Selection and preparation of ingredients, including meats, seafood, vegetables, and cheeses

Food selection and preparation work process

Selecting foods always requires great care. In order for individual foods to be flawless in every aspect, it is often not enough to merely list the necessary nutrients for their preparation in general terms. After all, different cuts of meat, types of apples, carrots, paprika spices, flours, egg noodles, and other ingredients have different properties. It also matters when a particular vegetable or fruit was harvested, what the shape, size, and structure of the food are, and so on. All of this implies that to choose the most suitable ingredients for a particular dish, one needs precise knowledge of the foods, the dish to be prepared, the preparation process, and the cooking itself.

 

We call the edible parts of slaughtered animals meat. It is important for the human body because it contains complete proteins that the human body cannot produce on its own. Complete proteins play a vital role in cell building. The protein content of meat ranges from 16% to 22%. The meat of young animals has a high water content (60-75%). The fat content of meat varies depending on the animal’s species and diet, ranging from 2% to 40%. Meat is rich in vitamin B, while offal contains vitamins A and D. Among the minerals, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, and copper are significant. When selecting meat, choose the type that suits the nature of the dish. Prepare the given dish from the appropriate meat cut. For example, make a beef steak from high sirloin.

Searing: wipe off the marinade juices from the marinated meat, then sear with strips of cured smoked bacon, parallel to the fibers, using a sewing needle.

Slicing: wipe off the marinade juices from the marinated meat, then cut it perpendicular to the fibers in the weight specified in the material ratio. In the case of marinated meat, the cleaning loss no longer has

to be reckoned with, it occurred during paring. Now, when slicing, the cooking loss must be taken into account.

Open slicing: we use this slicing method when preparing stuffed foods. Cut the slice perpendicular to the grain of the meat, but set the knife 1 cm from the lower half of the meat, fold the slice down, and cut the next slice. This way, we have a large surface area of meat available for filling.

Knocking: Operation for loosening the fibers of the meat. Do it carefully, don’t tear the meat while knocking.

Preparation of thighs and shoulder blades: after washing and paring, they can be cut as desired.

Cut into slices: see slicing.

Cut into cubes: Cut 2 cm thick slices from the prepared meat perpendicular to the fibers, lay the resulting slices on the cutting board into 2 cm wide strips, then cut into cubes.

Cut into strips: Cut 8 mm thick slices from the prepared meat perpendicular to the fibers, lay the resulting slices on the cutting board, then cut them into pencil-thick strips.

Preparation of marrow: Wash the marrow, soak it in cold water, then peel off the membranes. Boil in salted, lemon water and cool. We prepare it by frying it.

Liver preparation: wash the liver, dry it, cut out blood vessels, and then cut it into pieces as desired.

The fish can be cleaned by scaling or skinning. To do this, lay the animal on its side, hold its tail with one hand, and peel off the scales with a sharp, pointed knife, moving from the tail to the head. During this, we slide the knife between the skin and the scales to “snap off” or scrape off the scales, preferably without messing up the animal’s skin. (Fish are mostly slippery, so it helps a lot to handle them safely if you first wipe their surface dry and then hold them with a kitchen towel.) If the scales are difficult to remove from the skin, put the fish in warm water for a few minutes. The meat of the fish should be washed several times with plenty of cold water during cleaning and at the end. Exceptions are trout and horse mackerel. Due to their small and deep-seated scales, these two species are difficult to clean in a traditional way, so it is sufficient to remove the mucus from their bodies by scraping or rinsing with a nail brush.

Seafood (fruti di mare in Italian) is not exactly one of the basic elements of Hungarian gastronomy, but it is gaining ground more and more. Since the world has opened up so much today, due to our travels and the increase in the supply of imported goods from distant countries, they appear more and more often in domestic hospitality and on home menus.

Aquatic creatures called seafood can be divided into crustaceans and molluscs. Among the crabs, tiger, king, king crab, lobster, crawfish, or perhaps the most easily available in our country (in stores, of course), shrimp are better known. Molluscs include various shellfish (oysters, blue mussels), octopuses of various sizes, and squid.

The advantage of arthropod crabs is that their energy content is typically not very high, but their protein content is favorable, and they also contain many minerals (calcium, magnesium, iodine, selenium) and vitamins (vitamin B1, B2, B12, niacin). Their fat content is close to that of less fatty fish, but their cholesterol content can be much higher, although according to some research, there is no need to worry about this, since they do not increase blood cholesterol levels, or not significantly. Edible shellfish are also rich in protein, and the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids they contain can compete with that of fish, while their cholesterol content is very low.

