UNIT-3

3.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter we have learnt the different kinds of equipment used in kitchens, along with their
characteristics, care and maintenance. We also learnt the importance of hygiene and sanitation required by the
kitchen workers and their duties towards maintenance of cleanliness and sanitization of the working area. In
this chapter we are going to learn the different techniques of cooking food and all the preparations required to
make a complete dish.
One of the first steps in learning how to cook is learning the proper cooking methods. There are many to learn,
and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. You‘ll begin to notice a trend when it comes to
applying cooking methods to various food items. Generally, you‘ll notice moist-heat methods used to help keep
foods moist and to prevent drying out. Moist-heat cooking methods are also used to cook food items that would
be too tough to enjoy if prepared using a dry-heat method. These items typically need longer cooking time and
to ensure they don‘t dry out, a moist heat cooking method would be applied.
Practicing these types of cooking methods is the only way to become naturally adept with unknowingly use
them on a regular basis. What the goal is to make sure that you are applying the proper cooking technique to
the proper food item. While cooking is usually seen as empty canvases in which to experiment with, you must
first master the theory and practical skills that gives the canvas its inspirational ability. One of those things
happens to an important foundational skill, and one that you can‘t afford to be without.
3.2 OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this lesson is to teach and inculcate the following among the budding professionals:
 How to handle heat carefully while cooking food.
 To provide the basic idea of cooking methods involved in preparing a dish.
 Use of latest technology
 To give knowledge about food and cooking method applied
 To elucidate the preparations required before actual cooking

3.3 METHODS OF HEAT TRANSFER

Methods of heat transfer: In order the food to be cooked, heat must be transferred from the heat source (such
as a gas flame or an electric element) to and through the food. Understanding the ways in which heat is
transferred and the speed at which it is done helps the cook to control the cooking process. Heat is transferred
in three ways- conduction, convection and radiation.
1. Conduction: Conduction occurs in two ways –
a) When heat moves (conducts) directly from one item to the other, which is in contact with it. For example
from the top of the range to a pot placed on it, from the pot to the milk inside etc.
b) When heat moves from one part to an adjacent part of the same item. For example from the exterior of a
roast to the interior, or from a sauté pan to its handle. Different metals (materials) conduct heat at different
rates (speeds) Heat moves rapidly through copper and aluminum, more slowly in stainless steel, slower yet in
glass and porcelain. Air is a very poor conductor of heat.

2. Convection: Convection occurs when the movements of air, steam, or liquid (including hot fat) spreads heat.
There are two kinds of convection
a) Natural-Hot liquids and gases rise, while cooler one′s sink. Thus in any oven, kettle of liquid, or deep fat
fryer there is a constant, natural circulation that distributes heat.
b) Mechanical-In convection ovens and convection steamers, fans speed the circulation of heat. Thus, heat is
transferred more quickly to the food, and the foods cook faster. Stirring is a form of mechanical convection.
Thick liquids cannot circulate as quickly as thin ones, so the rate of natural convection is slower. This explains
in part why it is so easy to scorch thick soups and sauces.
3. Radiation (cooking by radiant heat): Radiation occurs when energy is transferred by waves from the
source to the food. The waves themselves are not actually heat energy, but are changed into heat energy when
they strike the food being cooked. (Light waves, radio waves, and X – rays are examples of radiation not used
for cooking) Two kinds of radiation are used in the kitchen:
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a) Infra-red Broiling is the most familiar example of infra -red cooking. In a broiler, an electric element or a
ceramic element heated by a gas flame becomes so hot that it gives off infra red radiation, which cooks the
food. There is also high-intensity infra red ovens designed to heat food rapidly.
b) Microwave In microwave cooking, the radiation generated by the oven penetrates part way into the food,
where it agitates the molecules of water. The friction caused by this agitation creates heat, which cooks the
food, i) because microwave radiation affects only water molecules, a completely waterless material will not
heat up in a microwave oven. Plates become hot only when heat is conducted to them by hot foods. ii) because
most microwaves penetrate no more than about 2 inches into foods, heat is transferred to the centre of large
pieces of food by conduction, just as in roasting.

3.4 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING

Heat Management: The final temperature to which we cook a food ranges from about 120°F (49°C) for rare
meats and fish to about 400°F (200°C) for the crisp exterior of such foods as breads and seared meats. The
boiling point of water, 212°F (100°C), falls within this range. Notice, however, the heat sources we use in the
kitchen, from electric elements to gas flames, are much hotter than this temperature. Managing the heat to cook
foods to the desired degree is an important part of cooking. In the discussion that follows, we first consider
cooking time-that is, the time it takes to heat food until it changes to a condition that we call done. We then
look at other problems with controlling heat in cooking.
Doneness and Cooking Times:
We say a food is ―done‖ when two things have happened:
1. The interior temperature has risen to the desired degree. Interior temperature is the most important factor
when we are cooking tender meats. The difference between rare, medium, and well done (see p. 298) is a
difference in temperature, and we can measure this doneness with a thermometer.
2. The desired changes have taken place in the food. Earlier in this chapter, we discussed the changes that take
place in foods as they are heated. These changes include gelatinization of starches, coagulation of proteins,
breaking down of connective tissues, caramelization of sugars, and Maillard browning.
In many foods, creating these changes is more important than simply heating the interior to a desired
temperature. For example, the inside of a small piece of stew meat quickly becomes just as hot as the liquid in
which it is simmering. However, we don‘t say it is ―done‖ until enough connective tissue has broken down so
it has a tender texture. It‘s not enough just to heat it to the desired degree. Similarly, the inside of a strand of
spaghetti quickly rises to the temperature of boiling water, but it is not done Standards of doneness are different
for every type of food and for every cooking method. As we discuss individual foods throughout the remainder
of this book, we learn more about doneness in meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, starches, and other foods. The
time it takes to achieve doneness is affected by three factors:
a. Cooking temperature: This means the temperature of the air in the oven, the fat in the fryer, the surface of
a griddle, or the liquid in which a food is cooking.
b. The speed of heat transfer: Different cooking methods transfer heat at different rates, as shown by these
examples:
Air is a poor conductor of heat, while steam is much more efficient. A jet of steam (212°F/100°C) will easily
burn your hand, but you can safely reach into an oven at 500°F (260°C). This is why it takes longer to bake
potatoes than to steam them. A convection oven cooks faster than a conventional oven, even if both are set at
the same temperature. The forced air movement transfers heat more rapidly.
c. Size, temperature and individual characteristics of the food: For example: A small beef roast cooks
faster than a large one. A chilled steak takes longer to broil than one at room temperature. Fish items generally
cook more quickly than meats. Beef shank, which has a lot of connective tissue, takes longer to cook than beef
tenderloin.
Because there are so many variables, it is difficult or even impossible to determine exact cooking times in most
recipes. Individual ovens, fryers, and steamers, for example, may transfer heat more or less efficiently or have
different recovery times. Roasting charts that give cooking times for various cuts of meat can be used only as
guidelines, and the cook must use his or her judgment to make the final determination of doneness.
Cooking times
It takes time to heat a food to a desired temperature, the temperature at which a food is said to be ―done‖
(meaning that the desired changes have taken place). This time is affected by three factors.
1. Cooking temperature- This means the temperature of the air in the oven, the fat in the fryer, the surface of
a griddle, or the liquid in which a food is cooking.

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2. The speed of heat transfer Different cooking methods transfer heat at different rates, as shown by these
examples: Air is a poor conductor of heat, while steam is much more efficient. Jets of steam (212°F/100°C)
will easily burn your hand, but you safely reach into an oven at 500°F (260°C). This is why it takes longer to
bake potatoes than to steam them. A convection oven cooks faster than a conventional oven, even if both are
set at the same temperature. The forced air movement transfers heat more rapidly.
3. Size, temperature, and individual characteristics of the food. For example, a small beef roast cooks faster
than a large one. A chilled steak takes longer to broil than one at room temperature. Fish items generally cook
more quickly than meats. Because there are so many variables, it is difficult or even impossible to determine
exact cooking times in most recipes.
Cooking to the center: As we read earlier, heat is transferred from the outside of food to the inside by
conduction.
Conduction takes time, so cooking takes time. Think of a steak cooking on a grill. Let‘s say we want to cook
the steak to an interior temperature of 140°F (60°C), for medium doneness. When we first put the steak on to
cook, the interior temperature is room temperature, or possibly refrigerator temperature. The outside, however,
rises to perhaps 400°F (200°C) very soon after we place it on the grill. Gradually, this heat moves to the center.
By the time the center reaches the target temperature, the outside is much hotter. If we cut the steak through the
center, we see a gradation from very well done at the outside to medium done in the middle.
Often this is just what we want. This is how people are used to eating steaks, so a person might be surprised to
get a steak that was a uniform medium done all the way through. By contrast, if we cook the steak at a low
temperature, there is less temperature difference between the outside and inside, so the doneness of the meat is
more uniform from outside to inside. The same is true of large roasts. Roasting at a high temperature produces
a strong gradation of doneness, from well done on the outside to less done in the center. Roasting at a low
temperature gives more uniform doneness throughout. The roasting temperature we use depends on the results
we want. Of course, cooking at a low temperature doesn‘t create the well-browned crust most diners desire. We
have two options to solve this problem:
• Brown the exterior with high heat, then cook to doneness at lower heat.
• Cook to doneness at low heat, and then brown the exterior with a quick blast of high heat.

Controlling Heat
To control cooking, we must control how heat is transferred. The kitchen contains dozens of kinds of heat
sources as well as a great array of pots, pans, and other cooking tools, Controlling cooking with so many
options is a skill a cook gains with experience, by performing cooking tasks over and over. In this section, we
introduce the topic of heat management with a summary of two of the most common kinds of heat control
problems.
3.5 CLASSIFICATION OF COOKING
Different cooking methods are suited to different kinds of foods. For example meats high in connective tissue
will be tough hence should be broken down slowly by moist heat. Meats, low in connective tissue, are naturally
tender and they are at their best and juiciest when cooked with dry heat to rare or medium- done stage. There
are many other factors to consider when choosing methods of cooking for meats, fish, and vegetables, such as
the flavor and appearance imparted by browning, the flavor imparted by fats, and the firmness or delicacy of
the product.
Cooking methods are broadly classified as ―dry heat method‖ ―moist heat method‖ combination of both and
other method. (Fig. 3A)
1. Dry heat methods

Dry heat methods are those in which the heat is conducted without moisture, that is, by hot air, hot metal,
radiation, or hot fat. We usually divide dry heat methods into two categories: without fat (i.e. using air) and
with fat.
a) Baking: The food to be cooked is surrounded by hot air in a closed oven. The action of dry heat is modified
by the steam, which arises from the food whilst cooking. Bread, cakes, puddings and vegetables may be cooked
by this method.

b) Broiling: Broiling is cooking by direct heat and is used synonymously with grilling. In pan broiling the food
is cooked uncovered on hot metal as a grill or a frying pan. The pan or grill is oiled slightly to prevent sticking.

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Excess fat accumulated while cooking should be paused off. The foods which are generally boiled are cumin
seeds, aniseeds etc.

c) Grilling: This is cooking by dry heat and is carried on a grid iron over the fire (over-heat) or on a grid
placed in tin under electric or gas grill (under-heat) or between electrically heated grill bars (between-heat).
Overheat e.g. Bar-be-que.
To cook with a covering of buttered crumbs or grated cheese until a crust or crisp surface forms. Au gratin is a
term familiar to most of us and we usually think of it as having cheese melted over the top of a dish and then
browned. In fact, the proper use of the term means to crumbs combined with a high fat product such as butter,
cream, cheese or eggs for the topping. The crumbs may consist of breadcrumbs, crushed potato chips, crushed
crackers, or even corn flake crumbs.
To prepare a dish au gratin, place the product in a dish, top with gratin and then place the dish under a
salamander or in the oven, with a high heat, 475° to 550°F, until a golden brown crust forms. Larger slices of
product like meat or fish, and items with a high moisture content like tomatoes, must be done at a lower heat
for a longer time to insure they have the proper doneness when they reach the right gratin brown.
d) Roasting: Roasting is cooking food over dry hear source. It is of two types:

(a) Spit roasting: The food to be cooked is brought in contact with direct flame in front of a clear bright fire.
The food is basted over with fat and is also turned regularly to ensure even cooking and browning. This
method, known as spit roasting, is very little used, as only good quality meats are suitable. Roast meat, done by
this method, however, has a very good flavour and still served in large hotels and in special restaurants and
hostels e.g. Barec meat.
(b) Pot roasting: This method is used to cooks mall joints and birds if no even are available but a thick heavy
pan is essential. Enough fat is melted to cover the bottom of the pan. When the fat is hot the joint is browned. It
is then lifted on 2 or 3 skewers in order
to prevent the joint from sticking to the pan. The pan is then covered tightly with a well fitting lid and cooked
over a very slow fire. This method is applied for small joints and birds.

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(c) Oven roasting: This has now taken the place of spit roasting because of its convenience, although only first
class meat, poultry and vegetables are thus cooked. This is cooking in a closed oven with the aid of fat. The
joint is raised out of fat by means of trivet or bones to prevent the meat from frying and becoming hard.
Frequent basting however is necessary. The food is put into a fairly hot oven (300 0 F) for 5 to 10 mts. And the
temperature is lowered to allow the joint to the cooking through thus producing a better-cooked joint than it
would have been cooked at higher temperature. Also the shrinkage is less, thereby yielding more portions.
e) Frying: This is a method of cooking whereby the food to be cooked is brought in contact with hot fat. Food
cooked in this way is thought to be indigestible but if the method is correctly and carefully carried out, the food
is quite suitable for normal people. There are two types of frying:

(a) Deep fat frying

(b) Shallow fat frying
(a) Deep fat frying: The food is completely immersed in hot fat and, therefore, a large quantity of fat is
required. The correct temperature of fat is a very important part of this method of frying. If the fat is
overheated it spoils both the food and fat while if it is not hot enough the food breaks up thereby absorbing fat
and thus making it unfit for consumption. Almost all foods require a coating before they are to be fried because
not only the juices and flavour of the food are to be kept in put the fat must be kept out. The materials used are:
i) Egg and bread crumbs
ii) Flour & milk (not suitable for deep fat frying)
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iii) Flour Batter
iv) Besan Batter
v) Flour (Sheaved-ones)

(b) Shallow fat frying: In this method, very little fat is used and the food to be cooked is turned over so that
both sides are cooked. Generally this method is applied to precooked food unless the food takes very little time
to cook (omelets, liver etc.). Some foods contain sufficient fat and additional fat is not necessary e.g. bacon. In
this case it is known as ―Fatless frying‖.
f) Sauteing: It is frying rapidly on heat applying little amount of oil.
g) Stir frying: It is frying rapidly on fierce heat applying little amount of oil.

