Food production

Various kinds of common vegetables used in professional kitchens.  Each vegetable listed below is described with its English name, scientific name, and Hindi name.  Some of these vegetables are of Western origin and are not cultivated in India and hence, they do not have Hindi names.  Broccoli  Scientific name: Brassica italica  Hindi: Hariyali gobi  Broccoli is a member of the brassica family and in a way it is related to cabbage and cauliflower.  Broccoli has been growing for more than 2000 years now and was first grown in Italy.  Brocco means 'arm branch in Italian. This green vegetable consist of clusters of tiny buds on a stem.  The stem is edible but usually not eaten as a vegetable dish; but is used in soups and sauces. It is available all year round.  How to Select  Broccoli should be bright green and the cluster bud should be firm.  The stem should be proportionately smaller than the flower bud. It should be seen that ...

Few Indian cuts of vegetables also are used in Indian kitchen here are all the list.. Download pdf here click here

 EFFECT OF HEAT ON VEGETABLES  Cooking is the application of heat to food in order to make it safer to eat, digestible, and more palatable.  Cooking also changes the appearance of food. Heat has to be applied food in order to cook it.  Heat breaks down the cellulose and the starches present, changes and blends flavours within the food, and also destroys bacteria in order to make food more digestible for humans.  Vegetables and other foods are composed of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, we and also small amount of minerals, vitamins, pigments colouring agents, and flavour elements.  Carbohydrates  Bosh sugar and starch are carbohydrates and are present in many forms in vegetable fruits, grains, beans, and nuts  Heat plays a very important role when applied to vegetables in terms of carmelizations and gelatinization. Caramelization is browning of sugars. The browning of sauteed vegetables is a form of caramelization.  When starch absorbs water a...

CONTROLLING THE CHANGES IN TEXTURE  The changes in texture while cooking vegetables need to be controlled. Thin can be done by various methods as discused in this section  Fibre Fibre structure in vegetables, including cellulose and pectin, gives shape and firmness to the vegetables. Cooking helps in softening some of these component.  The amount of libre varies in different vegetables, for example, tomatoes and spinach have fewer fibres than turnips or carrots.  Even the age of vegetables would determine the amount of fibre in it, for example, young baby carrots would have lees fibre as compared to older, lougher carrots.  In some vegetables, such as asparagus, the lip would have less fibre content than its stalk  Acids present in lemon juice, vinegar, and tomato products make fibre, firmer and also increase the cooking time  Sugar strengthens the cell structure and makes the fibre firm.  This is more applicable for fruits such as apples.  A...

 PIGMENT AND COLOUR CHANGES  It is important for chefs to know the various kinds of pigments present in food and how they react to heat and various acidic and alkaline medium, as this would largely impact the style of cooking them.  The colour of a vegetable is determined by the pigment it contains. Pigment is the colouring matter within the cells and tissues of the plant.  The various types of pigments are affected differently by heat, acid, alkali, and other elements involved in cooking. To maintain as much colour as possible in cooked vegetables, one needs to know about these pigments, Guests may reject vegetable dishes if they do not like vegetable has trace amount of acid present in it and we shall see how this acid could be used favourably.  Flavones  It is the pigment present in white vegetables. It is present in potato, onion, cauliflower, white cabbage, cucumber, zucchini, and the white of celery.  This pigment stays white in an acid medium an...

 VEGETABLES  Any part of a herbaceous plant that can be eaten, either raw or cooked, is termed asvegetable.  Vegetables contain more of starch than sugar unlike fruits and hence, they are used extensively in savoury dishes.  Vegetables can be used in a variety of forms such as frozen, canned, cooked, mashed, dried, dehydrated, or fresh. However, only selected parts of some plants are eaten such as flowers, flower buds (globe artichoke), leaves (lettuce), leaf buds (brussels sprouts), shoots (asparagus), shoot buds (cabbage), stems (rhubarb), flower stems (cauliflower), seed pods (green beans), and immature seeds (broad bean).  Vegetables are eaten in a variety of ways—raw or cooked, as main courses, or as snacks  Different vegetables have different types of nutrients in them. Vegetables have water soluble vitamins such as vitamin B and C, and fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K, and also contain minerals and carbohydrates.  Since each category ...

 EQUIPMENT USED IN THE KITCHENS A professional kitchen set-up can be very confusing for beginners, At times it looks like a science laboratory where people are performing experiments. It looks so because the sparkling kitchens are adorned with sophisticated machines and equipment. Chefs use equipment and utensils in the kitchen to cook meals. Equipment can be further classified as the following Capital Equipment These are also known as large equipment or fixed equipment and they include ovens, gas ranges, and grillers. This equipment is usually fixed and inventoried. Inventory is a procedure followed to audit the physical presence of the equipment. The capital expenditure would depreciate over the period of time and hence it would include items that are expensive to buy. The inventories can be done quarterly or annually depending on a hotel's policy.  Operational Equipment These are used directly to operate the basic jobs in cooking and all the utensils, moulds, knives, etc. a...