LECTURE NOTES

LEVEL: CERTIFICATE

TOPIC: KITCHEN ORGANISATION

DATE: 23/01/24

KITCHEN ORGANISATION

Kitchen organization refers to a group of kitchen staff working together in the kitchen to achieve
a mutual goal. It means working together to produce the right quantity and quality of food most
effectively and efficiently justifying the money, material, and manpower.

Hierarchy of Kitchen Department

The purpose of kitchen organization is to assign or allocate tasks so they can be done efficiently
and properly because all workers know what their responsibilities are. The way a kitchen is
organized depends on following factors:

[Link] Menu: The kinds of dishes to be produced obviously determine the jobs that must be
done. The menu is, in fact, the basis of the entire operation.

2. The Type of Establishment :The major types of food-service establishments are as follows:
a. Hotels
b. Institutional kitchens Schools Hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care institutions and
executive dining rooms Airline catering Military food service institutions
c. Private clubs
d. Catering and banquet services
e. Fast-food restaurants
f. Carry-out or take-out food facilities, including supermarkets
g. Full-service restaurants

3. The size of the operation (the number of customers and the volume of food served).

4. The physical facilities, including the equipment in used.

As you can see, only a large establishment needs a staff like the classical brigade . In fact, some
large hotels have even larger staffs, with other positions such as separate day and night sous
chefs, assistant chef, banquet chef, butcher, baker, and so on. Most modern operations, on the
other hand, are smaller than this. The size of the classical brigade may be reduced simply by
combining two or more positions where the workload allows it.

KITCHEN BRIGADE

 The kitchen brigade system, also known as the “brigade de cuisine”, is a framework for
hiring and organizing restaurant kitchen staff to maximize efficiency.
 In the system, everyone has a specific and useful role, which helps the kitchen run like a
well-oiled machine.
 The full brigade consists of more than 20 kitchen jobs including an executive chef, sous
chef, and multiple types of chefs de partie (line cooks) who oversee particular stations.
Examples of line cooks in the full brigade de cuisine include a potager, who oversees the
soups, a poissonnier, who is responsible for seafood dishes, and a patisserie, who
oversees the pastry program.
 The kitchen brigade system has roots in fine dining

History of the kitchen brigade system

 The kitchen brigade system was created in the 19th century by Georges-Auguste
Escoffier, a chef who is responsible for revolutionizing French cuisine. Escoffier, the
father of French cooking, became famous for modernizing and simplifying the French
cuisine codified by his mentor.
  Escoffier’s special touch was applying French army principles to the kitchen. He based
the brigade system on his experience working as a chef in the French military.
 Learners to research on the history of the kitchen brigade and its relevance in today’s
kitchens.

Benefits of a kitchen brigade

 Kitchen brigade systems help create hierarchy and describe responsibilities in what can
be an formal and casual working
 A kitchen brigade system is important to create an efficient, organized and cohesive
team.
 The brigade system creates order. There is an executive chef or chef de cuisine who
oversees the team. Then there are line cooks who man stations and contribute to different
dishes, rather than creating dishes on their own from start to finish. This system ensures
that line cooks perfect the techniques that they focus on, which maximizes efficiency and
consistency.
 The brigade system is also an effective tool to create an incentive for staff members to
commit to the team and to see a clear path for future development within the kitchen
 The system helps create a clear framework for moving up in the ladder a junior sous chef
being promoted to sous chef

The traditional parties system may be in use in very large up market hotels but its relevant to the
majority of modern catering operations is very limited.

A traditional partie system would probably be used to organize staff preparing formal menus.
This type of staffing structure is still used in many hotels and restaurants and its main personnel
are as follows:

Executive chef

 Oversees the daily operations of restaurant and hotel kitchens. This may include hiring,
training, and overseeing kitchen staff, and ensuring a high-quality, cost-effective product.
 Define menu concepts , menu planning and updating dishes
  Purchasing.
 Costing
 planning work schedules
 An executive chef also cooperates with the restaurant manager and banquet manager to
prepare special menus for casual and fine dining events.

 Performing administrative duties, including meeting with suppliers and ordering supplies.

 Overseeing kitchen equipment purchases, repairs, and ordering restaurant kitchen

cleaning supplies.