2. Moist heat methods

Moist heat methods are those in which the heat is conducted to the food product by water (including stock,
sauces gravies etc.) or by steam.
1) Boiling: Food to be cooked by this method is surrounded with boiling liquid (100 0C). Only just sufficient
liquid should be used to cover the article to be cooked.

2) Steaming: The food to be cooked is surrounded by plenty of steam from fast boiling water (e.g. pomnes
vapeur) or by having the food in a basin or other dish placed in steam or boiling water (e.g. to cook in Bain
Marie). It is of two types:

a) Direct steaming- where the food to be cooked is directly in contact to the vapour.
b) Indirect steaming- where the food to be cooked is not directly in contact to the vapour
3) Simmering: This is another moist method of cooking which involves convection to transfer heat from the
liquid to the food. For simmering the food id submerged
in the liquid at temperature between 85-960C.Since the temperature is higher then poaching, so more bubbles
can be seen breaking on the top.

4) Poaching: Poaching is cooking slowly in a minimum amount of liquid, which should never be allowed to
boil but should be just off boiling (71-82 0C). Fish, fruits and eggs are poached. When poaching eggs, vinegar
and salt are added to the liquid to help quicker coagulation and thus prevent disintegration.

5) Blanching: Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is
scalded in boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed
under cold running water (shocking or refreshing) to halt the cooking process. Blanching may be used to
preserve color and texture, to prepare ingredients ahead of time, and to prepare vegetables for freezing.

3. Combo-method
This is also called combo method, in which both dry method and moist method of cooking is involved:
a) Stewing: This is a very gentle method of cooking in a closed pan using only a small quantity of liquid. The
food should never be more than half covered with the liquid and the food above this level is really cooked by
steam. As the liquid is not allowed to boil, the cooking process is a slow one. Never boil a stew for‖ a stew
boiled is a Stew spoiled‖. In this type of cooking the cheaper, older and coarser types of meat and poultry are
cooked.
b) Braising: This is a combined method or roasting and stewing in a pan with a tight fitting lid. The meat
should be sealed by browning on all sides and then placed on a bed of root vegetables. Stock or gains should
come to 2/3 rd of the meat. The flavorings and seasonings are then added. The lid is put on and it is allowed to
cook gently on the stove or in the over. When nearly done the lid is removed and the joint is frequently basted
to glaze it. This latter process is always done in the oven.
c) Fricasseing or fricassee: This is a method of cooking meat in which it is cut up, sautéed and braised. The
meat is sautéed in a pan to seal the edges and sides and then braised while stirring. In this method the texture of
the food item remains in its original shape. Foiod items are then served with a sauce, preferably white
Bechamel.
4. Other methods of cooking

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a) Microwave cooking: In this type of cooking, the radiation generated by the oven penetrates part way into
the food, where it agitates the molecules of water. The friction caused by this agitation creates heat, which
cooks the food-
i) Because microwave radiation affects only water molecules, a completely waterless material will not heat up
in a microwave oven. Plates become hot only when heat is conducted to them by hot foods.
ii) Because most microwaves penetrate no more than about 2 inches into foods, heat is transferred to the centre
of large pieces of food by conduction, just as in roasting.

b) Infra-red cooking: Infra -red cooking is the latest way of cooking involving less energy and hazard. In a
broiler, an electric element or a ceramic element heated by a gas flame becomes so hot that it gives off infra red
radiation, which cooks the food. There is also high-intensity infra red ovens designed to heat food rapidly.
Infrared can be used in cooking and heating food as it predominantly heats the opaque, absorbent objects,
rather than the air around them.

c) Sous-vide cooking: Sous-vide cooking-is a method of food preparation where the prepared food is cooked
in a sealed plastic pouch from which all or much of the air has been removed to prevent oxidation of the food.
This is different from the preparation of ―boil in bag‖ products, which are cooked and portioned before being
sealed in plastic bags. The fresh food is prepared or par-cooked under strict hygienic conditions and placed into
a specially designed vacuum packing machine, where the neck is sealed. Cooking is done under controlled
temperature in convection ovens between 700C to 1000C. Sous –vide cooking is suitable for Hospitals, railway
catering, flight catering, cruise lines etc.
3.6 BASIC PREPERATION
To be successful in the food service industry, cooks need more than the ability to prepare delicious, attractive,
and nutritious foods. They also must have a talent for organization and efficiency. In every kitchen, a great
many tasks must be completed over a given time and by a limited number of workers. No matter when these
tasks are done, they all must come together at one crucial point: service time. Only if advance preparation is
done thoroughly and systematically will service go smoothly.
Good chefs take pride in the thoroughness and quality of their advance preparation, (mis en scene or mis-en
place). This French term, meaning ―everything put in place,‖ has become almost a professional password all
the kitchens world-wide because food service professionals understand its importance to the success of the
establishment.
So what is the difference between them?
Mis-en-scene refers to the entire environment of working, where the kitchen as a whole has to be ready for the
work to begin. The entire work place has to be made comfortable and presentable so that when a chef starts his
work for the day, he feels that the area has been made for him to work. He should feel pride and satisfied while
working. This will help in maximum input from the workers for producing maximum output for the day.
Mis-en-scene: Mis-en scene refers to the preparing the environment of the area in order to make it pleasant,
comfortable safe and hygienic and easy to work. For a chef the kitchen is the service area before each session
of work, the kitchen has to be made presentable enough to enable the workers to work comfortably without
becoming fatigue. The initiation of mis- en place starts with the kitchen stewarding department under whom
the various cleaning, washing and wiping takes place. After each session of work (shift), the supervisor ensures
that the kitchen has to be washed and cleaned properly and the equipments, cutlery and crockery and other
hand tools are kept properly for instant use by the chefs. The following is the itenary for mis-en-scene of
kitchen:
All the racks, working tables, sinks, storage area are cleaned, wiped and disinfected.
1. The entire floor has to be flush cleaned.

2. The tiles on the walls are cleaned.

3. All the equipments are stacked properly and cleaned and wiped along with their parts.
4. The entire cutlery, crockery, hollow ware, china ware are to be cleaned
5. All pots and pans to be cleaned.
6. The gravies, sauces, soups or any leftover item has to be checked and stored.
7. The store items has to be checked and requisitions has to be made for procurement.

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8. Counters and under-tables have to be checked for any leftover food items.
9. Preparation for the forthcoming event has to initiate.
10. All gas ranges, cooling cabinets and electrical points should function properly.
3.6.1 MISE EN PLACE: THE REQUIRED TASKS
Up to this point, we have discussed planning the production schedule. Our planning helps we determine what
tasks we must do before beginning the final cooking during the meal service period. Chefs refer to performing
these preliminary tasks as ―doing the mis en place‖ or ―putting everything at place‖. In many restaurants,
especially large ones, the mis en place is extensive. It includes the preparation of stocks, sauces, breadings, and
batters as well as the cutting and trimming of all the meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables the chef expects will be
needed during the meal service. A large part of a cook‘s workday is spent doing mis en place. This means that
a large part of learning how to cook is learning how to do mis en place. In fact, a large part of this book is
devoted to these tasks of preparation. There are many more such tasks than can be included in a single chapter.
The remainder of this chapter discusses the most basic and general skills required for a mis en place.
Planning and organizing production recipe, you must first:
• Assemble your tools.
• Assemble your ingredients.
• Wash, trim, cut, prepare, and measure your raw materials.
• Prepare your equipment (preheat oven, line baking sheets, etc.).

Only then can you begin the actual preparation.

When many items are to be prepared in a commercial kitchen, the situation is much more complex. Dealing
with this complexity is the basis of kitchen organization.
The problem: Every food service operation faces a basic conflict between two unavoidable facts:
1. There is far too much work to do in a kitchen to leave until the last minute, so some work must be done
ahead.
2. Most foods are at their best quality immediately after preparation, and they deteriorate as they are held.

The solution: To address this conflict, the chef must plan the pre-preparation carefully. Planning generally
follows these steps:
1. Break down each menu item into its stages of production. Follow the recipe.

Note that the procedures are divided into a sequence of steps that must be done in a certain order to make a
finished product.
2. Determine which stages may be done in advance.
• The first step of every recipe, written or not, is always part of advance preparation: assembling and preparing
the ingredients. This includes cleaning and cutting produce, cutting and trimming meats, and preparing
breadings and batters for frying.

• Succeeding steps of a recipe may be done in advance if the foods can then be held without loss of quality.
• Final cooking should be done as close as possible to service for maximum freshness.
Frequently, separate parts of a recipe, such as a sauce or a stuffing, are prepared in advance, and the dish is
assembled at the last minute. In general, items cooked by dry-heat methods, such as broiled steaks, sautéed
fish, and French-fried potatoes, do not hold well. Large roasts are an important exception to this rule. Items
cooked by moist heat, such as braised beef, soups, and stews, are usually better suited to reheating or holding in
a steam table. Very delicate items should always be freshly cooked.
3. Determine the best way to hold each item at its final stage of pre-preparation. Holding temperature is the
temperature at which a product is kept for service or for storage. Holding temperatures for all potentially
hazardous foods must be outside the Food Danger Zone.
• Sauces and soups are frequently kept hot, above 135°F (57°C), for service in steam tables or other holding
equipment. Foods such as vegetables, however, should be kept hot only for short periods because they quickly
become overcooked.
• Refrigerator temperatures, below 41°F (5°C),are best for preserving the quality of most foods, especially
perishable meats, fish, and vegetables, before final cooking or reheating.
4. Determine how long it takes to prepare each stage of each recipe. Plan a production schedule beginning with
the preparations that take the longest.
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5. Many operations can be carried on at once because they don‘t all require your complete attention the full
time. It may take 6 to 8 hours to make a stock, but you don‘t have to stand and watch it all that time.
6. Examine recipes to see if they might be revised for better efficiency and quality as served.

For example:
• Instead of preparing a full batch of green peas and holding them for service in the steam table, you might
blanch and chill them, then heat portions to order in a sauté pan, steamer, or microwave oven.
• Instead of holding a large batch of butter chicken in makhani gravy sauce in the steam table, you might
prepare and hold the sauce, roast the chicken to order, combine the meat with a portion of the gravy, and serve
fresh from the pan.

Caution: Unless you are in charge of the kitchen, do not change a recipe without authorization from your
supervisor.
The goal
The goal of pre-preparation is to do as much work in advance as possible without loss of quality. Then, at
service time, all energy can be used for finishing each item immediately before serving, with the utmost
attention to quality and freshness. Many preparation techniques in common use are designed for the
convenience of the cooks at the expense of quality. Remember, quality should always take highest priority.
Adapting preparation to style of service
The way you plan production and do your mis en place depends in large part on the style of meal service. The
following discussion of set meal service and extended meal service illustrates the basic differences.
Set meal service
• All customers eat at one time.
• Often called quantity cooking because large batches are prepared in advance.

Examples: school cafeterias, banquets, employee dining rooms.

The traditional method of set meal preparation, still widely used, is to prepare the entire quantity of each item
in a single large batch and to keep it hot for the duration of the meal service. This method has two major
disadvantages:
• Deterioration of quality due to long holding.
• Large quantities of leftovers.

Modern high-speed equipment, such as pressure steamers, convection ovens, infrared ovens, and microwave
ovens, make possible a system called small-batch cooking. Needed quantities are divided into smaller batches,
placed in pans ready for final cooking or heating, and then cooked only as needed. The advantages of this
system are as follows:
• Fresher food, because it is not held as long.
• Fewer leftovers, because servings not needed are not cooked.

Ala carte service

Small-batch cooking also accommodates items prepared in advance and frozen or chilled for storage.
• Customers eat at different times.
• Often called à la carte cooking because customers usually select items from a written menu (carte in French).

•Examples: restaurants, short-order counters.

Individual items are cooked to order rather than cooked ahead, but pre-preparation is extensive, down to the
final cooking stage. The short-order cook, for example, must have everything ready to go: cold meats, tomatoes
and other sandwich ingredients sliced and arranged, spreads prepared and ready, hamburger patties shaped,
garnishes prepared, and so on. If the cook has to stop during service to do any of these things, orders will back
up and service will fall behind.
A steak that takes 10 minutes to broil may be cut and trimmed in advance, but broiling should be started 10
minutes before it is to be served.
Obviously, if the last step in a recipe is to braise the item for 1½ hours, one cannot wait until an order comes in
before beginning to braise. An experienced cook can estimate closely how many orders will be needed during
the meal period and prepare a batch that, ideally, will finish braising just when service begins.

9|Page
Note the differences in these two methods for Chicken Chasseur. In both cases, the final product is chicken in a
brown sauce with mushrooms, shallots, white wine, and tomatoes.
1. Quantity method—Chicken Chasseur:
 Brown chicken in fat; remove.
 Sauté shallots and mushrooms in same fat.
 Add flour to make a roux.
 Add white wine, tomatoes, brown stock, seasonings; simmer until thickened.
 Add chicken; braise until done.

2. À la carte method—Chicken Chasseur:

 Prepare Sauce Chasseur in advance; hold in bain-marie.
 For each order:
 Brown chicken in sauté pan; finish cooking in oven.
 Deglaze pan with white wine; reduce.

