Chapter 5
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TOOLS
AND
EQUIPMENTS
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H
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TOOLS
& EQUIPMENTS
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After studying this chapter you, will able to:
Ø
Recognize varieties of professional kitchen
tools.
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Select and care of knife.
Ø
Understand how a professional kitchen is organised.
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A wide variety
of specialised tools and equipments are available for today’s Chefs and
culinary students. All the equipments are designed to speed production by
reducing handwork.
Before using any
equipment, study the operating manual. And remember; always think safety as
safety is most important.
v Standard for tools and
equipments
1.
Equipment must be easily cleanable.
2.
All the food contact surface should be
nontoxic, non corrosion, non absorbent and nonreactive.
3.
All food contact must be smooth, that is,
free of pits, cracks, crevices, ledges, rivet heads and bolts.
4.
Internal corners and edges must be rounded
and smooth, external corners and angles must be smooth and sealed.
5.
Coating material must be resist chipping and
cracking.
Points to be considered before purchasing
equipments
1.
Is the equipment necessary for production?
2.
How much space equipment will take to
perform the required job?
3.
Equipment is easily cleanable?
v Hand Tools
These are the tools
designed for performing various tasks such as cutting, shaping, moving or
mixing foods. Hand tools are mainly easy to carry and move from one place to
another.
List of Hand
tools:
1.
Plain slotted and perforated spoons.
2.
Meat Mallet.
3.
Vegetable Peeler.
4.
Spatula.
5.
Tongs.
6.
Can opener.
7.
Knives.
8.
Melon Ball Cutter ( small end also known as
Persian scoop)
v Knives
Knives are the
most important items in a Chef’s tool kit. With a sharp knife a chef can
accomplish number of tasks more quickly and efficiently than any machine. Good quality knives are expensive but will
last longer with proper care. One should always select easily sharpened, easily
constructed knives that are comfortable in your hand. Always use a well
sharpened knife as I believe “ A blunt
knife is much dangerous then a sharp knife”.
Generally
knife blades are made up of single piece of metal. The metal generally use for
knife blades are:
1.
Carbon
still- An alloy of carbon and Iron.
2.
Stainless
steel
3.
High
Carbon Stainless steel- An alloy combining the best features of carbon
steel and stainless still.
v Parts of a knife
1.
Tang
2.
Rivets
3.
Bolster
4.
Heel
5.
Spine
6.
Cutting Edge
7.
Tip
v Types of Knives
You will
collect or use many knives in your career; every knife will have specific use
in culinary.
v French or Chef’s Knife
An all purpose knife use for chopping, mincing and
slicing. Its 8- to- 14 inches blade is
rigid and wide at the heel and tapers to a point at the tip.
v Utility Knife
An all purpose 6- to- 8 inches knife use for cutting fruits
and vegetables and carving poultry.
Its blade shape like chef’s knife but narrower.
v Boning Knife
Knife with a thin 5
t0 7 inches blade use to separate skin from the bone.
v Paring Knife
A short knife with 2 to 4 inches blade use for detail work
or cutting fruits and vegetables. A bird’s beak knife is similar to paring
knife but with a curved blade; it is used for cutting curved surface.
v Slicer
A knife with long thin blade use to slice cooked meat. A similar knife with serrated blade is use to
slice bread or pastry items.
v Butcher’s Knife
Also known as scimitar because the rigid blade curves
at 25- degree angle at tip. It is use to fabricate raw meat.
v Oyster and Clam Knife
The short rigid blade of these knifes are use to open
oyster and clam shells.
v MEASURING AND PORTIONING
DEVICES
Measuring and portioning
devices are use to measure ingredients and food; recipe ingredients should be
precisely measured, especially in the bakeshop and food should be measured when
served to control portion size and cost.
Measurement may base upon the
weight or volume. Therefore it is necessary to have various measuring devices,
including liquid and dry measuring cups and variety of scales. Thermometer and
timers are also measuring device.
v Scales
Weight of an ingredient and portion
of food (for eg. Sliced meat or sandwich) is done with the help of scale. Now
the days different kinds of weighing scales are available; such as Digital,
Spring mechanism and Balance scales.
v Volume Measures
Ingredients may be measured by
volume using measuring spoons, measuring cups and measuring jars. Measuring
spoons comes in different sizes, usually include 1/4-, ½, 1-teaspoon and 1
tablespoon units; here one teaspoon is equal to 5gm and 1 tablespoon is equal
to 15gm.Liquid measuring cups are also available in capacities from 1 cup to 1
gallon.