Chef de cuisine (head chef)

 In overall control of the kitchen. Responsible for maintaining standards and profit
margins. The chef de cuisine is involved in day-to-day kitchen operations.
This role is responsible for overseeing kitchen staff and can be involved in making hiring
decisions. The chef de cuisine also oversees administrative tasks, like food safety
and inventory management. This position takes on the critical task of ensuring that the
kitchen avoids health code violations. The chef de cuisine can also be responsible for
executing the executive chef’s vision for the menu by developing recipes.

Sous chef
 Second to the head chef. They will be more closely involved with the daily running in the
kitchen. The sous chef de cuisine is commonly called the “sous chef” in
English. Sous means “under” in French, so the title explains that this role is the chef de
cuisine‘s deputy. The sous chef helps oversee the line cooks and assists with management
duties. This position steps in for the chef de cuisine when needed.

Chef de partie
 Supervises the daily running of one of the sections of the kitchen- these may include
saucier, larder, patisserie, Rôtisseur

Duties of the chef de partie

  Plan and execute menus in collaboration with other colleagues
 Ensure adequacy of supplies at all times
 Place orders in a timely manner
 Manage ingredients that should be frequently available on a daily basis
 Follow the directions of the executive and sous chef
 Suggest new ways of presentation of dishes
 Suggest new rules and procedures for optimizing the cooking process
 Give attention productivity of the kitchen such as speed and food quality
 Ensure adherence to all relevant health, safety and hygiene standards
 Collaborate with other colleagues and seniors.

Not all kitchens necessarily would have all the positions, but some of the following stations
would be included:

1. The Sauce Chef, or Saucier (so-see-ay), prepares sauces, stews, and hot hors d'oeuvres, and
sautés foods to order. This is usually the highest position of all the stations.

2. The Fish Cook, or Poissonier (pwah-so-nyay), prepares fish dishes. In some kitchens, this
station is handled by the saucier.

3. The Vegetable Cook, or Entremetier (awn-truh-met-yay), prepares vegetables, soups,

starches, and eggs. Large kitchens may divide these duties among the vegetable cook, the fry
cook, and the soup cook.

4. The Roast Cook, or Rôtisseur (ro-tee-sur), prepares roasted and braised meats and their
gravies and broils meats and other items to order. A large kitchen may have a separate broiler
cook, or grillardin (gree-ar-dan), to handle the broiled items. The broiler cook may also prepare
deep-fried meats and fish.

[Link] Garde Manger (gard mawn-zhay),is responsible for cold foods, including salads and
dressings, pâtés, cold hors d'oeuvres, and buffet items.
6. The Pastry Chef, or Pâtissier (pa-tees-syay), prepares pastries and desserts.

7. The Relief Cook, swing cook, or Chef de Tournant (toor-nawn), replaces other station
heads.
8. The Expediter, or Aboyeur (ah-bwa-yer), accepts orders from waiters and passes them on to
the cooks on the line. The expediter also calls for orders to be finished and plated at the proper
time and inspects each plate before passing it to the dining room staff. In many restaurants, this
position is taken by the head chef or the sous chef.

9. Friturier – fry chef prepares all fried items (basically deep frying)
10. Grillardin – grilled and broiled foods
11. Potager – stocks and soups, assistant to the saucier. Considered a lower-skilled position
12. Legumier _ vegetable dishes.
13. Boucher – butcher responsible for meat butchery, and poultry and fish treatment. May
prepare these and then give them to the Garde manger for distribution to the various station
chefs.
14. Charcutier – prepares pork products such as pâté, pâté en croûte, rillettes, hams, sausages,
or any cured meats. May coordinate with the Garde manger and deliver cured meats.
15. Commis chef (junior chef) a trained chef seeking further experience.
16. Trainee chef A trainee following a training programme which may include part time
attendance at a local college.
17. Kitchen porter is responsible for the general cleaning of the kitchen and washing of dirty
cooking equipment, cutlery and crockery
Sections of Kitchen
Hotel kitchen is divided into various sections for fast and efficient functioning of department.
The various sections that may be found in hotel kitchen are as under:
 Larder Section
 Sauce Section
 Roast Section
 Fish Section
 Vegetable Section
 Soup Section
 Indian Section
 Pastry Section