 Add one portion of sauce; add chicken and simmer briefly; serve.
The most basic of these are knife skills. Fundamentals such as how to hold the chef‘s knife how sharpen it and
use it for fabricating food stuffs are discussed below:
Using the knife: Many kinds of laborsaving tools are available for cutting, chopping, and slicing fresh foods.
The chef‘s knife or French knife, however, is still the cook‘s most important and versatile cutting tool. The
knife is more precise than a machine. Unless you are cutting a large quantity, the knife can even be faster.
Cleaning a large machine takes time. To get the best use out of your knife, you must learn to keep it sharp and
to handle it properly.
Keeping a sharp edge: The Sharpening Stone
A stone is the best tool for sharpening a chef‘s knife. The best electric sharpeners do an excellent job of
sharpening chef‘s knives, but many models wear away too much of your expensive knife without making a
good edge. You may not be lucky enough to have ready use of a good electric sharpener, so it is important to
know how to sharpen a knife on a stone.
Follow these guidelines:
1. Hold the blade at a constant 20-degree angle to the stone.
2. Make light, even strokes, and the same number on each side of the blade.
3. Sharpen in one direction only to get a regular, uniform edge.
4. Do not over-sharpen.
5. Finish with a few strokes on the steel (see next section), then wipe the blade clean.

The Steel: This tool is used not to sharpen the edge but to true the edge (to perfect it, or to smooth out
irregularities) and to maintain the edge (to keep it sharp as it is used). Observe these guidelines for using the
steel:
1. Hold the blade at a constant 20-degree angle to the steel, just as when using the stone. A smaller angle will
be ineffective. A larger one will dull the edge.
2. Make light strokes. Do not grind the knife against the steel.
3. Make even, regular strokes. Alternate each stroke, first on one side of the blade, then on the other.
4. Use no more than five or six strokes on each side of the blade. Too much steeling can actually dull the blade.
5. Use the steel often. Then you will rarely have to sharpen the knife on the stone.
Cutlery techniques: It‘s important to know about the various aspects of heating foods, yet oft en food must be
cut into smaller pieces before it can be heated. Thus, another basic pillar of food preparation is the knowledge
and use of cutlery. The following sections cover their handling and the styles of cutting food. The techniques
vary according to the type of knife selected, and selection depends on the task to be performed.
Handling Knives: The most frequently used knife is the chef‘s or French knife. The positioning of the grip and
of the food under the blade both influence the degree of control and leverage a person has over the knife. A
chef‘s knife should be firmly held with the base of the blade between the thumb and forefinger and the other
fingers wrapped around the handle. While one hand grips the knife, the other hand must hold the food and
guide it toward the blade. Curling the fingers of the guiding hand under

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while holding the food allows the knuckles to act as a protective shield and keeps the fingertips away from the
cutting edge. It is best to allow at least a half-inch barrier of food between the blades for different tasks. Light
tasks such as cutting out the stem end of a tomato can usually be accomplished with the tip of the blade, or,
even better, with a knife more suitable to small tasks, such as a paring knife. Heavy duties such as chopping off
the tough base of a bunch of celery are better accomplished by making use of the weight and thickness found at
the base of the blade. Most other cutting tasks are carried out using the center of the blade.
Cutting Styles: Uniformity is the usual goal in cutting food. It allows for even heating and gives food an
appetizing appearance. Cutting styles include slicing, shredding, dicing (cubing), mincing, and peeling.
• Slice. To move the food under the blade while keeping the point of the blade firmly on the cutting board. The
base of the knife is lifted up and down with a forward and backward motion
• Julienne. Sliced food can be further cut up, or julienned, resulting in delicate sticks that are usually 1 to 3
inches long and only 1⁄16 to 1⁄8 of an inch thick.
• Shred. To cut leaf vegetables into thin strips. This may be done by first rolling the leaves into cigar-like
shapes and then cutting them into shreds. Hand shredders and food processors with different sizes of shredding
blades may also be used.
• Dice. To cut food into even-size cubes.
• Mince. To chop food into very fine pieces. This is done by placing the holding hand on the tip of the knife
and rocking the base up and down in short strokes while moving it across the food several times, and then
repeating as necessary.
• Peel. To remove the skin. The peel and rind can be cut from an orange or any thick-skinned fruit by first
cutting off in a circular fashion the top of the fruit‘s skin, then scoring the skin through to the flesh of the fruit
in four places. The skin can then be peeled in segments down from the top. Fruits can also be peeled directly
with a paring knife. Avocados can be stripped of their peel by cutting the avocado from stem to stern through
to the pit. Each half is cupped in the
• Hands and twisted gently to separate the halves. The seed (nut) can be removed with the fingers or the tip of a
sharp knife. At this point the avocado can be scooped out with a large serving spoon or peeled and sliced.

Basic cuts and shapes: Cutting food products into uniform shapes and sizes is important for two reasons:
1. It ensures even cooking.
2. It enhances the appearance of the product.

The following terms describe other cutting techniques:

• Chop: to cut into irregularly shaped pieces.
• Concasser (con-cass-say): to chop coarsely.
• Mince: to chop into very fine pieces.
• Emincer (em-man-say): to cut into very thin slices (does not mean ―to mince‖).

3.6.2 PRELIMINARY COOKING AND FLAVORING

Advance preparation often requires certain precooking and flavoring of ingredients to make them ready for
use in the finished recipe. On the most obvious
level, if a recipe for chicken salad calls for cooked, diced chicken, you must first cook the chicken before you
can proceed with the recipe.
A complete cooking procedure, in such a case, is part of the mis en place or pre-preparation.
Blanching and par-cooking: Partial cooking is a significant part of advance preparation. It requires a degree
of culinary skill and judgment to determine when and how much cooking is necessary or desirable. Partial
cooking may be done by any moist-heat or dry-heat method. Those commonly used are simmering or boiling
(parboiling), steaming, and deep-frying (especially for potatoes).The term blanching may mean any of these
methods, but it usually implies very brief cooking.
There are four main reasons for blanching or par-cooking:
1. To increase holding quality: Heating helps preserve foods by:
• Destroying bacteria that cause spoilage.
• Destroying enzymes that discolor foods (as when potatoes turn brown) and help them deteriorate.

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2. To save time: It takes less time to finish parboiled vegetables for service than it does to finish raw
vegetables. Large batches of foods may be blanched and chilled, and individual portions then finished to order.
Items such as roast duck, which take too long to cook completely to order, are often roasted half to three-
quarters done, and then finished as the orders are received.
3. To remove undesirable flavors:Some variety meats and certain strong-flavored vegetables, such as
rutabaga, are sometimes blanched to make them milder and more acceptable to the customer.
4. To enable the product to be processed further: For example, vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and
peaches, as well as some nuts, are blanched to loosen the skins for peeling.
Sweetbreads are blanched so they are firm enough for slicing and breading or other kinds of handling.
Marinating
To marinate means to soak a food product in a seasoned liquid in order to:
• Flavor the product.
• Tenderize the product.

The tenderizing effect of the acids in the marinade is relatively small. It is still essential to match the proper cut
of meat with the proper cooking techniques for greatest tenderness. The marinade can also serve as the cooking
medium and become part of the sauce. Vegetable marinades, called vinaigrettes, are served cold with the
vegetables as salads or hors d‘oeuvres, without further cooking or processing. Marinades have three categories
of ingredients:
1. Oil: Oil helps preserve the meat‘s moisture. Sometimes it is omitted, especially for long marinations, when
the oil would only float on top, out of contact with the product being marinated. Tasteless vegetable oils are
used when a neutral flavor is required. Specialty oils, such as olive oil, are used to add flavor to the item being
marinated.
2. Acid from vinegar, lemon juice, wine: Acid helps tenderize protein foods. It carries flavors (its own and
dissolved flavors from spices and herbs). Use caution when employing strong acids, such as vinegar and lemon
juice. A marinade that is too acidic will partially coagulate the protein of the meat, making it seem partially
cooked. When the meat is then cooked, its texture will not be as desirable. Strong acids can be used in
marinades if they are used in small quantities or if the meat is marinated for only a few hours.
3. Flavorings—spices, herbs, vegetables: A wide choice is available, depending on the purpose. Whole spices
release flavors more slowly, so they are more suitable for long marinations.
3.6.3 KINDS OF MARINADES
1. Cooked: Used when long keeping quality is important. Modern refrigeration has made cooked marinades
less widely used. An advantage of cooked marinades is that spices release more flavor into the marinade when
it is cooked.
2. Raw: Most widely used for long marination under refrigeration. For example, Sauerbraten
3. Instant: The range of flavors and purposes is wide. Used for marinating a few minutes up to several hours
or overnight. For example, London Broil.
4. Dry: A dry marinade, also called a dry rub or a spice rub, is a mixture of salt, spices, and herbs that is
rubbed or patted onto the surface of a meat, poultry, or fish item. In some cases, a little oil or a moist ingredient
such as crushed garlic is mixed with the spices to make a paste. The item is then refrigerated to allow it time to
absorb the flavors. The rub may be left on the item or scraped off before cooking. This technique is widely
used for barbecued meats. For an example a dry rub being applied to a large cut of meat.
Dry marinades are an effective way to flavor meats. Naturally, because a dry marinade usually doesn‘t contain
an acid, you can‘t expect it to produce the slight tenderizing effects of liquid marinades containing acids.
3.6.4 PREPARATION FOR FRYING
Most foods to be deep-fried, with the major exception of potatoes, are first given a protective coating of
breading or batter. This coating serves four purposes:
1. It helps retain moisture and flavor in the product.
2. It protects the fat against the moisture and salt in the food, which speed deterioration of frying fat.
3. It protects the food from absorbing too much fat.
4. It gives crispness, flavor, and good appearance to the product.

Breading

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Breading means coating a product with bread crumbs or other crumbs or meal before deep-frying, pan-frying,
or sautéing. The most widely used method for applying these coatings is called the Standard Breading
Procedure.
The Three Stages of the Standard Breading Procedure
1. Flour: Helps the breading stick to the product.
2. Egg wash: A mixture of eggs and liquid, usually milk or water. More eggs give greater binding power but
increase the cost. A small quantity of oil is occasionally added to the egg wash.
3. Crumbs: Combine with the egg wash to create a crisp, golden coating when fried. Fine, dry bread crumbs
are most often used and give good results. Also popular are Japanese- style dry bread crumbs called panko
(Japanese for ―bread crumbs‖).These coarser crumbs give a pleasing texture to fried items. Other products
used are fresh bread crumbs, crushed corn flakes or other cereal, cracker meal, and cornmeal. For small items
like scallops and oysters, breading may be done with the aid of a series of wire baskets placed in the flour,
wash, and crumbs, instead of by hand. The procedure is the same except the baskets are used to lift and shake
small quantities of the product and to transfer them to the next basket. To keep one hand dry during breading,
use your right hand (if you are right-handed; if left-handed, reverse the procedure) only for handling the flour
and crumbs. Use your other hand for handling the product when it is wet.
Dredging with flour
The purpose of dredging is to give a thin, even coating of flour to a product. Meats to be sautéed or pan-fried
are often dredged with flour to give them an even, brown color and to prevent sticking. Vegetables such as
sticks of zucchini are sometimes coated only in flour before deep-frying to give them a light golden color and a
very thin coating.
Batters
Batters are semi-liquid mixtures containing flour or other starch. They are used in deep-frying to give a crisp,
flavorful, golden brown coating. There are many formulas and variations for batters.
1. Many liquids are used, including milk, water, or beer.
2. Eggs may or may not be used.
3. Thicker batters make thicker coatings. Too thick a batter makes a heavy, unpalatable coating.
4. Leavenings are frequently used to give a lighter product. These may be:
• Baking powder
• Beaten egg whites
• Carbonation from beer or seltzer used in the batter

Three recipes for basic, typical batters are given in the recipe for Deep-Fried Onion Rings. These batters may
be used on a wide variety of products.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS-I
Q.1 What are the dry methods of cooking ?
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Q.2. What is the difference between deep fat frying and shallow frying ?
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Q.3 What is sous vide cooking?
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3.6.5 MEASURING INGREDIENTS
Correct measuring is another essential aspect of basic food preparation. The three major steps in measuring are:
1. Approximating the amount of required food (e.g., 4 ounces of cheese yields 1 cup shredded)
2. Selecting the right measuring utensil
3. Using an accurate measuring technique
Approximating the Amount of Required Food
The figure beside provides common food purchase quantities and their approximate yields. For example, one
pound of all-purpose flour yields 4 cups (sifted), while one pound of granulated sugar provides 2–2 ¼ cups.
Selecting the Right Measuring Utensil
Whether an ingredient is liquid or dry determines the kind of measuring utensil that will be used, figure 7.1
describes these in detail. A graduated measuring cup with a lip for pouring is best for measuring liquid
ingredients. Sets of flat-topped measuring cups are reserved for measuring dry ingredients. All dry ingredients
are best measured by first stirring them to eliminate any packing or lumps. Amounts less than ¼ cup should be
measured with measuring spoons. Sifting flour with dry ingredients such as baking soda or salt is an efficient
way to blend and distribute the ingredients evenly ( Fig 3B).
Knowing the general units used in measuring allows for the next step required for accuracy—using the largest
this distinction and its implications; for example, 1 cup of powdered sugar does not weigh the same as 1 cup of
honey. Also, a fluid ounce only measures volume, whereas an ounce measures weight. They are only equal
when measuring water.
Using Scales For even better accuracy, different types of scales shown in (Fig. 3B) may be used to measure
ingredients. Scales are used by commercial operations because they use weight to measure ingredients.
Businesses cannot afford incorrect measurements that result in a loss of food, time, and money.
Using an Accurate Measuring Technique: Specific volume-measuring techniques for liquids, eggs, fat,
sugar, and flour are discussed below.
Liquids: Only transparent graduated measuring cups with pouring lips should be used to measure liquids. The
cup should sit on a flat surface and all measuring be done at eye level in order to accurately read the line at the
bottom of the meniscus (the arc formed by the liquid‘s surface; the exception is milk, which is read at the top
of the meniscus. Viscous liquids, such as honey, oil, syrup, and molasses, have a tendency to stick to the sides
as they are poured, so the amount measured can be diminished by the amount that sticks to the sides. Should
this happen, a rubber scraper can be used to remove the remaining contents.
Eggs range in size from pee wee to jumbo, but most standard recipes are based on large size eggs, if not
specified. When half an egg or less is called for, it can be measured by beating a whole egg into a
homogeneous liquid, which can then be divided in half or smaller increments. When measuring eggs, it is
helpful to remember the following volume equivalents:
• 1 large egg = 2 ounces
• 4 large eggs =7 ounces (just under 1 cup)
• 8 to 10 egg whites, or 12 to 14 yolks = 1 cup

