Prepare Stocks, Sauces and Soups: Learner Guide

Learner guide
Prepare stocks, sauces and

soups
SITHCCC007
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Contents
Overview ........................................................................................................ 3
Section 1: Select ingredients ......................................................................... 3
Section 2: Select, prepare and use equipment ............................................ 19
Section 3: Portion and prepare ingredients .................................................. 27
Section 4: Prepare stocks, sauces and soups ............................................. 37
Section 5: Present and store soups, sauces and stocks .............................. 63
Glossary ....................................................................................................... 74
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SITHCCC007 Prepare stocks, sauces and soups
Overview
For many of us, soups and sauces bring back happy memories of special times shared
with loved ones: a hot bowl of Mum’s homemade soup on a bitterly cold day; Sunday
roast dinner with Nan’s special gravy; a warming, spicy curry shared with friends; a prawn
cocktail on the deck in summer by the sea.
Some soups and sauces are simple and humble, while others are delicacies made with
the finest ingredients and served in the finest restaurants.
Whichever is the case, the quality of both depends on the quality of their bases. Your
customers’ happy memories and taste sensations start with the stocks, foundation
sauces, and even the mayonnaise you create for them. It’s your responsibility to make
them the best they can be.
Let’s look at what you will learn on completion of this unit.
Section 1: Select ingredients
Section 2: Select, prepare and use equipment
Section 3: Portion and prepare ingredients
Section 4: Prepare stocks, sauces and soups
Section 5: Present and store soups, sauces and stocks
1
Section 1:
Select ingredients
In this section you will learn the following.
• How to determine food production requirements.

• How to calculate ingredient amounts.
• How to identify and select stock, sauces and soup products and other ingredients.
Chaos in the kitchen!

The chef is having a bad day in the kitchen.
Click on the speech bubbles to find out what’s going wrong.
 The customers are still hungry, looks like I didn’t make enough soup!
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 I never knew kitchen equipment could be so dangerous! My sous chef almost lost a
finger!
 We’ve had four complaints already. I guess I put in too much chilli.
 Oh no! What a mess! Smells like it’s burned too! I’ll have to start over.
Making stocks, sauces and soups requires more than just throwing a few ingredients
together in a stock pot. Click to the next screen to find out how to avoid disastrous
consequences like these.
Have a system in place

Be systematic! Use your planning and organising skills to efficiently sequence the stages
of food preparation and production for stocks, sauces and soups.
Click and drag the stages into the correct order
Stage 1 Confirm food production requirements.
Stage 2 Select ingredients.
Stage 3 Get the equipment ready.
Stage 4 Prepare ingredients.
Stage 5 Prepare the stock, sauce or soup.
Stage 6 Present it!
Commercial kitchens are busy and demanding. You must take a logical, systematic
approach to produce quality food while at the same time avoiding injury to yourself and
customers.
We’ll look at each of these stages in detail throughout this unit.
STAGE 1: CONFIRM FOOD

PRODUCTION REQUIREMENTS
First, check food production requirements in food preparation lists and standard recipes.
They tell you exactly how to produce your stock, sauce or soup according to
organisational standards.
Click on the pictures to see the information they contain.
Deadlines
How long does it take to prepare, complete or reheat it?
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Portion control
What size servings for lunch, dinner, etc.?
Quantities to be produced
How much does the recipe yield? How much do your customers need?
Special customer requests

What does the customer want? Sauce on the side, mild, hot, etc.
Special dietary requirements

Are there any restrictions due to health or lifestyle? No salt, nut free, gluten free,
vegetarian, etc.
Ingredients and equipment

What do you need? Do you have everything?
Step by step procedures/methods

How exactly do you make it? What preparation and cooking methods do you use?
Presentation standards and techniques

How do you plate it up?
In a nutshell
Before you start, read the recipe and check that you have everything you need. Then,
follow the recipe exactly. That way, you get exactly the same result every time, no matter
who cooks it.
How do you calculate ingredient amounts?