Larder Section
The word larder has in professional kitchens a much wider significance. The larder is not simply
a place where food is stored but a place where the raw materials for cooking are prepared and
dressed. In large establishments, the work is further broken into sections. The larder is a room set
aside for the storage of perishable foods, both raw and cooked, where food as meat, fish, poultry
and game are prepared and made ready for cooking. In this department too, all cold items found
on the menu, such as hors d'oeuvres, cold dish or meat dishes, cold salads, etc. are prepared and
dressed.
For these function to be effective, it is essential that:
1. The room should be separate from the kitchen situated in a cool place. At the same time, it
must be close to the kitchen to avoid undue running about between the two departments which
are closely interrelated.
2. It should be suitably lighted, well-ventilated and sufficiently open to allow the staff to perform
their duties in a clean and efficient manner.
3. It must be equipped with the necessary fittings, plant, machinery and tools in accordance with
the volume, and or quality of the trade of the catering establishment in which it is situated.
Sauce Section
The sauce section is responsible for providing all meat, poultry. game and offal dishes with the
exception of those that are plain roasted or grilled. All the meat dishes are cooked and garnished.
The partie will also provide all basic and finished sauces served hot, that are normally required
by the various parties in the kitchen. Normally, one first commences early duty to cover the
preparations and cooking of dishes as "Plat de Jour" as these often require a cooking time of 3-4
hours. Braising, boiling, peeling is also done in this section. Similar to the fish partie an
extensive part of the dishes are cooked and a variety of cooked garnishes are also prepared.
Miseen-place for, banquets is also done here. The Chef Saucier does important work as he
assembles dishes which have an impact on the customers.
Roast Section
The roast section is responsible for providing all roast dishes of meat, poultry and game. It is
responsible for all grilled dishes of meat, chicken, offal and fish, and this duty is often delegated
to the grill cook. The section is also responsible for the preparation of a number of dishes and the
deep frying of the food items. It also prepares and finishes any savouries that are required.

Fish Section
This section is responsible for the provision of all fish dishes with the exception of those that are
plain grilled or deep fried. The cleaning, de-scaIing, filleting, crumbling is done by the
fishmonger in larder. Generally as a larger selection of fish are offered, an extensive mise-en-
place is required. At each service period, the following basic sauces are made ready for service:
béchamel, white wine sauce, fish velouté, hollandaise and melted butter. Further, a number of
garnishes are prepared in advance to a part cooked stage, By this arrangement, a variety of fish
dishes particularly the poached and meuniere types can be done. Grilling is done by the grill
cook or commis.
Vegetable Section
An entrement course in France was the responsibility of the entrement of vegetables, who
skilfully prepared and cooked vegetables, which could be served as a separate course. An
entrement was originally something sent to the table between the courses in France. During the
period before service, each day various quantities of vegetables are prepared, cooked, refreshed
and placed into refrigerator. Peeling, cleaning and trimming are done by semi-skilled workers.
Limited quantities of certain potato dishes are cooked and finished to varying degrees, kept ready
when service begins. Vegetable garnishes are prepared here and given to other sections. The
cooking of eggs forms a part of the work in this section particularly, omelettes of various types,
e.g. plain, garnished, stuffed and flat round omelettes. Italian pastas but not noodles are also
prepared in this section. Items like spaghetti, macaroni and rice may be sent to other sections for
garnishes. The mis-en-place is carried out according to menu requirements. By this method, the
vegetable cook and senior commis are able to cope with the finishing and serving of a vast
amount of different dishes. Management of cooking vegetables well for large numbers calls for
particular knowledge, skill and judgment and should never be entrusted to an unskilled and
disinterested cook.

Pastry Section
The work of this section is normally separated from the main kitchen and is self-contained in the
matter of cold storage. The function of this section is to prepare hot and cold sweets, for lunches,
dinners and pastries for tea-time and other occasions. It also prepares pastes like short and puff
pastry, frying batters for making noodles for supply to other corners of the kitchen. Sorbets and
water-ice like items are made in pastry section. The service of ices and those sweets which are
based upon ice-cream are prepared and assembled in Patisserie. They also include the sweet
omelettes au surprise and soufflé surprise, Melbas, etc. The art of pastry includes work like
colored sugars to make flower baskets and similar decorative centre pieces, work with fondant
and icing sugar, gum pastes, fashioning of praline into decorative objects. Where hotels operate a
bakery section, the responsibility is carried out by the master baker. Normally one commis will
commence early duty each day to provide the mise-en-place required by the various sections.
The section needs workers with skill, imagination and experience.