Fat and oil: Different methods are used to measure

liquid and solid fats. Liquid fats such as oil and
melted butter are measured in glass measuring cups.
Solid fats such as lard, shortening, butter, and
margarine should be removed from the refrigerator
and allowed to become plastic at room temperature.
Once pliable and soft , they can be pressed into a
fractional metal measuring cup with a rubber
scraper. The fat should be pressed down firmly to
remove any air bubbles and the top of the cup
leveled with the straight edge of a spatula. As with
liquids, amounts under ¼ cups should be measured
with measuring spoons.
Sugar: The amount of sugar needed depends on its
type—granulated white sugar, brown sugar, or
confectioners‘ sugar (powdered or icing).
Measuring methods diff er among these sugars,
because 1 pound of each yields 2, 2 ¼, and 4½
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(sifted) cups, respectively. White granulated sugar is usually poured into fractional measuring cups and leveled
with a spatula. If it becomes lumpy, it can be mashed and sift ed before measuring. Brown sugar has a tendency
to pack down and become hard because it contains 2% moisture, which has a tendency to evaporate. Lumping
can be prevented by placing the brown sugar in an airtight container and storing it in the refrigerator or freezer.
Hardened brown sugar can be softened by placing it in a microwave oven for a few seconds, or in a
conventional oven set at about 200°F (93°C) for a few minutes.
Brown sugar is best measured by pressing it firmly into a fractional metal measuring cup and leveling it. The
packing should be firm enough that the brown sugar retains the shape of the measuring cup when it is turned
out. Lump-free or free-flowing brown sugar, which weighs 25% less than regular brown sugar, is measured in
the same manner as granulated white sugar.
Flour: White flour is one of the more difficult ingredients to measure accurately by volume, because its tiny
particles not only vary in shape and size, but also have a tendency to pack. Although there is no standard
weight for a cup of flour, 1 pound of purpose flour averages 4 cups. Professional bakers and chefs avoid the
discrepancy in volume measurement by always weighing the flour. White flour should be sifted before being
lightly spooned into a fractional measuring cup and leveled with a spatula. The cup should never be tapped or
shaken down, because doing so can pack the flour particles tightly, which may result in too much flour being
used. To avoid sifting and still get consistent baking results with regular white flour, one technique is to
remove 2 tablespoons from each cup of un-sifted flour.
3.6.6 MIXING TECHNIQUES
Once the ingredients have been selected and measured, the next step is oft en to mix them all together.
• Mixing is a general term that includes stirring, beating, blending, binding, creaming, whipping, and folding.
In mixing, two or more ingredients are evenly dispersed in one another until they become one product. In
general, the other processes accomplish the same thing, but there are distinctions
• Stir- This method is the simplest, as it involves mixing all the ingredients together with a utensil (usually a
spoon) using a circular motion.
• Beat-The ingredients are moved vigorously in a back-and-forth, up and down and round-and-around motion
until they are smooth. An electric mixer is oft en used to beat ingredients together.
• Blend- Ingredients are mixed so thoroughly that they become one.
• Bind-Ingredients adhere to each other, as when breading is bound to fish.
• Cream- Fat and sugar are beaten together until they take on a light, airy texture.
• Whip or whisk- Air is incorporated into such foods as whipping cream and egg whites through very vigorous
mixing, usually with an electric mixer or a whisk.
• Fold-One ingredient is gently incorporated into another by hand with a large spoon or spatula.
• There are many methods for combining the ingredients of cakes and other baked products, but the most
commonly used are the conventional (creaming), conventional sponge, single stage (quick-mix), pastry-blend,
biscuit, and muffin methods.

Efficient Meal Preparation

Effective management of time can improve the efficiency of all the steps of meal preparation, which include:
1. Planning the menu
2. Developing a purchase list
3. Purchasing the food
4. Storing the food
5. Planning the order in which the menu items will be prepared
6. Preparing the food
7. Preparing the table
8. Serving
9. Cleaning up

The preparer can increase efficiency through menu planning and wise purchasing as described above, and
through recipe consultation.
Recipes: There are four styles of recipe writing: the descriptive, standard, action, and narrative forms. The
ingredients in the descriptive method are listed in the sequence in which they are used. This method displays

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the ingredient, amount, and directions in three columns, which makes it easy to read. The standard recipe style
lists all ingredients and amounts with the instructions in numerical order. A modification of that form is the
action recipe, which gives the instruction followed by the ingredients for that step only. Probably the most
tedious to decipher is the narrative form, which reads like an essay, explaining ingredients, amounts, and
preparation methods in text form. Food service establishments rely on standardized recipes that have been
tested and adapted for serving a large number of people (48 to 500 servings). Standardized recipes, which
frequently follow the descriptive style, record ingredients, proportions, and procedures, but the number of
servings can easily be increased or decreased. When standardized recipes are stored in a computer, changing
the number of servings automatically changes the amount of each ingredient needed. Standardized recipes are
repeatedly tested and adapted to suit a particular food service operation.
3.7 STOCKS (FOND)
Definition- stock is a thin, clear, flavourful, nutritive liquid prepared by extracts from meat, poultry and fish
and their bones and from vegetables and seasonings.
The objective in preparing stocks is to select the proper ingredients and then to extract the flavours. Stock is the
foundation of many kitchen preparations including soups, sauces, stews and fish and rice dishes. The two main
kinds of stock are white stock and brown stock, the name being determined by the type of bones used. A
flavoured liquid base for making a sauce, stew, or braised dish. A white stock (fond blanc) is prepared by
placing the ingredients directly into the cooking liquid, in a brown stock (fond brun) the ingredients are first
brown in fat. Sauces made form white stock are always called white sauces, whether they are basic or variation
sauces (e.g. allemande, poulette, aurora, supreme, etc). All sauces made from brown stock are called brown
sauces (e.g. espagnole, bordelaise, bercy, piquant, etc). Stock can be used in thickened or unthickened form.
They are based on veal, beef, poultry, game, vegetables, aromatic ingredients or fish. Other basic cooking
stocks include veloute, consommé, essence, aspic, marinade, matignon, court bouillon and brine. White and
brown stocks, which used to be essential bases for almost all the great classic sauces, take a long time to make
and are often expensive. In practice they belong to the realm of the restaurant and their use has been
considerably reduced in domestic cookery. The advent of the stock cubes –solid extracts which need only be
dissolved in boiling water has reduced the use of traditional stocks. There are three main stocks:
1. White stock is made with white meat or poultry, veal bones, chicken carcasses, and aromatic vegetables. It is
used to make white sauces, blanquettes, fricassees and poached chicken dishes.
2. Brown stock (formerly called jus brun in French) is made with mutton, beef, veal, poultry meat and bones
and vegetables which have been browned in fat and then had the liquid added to them. It is used to make brown
sauces and gravies, braised dishes, and brown stews, for deglazing fried meats and for making glazes by
reduction.
3. Vegetable stock is made by boiling vegetables and aromatic herbs which have first been gently fried in
butter.
In general stocks are aromatic but not salty since they have to remain unseasoned until the sauce is perfected.
Nevertheless, an optional pinch of salt enhances the blending of the ingredients and the liquid. The meat used
to make the stocks can be used afterwards to make minced (ground) dishes, purees, salpicon, stuffings etc.
Stock is a flavoured liquid. It forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces. Mutton,Veal, beef,
and chicken bones are most commonly used. The flavour of the stock comes from the cartilage and connective
tissue in the bones. Connective tissue has collagen in it, which gets converted into gelatin that thickens the
liquid. Stock made from bones needs to be simmered for longer than stock made from meat. The kind of bones
used determines the kind of stock. Example:
1. Chicken stock – chicken bones
2. White stock – beef or veal bones or a combination of the two, chicken bones or even pork bones are
sometimes added in small quantity
3. Brown stock –beef or veal bones browned in oven
4. Fish stock – fish bones and trimmings, bones from lean white fish give the best stock.
5. Fumet – the term fumet is often used for a flavourful fish stock especially one made with wine.

Proteins are dissolved when cooked with slow ,moist heat. When certain connective tissues (called collagen )
break down, they form gelatin which gives body to a stock. A well made stock thickens or even solidifies when
chilled. Cartilage is the best source of gelatin in bones. Younger animals have more cartilage in their skeletons.
Knuckle bones have a lot of cartilage apart from neck bones and shank bones.

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Mirepoix: A mirepoix (meer-pwah in French pronunciation) is diced vegetable cooked for a long time on a
gentle heat without colour or browning, usually with butter or other fat or oil. It is not sautéed or otherwise
hard cooked, the intention being to sweeten rather than caramelize.
1. Mirepoix-onion, carrots and celery(leeks instead of onion if cost permits)
2. Classical mirepoix of decades ago – ham or bacon, leeks and other vegetables and one or more fresh herbs.
3. White mirepoix – without carrots –to keep stock colourless mushroom trimmings may be added to the white
mirepoix.

Size of mirepoix: Size of mirepoix will depend on how long the mirepoix will cook. For beef stock cut the
vegetables into large pieces (1 to 2 inches). Small pieces for fish stock - Onion 8oz (200g), Celery 4oz (100g),
Carrot 4oz (100g).
Acids: Acids dissolve the connective tissue which leaves the bones. Tomato products contribute flavour and
some acid to brown stocks. Tomatoes are not used for white stocks as they impart colour. Too much use of
tomatoes in brown stock may make it cloudy. Wine is occasionally used especially for fish stocks. Flavour
contribution of wine is more important than its acidity.
Scraps and leftovers Seasonings, herbs and spices: The herbs and spices used depend on availability and
local traditions. In classical cuisine, the use of a bouquet garni (or bundle of herbs) consisting of parsley, bay
leaves, a sprig of thyme and possibly other herbs, is common. This is often wrapped in a cheesecloth "bag" and
tied with string to make it easier to remove it once the stock is cooked.
1. Salt not added when making

2. Herbs and spices should be used lightly, never dominate a stock

3. Herbs and spices are usually tied in a cheesecloth called a sachet (sa-shay french for bag)
4. Bouquet garni an assortment of fresh herbs and other aromatic ingredients tied in a bundle with string. The
ingredients may be leek, celery, thyme sprigs, bayleaf and parsley stems. The ingredients can be changed to
suit different recipes.
Ingredients commonly used for stocks
5. Thyme / bayleaf / parsley stems / whole cloves / peppercorns / garlic (optional)

Ingredients proportions for making stock= Mirepoix : Bones: Water = 1:5:10

3.7.1 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK MAKING
The textbook goes into more information about the principles of stock making but below are the procedures
cooks should follow to develop the techniques and processes necessary to consistently make quality stocks
consistently. By mastering stock making, cooks can produce quality sauces, soups, gravies and other products.
It all begins with a stock that has the four main quality characteristics of:
 Body
 Clarity
 Flavour
 Colour
Procedure Reason
Starting in cold water allows the proteins and other impurities to
1. Start the stock in cold water dissolve in the water and then as the liquid is heated the upward
pressure of the steam causes these impurities to rise to the surface
where they can be skimmed off. If the bones are covered in hot
water the impurities (mostly oxygen carrying proteins) will
coagulate more quickly and become dispersed in the liquid
causing a cloudy stock
Note: bones for brown stocks should be roasted to a nice deep
brown prior to adding cold water.
Use high heat for this step but do not allow the stock to boil.
2. Bring the stock to a simmer High heat will create an upward pressure which in turns pushes
the impurities (scum) upward and clarifies the stock.
Simmering allows the impurities (scum) to continue to rise to the
3. Simmer the stock gently top of the stock where it can be skimmed off and removed from
the final product. If you allow the stock to boil the impurities can
17 | P a g e
 blend with the liquid – forming a cloudy stock.
Skimming is done to remove impurities from the liquid and
4. Skim the stock improve the clarity of the final product. The stock must come to a
simmer prior to starting the skimming process. Excessive
skimming can actually bury the impurities back into the stock and
have an adverse effect on the clarity
The purpose of mirepoix is to flavour the stock and flavours
5. Add mirepoix and spices break down when heated for a long time. While some chefs will
add the mirepoix at the beginning of the cooking process it is best
to add it two or three hours before the end of the cooking, If a
stock is to be cooked for a short time, such as fish, the mirepoix
is cut much smaller so it releases its flavour faster. Also, adding
the mirepoix later, allows for proper skimming without removing
flavouring ingredients.
Mirepoix for brown stock should sautéed first and added with
tomato products
Straining the liquid ensures your final stock will have better
6. Strain the stock carefully cleanliness or clarity. Strain through a china cap strainer lined
with cheesecloth or use a very fine mesh strainer such as a
chinois étamine.
Cool the stock quickly to prevent food-borne illnesses or souring.
7. Cool the stock quickly The goal is to get the stock out of the DANGER ZONE as
quickly as possible.
Store the finished stock in a refrigerator (for up to 4 or 5 days) or
8. Store the stock properly in a freezer (for several months).

After the stock has cooled you can remove any hardened fat from
9. Degrease the stock the surface before reheating.

Types of Stocks
1. Brown veal stock (fond brun de veau): Bone 1.25 kg shoulder of veal and the same amount of knuckle of
veal. Tie them together with string and brush with melted dripping. Crush 500g veal bones as finely as
possible. Brown all these ingredients in a large flameproof casserole or saucepan. Peel and slice 150g carrots
and 100g onions, then add them to the pan. Cover and leave to sweat for 15 mins, add ½ liter water and reduce
to a jelly, repeat the process, add 3 liters water or white stock and bring to the boil. Skim and season. Leave to
simmer very gently for 6 hrs. Skim off the fat and strain through a fine sieve.