Ladles
Ladles are useful for
portioning liquids such as stocks, sauces or gravies and soups. The capacity,
in ounces, is stamped on ladles.
v
Portion
Scoops
Scoops are use useful for
portioning salads, vegetables, muffins or other soft foods. Numbers are stamped
on either the handle or the release mechanism of the scoop indicates the
capacity of scoop. Bigger the number, smaller the scoop’s capacity.
v Thermometer
It’s is another important
measuring tool, use for measuring temperature of food. Different types of
thermometers use in kitchen.
Instant read thermometer is
small stem-type model, designed to carried in pocket and used to provide quick
temperature readings. It’s is inserted into the food to get reading. An instant
type of thermometer should never left inside the cooking food because it will
damage the thermometer.
Candy and fat thermometers
measures temperature using mercury in a column of glass, it measures
temperature up to 4000F (2040F).
v COOK WARE
Cookware includes all the utensils which are used to cook food either
on top of stove (stockpot, pan etc.) or
inside the oven (roasting pans, hotel pans and speciality molds). Cookware
should be selected for its size, shape, ability to conduct heat evenly and
overall quality of construction.
v Metals and heat conditions
No one cookware or material suites every process
or need however always select the most appropriate material for the task.
Cookware that fails in distributing even heat may cause hot spots that burn
foods. Because different metals conduct heat at different rates, the thicker
layer metal always distribute even heat than the thinner ones, thickness and type should be considered while choosing
metal used.
v COPPER
Copper heats
rapidly and evenly and cools quickly. Copper is good conductor of heat. But
copper is extremely expensive and it require great deal of care and is often
quite heavy. Copper reacts with some food, copper cook wares usually have tin
lining. Now the days copper is sandwiched between layers of steel or aluminium
in the bottom of pots and pans.
v ALUMINIUM
Aluminium is the metal used
mostly in commercial utensils . It’s light weight and after copper, conducts
hat best. Aluminium is the soft metal and it should not use in cooking of
acidic foods, reacts chemically with many foods.
v Stainless steel
It’s hard durable metal useful for holding foods and
for low-temperature cooking where hot spots and scorching are not problems.
Although stainless steel conducts poor heat.
v Cast Iron
Cast iron holds high temperature and distributes heat
evenly. It’s often used in griddles and large skillets.
v GLASS
Glass retains heat well but conducts it poorly. It
does not react with food. Tempered glass is suitable for microwave cooking.
Commercial operations rarely use glass cookware because of the danger of
breakage.
v Ceramics
Ceramics including earthenware, porcelain and
stoneware, are used primarily for baking dishes, casseroles and baking stones
because they conduct heat uniformly and retain temperature well.
v Plastic
Plastic containers are not used for cooking but use as
storage of food. Plastic containers can be use for heat or cooking food only in
microwave oven. Plastic microwave cookware is made of phenolic resin.
v Enamelware
Pans lined with enamel should not be used for cooking;
in many areas, their use in commercial kitchens is prohibited by law. The
enamel can chip or crack easily, providing good places for bacteria to grow.
v Non-stick Coatings
Without affecting a metal’s ability to conduct heat, a
polymer (plastic) known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and marketed under
trade names Teflon may be applied to many types of cookware. It provides a
slippery, noreactive finish that prevents food from sticking and allows the use
of less fat in cooking. Cookware with non stick coating require great deal of
care. Do not use metal spoons or spatulas in cookware with non-stick coating.
Common cookware
Pots
Pots are large round vessels with straight side walls
along with to handles. Available in different sizes and volumes, pots are used
on stove top for making stocks or soups, or for boiling or simmering foods, particularly
where repid evaporation is not required.
Pans
Pans are round vessels with one long handle and
straight or sloped sides, smaller and shallower than pots. Pans are available
in a range of diameter and are use for general cooking, specially for stir
frying sautéing, frying or reducing liquids rapidly.
Woks
Woks are now found in many professional kitchens,
originally use to cook Asian foods. Woks are useful sautéing, stir frying or
deep frying.
Hotel pans
Hotel pans are rectangular food pans use to hold foods
in steam tables. Hotel pans are also use for baking, roasting or poaching
inside and oven. Perforated pans are also available and use for draining or
icing down and steaming. The standard full size pan is 12 by 20 inches.
Molds
Molds are available in different sizes and shapes, and
are usually made up of tinned steel.
STRAINERS
AND SIEVE
Strainers and sives are used to remove impurities from
dry ingredientsor drain or puree cooked foods.
These are non
mechanical equipments with a stainless steel mesh through which food
passes.
Chinois and China cap:
Both the chinois
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