If you require an exact number of soup servings for a function, but the standard recipe
yields more, or less you’ll need to increase or reduce the recipe ingredients to yield the
correct number of servings of the right portion size.
Click on the tabs to see how to adjust stock, sauce and soup recipes.
Determine the desired yield

The desired yield is how much soup or sauce you want to make.
Number of servings x portion size = desired yield.
Let’s say you need 100 servings of a 250 ml navy bean soup entrée.
100 x 250 ml = 25 000 ml (25 L)
Your desired yield is 25 L of navy bean soup.
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Determine the conversion factor

The conversion factor is the desired yield divided by the existing yield.
Desired yield ÷ existing yield = conversion factor
You want 25 L of navy bean soup. This is the desired yield.
Your recipe yields 2 L of navy bean soup. This is the existing yield.
25 ÷ 2 = 12.5
The conversion factor is 12.5.
You multiply all the ingredients by 12.5 to get the desired amount of soup or sauce.
500 g navy beans x 12.5 = 6 250 g (6.25 kg) navy beans
1.5 L stock x 12.5 = 18.75 L
Etc…
Reducing
If you increase a recipe, the conversion factor is more than one. However, if you reduce a
recipe, the conversion factor is less than one.
Let’s say your desired yield is only 1 L of navy bean soup.
The existing yield of the recipe is 2 L.
1 ÷ 2 = .5
500 g navy beans x .5 = 250 g navy beans
1.5 L stock x .5 = .75 L (750 ml)
Chances are that you wouldn’t be making this small a quantity of soup (only four portions),
but hopefully you get the idea.
Ideas to consider
Use standard ladles when serving sauces and soups. This gives the exact portion
required to each customer so you don’t run out.
That said, you should always make a little extra sauce or soup when catering for a
predetermined number of customers. Why?
You need to allow for evaporation in cooking, spillage when serving, and extra guests
arriving.
Control portion sizes of soups. Aim for terrific quality rather than excessive quantity!
Hot tip
Generally, the standard portion size for soup is 200 to 250 ml for an entrée and 400 to
450 ml for a luncheon main course.
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STAGE 2: SELECT INGREDIENTS

Once you’ve established food production requirements and calculated ingredient
amounts, it’s time to select your ingredients according to the recipe.
Click on the chef to find out more.
Hi I’m Leo and I work as a chef at Banyan, an upmarket restaurant in the city. I can tell
you from experience that you need to make sure you choose ingredients which are
appropriate to the stock, sauce or soup you’re making. A tomato chutney might require
green tomatoes, but a tomato soup might call for plump, ripe, juicy tomatoes. Go fresh!
Use fresh produce that’s in season. Fresh seasonal produce is typically higher in nutrients
and cheaper to buy.
So before you start selecting ingredients, you need to be familiar with common
• Stocks
• Soups
• Sauces
as well as their ingredients. Let’s have a look at this over the next several screens.
What is stock?
Stock is the base liquid you use to make soups, sauces, stews, and much more! You
make different types of stock using a wide range of bones and vegetables. Sometimes,
you’ll brown these in the oven before putting them in the stock pot.
Click on the ingredients to learn more about the stock they make.
Chicken stock (fond blanc de volaille)

Chicken bones + white mirepoix (glossary). A mirepoix is a rough-cut mixture of onions,
carrots, celery and sometimes leek. However, you never include carrot in a white
mirepoix. It colours it.
White meat stock (fond blanc)

Beef/ veal bones + white mirepoix. Veal bones lighten the stock’s colour and provide a
more subtle flavour.
Brown meat stock (fond brun/estouffade)

Browned bones + mirepoix. Browning the bones and mirepoix in the oven caramelises the
natural sugars. This gives the stock extra flavour, aroma and a rich, inviting brown colour.
Vegetable stock (fond de légume)

Variety of vegetables + fresh herbs. You use this stock as a base for vegetable soups or
vegetarian risotto. It requires less cooking time than meat-based stocks.
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Fish stock (fond de poisson)

