Culinary Ground Zero

Hello! 

In this post, I am gladly sharing few important things to note before getting yourself into the kitchen. As we may not know, actually, a kitchen is a dangerous working space, or office, as chefs may prefer to say. There are so much things to pay attention on, especially, security factor. Here are the points I'd like to share, based on my experience.

1. Groom yourself, as comfortable as possible
   In the first point, why do I say that you have to get yourself groomed as comfortable as possible? Well here is the thing. Imagine yourself, cooking in a sparkling suit or a tight sports attire, no apron, no hat or hair pin, and in a pair of fancy shoes. Do you think it's comfortable? I don't think so. As a homecook, the best thing you can do is to put on a pair of a comfortable, make it cotton as possible clothes. Don't forget to put on a long pair of pants and slip-resistant shoes. Why? Kitchen is a room that's likely to get hotter by the time we get ourselves by the fire. An addition of an apron is a great choice, it's not just getting you out of dirt, sauces and stains, it's also a barrier out of a direct heat. Oven, and some big stoves may radiate heat directly, and surely it won't be a pleasant routine if we have to work ourselves exposed by fire 24/7. And don't forget, your hair might be the biggest distraction in work if it's not handled well. Universally, the best way to handle this situation is just covering it up with a hat, the one that fits you the best for cooking.
2. Learn your working space well
   Why is it important to learn, or say the least, get to know our working space well? Well, let's put in a gamer way, and I do enjoy games too. Basically, it's our battlefield. If we don't know where we put our supplies, tools, and armory well enough, will the war go smooth for us? That's why! If we know our workspace well, there won't be a single room for a mess of the day.
3. Watch out for SOP and if possible, HACCPSOP stands for Standard Operating Procedure. It is the critical basics, in form of rule, of what is there to be obeyed by cooks in a kitchen, and mostly in other major working space as well. Usually, SOP watches out for important grooming rules, uniforms, operating or shift times, and the working standards. Whilst HACCP, stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, is a control system, physically in a form of a very thick book, printed about the standardized handling system for each ingredients and kitchen prerequisite programs. In the end, it's about controlling hazards and possible threats, either caused by the kitchen, or by the food ingredients such as poisoning and contamination.
   
4. Be clean and neat, AS POSSIBLE
   This term relates to the previous rule of the HACCP and PRP (Prerequisite programs). Simple mistakes such as dirty working stations, all-in-one cutting board, dirty hands, mishandling ingredients, touching this and that without being attentive of what and which ingredients are being touched, can simply lead to cross contamination. Another example of not washing our hands after going to the toilet, is a simple factor that can turn out to fatal food poisoning due to bacteria. So simply if you forgot what you just touched in the kitchen, just wash your hands with a sanitizing soap. It won't hurt you, I promise.
5. Before you cook, prepare everything nicely
   In the service class, I learned about managing, arranging, and setting tools and equipment as convenient as possible, it comes with a term of mise en place. Not only in the restaurant and bars, it is necessary to mise en place every parts in the kitchen, starting from knives, small tools, heavy equipment, and food ingredients themselves. By focusing in the foods, I mean, we can put pickles properly in a stainless steel (and cleaned before) bowls, put knives on their proper container, arranged prepare food ingredients based on it's rarity level, and so on. This also means about PREPARE EVERYTHING before HEAT. Trust me, you won't like the idea of cutting carrots in the middle of stir-frying your onions

Those are the important basics you have to learn in the kitchen, whether you're in the bakery, hot kitchen, cold kitchen, or maybe butchery, the rules always said the same basics. I hope you guys liked the little tour of my college bakery, and hopefully this post helped you, if there are any question, please let me know :)

Happy cooking!