The prep chef is the lowest chef on the totem pole, doing all the grunt function prior to the Artiste de Culinaire strolls in and makes the cooking magic occur. A individual could most likely make a very good career out of offering door-to-door slicing and dicing for every single John or Jane cooking dinner at home in their neighborhood. What property cook hasn’t realized at the vital moment that nothing is worse than realizing you need to drain and chop the sun-dried tomatoes sitting in the unopened bottle on the counter or uncork a bottle of Pinot Grigio for a pan sauce even though you are supposed to be stirring continuously.
Each and every time Emeril reaches under the counter and magically pulls out a bowl of minced onions or seasoned bread crumbs, a prep chef had a hand in it. Prep chefs never get their own Television show. There is no enjoyable in watching somebody peel, chop, mince, mix, measure, slice, dice, and blend, then store the results in a Tupperware in the fridge. Of course it looks effortless for Rachael Ray to whip a meal together in ten minutes. When she wants three quarters of a cup of grated Parmesan, a little bowl of it instantly appears at her fingertips, leaving out the serf behind the scenes who grated the Parmesan and measured it.
Duties
Meats and poultry: Have to be properly thawed, butchered, trimmed, and cut to whatever the recipe calls for. Marinating is also some thing a prep chef has to think about.
Fish and seafood: Should be scaled and deboned. Shrimp and other shellfish have to be peeled. Other slicing and marinating as the recipe calls for.
Veggies and fruits: Might have to be washed, peeled, sliced, diced, grated, deseeded, chopped, or shredded. A salad is 100% prep work. Garnishes are frequently all prep function as nicely.
Doughs and mixes are constantly prepped. Blenders, juicers, and mixers are component of a prep chef’s life as nicely. Anything that has to be completed prior to the ingredients really get added to the pot or pan, the prep chef lines it all up. The French phrase is “mise en place” and that’s just what you’ll practice as a prep chef.
Prep function also entails equipment. A pastry pan may want greasing or an oven may well need preheating. The home cook doesn’t believe about this, but even stove pans really should be preheated to a specific temperature prior to the action starts.
Tools of the trade
As considerably as achievable you want to automate every thing. There are blenders, mixers, juicers, slicing machines, graters, presses, and choppers.
For measuring there are cups, spoons, and scales. Hopefully you have sufficient of these, since reusing the identical measuring device means you have to wash it and dry it right after every use. Do not forget temperature and time are also some thing you measure, and so there are thermometers and timers!
Knives of every description and category, plus peelers, whips, spatulas, graters, crushers, skimmers, strainers, brushes, ballers, scrapers, tongs, cutting boards, shears, and bowls, bowls, bowls.
The Abilities
The greatest asset is speed. A line of prep chefs resembles a factory assembly line or a NASCAR racing track pit crew. There is teamwork, coordination, and planning. Prep chef is a high-energy job, and thinking 3 actions ahead of the schedule is completely needed.
1 can get by with the basic culinary school background. 1 area which a prep chef completely should be professional at is safe food handling. A prep chef has to be a certified Secure Food Handler and normally be trained in (HACCP) Hazard Analysis Vital Control Point as nicely.
High energy is constantly required. With enough encounter, a prep chef will constantly find function. Usually a prep chef is just one quit in a chef’s career, and several places rotate prep work. A novice or apprentice chef working their way via school will usually discover themselves doing a lot of prep work.
“The Iron Chef”
The renowned Television show “Iron Chef” is instructive in the approaches of the prep chef. This show is a competitive cooking event. The show’s resident chefs may well be picked by a challenger chef for a head-to-head competition to prepare three dishes featuring a key ingredient. The key ingredient is only announced at the beginning of the show right after the challengers are “on their marks”, and each and every chef, teamed with two assistant chefs, need to race to total the task in time for the panel of judges to taste their creations and declare a winner. All in sixty minutes!
This format of the show permits 1 to see prep function in action. While a totally stocked larder of just about every single type of food is on hand to complete dishes with, practically none of the prep work is accomplished and every chef should take into account the preparation time for their meals prior to deciding what to make.
The action is an astounding circus of kitchen acrobatics. In contrast to showman chefs working in themed restaurants, there is no time for flashy stunts for the sake of entertainment here. All the action here has a purpose, and the action proceeds at a feverish pace. At times the chefs start off performing something with a truly mysterious purpose, and the commentators will attempt to explain what they are doing. The show is always instructive to prep chefs to watch.
If at all achievable, you need to forgo the American version and catch the native Japanese version. While the dubbing in English has kind of a hilarious 1970′s kung fu effect, the Japanese version is a a lot more cooking-focused show. While the American version cuts the camera to the commentators or celebrity guests on the show, the Japanese version practically by no means takes the camera off of the frenzied activity in the kitchen arena as lengthy as the cooking is happening.