Hotel Management Class Notes 14

Shredders

A shredder cuts the fruits and vegetables into string-like fine pieces, which are useful in salads and vegetarian cookery.

Kitchen Knives

Knives are used across various small volume dicing, cutting, slicing, carving, and filleting. There are various knives used for different cutting and carving purposes −

• Paring knife− It is used for fine cutting work, removing onion skins, and cutting small fruits.
• Utility knife− It is used in general purpose cutting and scraping.
• Steak knife− It is used for cutting steaks.
• Santoku knife− Originated in Japan, this knife is used for cutting, dicing, and mincing. (Santoku = Three virtues)
• Chef’s General knife− It is a multi-purpose knife used on multiple commodities such as vegetables, fruits, meat, and poultry.
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• Serrated knife (Bread Knife)− It has a long thin blade with serrated edge that provides sawing-like motion. It is used to slice certain foods with firm skins or outer layers such as bread, tomatoes, and capsicums.
• Boning/Filleting knives− They come with a narrow, sharp, and flexible blade and a protruding heel near the handle. They can run along the bones of flat fish or ribs smoothly.
• Carving knife− This knife comes with a long, thin and sharp blade to ensure neat and accurate cutting.
• Slicing knife− It has a long sharp blade that tapers at the end and helps slicing fruits and vegetables finely.
• Turning knife− It is an essential component to present the food in a unique way. This knife has a small curved blade that is used to carve the vegetables into the shape of a container.
• Cleaver− It is a butchers’ knife. It is very strong and sharp to cut through large pieces of meat such as pork and beef.

Now let us see the fuels typically used in commercial kitchen for cooking.

Fuels and Energy Used for Cooking

Fuel is a prime necessity in cookery. There are various types of fuels used for cooking food. Mainly two types of fuels are used in food production − Solid fuels and Liquid fuels.

Wood Fuel

It can be acquired from logs, wood chips, and bamboo pellets. Seasoned logs are more popular in commercial kitchen as they contain less moisture. The more the moisture, more is the smoke created while burning.

Though it is easily available, it requires a separate storage space at commercial food production end. Its calorific value is around 3500 Kcal/kg for moist wood and up to 4700 Kcal/kg for dry wood.

Charcoal

It is obtained by slow heating of wood, animal or vegetable remains in the absence of oxygen. Charcoal is easily available and widely accepted as commercial cooking fuel. It produces less smoke than wood fuel. It also requires separate storage space. Its calorific value is around 7500 Kcal/kg.

Solid fuels are useful in direct heating ovens, three stone stoves, tandoor, and barbeques. This fuel can emit carbon or ash particles while burning. Solid fuels give gradual heating. The initial cost is low. It also gives a tempting smoky aroma to the baked/roasted food.

Liquid Propane

It is nothing but LPG, a mixture of propane and butane gases that exist in liquid state at room temperature. The LPG is highly inflammable and burns with a blue flame without emitting smoke, and it can be controlled precisely. Its calorific value is around 1000 Kcal/kg.

Kerosene

It is also a petroleum product used in commercial kitchens for cooking. The liquid fuels produce heat almost instantly. The initial cost can be high. They are convenient to use but risky if proper safety precautions are not followed while handling these fuels.

Electricity

Though electricity is considered as an alternative fuel under energy power, it is the most commonly used heat energy for cooking. Most of the commercial co king appliances operate on electricity. Electricity provides instant heating. The heat can be regulated as per the requirement. It is easy to access, though the initial cost of wiring may be considerable.