2. Brown beef stock (fonds brun or estouffade)

For 10 liters
3.5kg beef bones chopped into small pieces, fat removed
250g carrot
250g onion
150g leek
250 g celery
10 liters of water
100 g mushroom trimmings
1 sprig thyme
2 bay leaf
Parsley stalks
10 peppercorns.
1. Brown the bones in fat in the oven then strain off all the fat.
2. Brown the vegetables in the same fat in a frying pan on top of the stove or in the oven then strain
3. Place the bones and vegetables in a stockpot, cover with the cold water and bring slowly to the boil

18 | P a g e
4. Remove any scum that rises to the surface
5. Add the bouqet garni and peppercorns
6. Simmer gently for 3-4 hours, continuously remaining all traces of scum and grease.
7. Strain through a conical strainer into a clean saucepan reboil and use as required or cool as rapidly as
possible and place in a refrigerator at 70C until required.

3. Game stock (fond de gibier )

Tie together 1.5 kg shoulder, breast and other pieces of venison, draw and truss 1 old patridge and 1 old
pheasant, brush all the meat with butter and brown in the oven in a roasting tin. Slice 150g carrots and 150g
onions. Line a large flameproof casserole with fresh pork rind, then add the carrots and onions, 1kg hare or
white rabbit trimmings, and the rest of the game. Deglaze the roasting tin with ½ liter red wine and ½ liter
water and bring to the boil then skim and season lightly. Add a large bouquet garni a sprig of sage, 10 juniper
berries and 1 clove. Simmer for 3 hours, skim off the fat then strain through a fine sieve.
4. Light brown stock (fond brun clair)

Scald 150g fresh pork rind and 125g knuckle of ham and saute for 4-5 minutes. Bone 1.25 kg lean stewing beef
(leg or blade) and Cut into cubes, together with the same amount of knuckle of veal. Peel 150g carrots and
150g onions cut into slices then brown on top of the stove in a large flameproof casserole with all the meat
500g crushed veal or beef bones and the pork rind. Add a bouquet garni, 1 clove of garlic ½ liter water and
reduce to a jelly consistency. Add ½ liter water and reduce to a jelly again. Add 3 liters water and 15gm coarse
salt bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 8 hours. Skim off the fat and strain through a fine sieve.
5. Thick veal stock (fond de veau lie)

Reduce 2 liters brown veal stock to three quarters of its volume. Thicken with 15g arrowroot blended with 3
tablespoons clear cold veal stocks. Strain through muslin.
6. Tomato veal stock (fond de veau tomate)

Add 2 liter tomato puree to 2 liters brown veal stock. Reduce to three quarters of its volume. Strain through a
fine sieve.
7. White stock (fond blanc ordinaire)

Bone a 750g shoulder of veal and 1 kg knuckle of veal them tie them together with string. Crush the bones.
Place the bones meat and 1 kg chicken giblets or carcasses in a saucepan, add 3.5 liters water, bring to the boil
and skim. Add 125g sliced carrots, 100g onions,75g celery and a bouquet garni. Season simmer gently for 3½
hours. Skim off the fat and put through a very fine strainer.
8. White chicken stock (fond blanc de volaille)

For 10 liters
3.5 kg chicken bones
10 liters water
250g carrot
250g onion
150g leek
250g celery
100g mushroom trimmings
1 sprig thyme 2 bayleaf Parsley stalks
1. Place the bones in a stockpot, cover with cold water,and bring slowly to the boil.
2. Remove any scum that rises to the surface
3. Add the vegetables, herbs and peppercorns
4. Simmer gently for 2 hours ,continuously removing all traces of scum and grease
5. Pass through a conical strainer into a clean saucepan, re-boil and use as required or cool as rapidly as
possible and place in a refrigerator at 70C until required .

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9. Lamb or mutton stock (fonds de mouton)
Proceed in the same way as for white chicken stock using lamb or mutton bones and cook for 1 hr only.

10. Veal stock (fonds de veau)

Proceed in the same way as for white chicken stock using veal bones and cook for 2 hrs.

11. Fish stock (fumet de poisson)

For 5 liter
50g butter
2 kg white fish bones
200g sliced onions
1 juice of lemon
1 bay leaf
A few parsley stalks
5 peppercorns
5 liters water
• Melt the butter in a saucepan
• Add the washed fish bones sliced onion lemon juice and herbs
• Cover with greaseproof paper and a lid and sweat for 5 mins without colouration in order to extract the juices
from the bones.
• Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and skim any impurities that rise to the surface then simmer for 20
mins
• Strain into a clean pan, re-boil and use as required.

12. Remouillage: It is prepared by simmering bones and mirepoix for a second time, the word translated from
French as a ―rewetting‖. Made from the clarification raft used to prepare consomme‘, this secondary stock can
be used as the liquid for stocks, broths, as a cooking medium, or reduced to a glace.

13. Glaze -French glace (glahss): Glace – is a highly reduced stock or remouillage. The result of continuous
reduction , the stock acquires a jelly like or syrupy consistency and its flavor becomes highly concentrated.
When chilled, a glace takes on a rubbery consistency. Glazes diluted to original strength do not taste like the
stocks they were made from.
Kinds of glazes: Meat glaze or glace de viande (glahss duh vee awnd) Chicken glace or glace de volaille (voh
lye) - made from chicken stock Fish glaze or glace de poisson (pwah sohn ) - made from fish stock.
14. Fumets:

It is sometimes called essences are concentrated, highly aromatic stock.

Fish Fumet – is prepared by sweating fish bones along with vegetables such as leeks, mushrooms, and celery,
then simmering these ingredients in water often with some dry white wine.
Fish Stock – uses bones from lean flatfish like sole and turbot. Sometimes used to make very clear broth or
consomme‘.
15. Court Bouillon

Or short broth, is often prepared as the cooking liquid for fish by simmering aromatic vegetables in water with
an acid such as wine or vinegar. When fish bones or shells are simmered in the court bouillon, it is called a
Nage.
16. Vegetable stock

For 5 liters
250g carrot
250g onion
150g leek
250g celery
100g mushroom trimmings
50ml oil

20 | P a g e
5 liters water
400g squashed tomatoes
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
Parsley stalks
10 peppercorns
1. Sweat the vegetables in the oil in a stockpot
2. Add the water and bring gently to the boil then add the mushrooms tomatoes herbs and peppercorns
3. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, continuously removing any scum and fat
4. Strain through a conical strainer into a clean saucepan, re-boil and use as required or cool as rapidly as
possible and place in refrigerator at 70C until required.

Note:

Vegetables, herbs and spices, water and sometimes wine are to be used.
 If you want a particular flavour to predominate use a larger quantity of that vegetable.
 For a neutral all purpose vegetable stock avoid strong flavoured vegetables.
 Starchy vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash make the stock cloudy. Use if clarity
is not important.
 Some vegetables are to be avoided. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower can overwhelm a stock with a strong
flavour or odour. Dark green leafy vegetables especially spinach develop an unpleasant flavour when cooked
for a long time. Beetroot turns a stock red.
 Sweating the vegetables in a small amount of oil before adding water gives them a mellow flavour.
Other points one should know
 Today, ready-made stock and stock cubes consisting of dried, compressed stock ingredients are readily
available, although of inferior quality to that of a properly prepared home-made stock. These are commonly
known as bouillon cubes (or oxo cubes, after a common brand of stock cube sold in Britain).
 Broth is very similar to stock, and often the terms are used interchangeably. Usually, broth refers to finished
product while stock is used as an ingredient (thus stock may become broth). Other times, broth is used to refer
to a liquid made in the same way as stock but meat is substituted for bones. However, with some stock/broth
made from vegetables and some made from both bones and meat, this cannot be considered a hard-and-fast
rule. Fond Brun, or brown stock, is the most common type used. The brown color is achieved by roasting the
bones and mirepoix. This also adds a rich, full flavor. Veal bones are the most common type used in a fond
brun. Fond Blanc, or white stock, is made by using raw bones and white mirepoix. Chicken bones are the most
common for fond blanc. Fish stock is made with fish bones and finely chopped mirepoix. Fish stock should be
cooked for 30–45 minutes—cooking any longer spoils the flavor. Concentrated fish stock is called "fish fumet.
 Court Bouillon is not a stock or broth in itself but aromatic cooking liquid used exclusively for blanching or
poaching delicate meats, fish, offal such as brains and vegetables. It rarely features in the finished dish. For
flavour, court bouillon must contain a substantial amount of lemon, wine or vinegar and seasoning. The French
word ‗court‘ meaning short denoting the relatively short cooking time needed to prepare court bouillon before
adding the ingredient to be poached".
 Chicken stock should be cooked for 4–5 hours. Veal stock should be cooked anywhere from 8 hours to
overnight.
 Jus is a rich, lightly reduced stock used as a sauce for roasted meats. Many of these are started by deglazing
the roasting pan, then reducing to achieve the rich flavor desired.
 Ham stock, common in Cajun cooking, is made from ham hocks.
 Prawn stock is made from boiling prawn shells. It is used in Southeast Asian dishes such as Laksa.
 Vegetable stock is made only of vegetables. It is common today, but is not a traditional type of stock.
 Meat is added to a stock before vegetables, and the "scum" that rises to the surface is skimmed off before
further ingredients are added. Veal, beef and chicken, with bones, if possible, are most commonly used. Fish,
venison and other kinds of

21 | P a g e
poultry are also used for certain types of stock. Other types of meat, such as mutton, are generally considered
less suitable because of their strong taste. The meat need not be of prime quality. In fact, gristle and skin and
other parts that are not generally eaten may be used, since all meat and vegetables are removed when the stock
is finished. In some countries, older chickens are sold as "boiling hens" or "stewing hens", and fish stock is
often prepared from the heads of fish. Vegetable stock is made only of vegetables. It is common today, but is
not a traditional type of stock

17. Consommé
Consommé is the most sophisticated of all stock-based soups. It is made by reducing veal, beef, and chicken or,
less frequently, game or fish stock and then clarifying it to produce a concentrated, flavourful sparkling liquid.
Its transparency is deceptive since good consommé has punch, a heady aroma and strong flavour that is neither
bland, salty, thin neither heavy.
The clarification process is simple. Well-flavoured fat-free stock is brought slowly to a boil with egg whites
whisked in along with finely chopped root vegetables and aromats. As the egg whites cook, they rise to the top
of the stock in a froth that coagulates to form a raft. The consommé is left to simmer for about an hour so that
all the impurities coagulate leaving the liquid clean and sparkling.
Madeira or sherry can be added just before serving or during clarification. Consommé should have a clear tint.
Meat consommé should be darker than that of chicken or fish. The gelatin content of consommé gives it a
smooth texture when hot and sets it to a jelly when it is chilled.
Consommé garnish is added just before serving so that it does not cloud the soup. A tablespoon of garnish is
sufficient. No ingredients should be larger than the size of a pea, although a few classic consommés call for
whole poached eggs or quenelles with chopped herbs, pasta and cooked custards, which make good garnishes.
Derivatives of consommé get classified according to the garnish, which is added to the consommé.
How clarification works: Coagulation of proteins was an important subject in our discussion on stock making,
because one of our major concerns was how to keep coagulated proteins from making the stock cloudy.
Strangely enough, it is this same process of coagulation that enables us to clarify stock to perfect transparency.
Remember some proteins especially that called albumin, will dissolvein cold water. When the water is heated,
they gradually solidify or coagulate and rise to the surface. If we control this process very carefully, these
proteins will collect all the tiny particles that cloud a stock and will carry them to the surface. The stock is then
left perfectly clear. If, on the other hand, we are not careful, these proteins will break up as they coagulate and
will cloud the liquid even more, just as they can do when we make stock.
Basic ingredients:
The mixture that we use to clarify the stock is called the clear meat or the clarification.
1. Lean minced meat is the major source of protein that enables the clearmeat to do its job. It also contributes
towards the flavor of the consommé. It must be lean because fat is undesirable in a consommé as it will float on
the surface after

straining and give a greasy appearance to the soup. Beef shin and shank is the best cut to use as it is rice in
albumin proteins as well as in flavor and gelatin, and it is very lean. Chicken meat should be used to clarify
chicken stock and beef used for a beef consommé. Obviously, meat would not be used to clarify a fish stock!
Although, ground fish meat could be used to clarify fish stock, often it is omitted altogether and only egg
whites used in its place.
2. Egg whites are included in the clear meat, because being mainly albumin; they greatly strengthen the
clarifying power.
3. Mirepoix and other seasoning and flavoring ingredients are usually included because they add flavor to the
finished consommé. They do not actually help in the clarification process except possibly to give solidity to the
raft. The raft is the coagulated clearmeat floating in a solid mass on top of the consommé. The mirepoix must
be cut into small pieces as it must float with the raft as well as the maximum exposed surface area will aid
extraction of flavor and nutritive value. A larger amount of a particular vegetable may be added if a distinct
flavor is called for, for example, celery flavored consommé.
4. Acidic ingredients like vinegar and tomato for beef and chicken consommé and lemon juice and white wine
for fish consommé are added because the acidity helps with the coagulation process.
5. Seasoning and flavorings like salt, peppercorns and bay leaf are usually added.
Procedure for preparing basic Consommé:
Stock plain 1 liter

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Lean meat (suitable) 100 gm
Onion 30 gm
Carrot 30 gm
Celery 20 gm
Egg white 1-2 (shell optional)
Vinegar/lemon juice/ 15 ml
Wine (red or white)or Tomato 20 gms
Pepper corn 4-6 nos.
Bay leaf 1 no
Salt a pinch
1. Start with a well flavored and cooled down stock. If the stock is weak, reduce it to concentrate, and then
allow to cool and then begin the process. Else, simmer the consommé longer than the recommended time.
2. Select a heavy stockpot.
3. Combine the clear meat ingredients in the stockpot and mix vigorously. Mix in a small amount of water.
This allows the proteins, which do the clarifying to dissolve out of the meat. Some chefs will disagree on the
importance of this step and will omit it altogether (the addition of the water, that is).
4. Gradually add the cool, degreased stock and mix well with the clear meat. The stock needs to be cool so that
it does not cook the proteins on contact. Mixing the clear meat will distribute the proteins throughout the stock
so that they can collect all the impurities more easily.
5. Set the pot over a full fire and allow it to heat, stirring gently. This prevents the proteins of the egg white
from settling at the bottom and burning. Let it come to a boil.