You make fish stock from the bones, trimmings and heads of white-fleshed fish. Don’t use
dark-fleshed fish bones. They’re too oily and strongly flavoured.
Due to the delicate nature of fish, you use fewer vegetables to flavour this stock. However,
you can add wine or lemon juice to enhance flavour. This is called a ‘fumet’.
Game stock
You use browned game bones from wild animals (hare, deer, kangaroo, pheasant, etc.) to
make game soup or a sauce for the cooked meat.
Dashi stock
You usually use kelp (seaweed), bonito (dried fish flakes), and water to make this
Japanese stock. You can also make another variation using shiitake mushrooms. Use
dashi as a base for miso soup, stock for cooking sushi rice, or as a dip for tempura.
Dessert stock
You make dessert stock, stock syrup or gomme stock from water, sugar and flavourings
such as wine, port, lemon juice, cinnamon or tea. You use these for poaching fruits and
other dessert-related tasks.
Less common stocks

Lamb and pork bones have strong, distinctive flavours. You rarely use them for making
general-purpose stocks. However, you may use lamb stock in Irish stew or lamb soup
such as Scotch broth. You might use pork stock in pork casserole.
What are the main ingredients in stock?

As you use stock for the basis of so many foods, it’s important to get the ingredients right.
If you don’t, you get an inferior end result and your customers will be walking out the door.
Click on the icon to see the ingredients you use.
1. Liquid
You usually use fresh water. However, you might also add small amounts of lemon juice,
red wine or white wine, especially to fish stocks.
2. Bones
Each bone type gives its own distinctive flavour and characteristic. Bones contain
gelatine. If you make stock with the right amount of bones and cook it for the correct
amount of time, the gelatine causes the stock to set or become a thick jelly when cold.
3. Vegetables
A mirepoix provides a balance to the flavours extracted from the bones. It adds further
dimension to the flavour.
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4. Flavouring agents
These include herbs, spices, tomato paste, alcohol, fruit juice, salt. You’ll learn more
about these in section 4.
5. Scraps, trimmings and leftovers

Only use vegetable scraps if they’re washed, in a good state, and suitable to the stock.
Only use meat that isn’t fatty. Save appropriate scraps throughout the day and use them
in a planned way. Don’t throw them in randomly, as this unbalances the delicate flavour of
the stock.
Which scraps, trimmings and leftovers are suitable for use?

Items suitable for stock making Items not suitable for stock making
Gristle, sinew and trimmings from raw Fat or poultry skins
and cooked meat
Cereal products such as rice, pasta and bread
Poultry necks and feet
Starchy vegetables such as potatoes, peas,
Ham and bacon rinds, bones and turnips and swedes
trimmings
Strong flavoured vegetables such as cabbage,
Raw vegetable trimmings such as spinach, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and
carrots, onions, celery leeks, artichokes
mushrooms, tomatoes and celery
stalks (not the leaves as these turn Vegetables that will change the colour of the
the stock sour). stock such as beetroot, spinach
Dairy products such as milk, cream, butter or

cheese
Sauces
You’ll learn how to use these ingredients to make stock in section 4.
What is soup?
Simply put, you usually make soup by mixing together a liquid, a main ingredient and
sometimes a thickener. Then, you finish with a garnish. You can serve soups hot or cold
and use them as entrées, starters to whet the appetite, or filling main meals.
Click on the icon to hear more about soups.
 Soup-making originally evolved from peasant cookery and is probably one of the
oldest cooking skills known.
 Most countries have at least one soup unique to them which is recognised and
produced in large quantities elsewhere in the world. How many of these examples
do you recognise?
 Vichyssoise and French onion from France
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 Minestrone from Italy

 Gazpacho from Spain
 Miso from Japan
 Bird’s nest soups from China
 Pea and ham from Holland
 Oxtail soup and chicken broth from England
 Boston clam chowder from the USA
 Mulligatawny from India
 Mutton broth from Scotland
 Borscht from Russia and Poland
No matter where they come from, the two categories of basic soups are clear or thick.
You’ll look at both in more detail over the next few screens.
What are clear soups?

