Overview

Now that you have made the exciting decision to join the ranks of the professional cooking fraternity, it’s time to start developing the skills needed to work efficiently in a commercial kitchen. Certainly the most effective learning resource is watching skilled and experienced cooks ply their trade.

While doing this, you may feel overwhelmed at how they just seem to ‘know’ what needs to be done as they get on with the job of confidently handling a wide range of different foods and equipment. Don’t panic. It won’t be long before you start to feel more comfortable in the kitchen. It just takes practice to develop skills and some background knowledge to understand how things are done and why they are done in a certain way. Remember the saying, “every great journey begins with a first step.”

This unit is designed to introduce you to many of the fundamental skills that will help you function within a commercial kitchen.

In this unit you will learn how to:

• Prepare and use equipment
• Assemble and prepare ingredients for menu items
• Prepare dairy, dry goods, fruits and vegetables
• Prepare meat, seafood and poultry.