THE FOOD-SERVICE
INDUSTRY
CHAPTER 1
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE FOOD-SERVICE INDUSTRY
• It is an exciting time to be starting a career in food
service!
– Interest in food and cuisine is soaring.
– The industry has many openings for talented creative
people.
– New restaurants opening, new interest in dining, and
a vast availability of foods are making for a
challenging and rewarding future.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE FOOD-SERVICE INDUSTRY
• The chef of today is respected as an artist and
craftsperson.
• Thousands of skilled food-service people are needed
every year.
• The truth behind all the celebrity chefs and the
glamorous side of the industry is that it takes many years
of hard work and being able to handle pressure to be
successful.
• High levels of job satisfaction, financial gain, and
immediate feedback on your work are part of the
fascination with the industry.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
THE ORIGINS OF CLASSICAL AND MODERN CUISINE
• Boulanger’s Restaurant
– The first known modern restaurant was opened in 1765 by a
Parisian tavern keeper, Monsieur Boulanger.
– Boulanger sold soups, which he called restaurants or
restoratives; derived from the French word restaurer (to restore
or fortify).
– The guilds charged that Boulanger had violated their rules.
– Boulanger challenged the rules of the guilds and won, unwittingly
changing the course of modern food service.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
THE ORIGINS OF CLASSICAL AND MODERN
CUISINE (CONT’D)
• The French Revolution
– Before the French Revolution (1789): Great chefs
worked for nobility, and food service was controlled by
guilds.
– The revolutionary government abolished the guilds,
which left many chefs without work.
– Many of these chefs opened restaurants, which
allowed the public access to skills and creativity of
sophisticated chefs.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
CARÊME
• Chef Marie-Antoine Carême
(1784–1833)
– A great chef of the time whose career spanned 30 years; the
chefs to kings, heads of state, and wealthy persons.
– He developed grand cuisine, characterized by meals with
dozens of courses of elaborately and intricately prepared,
presented, garnished, and sauced foods.
– His books contain the first real systematic account of cooking
principles, recipes, and menu making.
– He was one of the primary reasons cooking of the Middle Ages
was brought into the modern era.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
ESCOFFIER
• Chef Georges-Auguste Escoffier
(1847–1935)
– Escoffier brought French cuisine into the twentieth century and is
considered to be the father of twentieth-century cooking.
– Escoffier rejected the “general confusion” of the old menus in
which quantity seemed to be the main emphasis.
– He called for order and diversity and a careful selection of one or
two items per course.
– The basic cooking methods and preparations we study today are
based on Escoffier’s work. His book Le Guide Culinaire, which
is still widely used, arranges recipes in a simple system based
on main ingredient and cooking method.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
ESCOFFIER (CONT’D)
• Called for order and diversity in dish preparation.
• Emphasized the importance of selecting one or two
dishes per course that would follow each other
harmoniously and delight the taste with their delicacy
and simplicity.
• Escoffier’s recipes and books are still quality references
for chefs of today.
• Escoffier’s second major accomplishment was
reorganizing the kitchen, creating a streamlined
workplace. He called this system the brigade system
and it is still used today around the world.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
• Development of New Equipment
– The easily controlled heat of modern cooking
equipment and the use of motorized cutters and
mixers have greatly simplified work.
– With sophisticated cooling, freezing, and heating
equipment, some foods can be prepared further in
advance and in larger quantities.
– Some large multi-unit chains prepare foods in central
commissaries for distribution to their individual stores.
They cook, cool, or freeze the foods at the peak of
their quality and flavor.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
MODERN TECHNOLOGY (CONT’D)
• Development and Availability of New Food Products
– Modern refrigeration and rapid transportation caused
revolutionary changes in eating habits.
– Exotic delicacies can now be shipped from anywhere
in the world and arrive fresh and in peak condition.
– Freezing, canning, freeze-drying, vacuum-packing,
and irradiation—increased the availability of most
foods and made affordable some that were once rare
and expensive.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
MODERN TECHNOLOGY (CONT’D)
• Development and Availability of New Food Products
(cont’d)
– Techniques of food production are changing rapidly. It
is now possible to do some preparation and
processing away from the food service operation
rather than in it.
– Convenience foods will continue to be a increasing
share of the market.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
MODERN TECHNOLOGY (CONT’D)
• Food Safety and Nutritional Awareness
– The development of the sciences of microbiology and
nutrition have had a considerable impact on food
service. A hundred years ago, little was known about
sanitation and nutrition.
– Nutrition and sanitation are a very important aspect of
a cook’s training.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
A HISTORY OF MODERN FOOD
SERVICE
MODERN TECHNOLOGY (CONT’D)
• Food Safety and Nutritional Awareness (cont’d)
– Today customers are very knowledgeable about
nutrition and are more likely to demand healthful and
well-balanced menus.
– Food allergies and intolerances:
• Not only are chefs called upon to provide
nutritious, low-fat, low-calorie meals, they must
also adapt to the needs of customers who must
eliminate certain foods from their diets, such as
gluten, soy, dairy, or eggs.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
• Two opposing forces can be seen at work throughout the
history of cooking:
– The urge to simplify, to eliminate complexity and
ornamentation, and instead to emphasize the plain,
natural tastes of basic, fresh ingredients.
– The urge to invent, to highlight the creativity of the
chef, with an accent on fancier, more complicated
presentations and procedures.
• Both forces are valid and healthy; they continually
refresh and renew the art of cooking.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
• The most influential chef in the middle of the twentieth
was Fernand Point
(1897–1955).
• Many of his apprentices, including Paul Bocuse, Jean
and Pierre Troisgros, and Alain Chapel, later became
some of the greatest stars of modern cooking.