Clear soups have a base of clear, unthickened stock. This is flavoured with meat, poultry,
game or fish, and combined with vegetables, herbs and seasonings. You can serve them
plain or garnished.
Click on the tabs to see two examples of clear soups.
Bouillon
Bouillon is a simple, clear thin soup. It’s made from a white or brown stock which has
been carefully and gently cooked to avoid any clouding or impurities. The end result is a
clear, well-flavoured soup stock such as chicken bouillon.
Consommé
Like bouillon, consommé is made from a carefully prepared white or brown stock.
However, consommé goes through a clarification (glossary) process to make it rich and
transparent when finished. The word consommé literally means ‘concentrated’. Therefore,
the finished soup must have a strong, concentrated body and flavour in addition to being
clear.
You’ll learn more about clarification in section 4.
What are thick soups?

Thick soups are cloudy rather than transparent. They’re usually made from thickened
meat or vegetable stock. They’re much more filling than clear soups, so serve them as a
main rather than an entree.
Click on the tabs for two examples of thick soups.
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Unpassed thick soups (broths)

Unpassed soups are usually referred to as broths a term also used to describe a well
flavoured plain stock. Broths are made from vegetables which are cut into varying shapes
and cooked in well-flavoured stock. Pieces of meat or poultry can also be added to the
stock along with starches like rice, barley, oats, pasta or dried beans. The soup is cooked
until the starch thickens the liquid slightly. Broths are served without being passed through
a food processor, blender, vitamiser, mouli (glossary), or sieve.
Passed thick soups (purées)

Passed soups are made from flavoured stock and any combination of fresh or dried
vegetables, meats, herbs and seasonings. These soups are passed through a food
processor, blender, vitamiser, mouli or sieve and served in a smooth blended form.
Passed soups may be thickened with a starch-based thickening agent or from the purée
or blended main ingredients of the soup.
Click to the next screen to see the many varieties of thick soups.
What are the different types of soup?

Once you master soup-making you can make thousands of different types of soups.
Click on the pictures to learn some common soups served in Australia.
Fish and Bisque

A fish soup is any soup which has fish as its base.
Bisque (recipe 88) is a cream-based soup made from shellfish (lobster, crayfish, crab and
prawns), fish stock, vegetables, tomato paste, wine and brandy. Crushed shells from the
shellfish give the characteristic full-bodied flavour and rich crimson red colour to bisque.
Cream
Cream soups such as cream of chicken (recipe 85), cream of pumpkin and cream of
asparagus are made with stock, roux and cream. There are three types of cream soup.
• A purée-based soup, finished with cream

• A velouté soup, finished with cream instead of a liaison (glossary)
• A soup containing 50% béchamel, 25% purée of a suitable cooked ingredient and 25%
of a suitable stock, finished with cream.
Meat and vegetable

Meat and vegetable soups such as minestrone (recipe 89), pea and ham, (recipe 90), etc.
are usually made into broths or purées.
Cold (chilled)
A cold soup is any type of soup that has been purposely cooled, such as vichyssoise, or
made with raw ingredients, such as gazpacho (recipe 91).
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Dessert
A dessert soup is a sweet soup served at the end of a meal. Many Asian cultures serve
soup as a dessert.
Chowder
Chowder is a thick, cream- or tomato-based soup made with seafood.
Fermented
Fermented soups such as miso soup include deliberately fermented ingredients.
Beverage
Beverage soups such as beer soup and wine soup are made with alcohol.
Healthy eating consideration

Choose low or lower fat ingredients. You don’t need to use full fat milk or cream in your
soups. Low fat or skim items can be just as tasty.
What ingredients do you need for soups?

Most soups are made up of four separate parts.
Click on the pictures to find out what they are.
 Liquid
 Main ingredient
 Thickening agents
 Garnishes
You’ll learn about thickening agents in section 4 and garnishes in section 5. For now, let’s
have a quick look at liquids and the main ingredients on the next couple of screens.
Liquid
As you’ve just learned, stock is the main liquid base in soup. Chicken (recipe 65) or white
veal (recipe 66) stocks are most common in soups. They provide a delicate flavour that
enhances rather than overpowers the other ingredients. However, you can also use water,
milk, cream, vegetable juice, wine and even beer!
Click on the icon for a handy reference of different stocks used in soups.
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Stocks used in soups
Soup Stock
Mixed vegetable soup Vegetable or chicken stock
Mushroom, celery, tomato, broccoli or leek Vegetable, chicken or veal stock

