Trade Secrets
You can’t be a Personal Chef or even a chef in your own home without being organized. It all begins with a plan. Whether it’s one meal or seven you have to have a well thought out master plan for menu ideas, ingredients, time it will take to prepare, equipment needed and the skills required for the recipes selected.
1. Decide on appropriate foods for the occasion. You don’t want to serve fried chicken and BBQ ribs at an afternoon tea, just like you wouldn’t serve finger sandwiches for a bunch of hungry guys sitting down to watch a football game. Take into consideration who will be eating the food and the environment you want to project at your gathering.
2. Now that you have decided on a menu, you need to check off the ingredients in the recipes and verify that you have everything on hand to prepare them. Make a list of the ingredients you need to shop for and even the amounts. For instance you may need to list 2 cans of tomatoes but only one can of kidney beans for the chili recipe you are going to try. Arrange your list by category or by how your grocery store is arranged to save yourself time and frustration when shopping. I organize my list by category so that I can shop at any one of my favorite stores. I use categories like produce, dairy, canned goods, dry goods, meat, frozen foods and baking items.
3. The day before your gathering, review the recipes for time indications for preparation, hold time and actual cook times. This will allow you to ensure that you plan for enough time to dice, chop and prepare all the ingredients; holding time for things such as marinades or time for dough to rise, and then how long items will take to cook, roast or bake. Don’t forget to include hold times after items have been cooked such as cool down times for cakes or resting times for meats before they are served.
4. Be sure that you have all the necessary equipment to prepare the recipes you have selected. If you’re going to be serving a crowd but only have one large pot to cook the spaghetti in, you may have to get creative and use a crock pot or slow cooker to start your sauce earlier in the day. If you are cooking roasts or whole poultry be sure that you have a meat thermometer handy to check internal temperatures.
5. Select recipes that are suited to your skill level. As you practice cooking and get more confidence in your abilities, you can try more advance recipes. Many recipes provide a skill level assessment. So as you begin, keep it simple.
Keeping these 5 things in mind will help you plan and organize, guiding your success in the kitchen.
