give a variety of texture, flavour and colour.

• For pre-dinner canapes with drinks: four per person.
• For a reception party lasting two hours: ten per person.
• For a wedding reception/event without a meal afterwards: 15 per person.
• You may wish to suggest to clients a mix of savoury and sweet for the wedding reception/event: 12 savoury and three sweet, for example.

Tips for serving canapes

• Have different types of serving dishes. Some canapés look terrific on glass, others on white china or multi-coloured dishes.
• Make canapés bite-sized.
• Avoid over-garnishing; it is not practical.
• Start with cold canapes and offer hot ones when the majority if not all guests have arrived.
• Offer small napkins with canapés.
• If using cocktails sticks make sure you take away the discarded ones so they are not used twice.
• Avoid using a cloth base on a serving dish – it may look fine the first time around but will soon look very messy.
• For a ritzy, wow look, place individual portions on Chinese china spoons, small spoons or forks or in shot glasses.
• You can never have enough chipolata sausages glazed with honey and Dijon mustard.

Drink quantities

• For a drinks party allow 1/2 bottle of wine or sparkling wine or Champagne per person, 1/2 litre of soft drink and mineral water per person.
• Allow two glasses per person (one for wine, one for water or soft drinks). People put their glass down too and pick up others from offered trays so it’s best to have a good number.
• Pre-dinner: 1/3 bottle per person.
• Dinner: 1/2 bottle per person plus 1/2 litre water per person.

Tips for the bar set-up

• Position the bar in a logical place so that it doesn’t form a bottleneck, for example by the front door or between two adjoining rooms or in a narrow hall.
• Use full-length tablecloths over trestle tables or other rectangular tables as these are the most practical to use. If the cloth goes down to the ground, you can place bottles, glass boxes and other equipment on the floor that won’t be seen.
• Have the following: corkscrew, bottle opener, cutting board and knife if making cocktails or slicing lemons or oranges for soft drinks, cloths for spillage and glass polishing, ice tongs or spoon, ice bucket.
• To cool wine at parties with limited or no refrigeration, use clean dustbins or large plastic bucket-like containers. Place a plastic bag or newspapers underneath to avoid the floor being damaged by condensation. Put ice in the bottom, add bottles and cover with ice.
• Dress the bins with cloths (an extra tablecloth?) if on view.
• If there is a shortage of ice, use part ice and part cold water.
• Chill the bottles a good two hours before service.
• If the drinks are on a sale and return basis, the labels must remain intact so don’t chill all the bottles at once and only chill them when necessary.
• To make service quicker if there is limited time to get drinks served, loosen the foil on Champagne bottles and uncork wine bottles and replace the corks (it might be a little tight but it’s manageable) halfway.
• Avoid using plastic glasses – they do terrible things to wine and most other drinks.
• Avoid using coloured glass – it changes the colour of the wine, making it look pretty dreadful.

Buffets

When calculating for a more adventurous buffet, look at the most popular dishes you have put on your own menu and double the amounts needed as you won’t want to run out of these particular dishes. I have taken the chosen menu for the dishes listed under Buffet on page 132.

Remember: you will have asked your clients to choose a selection from the list, not the whole menu. When they have narrowed it down, for example to the salmon terrine, the chicken breast, the roast beef, potatoes, green salad, carrot salad, assorted breads, fruit salad and chocolate roulade, then calculate as follows.

Per person:

• 1 large slice of salmon terrine approximately 80–100g;
• 2 slices of chicken 80–1OOg;
• 2 slices of beef 100–150g (always popular);
• potatoes: lOOg. Hot new potatoes with seasalt and butter are always popular. Or allow 5–6 new potatoes per person if you prefer this method;
• salad: 40–50 g;
• carrot salad: lOOg,
• fruit: lOOg prepared fruit;
• chocolate roulade: 1 large slice approximately 80–1OOg;
• several slices of bread, depending on the type of bread, per person.

Tips for the buffet service

• Place plates, cutlery and napkins at either end of the buffet tables to lessen the queue.
• Have several stations (several tables put together for food service) if the buffet party is a large one. This way, a mad scramble is averted.
• Communicate with guests where to go. They may just join a queue and not be aware that there is another station to go to so that they can be served more quickly. Or invite guests table by table to come to the buffet table to avoid queues.
• Replenish dishes quickly and tidily or have dishes in the prepping area ready to replace empty dishes.
• Tidy up the buffet table as service proceeds. There is nothing worse than later guests looking at a food bombsite. And if it’s your host/ess who witnesses the mess, you won’t be asked back.
• Make sure that all guests have had the main buffet food before offering seconds.
• If possible, place desserts at separate stations.
• If space permits, have coffee and tea at a separate station or clear the main buffet and lay out this service on the vacated space.
• Make sure that there is good space between buffet tables and guests’ tables as there is plenty of movement by guests and staff, which may create a bottleneck.

General guide to quantities

This list can be applied to buffets, dinner parties, picnics or other forms of catering.

Meat: chicken, beef, lamb, pork, veal, duck, venison or other game

• 225g per person for roasting;
• 140g per person for stews and casseroles;
• 115g per person for a buffet, if serving other dishes such as fish;
• ribs: 3 per person;
• grouse or pigeon: 1 per person;
• quail: 2 per person as a main course or one as part of a buffet.

Fish and seafood

• 220g filleted fish per person for a main course;
• 115g per person for a buffet;
• 85–115g per person for a buffet is serving other dishes such as meat or poultry;
• lobster: whole for main course if small or half if large, half for first course;
• scallops: 4 large ones for main course, 2 large ones for a first course.

Vegetables and salad

• prepared vegetables: 115g per person if served with another vegetable;
• salad leaves (washed and picked over): 60g per person for a first course or buffet or 30g for a main course;
• potatoes: 180g per person (unpeeled weight);
• potatoes, new: 115g per person.

Rice, pasta and grains

• risotto rice: 45g per person for first course, 85g per main;
• rice, general: 30g per person with a main course or in a salad;
• dried beans, lentils, grains such as couscous: 60g per person with a main course or as part of a salad;
• pasta and noodles: 85g per person for a first course, 140g for a main course or 30g with a main course and 2 vegetables.

Dairy produce

• cheese: 115g per person as a separate course or half this if part of a buffet;
• butter: 30g if served with bread or with biscuits with cheese;
• cream or milk: 60ml per coffee or tea;
• cream for desserts: 85ml per person;
• ice cream: 50ml per person if with a dessert or 140ml for ice cream on its own.

Other

• small rolls: 1–2 per person;
• large rolls: 1 per person;
• bread: 2 slices per person;
• mousses, parfaits, terrines: 115g per person;
• fresh fruit salad: 115g per person;
• tart: a 30cm tart gives 10 portions;
• sauce: 60ml per person for a main course
• mayonnaise: 30ml per person;
• vinaigrette: 30 ml per person.

Getting the amounts right

When making couscous and carrot salad for a large party, for example, I generally measure out a portion using a standard-sized serving spoon, transferring each serving spoonful into another container and counting, counting, counting. It’s a safeguard to make sure there is sufficient food. This way, I don’t prepare too much – or too little. But each caterer soon devises his or her own way to getting the amounts as right as possible.

It comes with practice and soon you’ll be able to look at an amount of food and be able to calculate it accurately for the number of portions. And you will know by experience which are the most popular dishes you provide.