soup
Bisque and chowder Fish stock
Chicken consommé Chicken stock
Beef consommé White or brown beef stock
Mutton and barley broth White lamb stock
Pea and ham soup White stock flavoured with bacon bones
French onion Brown beef stock
Borscht Duck or beef stock
Main ingredient
You can use almost any food product as the main ingredient in soup. Just make sure it’s
of sufficient quality to give the soup a clean, fresh flavour and colour. You’ll learn more
about how to do quality checks in a minute.
What are some other facts about the main ingredient in soups?
In most cases, soups are named after their main ingredients and method of preparation.
For example, the main ingredient in chicken soup is, not surprisingly, chicken. Therefore,
the pronounced flavour should be chicken, provided by chicken stock and chicken pieces.
Any other ingredients (seasonings, cream, garnishes, etc.) enhance the flavour of the
principal ingredient, not overpower it. The same is true of sauces you pour over meats,
salads, fish, etc.
Click to the next screen to get started with sauces.
A saucy way to start

Sauces were invented for many reasons. They enhance flavour, tenderise meat, and you
can even use them as a cooking medium. No wonder they’re so popular all around the
world!
How many sauces can you list with their country of origin?
You have 30 seconds to list as many sauces, and their country of origin you can think of.
Click start to begin.
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There are thousands of hot and cold sauces, but there are a few which are famous from
certain regions. Compare your list to this one. No doubt you listed many more!
• Aioli sauce from Spain

• Tzatziki sauce from Greece
• Korma sauce from India
• Teriyaki sauce from Japan
• Bolognese sauce from Italy
• Satay sauce from Thailand
• Hollandaise from Holland
• Jus lie from France
What are cold sauces?

Cold dressings and sauces are important additions to salads, cold starters, meats,
vegetables, desserts, main meals. You name it!
Click on the tabs to learn some of the most common cold sauces.
Fruit-based sauces
• Cranberry sauce is a jellied sauce usually served with turkey.
• Fruit relishes and chutneys can be made with fruits or vegetables. Use them to add
moisture and flavour to pork, chicken, turkey and vegetarian dishes.
• Coulis is a smooth, thick sauce you can make by puréeing and sieving fruits or
vegetables. Fruit coulis made from berries or apricots are used in desserts, while
vegetable coulis can be used as a base for soups and other sauces.
• Apple sauce is a common puréed fruit sauce used over pork.
Yoghurt-based sauces
• Cucumber yoghurt sauce has many slightly different variations such as raita, tzatziki,
cacik, garlic to accompany many Indian, Middle Eastern and Greek foods.
• Mint and coriander sauce is a wonderful addition to Indian meals and is often used for
dipping pakoras.
Herb-based sauces
There is an endless variety of herb-based sauces to grace nearly any meat or vegetable!
Here are a few common ones.
• Pesto uses basil as a base and is usually served with pasta.

• Coriander and garlic sauce is lovely on steaks.
• Oregano, lemon and garlic sauce is delicious with chicken.
• Rosemary and mint sauce are the perfect addition to grilled lamb.
• Sweet chilli sauce is great for dipping!
• Mexican salsas made from a variety of chillies and herbs add Latin spice to many
meals.
Mayonnaise and emulsion sauces

Mayonnaise (recipe 75) is a cold emulsion sauce made with vinegar, egg yolks, mustard,
pepper and salt.
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Emulsion or emulsified sauces are fat or oil-based sauces that contain no starch
thickeners. Here are some facts about them.
• An emulsion is a uniform mixture of two liquids that wouldn’t normally mix together,
such as oil and water.
• The most common and useful emulsifying agent used in cookery is egg yolk.
• When the ingredients for an emulsified sauce are mixed, the protein strands in the egg
yolks stretch and form a layer around each tiny globule of fat or oil and hold it in a
uniform suspension throughout the water.
You’ll learn more about how to make different mayonnaise-based sauces in section 4.