In addition to their many favorable properties, however, they are not simple foods, especially when it comes to food hygiene hazards. A lunch or dinner containing seafood from an uncontrolled source that is not carefully selected can easily lead to serious health problems (stomach upset, food contamination). At best, only temporarily. Mussels, for example, are considered one of the hundred most dangerous animals in the world due to the risk of food poisoning from improper preparation.

We always use the best raw materials for plant-based foods, food that matches the nature of the food. It is important to use high-quality raw materials to prepare our food. Food is a primary need for our body, which, in addition to the pleasures of the table, also provides important basic and protective nutrients, carbohydrates, and fats for the body. The quality of fresh vegetables and the dishes that can be prepared from them is determined by the ripeness, freshness, intactness, flawlessness, and variety identity of the raw material.

Green

 

The most important cereals used in the hospitality industry:

– 1. Wheat flours

– 2. Rice varieties

– 3. Rye mill products

– 4. corn grits

Rice: The second most important cereal after wheat. In addition to making side dishes, it is also used to make flour, rice wine, and rice milk. Due to its very favorable physiological effects, it is also suitable for curing various diseases, it contains B vitamins, calcium, iron, protein, starch, fiber. The consumption of rice bran is recommended for the treatment of skin diseases and hair loss, and rice bran is recommended for feeding small children and elderly patients in case of intestinal inflammation. Brown rice is recommended for stomach problems. Rice milk can be consumed by people with milk sensitivity.

Task 1

List the food groups of plant origin. Write an example for each group.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ . 

 

Task 2

The chef in charge of the shift asks you to carefully look at the table containing the cleaning loss of vegetables, and then use basic operations to calculate how many kg of potatoes you need to clean to make 20 servings of salted potatoes, if the cleaning loss is 30%. They want to serve a portion of potato side dish with 200g.

 

Task 3

What do the following terms mean?

Spawning:

Barding:

Parrying:

Open slicing:

Stationery:

 

Task 4

Describe the sequence of operations for preparing the rack.

 

Task 5

Gather the tools you’ll need if you need to prepare your kale in February for cooking.

 

Task 6

Complete the incomplete and inaccurate description below!

Poultry can also be prepared in the meat processor. This work process – the poultry

meat due to significant salmonella contamination – other meats

from its preparation

……………………………………………, and then it must be thoroughly washed, as well as………………………………………………….used a permanently marked device.

Ingredients for Main Dishes

Basic techniques for seasonig and flavouring ingredients

Some practical guidelines for using spices

The spices used should always match the nature of the food, and don’t forget that sometimes less is more. The seasoning should not be excessive.

The taste of vegetable dishes is more pronounced with milder seasoning, while a dish made from game meat can be seasoned more boldly, which can be used to dampen the characteristic smell and taste of game meat. Dishes served cold can also be seasoned more boldly.

Dried spices have a stronger flavor than fresh ones.

Make sure to store the spices correctly. Fresh spices – e.g. lemon grass, sage – sprinkled with a little water in a plastic bag, they can last up to a week in the refrigerator. Fresh spices can also be stored in a freezer, so their aroma and physiological value are better preserved.

If possible, dry spices are stored in airtight containers protected from light.

There are processing techniques that can be used to increase the flavoring power, smell, and aroma of dried spices. Such e.g. grinding, which is best done before use, because they preserve their aroma longer. Can be ground e.g. pepper, cloves, allspice. If the ginger or cardamom is slightly crushed, the seasoning effect will be more favorable. You can enhance the smell and aroma of mustard seeds and coriander by dry roasting them.

If you run out of bay leaves at home, you can replace them with parsley and thyme. If you run out of black pepper, you can replace it with peppercorns, and instead of parsley and basil, you can use bay leaves and thyme.

Professionally applied seasoning in a way that suits the given food increases the enjoyment value and is also useful from a nutritional and physiological point of view.

Learning outcomes/results (ECVET)

You know the basic aspects of food selection.

She/He understands the processes of food preparation and can organically define the processes!

He/She is aware of the preparatory operations, knows his role and characteristic operations.

He/She is aware of the preparation operations, knows his role and characteristic operations.

You are aware of additional operations, know its role and characteristic operations.