CHAPTER 8
In a restaurant, products are prepared and served to the customer’s table through a series of actions carried out by various actors within the kitchen and dining room that transform the unelaborated product and turn it into food and/or drink. In this chapter, we discuss the actions, techniques and tools essential for the cooking and serving of the unelaborated product in the fine dining restaurant.
Firstly, we define the series of actions that are performed on the unelaborated product to reproduce the gastronomic offer. After focusing on gastronomic techniques, in order to better contextualise them, we see how they can be classified. Then, based on the most relevant criteria for the restaurant, we draw up a taxonomy analysing the different techniques and their relationship with the unelaborated products:
– Techniques for immediate use.
– Preservation techniques.
– Pre-elaboration techniques.
– Elaboration techniques.
– Plating techniques.
– Food transfer and service techniques
– Quality control techniques.
– Tasting techniques.
In order to better understand gastronomic techniques, we examine each taxonomic classification and look at how they can, in turn, be classified, defining them and highlighting examples that help us to better understand each taxon.
In the fine dining restaurant, tools are used every day to carry out different actions. In this chapter we place our focus on gastronomic tools and their functions, given that some of them have more than one function.
And in the same way we analysed techniques, we look at how tools can be classified through the same taxonomy. This helps us to understand and use them better.
– Tools for immediate use.
– Preservation tools.
– Pre-elaboration tools.
– Elaboration tools.
– Plating tools.
– Food transfer and serving tools.
– Quality control tools.
– Tasting tools.
We classify the tools in the taxonomy according to the technique and the unelaborated product employed, and we illustrate this using examples.