6. As the stock heats up stop the stirring. As the stock comes to a boil, the clear meat will rise to the surface as
the raft and float on the top.
7. Reduce the fire to as low as possible so that the liquid maintains a slow simmer. Do not cover the vessel.
Boiling would break up the raft and cloud the consommé. The same principle was used in stock making,
remember?!
8. Simmer without disturbing the raft, for about half an hour to 45 minutes.
9. Strain the consommé carefully through a wet muslin cloth. Do not force the liquid through or press the raft.
Or fine particles will seep through and cloud the consommé.
10. Degrease to remove all traces of fat from the surface. Use strips of brown paper to absorb traces of fat.
11. Adjust the seasoning.
Emergency procedures:
1. Clarifying hot stock: if you do not have the time to cool the stock properly, at least cool it as much as you
can. A cold water bath for even 10 minutes will be helpful. Then mix crushed ice cubes with the clear meat
before adding the stock. This will help to prevent the meat from coagulating when the stock hits it.
2. Clarifying without meat: In a pinch, you could clarify stock using egg whites alone. Use extra egg whites
and a little mirepoix if possible. Make sure that the stock in this case is a good and concentrated one. Care must
be taken in this case as the raft is a very fragile one and may tend to break easily. Egg white and mirepoix are
often used alone to clarify fish stock.
3. Failed clarification: If the clarification process has failed because you allowed it to boil to long or for any
other reason, it can still be rescued. Strain the consommé and allow it to cool as much as you can. Now slowly
add it to a mixture of ice cubes and egg white. Carefully return the pan to a simmer and proceed with the
clarification. However, the ice cubes will dilute the stock and this procedure must be used in emergencies only.
4. Poor color: Beef or Veal consommés made from a brown stock must be amber in color and not dark brown.
Chicken consommé will be pale amber. To improve the color, add a drop of caramel after straining, or a cut
and browned (on a griddle) slice of onion, before the clarification.

Consommé derivatives Consommé Chicken consommé, shredded lettuce, chicken quenelles and
Alexandra shredded chicken meat
Consommé Andalusian Chicken consommé, cubes of tomato royal, rice, strips of ham
and pancake mixture poured into the broth through a sieve
Consommé Brunoise Beef consommé, bruniose of vegetables
Consommé Breton Beef consommé, strips of leeks, knob celery, mushrooms and

23 | P a g e
 shredded chervil
Consommé Cardinal Seafood consommé flavoured with lobster, lobster quenelle
Consommé Julienne Beef consommé, juliennes of vegetables
Consommé St. Germain Beef consommé, quenelles, peas, shredded lettuce and chervil
Consommé Princess Beef consommé, asparagus tips
Consommé Royal Chicken consommé, cubes of flavoured, unsweetened egg
custard
Consommé Celestine Beef consommé, thin strips of unsweetened pancake
Jellied Consommé A well-reduced beef consommé served cold, which should melt
on the tongue
3.8 SAUCE
Sauces are the next most important part of the French & continental cuisine. These sauces can be derived from
stocks by using different thickening agents. Sauces are capable of adding variety to the dishes by imparting
color, flavor, texture and even drama to a great extent. Sauces are of different types. They vary by way of the
basic ingredient used, color and consistency. These sauces are integral for plate presentations and add to the
overall improvement of the product. A sauce is liquid, creamy or semi-solid food served on or used in
preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed alone; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to
the final dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted. Possibly the oldest sauce
recorded is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Romans.
Sauces may be used for savory dishes or for desserts. They can be prepared and served cold, like mayonnaise,
prepared cold but served lukewarm like pesto, or can be cooked like béchamel and served warm or again
cooked and served cold like apple sauce. Some sauces are industrial inventions like Worcestershire sauce, HP
sauce, or nowadays mostly bought ready-made like soy sauce or ketchup, other are still freshly prepared by the
cook. Sauces for salads are called salad dressing. Sauces made by deglazing a pan are called pan sauces.
Definition: A sauce is a liquid or a semi-liquid mixture used as an accompaniment or a part of various
preparations of meat, vegetables, fish or fruit to enhance the task and prevent dryness of the dish.
OR
A sauce may be defined as a liquid or a semi-liquid flavorful liquid usually thickened, used to season, flavor
and enhance aroma to another foods.
Importance of Sauces in Food Preparation
• Enhances flavor.
• Some sauces help in digestion, e.g. mint sauce, apple sauce with roast pork.
• It gives moistness to the food, e.g. white sauce adds creaminess to firm and dry food.
• Adds colour to the food. Hollandaise sauce served on a vegetable adds colour. Tomato sauce goes with Fish a
l‗orly.
• Served as an accompaniment, sometimes gives a contrast taste to another food, e.g. cranberry sauce with roast
turkey.
• Sometimes gives the name to the dish. E.g. Madeira wine when added to brown sauce it is called Sauce
Madeira.
• Enhances nutritional value of the dish.
• Dress and complements food that need some additional quality and makes the food more palatable.
• Gives tartness and contrast or balances a bland food.
Thickening Agents
These are different ingredients added to give the thick consistency to a sauce. The different agents make each
sauce unique by way of its taste, color, consistency & flavor.
Roux: It is a fat and flour mixture, which are cooked together. It is cooked to various degrees, namely white,
blond or brown. Equal quantities of flour and butter and margarine are taken to prepare the different colored
roux. The colour acquired depends upon the degree of cooking of the flour and the colour of the sauce depends
upon the liquid and roux used. While preparing the sauce, boiling liquid should never be added to a hot roux as
it may become lumpy, a cold liquid to a hot roux or hot liquid to an old roux may be added to get smooth
texture.
Starch: Arrowroot, corn flour, fecule (potato starch), tapioca are used to thicken the sauce. A paste should be
made of cold liquid and starch and then stirred into boiling liquid and allowed to boil, till the starch is cooked.
It gelatinizes at 93°C. Starch contains no gluten and gives a clear sauce and thickens more as it cools.

24 | P a g e
Beurre Maine: It is chiefly used for fish sauces. Equal quantities of flour and butter are kneaded, and very
little quantity is added at a time to the boiling liquid and stirred well to form a smooth consistency.
Yolks of Eggs and Cream: It is a liaison, added as a finishing agent at the end of cooking. The product is
never boiled, when the liaison is added, or it would curdle. The liaison is added to thicken delicate cream or
veloute sauces or cream soups. Yolks of eggs are used to prepare mayonnaise by emulsifying with oil.
Blood: It is usually used for game cooking. It thickens the sauce and gives a particular flavor e.g. preparation
of Jugged Hare.
Standards for quality sauces
1. Consistency & Body:
Most sauces should be smooth with no lumps. They should not be too thick and pasty. They must be thick
enough to coat the foods lightly.
2. Flavor:
The flavor of the sauce should be distinctive and well balanced. There must be a proper degree of seasoning
with no starchy taste. The flavor should be selected to enhance or complement the food.
3. Appearance:
The appearance should be smooth with a good shine and gloss. It should have the requisite color: rich brown
for the espagnole, pale ivory for the veloute and white (not gray) for the béchamel.
Classification of Sauces ((Fig.3C)
Sauces could be grouped as follows:
• Basic sauces
• Cold Basic Sauces
• Butter Sauces
• Others sauces (miscellaneous)
BASIC MOTHER SAUCES
1. Bechamel

Thickening milk with a white roux

and simmering it with aromatics
makes this white sauce. It should be
creamy, smooth and lustrous.
2. Espagnole or Brown Sauce

This is made by sweating the

mirepoix and adding the tomato
puree till lightly caramelized. The
brown roux is added to this and the
brown veal stock is thoroughly
incorporated into it. It should be
simmered and skimmed throughout
cooking. Then it should be strained and kept for later use.
Demi - Glace
This is a highly flavored glossy sauce. It literally translates, as ―half glace‖, a demi glace of excellent quality
will have several characteristics. It should have a full, rich flavor. The aromatics should not be overpowering; it
should have a deep brown color, be translucent and glossy when correctly reduced. It should be of nappe
consistency.
3. Veloute

Thickening a white stock with an appropriate amount of pale roux, then stirring it until it is completely cooked
out makes this ivory colored, lustrous sauce. It should be smooth and thick enough to nappe.
4. Tomato Sauce

There are several approaches for making a tomato sauce. It should have a deep, rich, tomato flavor, with no
trace of acidity and bitterness. There should be only hints of supporting flavors from stocks, aromatics and pork
fats, when used. This sauce is coarser than any other of the grand sauces because of the degree of texture that
remains even after cooking and at times pureeing the tomatoes.
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5. Mayonnaise
A simple mayonnaise is the foundation for a number of sauces. Mayonnaise is very easy to make if one follows
a few rules. First, have all the ingredients at room temperature before begin. Add the oil very slowly, drop by
drop, at the beginning until the sauce begins to emulsify; then add the remainder in a steady stream without risk
of breaking the mayonnaise. If the sauce does separate, whisk in teaspoon mustard in a warm, dry bowl until
creamy (mustard helps to emulsify the sauce). Then gradually whisk in the remaining mayonnaise.
Rectification of curdled mayonnaise
If the mayonnaise is curdled then pour few drops of lukewarm water and continue or take fresh egg yolk and
continue further.
6. Hollandaise
partially cooked egg yolks. It is fragile because it is not a true mixture. It should not be held directly near heat,
or else it will break. The sauces flavor when correctly made will be buttery. The egg yolks and reduction
ingredients (vinegar and peppercorns) give the sauce a balanced taste. It should be pale lemon in color.
Hollandaise and its variations are opaque, but the sauce should have a luster and not appear oily. They should
have a smooth texture. A grainy texture indicates over cooking of the egg yolks. It should have light
consistency and at times almost appears frothy. Some problems occur during the process
• Curdled appearance – if the sauce develops this, it may mean the addition of butter is too rapid for the egg
yolks to absorb it. It should be whipped till it appears smooth and then proceed.
• Scrambling of egg yolks – this happens if the sauce gets overheated. It should immediately be removed from
the heat and allowed to cool. If it doesn‘t correct, you may need to start afresh.

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Sauces at TYPE ROUX COLOR STOCK USED WHERE USED
a glance
SAUCE
Béchamel Hot White roux cooked White Milk Augratin dishes
or to sandy texture or
White Ratio of flour, butter off-white
sauce and stock
1:1:10
Veloute Hot Roux cooked to Off-white or Fish or meat or Chicken Veloute.
sandy texture and pale yellow vegetable stock and the Fish
off white in color name is given according Aurore etc.
Ratio of flour, butter to the type of stock used
and stock
1:1:10
Espagnole Hot Roux cooked to Dark brown Brown stock Chicken Ragout
or sandy texture and
Brown dark brown in color
sauce Ratio of flour, butter
and stock
1:1:10
Tomato Hot Roux may or may- Red Water Spaghetti
not be used in Napolitane
thickening

Hollandaise Hot Eggyolk and butter Light yellow Steak grille

is cooked on béarnaise
bainmarie and then
clarified butter is
added

Mayonnais Cold Oil and Eggyolk is Light yellow Sandwiches

e emulsified together Oeuf mayonnaise

Tips for Making a Good Sauce: Constantly stir roux-thickened sauces when cooking to prevent lumps.
• If a roux-thickened sauce develops a few lumps, beat them out with a rotary beater or wire whisk or strain
sauce with a sieve to remove lumps.
• Cook egg-thickened sauces over low heat, or cook these sauces in the top of a double boiler over hot, not
boiling, water. Always temper (warm) the egg yolks before adding them to the sauce by first stirring in a little
of the hot sauce mixture into them. Then add to the remainder of the sauce mixture. Never let a sauce boil
after the egg yolks are added as the sauce may curdle.
• Ensure that the water doesn‘t touch the bottom of the pan holding the sauce.

Sauces used in Different Cuisines: Sauces used in traditional Japanese cuisine are usually based on shôyu
(soy sauce)
• Miso or dashi. Ponzu, citrus-flavored soy sauce, and yakitori no tare, sweetened rich soy sauce, are
examples of shoyu-based sauces.
• Miso-based sauces include gomamiso, miso with ground sesame, and amamiso, sweetened miso.
• In modern Japanese cuisine, the word ―sauce‖ often refers to Worcestershire sauce, introduced in the 19 th
century and modified to suit Japanese tastes.
• Tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba sauces are based on this sauce. Japanese horseradish or wasabi sauce
is used on sushi and sashimi or mixed with soy sauce to make wasabi-joyu.
• Some sauces in Chinese cuisine are soy sauce, doubanjiang, hoisin sauce, sweet bean sauce, chili sauces,
oyster sauce, and sweet and sour sauce.
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• Korean cuisine uses sauces such as doenjang, gochujang, samjang, and
• soy sauce.
• Southeast Asian cuisines, such as Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, often use fish sauce, made from fermented
fish.
• Indian cuisine uses sauces such as tomato-based curry sauces, tamarind sauce, coconut milk/paste based
sauces, and chutneys.
• Salsas (―sauces‖ in Spanish) such as pico de gallo (salsa tricolor), salsa cocida, salsa verde, and salsa roja
are a crucial part of many Latino cuisines in the Americas and Europe.
• Typical ingredients include tomato, onion, and spices; thicker sauces often contain avocado.
• Mexican cuisine uses a sauce based on chocolate and chillies known as mole. Argentine cooking uses more
Italian-derived sauces, such as tomato sauce, cream sauce, or pink sauce (the two mixed).
• Peruvian cuisine uses sauces based mostly in different varieties of ají combined with several ingredients
most notably salsa huancaína based on fresh cheese and salsa de ocopa based on peanuts or nuts. It is said that
each household in the country has its own secret salsa recipe.