• They, along with other chefs in their generation, became
best known in the 1960s and early 1970s for a style of
cooking called nouvelle
cuisine.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
• Nouvelle cuisine: Rejecting many traditional principles,
nouvelle cuisine urged more simpler, natural flavors and
preparations to be utilized in cooking.
– Emphasis placed on artful plating presentations done
in the kitchen by the chef rather than by waiters in the
dining room.
– The best achievements of nouvelle cuisine have
taken a permanent place in the classical tradition;
many of its excesses have been forgotten.
– The best ideas and the longest-lasting
accomplishments come from classically trained chefs
with a solid grounding in the basics.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
NEW EMPHASIS ON INGREDIENTS
• Slow food: A prominent movement dedicated to
improving food quality.
– Alice Waters’philosophy: good food depends on good
ingredients.
– Larry Forgione: made a name for himself and his New
York City restaurant in part by emphasizing goodquality local ingredients
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
NEW EMPHASIS ON INGREDIENTS (CONT’D)
• The public has benefited greatly from these efforts.
• Supermarkets as well as restaurants offer a much
greater variety of high-quality foods than was available
40 or 50 years ago.
• Many chefs have modified their cooking styles to
highlight the natural flavors and textures of their
ingredients, and their menus are often simpler now for
this reason.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES
• Travel became easier.
• New waves of immigrants arrived in Europe and North
America from around the world.
• Awareness of and taste for regional dishes grew.
• Chefs became more knowledgeable about the traditional
cuisines of other parts of Europe and those of Asia, Latin
America, and elsewhere.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES (CONT’D)
• The use of ingredients and techniques from more than
one regional, or international, cuisine in a single dish is
known as fusion cuisine.
• Today, chefs make good use of all the ingredients and
techniques available to them.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
• The practice of cooking sous vide
(French for
“under vacuum”).
– Sous vide began simply as a method for packaging
and storing foods in vacuum sealed plastic bags.
– Modern chefs are exploring ways to use this
technology to control cooking temperatures and times
with extreme precision.
– As a result, familiar foods have emerged with new
textures and flavors.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
COOKING IN THE TWENTIETH AND
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
NEW TECHNOLOGIES (CONT’D)
• The practice of cooking molecular gastronomy explores
new possibilities in gels, foams, powders, infusions,
extracts, and other unexpected ways of presenting
flavors, textures, and aromas.
– Pioneered by the Spanish chef Ferran Adrià
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF MODERN
KITCHENS
THE BASIS OF KITCHEN ORGANIZATION
• The way a kitchen is organized depends on several
factors:
• The menu
• Type of establishment (e.g., hotels, institutional kitchens,
clubs, catering and banquet services, restaurants, carryout or take-out facilities, private homes)
• The size of the operation
• The physical facilities, including equipment
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF MODERN
KITCHENS
THE CLASSICAL BRIGADE
• The chef is the person in charge of the kitchen. In large
establishments he/she might be called the executive
chef.
• If a food service operation is large and has several
individual departments or several units in different
locations, each kitchen may have a chef de cuisine,
who reports to the executive chef.
• The sous chef is normally second in command and
controls production and staff supervision.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF MODERN
KITCHENS
THE CLASSICAL BRIGADE (CONT’D)
• The station chefs are in charge of specific areas of
production:
– The saucier
: responsible for sauces, stews,
stocks, hot hors d’oeuvres, and sautéed items
– The poissonier
: prepares fish dishes
– The rôtisseur
: roasted and braised meats and
their gravies and broiled meats
– The grillardin
: in larger kitchens–broiled items,
and maybe deep-fried meats and fish
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF MODERN
KITCHENS
THE CLASSICAL BRIGADE (CONT’D)
• The station chefs are in charge of specific areas of
production (cont’d):
– The garde manger
: cold foods, including salads,
dressings, pâté, cold hors d’oeuvres, and buffet items
– The pâtissier
: pastries and desserts
– The tournant
: relief cook or swing cook
– The expediter or aboyeur
: takes orders from
waiters and passes them on to cooks
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF
MODERN KITCHENS
MODERN KITCHEN ORGANIZATION
• A large establishment needs a staff like the classical brigade.
• Most modern operations are smaller.
• The size of the classical brigade may be reduced simply by
combining two or more positions where the workload allows it.
• A typical medium-size operation may employ a chef, a second cook,
a broiler cook, a pantry cook, and a few cooks’ helpers.
• A working chef is in charge of operations not large enough to have
an executive chef.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF
MODERN KITCHENS
Modern Kitchen Organization (cont’d)
• Cooks who prepare or finish hot à la carte items during
service in a restaurant may be known as line cooks.
• The short-order cook’s responsibility is the preparation
of foods that are quickly prepared to order.
• A breakfast cook is skilled at quickly and efficiently
turning out egg dishes and other breakfast items to
order.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF
MODERN KITCHENS
SKILL LEVELS
Skills can be grouped into three categories:
1. Supervisory
2. Skilled and technical
3. Entry level
• Starting at the entry level has been the traditional
method of advancing one’s food service career.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE ORGANIZATION OF
MODERN KITCHENS
Skill Levels (cont’d)
Today, many cooks are graduates of culinary schools and
programs.
•Even with such an education, many new graduates begin
at entry-level positions.
•This is as it should be and certainly should not be seen as
discouragement.
•Schools teach general cooking knowledge.
•Every food-service establishment requires specific skills
according to its own menu and its own procedures.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
STANDARDS OF
PROFESSIONALISM
These are the qualities that a professional must have:
1. A positive attitude on the job
2. Staying power: requires physical and mental stamina
3. Ability to work with people
4. Eagerness to learn
5. A full range of skills
6. Experience
7. Dedication to quality
8. Understanding of the basics
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.