Choose low or lower fat ingredients. You don’t need to use full fat yogurt in your sauces.
Low fat or skim can be just as tasty.
What are hot sauces?

Hot sauces don’t just warm and comfort us on cold, rainy days! They moisten and
enhance the flavour of foods they’re served with. They also aid digestion and help bind
other ingredients together. There are literally thousands of hot sauces you can use.
Click to learn some of the most common.
Basic foundation sauces

These sauces form the base of many other sauces you’ll learn to make in section 4.
• Béchamel (white sauce) is made from milk, onion and seasoning. You thicken it with
white roux (glossary). You can use it in macaroni and cheese, lasagne and moussaka
as well as an accompaniment to fish, cheese, egg and gratin dishes.
• Chicken, veal and fish veloute (recipe 72) are made from white chicken, veal or fish
stock and thickened with blond roux. Serve it with poultry, veal and seafood dishes.
• Espagnole (brown sauce) (recipe 73) is made from brown beef stock and thickened
with brown roux. You won’t often put this sauce directly on food due to its strong taste.
You use it to make demi-glacé which is also considered a foundation sauce.
• Demi-glacé (recipe 74) is a mix of equal amounts espagnole and estouffade. It’s a
deep, richly flavoured brown sauce usually served with red meat.
Warm emulsion sauces

• Hollandaise (recipe 76) is made with egg yolks, vinegar and butter. It’s served with
vegetables, poached fish, poached eggs, seafood, poultry, sautéed veal, etc.
• Béarnaise (recipe 77) is made similarly to Hollandaise. However, Béarnaise is thicker
as it has a higher egg to butter ratio and has tarragon stems infused into the vinegar
reduction.
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Other hot sauces

• Jus roti is a roast gravy made with pan juices and stock through the process of
deglazing and reduction (glossary). All of the wonderful flavours from the meat,
seasonings and fat create a sauce rich in texture and flavour. Serve it with roast meat
or steak.
• Jus lié (glossary) is thickened gravy made from rich brown stock and pan juices. It’s
different from jus roti in that you use a thickener (glossary) to thicken the sauce. Serve
it with meats, potatoes and chips.
• You can make a wide variety of tomato-based pasta sauces to pour over pastas, put in
lasagnes, etc.
Reduced sauces
You make reduction sauces by simmering a liquid or thin sauce to evaporate some of the
water. As the water evaporates, the sauce becomes thicker and more concentrated. You
thicken many traditional Italian pasta sauces using the reduction method.
Don’t reduce sauces too much. They may become too thick and take on a gluey or sticky
texture. Stock-based sauces may become too salty. If this occurs, add a little water, wine,
stock or cream to reconstitute the sauce to the correct viscosity and flavour.
Note...
It’s particularly important with warm emulsion sauces to use the freshest ingredients.
Why? You need to store them at an even 30 to 37 ° C to stop them from separating or
becoming solid.
Let’s have a look at how to select quality ingredients on the next screen.
How do you select fresh, high quality ingredients?

Poor quality ingredients don’t just reduce quality. They’re also dangerous! Don’t be the
one responsible for terrible tasting dishes that give your customers food poisoning. Always
use your recipe to choose fresh ingredients that meet quality standards.
Click on the pictures to find out what these standards are.
Meat
• Colour should be appropriate for the meat type. Pink to bright red for beef, light grey to
pale pink for veal, bright pink to greyish pink for pork, pink to dull red for lamb.
• Any overlaying fat should be firm, creamy white and odourless.
• Pork rind (if present) should be thin, smooth and have no hairs left on it.
• Flesh should show no signs of bruising, be firm, moist and have a texture appropriate
to the meat type and cut.
• Temperature of fresh meat should be between 1 and 5 °C and frozen meat between -
18 and -25 °C.
• Packaging should be sealed and show no signs of damage or tampering.
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• Frozen meat should have no signs of freezer burn (glossary).
Poultry
• Poultry should be plump, firm and have well-formed breasts.
• Skin should be unbroken, dry and not slimy.
• There should be no pin feathers attached.
• There should be no discolouration, blemishes, cuts, bruising or broken bones.
• The flesh should be a clear colour in keeping with the variety. Chicken should be pink.
Duck should be brownish-red.
• Poultry should have a pleasant odour.
• Frozen poultry should have no signs of freezer burn, damage to packing, or signs of
thawing and refreezing (such as excess moisture in the packaging).
• Fresh poultry should be stored between 1 °C and 5 °C. Frozen poultry should be stored
below -18 °C.
Fruit and vegetables