Sauce derivatives

1. Bechamel Or White Sauce:

• Mornay - B + Cheese
• Cream - B + Heavy cream
• Cheddar - B + Cheddar cheese
2. Mayonnaise: {Cold Basic Sauce}
• Tartare - M + Chives + Parsley + Capers + Shallots + Gherkins
• Cocktail - M + Tobasco sauce + Worcestershire sauce + Tomato puree
• Remoulade - M + French mustard + Anchovy essence
• Chantilly - M + Whipped cream
• Andalouse - M + Tomato puree + Pimento

3. Hollandaise: {Hot Sauce-Cannot Be Stored}

• Bearnaise - H + Shallots + Terragon
• Mousseline - H + Whipped cream
• Charon - H + Shallots + Mint
• Maltaise - H + Orange juice + Grated orange jest
• Paloise - H + Shallots + Mint

4.Tomato:
• Barbeque - T + Onions + Garlic + Sugar + Vinegar + Chili powder + Worcestershire sauce
• Creole - T + Onions + Garlic + Celery + Green pepper
• Milanaise - T + Ham + Mushrooms

5. Veloute:
• Supreme - CV + Cream
• Allemande - CV + Egg yolk + Cream
• Normandy - FV + Egg yolk + Cream
• Mushroom - CV + Egg yolk + Mushroom
• Aurore - CV + Tomato puree

6. Espagnole:
• Chasseur - E + Mushroom + Shallots + Tomato concasse + Parsley
• Bordelaise - E + Shallots + Bone marrow + Lemon + Meat glaze + Bordeaux wine
• Bercy - E + Shallots + White wine + Meat glaze + Parsley
• Estragon - E + Terragon

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• Perigourdine - E + Foiegrass puree + Sliced truffles
• Zingara - E + Tomatoes + Mushrooms + Truffles + Ham + Tongue + Cayenne + Madiera wine

7. Dessert Sauces:
These accompany puddings and desserts; giving flavour, taste and color contrast.
• Orange sauce - Crepe suzette
• Chocolate sauce - Ice cream
• Jam sauce - Bread pudding
• Melba sauce - Pudding

• Rum sauce - Ice-cream

8. Other Sauces:
 Demiglaze – (demi-glace in French) – is defined as half brown sauce and half brown stock, reduced to half.
 Jus de veau lie - DG + Mirpoix + Tomato puree
 Madere - DG + Madeira wine
 Mushroom - DG + Mushrooms + Shallots + White wine
 Bigarde - DG + Wt. wine + Cider vinegar + Orange juice + Current jelly
 Robert - DG + White wine + Peppercorn + Butter
 Provencal - DG + Anchovy fillet + Wt. wine + Tomato sauce

8. Butter Sauce-
 Melted butter- this is the simplest butter preparation of all unsalted or sweet butter has the freshest taste and
is ideal for all sauce making.
 Clarified butter- Butter consists of butterfat, water, and milk solids. Clarified butter is purified butter, with
water and milk solids removed. If using for sautéing, unclarified butter would burn at such high temperature
because the milk solids will get burnt at such high temperature.
 Brown butter (Beurre Noisette) – Melted butter has been heated until it becomes light brown and gives off a
nutty aroma, usually prepared at the last minute and served over fish, white meats, eggs and vegetables.
 Black butter – (Beurre Nois) – Butter heated until it is a little darker and flavored with few drops of vinegar,
capers, chopped parsley or both are sometimes added.
 Meuniere butter – Brown butter is seasoned with lemon juice and poured over the fish, which has been
sprinkled with chopped parsley.
 Compound butter – made by softening raw butter and mixing it with various flavoring agents. The moisture
is then rolled into a cylinder in waxed paper. Compound butter have two main uses: -
Slices of compound butter are placed on a grilled items at service time, the butter melts over the item.
Small portions are swirled into to finish them and give them a desired flavor.

E.g. Beurre Maitre d‘ hotel-

Butter-500 ml + chopped parsley-60 gm + lemon juice-50 ml + White pepper powder
Other examples are- Anchovy butter, Garlic butter, Snail butter, Shrimp butter, Mustard butter, Herb butter
etc.
Beurre blanc – Sauces made by whipping raw white butter into a small quantity of flavorful reduction of
white wine and vinegar, so that the butter melts and forms and emulsion with the reduction.

10. Proprietary sauces-These are the sauces which are sold in brand names and are of use in specific food
preparation.
 Tabasco
 Capsico
 HB sause
 8n8 sauce
 Wochestershire sauce
 Tomato ketchup

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 Soya sause
 Chilli sauce

All the major sauces are made of three kinds of ingredients:

A liquid, the body of the sauce
A thickening agent
Additional seasoning and flavoring ingredients

A liquid: Liquid ingredients provide the body or the base of most sauces. There are five liquids on which
most sauces are built, and the resulting sauces are called Leading sauces/ Mother sauces/ Basic sauces.
White Stock (chicken, veal or fish) – for Veloute sauce
Brown Stock – for Brown sauce or Espagnole sauce
Milk – for White or Béchamel sauce
Tomato stock – for Tomato sauce
Clarified butter- for Hollandaise sauce
A thickening agent: A sauce must be thick enough to cling tightly to the food, and for the purpose we use
certain thickening agents. The most common thickening agent is flour. There are other starches which can also
be used as thickening agent like corn starch, bread crumbs, potato starch, rice flour, beurre manie, blood, egg
yolk, tapioca etc.
Starches
 Beurre manie – It is a mixture of equal parts of soft, raw butter and flour worked together to form a
smooth paste. Used for quick thickening at the end of cooking to finish the sauce. The raw butter adds to
flavor and gives a sheer to the sauce when it melts. When Beurre manie is used, it should always be added in
small quantities and then stirred till desire consistency is reached.
 White wash – A thin mixture of flour and cold water. Sauces made with white wash have neither good
flavor nor a fine texture as those made with roux.
 Cornstarch –Produces a sauce that is almost clear with a glossy texture. To use, mix with cold water or
other cold liquid until smooth. Stir in to hot liquid, bring to boil and simmer until the liquid turns clear and
there is no starchy taste. Do not boil for a long time or the starch may break down and the liquid will thin out.
Cornstarch has roughly twice the thickening power of flour.
 Arrowroot-Used like cornstarch, but it gives a clearer sauce.
 Instant starch-Readymade, pregeltinized, re-dried starch that instantly thicken even a cold liquid. Not
much used in sauce making and extensively used in Bakes shop.
 Bread Crumb-Crumbs will thicken a liquid very quickly because they have already been cooked, like
instant starches. Breadcrumbs may be used when smoothness of the texture is not desired.

Liaison-Eggs yolk and cream. Egg yolk have the power to thicken a sauce slightly due to coagulation of
eggs proteins when heated. Pure egg yolks coagulate at about 140 0 F to 1580 F i.e. 600 C to 700 C, for this
reason, they are beaten with heavy cream before use, because it increases its coagulation temperature to 180 0 F
to 1850 F (820 C to 850 C). Liaison is used primarily to give richness of flavor and smoothness of texture.
 Heavy Cream- Also adds thickness and flavor to the sauce.
 Blood-Also adds thickness to the sauce.
Additional seasoning and flavoring ingredients
We can use different flavoring and seasonings to give the sauce taste and aroma. The different herbs and
spices may be salt, pepper powder, marjoram, basil, thyme, sage, lemon grass, lemon rind, Monosodium
glutamate, rosemary, celery, parsley, bay leaf, cheese, etc.
Roux
Equal quantities of fat and flour, cooked to varying degrees to achieve a desired color and consistency in a
sauce/ liquid.
Starches like flour helps to thicken the sauce by the process of gelatinisation.
In gelatinisation, starch cells absorbs water and if more water is present, starch cells burst and become soluble
in water and this makes the liquid to thicken, to regulate the thickening and to check the desired color, roux is
cooked.
Ingredients for roux

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Fat
 Clarified butter – Is used to make the finest sauces because of its flavor, clarified butter contains a very
little moisture and it does not gelatinize the starch completely and doesn‘t make the roux hard to work.
 Margarine – Widely used in place of butter because of its lower cost. However, its flavor is inferior to
butter and does not make as fine a sauce.
 Animal fat – Chicken fat, beef drippings and lard, are used when their flavor is appropriate to the sauce.
E.g. chicken fat for chicken veloute and beef dripping and lard for beef gravy. When properly used animal fat
can enhance the flavor of the sauce.
 Vegetable oil or shortening – Can be used as for roux but has no flavor, solid shortening has a disadvantage
of having a high melting point, thus it gives unpleasant fuzzy feeling in mouth, hence best for bakeshop.

Flour: The thickening power of flour depends in part on its starch content, there are different types of flour
like cake flour, and bread flour and wheat flour, depending upon the starch, and fat should be added. Bread
flour has less starch and more protein than cake flour.
Preparing Roux: Roux is cooked to remove the raw, starchy taste of the flour, to reach a desired consistency
and color. There are basically 3 types of roux.
1. White roux – Prepared or cooked for a very less time to remove a raw taste of flour. Cooking should be
stopped as soon as the roux has gained sandy texture, before it begins to color. Used for Béchamel sauce, or
other white sauces, based on milk.
2. Blonde or pale roux – Cooked for a longer time till the roux attains light golden color. Blonde roux is used
for veloutes, sauces based on white stocks. The sauces have a pale ivory color.

3. Brown roux – is cooked until it takes on a light brown color and a nutty aroma. Cooking must take place
over a low heat so that the roux browns evenly without starching. For a deeper brown roux flour must be
browned in an oven before adding fat.
4. A browned roux has 1/3 rd the thickening power of white roux. but contributes flavor and color to brown
sauces.
Incorporating the Roux to liquid
 Liquid may be added to roux or roux may be added to the liquid.
 Liquid should be hot when the roux is cold and when the roux is hot, the liquid should be cold. But never
add chilled liquid, as it will solidify the fat granules

