Workstations in the Professional Kitchen

Chapter 3

The BrigadeFine cuisine requires a

large number of trained cooks to perform a wide variety of tasks

Armies and navies were experts in organizing large numbers of people to accomplish a central task

Chef’s chose the military’s brigade system as a model

The brigade uses a chain of command

Brigade SystemChef de cuisine

Chief of the kitchen, supervises all positionsSous Chef

Second in command, responsible when Chef is goneChef de Garde

Night chef, takes control when the other chefs have leftTournant

Swing chef, fills in on other chef’s days offSaucier

Makes sauces, prepares sautéed or pan fried itemsGarde manger

Cold food station, salads, dressings, fruit plates, buffet plattersPoissonier

Fish cook

Brigade System Rotissuer

Roasting meats and poultry, gravies/pan sauces with them Entremetier

Vegetables, starches, egg dishes, hot appetizers Pastry chef

Head of baking and pastry Butcher

Cuts and trims meats/poultry Grill cook

Grilled and broiled meats, poultry and fish Fry cook

Deep fried items Potager

Stocks, soups, mother sauces

Brigade SystemLegumier

Prepares and cooks veggies

Pastry cookPrepares sweets and

pastriesBaker

Makes breadsDecorator

Decorates cakes and pastries, chocolate carvings

CommisAssistants

The OperationThe foodservice establishment menu

determines the staff size and organization of the kitchenA fish restaurant would need a larger fish station

but maybe a smaller rotisserie stationIn the case of large hotels, where they might

have many different dining places, each would have it’s own chef de cuisine but there would be an executive chef in charge of all the restaurants inside that hotelExecutive chef roles are managerial, oversee

cooking of all other chefs Hotels with large banquet facilities might employ

a banquet chef for the banquets

Cross Training Scheduling staff is easier when each person

knows how to do more than one thingCross training allows people to learn

different skills to work in other areasSome restaurants might even cross train

cooks to be servers and hosts

Departments Beyond the KitchenStewardship- the

stewarding department’s primary job is sanitationWare washing is done by

this department, which is washing plates, utensils, etc.

Also responsible for cleaning the kitchen

Departments Beyond the KitchenDining Room- timing the

cooking and serving of food is the most critical interaction between the kitchen and serversFood must be served

correctly, in a timely matter and service must be great

Departments Beyond the KitchenCatering- large operations that do both

catering and operating a restaurant must work hard to neatly plan and organize events

Sales staff and chefs usually work together

Departments Beyond the KitchenRoom Service- dining in room is an option in

most hotelsThere is a special staff to take orders,

prepare orders and deliver orders

Departments Beyond the KitchenPurchasing- many

establishments have staff who strictly purchase, receive and store food and supplies

The staff checks out food to the cooking staff, ensures that all orders received are correct, and works with the chef about the particular food items they are to order

Labor Saving TrendsLabor is one of the largest costs in the

foodservice industry, the trends in the industry are to cut labor costs

Technology allows one chef to do the job that used to make many chefs to doFood processor can chop, puree’, grind, etcVacuum packing

Prepared foodsPrecut veggies, pre-butchered meats, powders soup

bases, ready made breads, etc.