The quality of fruit and vegetables can vary depending on what you’re using them for. For
chutney, you may need green tomatoes. For soups, stocks and sauces, you may need
over-ripe tomatoes.
Always check that the quality meets organisational standards and suits the dish you’re
preparing. Here are some general quality principles.
• They should be fresh, crisp, with good colour and a fresh, pleasant smell.
• There should be no signs of insect damage, wilting, bruising, shrivelling, blemishes or
mould.
• Bulbs and tubers should have no sign of sprouting or greening on the surface.
• Leafy vegetables should have compact leaves and no sign of wilting or discolouration
around the edges of leaves.
• Any packaging should be sealed and show no signs of damage or tampering.
• Frozen fruits and vegetables should have no signs of freezer burn.
Seafood
• Fresh fish should be top quality and meet all standard quality checks such as bright
moist eyes, bright red gills, firm flesh, moist skin, scales intact, stiff tail, natural
colouring and a fresh sea smell.
• Frozen seafood should be frozen hard with no signs of thawing. There should be no
sign of freezer burn or damaged packaging.
• Fresh fish should be stored at 1 °C or below.
Dry goods
Dry goods include flours, dried herbs and other seasoning, rice, pasta, pulses and grains.
• Dry goods should be stored correctly and show no sign of damage or tampering.
• There should be no sign of exposure to moisture or unusual clumping of dry goods.
• They should be stored in clean containers with tightly fitted lids to keep them safe from
vermin like rodents (rats and mice), weevils, flies and ants.
• There should be no other impurities (dirt, other ingredients or pieces of packing) that
may have fallen in.
• Goods should not be past their best-before or use-by date.
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Dairy and eggs

Dairy products are the group of commodities derived from dairy farming. They include milk
and all products that come from milk (cream, butter, yoghurt and cheese).
• Dairy products and eggs should not be past their best-before or use-by date.
• They should look, smell and taste appropriate for the product type.
• Egg shells shouldn’t be cracked or broken.
Convenience alternatives
Sometimes, for the sake of convenience, you may use dried sauce mix, chilled sauces,
tinned vegetables/fruits and concentrates. Check that they’ve been stored at correct
temperatures, use-by or best-before dates are current and packaging is intact. Do not use
ingredients from punctured or misshapen tins.
Contamination
Look for signs of contamination such as dirt, grass, sticks, worms or flies in leafy greens
and other vegetables. Wash all vegetables whose off-cuts will be used in the preparation
of stocks or sauces. Check packaged ingredients for foreign bodies such as hair, glass,
fingernails, adhesive bandages or plastic. Check the smell of fresh ingredients to make
sure they don’t have a strong chemical smell, indicating they have been washed or
processed incorrectly, or exposed to hazardous chemicals
Hot tip
Follow stock rotation requirements when it comes to selecting ingredients. FIFO (First In,
First Out) is a good guide. Always check use-by or best-before dates. Never use any
product which is past this date.
End of section
You have reached the end of section 1.
Click to the next section to continue.
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2
Section 2:
Select, prepare and use
equipment
• How to select knives and other equipment.

• How to safely assemble equipment before use.
• How to use knives and other equipment safely and hygienically.
STAGE 3: GET EQUIPMENT READY

Why select equipment of correct type and size? So you don’t end up in the hospital!
Click on the tabs to learn some other good reasons.
Avoid accidents
If you use equipment which is the wrong type or size, you could severely injure yourself. If
your saucepan is too small, your sauce could spill over, burning you or others. If you peel
vegetables with a chef’s knife instead of a paring knife, you could cut yourself.
Achieve better end results

The right type of equipment gives the best results. If you use a cheap stock pot rather
than a good quality one, soup heats unevenly. The hot spots become thick, lumpy and
burnt. This ruins the entire batch!
Work more quickly and efficiently

