Food Production System - Cook chill , Cook Freeze And Sous Vide

Centralized Food production mainly focuses on using skilled staff so that food items are cooked and prepared for bulk and then distributed to other small kitchen/ outlets . The small kitchen/outlets are run by semi- skilled manpower. Centralised kitchen is practiced by big establishments and Hotel that serves large volume of people in a short time. By following, centralised Food production many things are better managed. For example - Labour cost , Food cost , Equipment cost , production quality all issues can be better managed. Let's illustrate this , in term of labour , skilled labour is only required at central kitchen and outlets can be run by semi-skilled labours which help to reduce operational cost .

Also, Food cost will be reduce significantly as only one location is involved in Preparation which reduce wastage. The taste and quality of food will be also very excellent as food is prepared by skilled team of chef . Moreover , heavy equipment will be required for one location only instead of many locations and is used by skilled manpower,thus proper care will be taken.

It have developed three Cooking Method:-

1. Cook chill system :-

It is the system based on normal Preparation and Cooking of food in which food is cooked and then rapidly chilled and stored in controlled low temperature . The temperature is above Freezing point usually ranging from 0 to 3 degree Celsius. The chilled food is Regenerated in finishing kitchen where food items re-heated immediately before consumption. The food items can be stored for 5 days. The advantage of this system is, it requires less time to regenerate the food items when compared to cook freeze and don't require thawing but, it should be ensure food to be cooked at 70 degree Celsius for at least 2 minute before serving. Regeneration system is simpler and it is cheaper to install.

2. Cook Freeze system :-

In cook Freeze system, the cooked dishes are freezed by storing in deep freeze.It involved full cooking of food and blast freezing and then stored at lower temperature of -18 degree Celsius. Food items are not stored lower than -18 degree Celsius as it will result loss in vitamin , colour of food. Food items can be stored for 2 months by cook - freeze system. The advantage of this system is , it allows better purchasing power and food items can be preserved for longer period of time. However, the food items require thawing before Cooking and we also have to protect food from freezer burn so it must be wrapped tightly and stored. After thawing it should not be put in freezer again . Food items can be prepared in batch which reduce labour costs. Food items are prepared and freeze in Bakst freezer and are stored .

3. Sous vide :-

It can be pronounced as ( sue - veed ) which was discovered in 1967 by chef Georges pralus while trying to reduce shrinkage on Foiegras terrine. In french , it is also known as under vacuum and known by low temperature long time cooking. The food items are cooked in water bath for longer time at precise temperature of 55 to 60 degree Celsius usually. The main focus is to cook the food items evenly ensuring that inside is properly cooked without overcooking outside. It prevent overcooking of the food and retains full flavour, aroma and moisture of food. It also, prevents food items from shrinkage. The food items can be cooked for considerable amount of time as food items is sealed i.e there is no air/oxygen inside . It should be considered that only freshest and highest quality of ingredients should be used. The cooked food items can be finished by any medium for good colour after sous - vide . This system increases the cost as vaccum pouche and packaging machine are required but reduce labour cost and meals can be produced in advance.it have storage life upto 21 days which is more than cook chill system.

Note :- in sous vide, there is always fear of bacteria which can survive in absence of oxygen so care must be taken for that otherwise food items may be contaminated.

CONVENTIONAL FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEM :-

It was traditionally used where Menu items were prepared in kitchen and held for short time untill serving time. It is mostly used by establishments traditionally where food items are purchased for individual operations in various stages but production is completed and food items are served on same premises. The food items were prepared in the premise hence kitchen included butcher shop , bakery and vegetable Preparation units . It is typically used by smaller food service operations and the advantage of this system is it was not dependent upon frozen meat main course . similarly, quality control was achieved and less freezer storage space and cost was required. However, the worker may face stress full day as workload varies depending upon change of menu and two shift of employees were required.

Menu items are prepared as near to service time as possible and it requires considerable labour . The food items are distributed for service directly to serving area.

Assembly process :-

Its primary objective is to provide food ready for service while minimizing amount of Labour resources employed within food service operation. It is also referred to as convenience food production system which used minimum cooking concept . Food products are brought into system with maximum degree of processing and are prepared in bulk , pre - portioned and pre - plated frozen food. The products are heated for distribution and service as food items are held in refrigerator or are on frozen storage. It gained some popularity and acceptance because of easy solution to labour and production problem.

Ready - prepared system :-

In ready prepared food production system, food is produced on site and held chilled or in frozen which is then re - heated and served to customer on site. Food production can be scheduled at any time and multiple day production can be done in one day. This system is mainly used in prison and reduce labour cost but the menu variety may be limited and food items may lost quality and flavour.