3.9 EGG PREPERATIONS

Dry-Heat Preparation: Dry-heat preparation of eggs primarily involves frying and baking. Egg dishes that
are commonly fried are fried eggs, scrambled eggs, and omelets. Baked egg dishes include shirred eggs,
meringues (both soft and hard), and soufflés. These dry-heat methods are now further discussed.
Frying: A frying pan, a sauté pan (omelet pan), or even a griddle can be used to fry eggs. Cast iron pans work
best for eggs if the pans are primed or seasoned. Priming is accomplished by rubbing a clean frying pan with a
thin layer of vegetable oil and setting it on moderate heat, which is then briefly increased to high. Then it is
removed from the heat and allowed to cool. Washing the frying pan with soap or cooking anything but eggs in
it removes the primed surface. Nonstick pans do not need to be primed or seasoned. Frying is used to prepare
fried and scrambled eggs and omelets.
Fried Eggs: For each fried egg, about 1 teaspoon or less of butter, margarine, or oil is added to a hot pan.
Clarified butter can also be used; it will not burn like regular butter. To cut down on fat, a bit of fat may be
spread on the pan‘s surface with a paper towel or waxed paper, or a vegetable spray may be applied to its
surface before heating. Too little fat causes sticking, but excessive fat will result in greasy eggs. The fat
should be hot enough to prevent the eggs from running, but not so hot that it toughens the egg proteins. The
temperature is just right when a drop of water dropped into a hot pan sizzles instead of either rolling around or
instantly vaporizing into the air. Yolks are less likely to break open when the eggs are cracked if the eggs are
allowed to warm very briefly in a bowl of hot water. Broken yolks can also be avoided by using fresh eggs
and/or by first breaking the eggs into a bowl or other container rather than dropping them directly from the
shell into a frying pan or griddle. Then, once the pan and the fat have been heated to the right stage, the eggs
should be slid from the bowl, no more than two at a time, onto the pan or griddle. The heat should be lowered
immediately to medium-high. Coagulation is then allowed to occur according to the following ―cook-to
order‖ stages:
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• Sunny-side up-The egg is cooked until the white is set and the yolk is still soft. The egg is not flipped.
Sunny-side up eggs may not be sufficiently cooked to eliminate bacteria, and thus some state health
departments do not allow them to be served to the public. Covering the pan with a lid during cooking gives the
yolk a rather opaque appearance, but eliminates any risk of an undercooked egg.
• Over easy-The eggs are flipped over when the whites are 75 percent set. Cooking continues until the whites
are completely cooked but the yolks are still soft.
• Over medium-The same as over easy, except that the yolks are partially set.
• Over hard-The same as over easy, except that the yolks are completely set.
Scrambled Eggs: Scrambled eggs are beaten while raw until well blended and may be seasoned with salt and
pepper or other seasonings. Liquid in the form of milk, cream, or water may be added to impart more body
and/or flavor and a soft, creamy texture. The added liquid, a tablespoon or less for each egg, creates steam
during cooking, which lifts the eggs and makes them lighter and fluffier. Too much liquid makes the eggs
watery and forms small, tough, curd-like masses. The beaten egg mixture is poured onto a heated surface, the
heat is reduced, and the eggs are gently stirred as soon as they begin to coagulate. Too much stirring will
break the egg into too many small pieces, so it is better to lift the cooked egg repeatedly with a spatula so the
undercooked portions may slide underneath rather than literally to stir them. Scrambled eggs are finished
cooking when they are set, yet still soft and moist. Like most egg dishes, they are best when served
immediately. In restaurants or when cooking for large crowds, it is recommended that scrambled eggs be
prepared in small batches, generally 3 quarts or less at a time.
Omelets: When eggs are beaten, cooked, and rolled into a cigar shape or folded into a f lat half circle, the
resulting dish is called an omelet. Both plain (French or American-style) and puff y (fluffy) omelets can be
prepared with or without fillings. Omelet preparation is considered so important by chefs that it is not unusual
for a job applicant to be asked to chop an onion and make an omelet as part of the interview process. Plain
omelets consist of whole eggs, beaten, seasoned as desired, and poured into a prepared pan heated to medium-
high. Once the mixture is in the pan, the heat is lowered to medium, and the mixture is not stirred. Uncooked
portions are allowed to cook by lifting just the edges of the omelet with a spatula so the runny mixture flows
underneath. When the top is firm, the omelet can be folded in half, rolled and folded over itself, or rolled and
slid onto a dish. If fillings are to be added, they are placed on top of the omelet just before it is folded.
Baking: Baking eggs and their ingredients leads to several different egg dishes: shirred eggs, meringues, and
soufflés.
Shirred Eggs: Whole eggs that are baked and served in individual dishes are called shirred eggs. The egg is
cracked, gently placed into a cup from which it can be rolled into a container coated with butter or margarine,
and then baked in an oven at 350°F (177°C) until cooked to order.
Meringue: A meringue is egg white foam used in dessert dishes as a pie topping, a cake layer, or as frosting.
It may also serve as a dessert on its own or be combined in other ways with dessert ingredients. Meringues are
made by whipping egg white into foam and adding sugar, the amount of which determines whether the
meringue is soft or hard. Soft meringues are made with about 2 tablespoons of granulated (preferably
superfine) sugar per egg white and are often used as pie toppings (e.g., lemon meringue pie). The sugar is
gradually added to the egg whites—three will cover an average pie—and the mixture is whipped to the soft
peak stage. The meringue is then spread immediately over the still-warm filling. A warm filling is necessary
so the egg-white proteins can coagulate and bind to it. The whole pie with the meringue is then baked in the
oven at between 325°F (163°C) and 350°F (177°C) for about 15 minutes. A temperature that is too low dries
the meringue; a temperature that is too high shrinks it. Some problems that can occur when preparing soft
meringues are shrinking, weeping, and beading.
• Shrinking- To prevent the meringue from shrinking back and leaving an unsightly gap around the outside
edges of the pie, it should be spread to slightly overlap the entire perimeter of the crust.
• Weeping-Also known as syneresis, weeping may be caused by under-beating the eggs, which leaves
unbeaten whites on the bottom of the beating bowl, or by under-coagulation, created, for example, by placing
meringue on a cold pie filling. A meringue can be protected from weeping by adding a teaspoon of cornstarch
to the sugar before beating it into the egg whites.
• Beading- Un-dissolved sugar is the main cause of beading, but overcooking (over-coagulation) also
contributes to this phenomenon. Beading can be avoided by using shorter cooking times and increasing the
temperature up to 425°F (218°C). Hard meringues are usually baked as cookies, but they can be formed into
different shapes and used as decorations on puddings or other desserts. They are prepared with twice the
amount of sugar used in soft meringues, about 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) per egg white. Confectioner‘s sugar is
preferred over granulated sugar for use in hard meringues, because it is more evenly distributed through the
32 | P a g e
beaten egg whites and lacks a gritty texture. Egg whites are beaten to the stiff stage, the sugar is beaten in, and
the resultant meringue is shaped, placed on a parchment-covered baking sheet, and baked at the low
temperature of 225°F (107°C) for about an hour or longer, depending on the size of the individual portions.
When the meringue is delicately browned and the end product firm, the oven is turned off , the door left open,
and the meringue left in the cooling oven for at least 5 minutes. Once the meringue is removed from the oven,
the remainder of the cooling period should occur in a warm place free of drafts.
Soufflés: A soufflé is actually a modified omelet. The main ingredients of a soufflé are a thick base generally
made from a white sauce or pastry cream, egg-white foam, and flavoring ingredients. Initially, the egg yolks
and whites are separated. A thick white sauce or pastry cream is prepared and combined with the egg yolks.
Stiffly beaten egg whites are folded into the thick egg yolk mixture (Figure 12-13). For a main dish soufflé,
flavoring ingredients such as diced or grated cheese, cooked meat, cooked seafood, and/or vegetables and
seasonings are added to this mixture. Dessert soufflés will include sweet ingredients like sugar, chocolate, or
fruit, but the process is the same. Whichever the type of soufflé, the entire combination is gently poured into a
lightly greased soufflé dish or other deep baking dish, placed in a larger pan of hot water, and baked in a
moderate (350°F/177°C) oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until delicately browned and firm to the touch. Small,
individual soufflés will take less time. The oven door should not be opened during baking until time to check
for doneness, because it creates a draft that can cause the soufflé to fall. Doneness is determined by gently
shaking the oven rack. If the center jiggles, even slightly, more baking time is required. When combining
beaten egg whites with other heavier mixtures, it is best to pour the heavier mixture onto the beaten egg
whites. Then gradually, using a spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients with a downward stroke into
the bowl, across, up, and over the mixture. Come up through the center of the mixture about every three
strokes and rotate the bowl during folding. Fold just until there are no streaks remaining in the mixture. Avoid
stirring, which will force air out of the egg whites.
Moist-Heat Preparation
Eggs can be prepared by moist heat using a variety of methods. Most common among these are ―boiled‖
eggs, coddled eggs prepared in a cup, poached eggs, a variety of custards, and eggs that are prepared using the
microwave. In all cases, eggs are cooked at simmering temperatures. Each of these methods and some of the
egg dishes produced are now discussed in more detail.
Coddling: Coddled eggs are prepared by breaking an egg into a small cup, called a coddler, made of porcelain
or heat-proof glass with a screw-on top, and submerging the whole coddler in simmering water until the egg is
cooked. The coddler should be buttered or greased before adding the raw egg. Cream or other flavorings such
as ham or bacon are sometimes added before cooking. Once done, the egg is eaten directly out of the coddler.
Poaching: Eggs are poached by being cracked and simmered in enough water to cover the egg by at least
twice its depth. Fresh USDA Grade AA eggs are best to use for poaching, because the whites are firmer and
less likely to spread out in the water and create streamers, floating strands of partially cooked egg whites. Salt
(½ teaspoon per cup) and/or vinegar (1 teaspoon per cup) may be added to the water to speed coagulation and
help to maintain a compact, oval shape of the egg. On the other hand, salt or vinegar will give the cooked egg
a shinier, tougher, and, perhaps, more shriveled surface than the one cooked in plain water. Poached eggs are
cooked for 3 to 5 minutes, removed with a slotted spoon, drained, trimmed of any streamers, and served
immediately. The well-poached egg should have a firm yolk and compact white. Poached eggs are commonly
used for eggs Benedict, consisting of an English muffin layered with a slice of ham or Canadian bacon,
followed by a poached egg, and topped with a dollop of hollandaise sauce.
Custards: Custards are mixtures of milk and/ or cream, sweeteners (sugar, honey), flavorings (vanilla,
nutmeg, etc.), and eggs or egg yolks. Custards are thickened by the coagulation of egg proteins during
cooking. These egg proteins denature when heated and recombine to form a network that sets or coagulates, at
the right temperature, to form the solid gel of custard. All custard dishes are very susceptible to microbial
contamination and should be covered and refrigerated as soon as possible after preparation. Custards are
distinguished by whether they are sweet or savory, and by their preparation method: stirred or baked.
Hard or Soft ―Boiled‖
Although the term hard-boiled eggs are commonly used, eggs should actually be simmered and never boiled,
because they will become tough and rubbery if so treated. The high heat of boiling also transforms the iron
in the egg yolk into ferrous sulfide, causing the greenish-black color and unpleasant flavor found in the yolk
of overly hard-cooked eggs. There are two methods for hard-cooking eggs: hot start and cold start. Each has
advantages and disadvantages; each produces acceptable products.

33 | P a g e
Hot-Start Method In the hot-start method, the water is heated to boiling and then the eggs are completely
immersed in the boiling water. The heat is immediately reduced to simmer, and the eggs are cooked for 3 to
15 minutes, depending on the desired doneness:
• Soft 3 to 4 minutes
• Medium 5 to 7 minutes
• Hard 12 to 15 minutes

The cooked eggs are drained and then rinsed under cold running water to stop further cooking from residual
heat. The extreme temperature change from hot to cold also helps loosen the egg‘s membrane from the shell,
making it easier to peel. To further ease peeling, the first crack should be made at the air cell located at the
larger end of the egg, and then the egg rolled gently between the hands to break the shell all over. Peeling
under cold running water also makes the job easier. Fresher eggs are harder to peel because the air cell is
smaller and the membrane is tight against the cell wall. Although the larger air cell and higher pH of older
eggs makes them easier to peel, they also tend to break more easily during heating. The benefits of using the
hot-start method are greater temperature control, eggs that are easier to peel, and a shorter total cooking time.
A drawback is that lowering the eggs into boiling water may cause them to crack.
Cold-Start Method In the cold start method, the eggs are placed in a saucepan with enough cold water to
cover them by at least an inch. Th e water is brought to a boil, immediately lowered to a simmer, and the eggs
are then cooked to order:
• Soft 1 minute
• Medium 3 to 5 minutes
• Hard 10 minutes

Another way to prepare hard-cooked eggs from a cold start is to remove the pan from the heat as soon as the
water boils, cover it tightly, and let it stand for 20 minutes. Cold-start eggs are less likely to crack during
cooking. The advantages to the cold-start method are that less attention to the process is required, the eggs are
easier to add to the water, and they are less likely to break. On the other hand, starting eggs out in cold water
may cause the egg white by the shell‘s surface to be more rubbery, and there is a greater chance of a greenish
tint forming on the egg white. Once cooked, eggs can be cut into slices or wedges using the slicing equipment.
Dipping the knife in hot water before slicing keeps the hard-cooked eggs from falling apart. To tell a hard-
cooked egg from a raw one, spin the egg on its side. A smoothly spinning egg is hard cooked, while one that
wobbles out of balance is not.
Custards: Custards are mixtures of milk and/ or cream, sweeteners (sugar, honey), flavorings (vanilla,
nutmeg, etc.), and eggs or egg yolks. Custards are thickened by the coagulation of egg proteins during
cooking. These egg proteins denature when heated and recombine to form a network that sets or coagulates, at
the right temperature, to form the solid gel of custard. All custard dishes are very susceptible to microbial
contamination and should be covered and refrigerated as soon as possible after preparation. Custards are
distinguished by whether they are sweet or savory, and by their preparation method: stirred or baked.
Sweet and Savory Custards
Sweet custards are served as desserts in the form of puddings or as fillings for éclairs and pies. Savory (non-
sweet) custards are used for dishes such as quiches. A popular quiche made with bacon and Swiss cheese is
known as quiche Lorraine.
Stirred Custard (Soft Custard or Custard Sauce)
The ingredients of this custard are stirred while being heated on the range over low heat or i n a double boiler.
The mixture retains a smooth, creamy, fluid consistency. Stirred custard is oft en eaten as a pudding; however,
it may provide the base for many frozen desserts; be served as a sauce for cake, fruit, and other desserts; or be
used to replace eggnog. The repeated stirring prevents the formation of a gel, so the custard mixture thickens
instead of gels.
Baked Custard: Baked custards are actually an example of dry-heat preparation. Both types of custards begin
with the same ingredients, but are simply heated differently. Baked custard mixes are poured into ungreased
custard cups that are placed in the oven, usually in a water bath (bain-marie), where they sit undisturbed and
gel during baking. A water bath is made by filling a large, low-sided pan with 1 inch of hot water, into which
the cups containing the custard mix are placed. The layer of water insulates the cups and prevents the outside
of the custard from cooking to completion before the inside has had a chance to coagulate.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS-II

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Q. 1 Define stock? Where all it can be used?
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Q2. What do you mean by weeping?
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Q3.What do you mean by the terms ―Sunny side up‖ and ―Over easy‖?
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3.10 SUMMARY
Cooking can be defined as the transfer of energy from one source to another. This energy alters the foods
molecular structure, changing its texture, flavor, aroma and appearance.
The cooking methods used to transfer heat: broiling, grilling, roasting and baking, sauteing, pan-frying, deep-
frying, poaching, simmering, boiling, steaming, braising and stewing.
Each method is used for many types of foods, so you will be applying one or more of them every time you
cook. In cooking, there are some basic methods of cooking that are used. These commonly used basic cooking
methods are divided into three general groups. The groups are: Dry heat cookery methods and Moist heat
cookery methods and the combination method. The methods of cooking are divided into these three groups
because of the way food is cooked and the type of heat that is used.
Moreover this chapter makes us understand
 Different types of stocks and their preparation, use and storage.
 Different types of egg preperations
 Mise-en-place before start of work.
 Effective techniques required for preparing a successful meal.

3.11 GLOSSARY
1. Conduction- When heat moves (conducts) directly from one item to the other, which is in contact with it.
For example from the top of the range to a pot placed on it, from the pot to the milk inside etc.
2. Radiation -Radiation occurs when energy is transferred by waves from the source to the food. The waves
themselves are not actually heat energy, but are changed into heat energy when they strike the food being
cooked
3. Gratinating-To cook with a covering of buttered crumbs or grated cheese until a crust or crisp surface
forms.
4. Fricasseing or fricassee-This is a method of cooking meat in which it is cut up, sautéed and braised.
5. Sous vide cooking- Sous-vide cooking-is a method of food preparation where the prepared food is cooked
in a sealed plastic pouch from which all or much of the air has been removed to prevent oxidation of the food.

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6. Julienne. Sliced food can be further cut up, or julienned, resulting in delicate sticks that are usually 1 to 3
inches long and only 1⁄16 to 1⁄8 of an inch thick.
7. Shred: to cut into thin strips, either with the coarse blade of a grater (manual or power) or with a chef‘s
knife
8. Breading-Breading means coating a product with bread crumbs or other crumbs or meal before deep-
frying, pan-frying, or sautéing.
9. Mirepoix - A mirepoix (meer-pwah in French pronunciation) is diced vegetable cooked for a long time on a
gentle heat without colour or browning, usually with butter or other fat or oil.
10. Bouquet garni an assortment of fresh herbs and other aromatic ingredients tied in a bundle with string.
11. Remouillage-It is prepared by simmering bones and mirepoix for a second time.
12. Court Bouillon -Or short broth, is often prepared as the cooking liquid for fish by simmering aromatic
vegetables in water with an acid such as wine or vinegar.
13. Beurre manie – It is a mixture of equal parts of soft, raw butter and flour worked together to form a
smooth paste.
14. Roux-Equal quantities of fat and flour, cooked to varying degrees to achieve a desired color and
consistency in a sauce/ liquid.

15. Meringue-A meringue is egg white foam used in dessert dishes as a pie topping, a cake layer, or as
frosting.

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