If you choose wrong or inappropriate equipment, the job takes longer. For example, you
can blend a small quantity of ingredients with a stick blender. However, if you use a stick
blender for a large quantity of soup, it’ll take forever. Better to use a food processor
instead.
Save electricity/energy
Efficient use of resources is important to every establishment and our environment.
Choosing incorrect tools or techniques can result in inefficient practices, wasted energy,
and higher costs for your establishment. Where possible, choose appliances that have a
high energy star rating and practices that have minimal impact on our environment.
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In a nutshell
Your ultimate aim is to work safely, quickly and efficiently to Prepare stocks, sauces and
soups with the correct flavour, texture and quality. Choosing the right tools and equipment
helps you achieve this goal.
Click to the next screen to learn the exact equipment you need.
Tools and equipment in a hurry!

You’re probably already familiar with some of the basic tools and equipment used in
making stocks, sauces and soups.
You have 30 seconds to list as many as you can.
What basic tools and equipment are used to make stock, sauces and soups? List as many
as you can.
How many different tools and equipment did you think of? Did you have any of the item on
this list?
• Knives • Saucepans
• Peelers • Stockpots
• Whisks • Steam kettle stockpots
• Wooden spoons • Roasting dishes
• Metal spoons • Ladles
• Measuring spoons • Greaseproof paper
• Sieves • Muslin or tammy cloth
• Chopping boards • Food processor
• Thermometers • Mixer
• Measures and scales • Hand-held stick mixer
• Waste trays or bowls • Blender
• Kitchen scissors • Stove top burners
• Strainer (chinois) and filter paper • Oven
• Mouli
Equipment features and functions

Some of the tools and equipment you’re already familiar with have special features and
functions.
Click on the pictures to find out more about them.
Food processor
Food processors chop, grind or powder nuts and other dry ingredients in a matter of
seconds. They also quickly purée fruits and vegetables for sauces and soups.
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Mouli
You use this hand-operated mill for breaking down and pulping cooked vegetables and
fruits into purées for sauces and soups. It has interchangeable milling plates with varying
sized holes for different uses.
Saucepans
Saucepans come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Choose a good steel saucepan with a
heavy base. This helps evenly distribute heat and prevents sauces from burning.
You can use saucepans for many tasks such as sweating onions, blanching tomatoes,
cooking roux and heating sauces.
Stockpots
Stockpots range in size from freestanding pots with a 10 L capacity to large fixed and
tilting stockpots with a capacity of several thousand litres. The size you use depends on
how many customers you’re serving and the number of dishes which require stock.
Steam kettle stockpots

There are many varieties of steam kettle stockpots such as stationary, tilting, gas or
electric. All are suitable for heating large quantities of soup, stocks and sauces.
Strainer (chinois) and filter paper

A chinois is used to strain solids such as bones and vegetables from stock when it’s
finished. The finer the mesh, the more impurities you can remove and the clearer the
strained stock is. A very fine mesh chinois called a ‘tamis strainer’ is ideal for straining
stocks. However, you can achieve the same result by lining the inside of the chinois with
coffee filters, filter paper or cheesecloth.
Muslin or tammy cloth

A finely-woven cloth used to pass the sauce through and remove impurities.
Ladles
Use ladles throughout the cooking process to skim any impurities, froth and fat which rise
to the surface of stocks, sauces and soups. There are three terms used for this process.
• Dégraisser means to remove the grease and fat.

• Despumate means to remove froth.
• Écumer means to skim.
Roasting dishes
Use these to brown or roast bones and vegetables when making brown stocks. The heavy
base of the roasting dish helps the bones gain maximum brown colouring without burning
the ingredients. Burnt ingredients impart a bitter flavour to the end product which
intensifies as the stock reduces.
Greaseproof paper
Cut greaseproof paper into a cartouche and use to reduce evaporation and prevent skin
from forming on stocks, sauces or soups.
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Thermomix
Thermomix is a new piece of equipment that chops, blends, whisks, kneads, cooks,
steams and emulsifies food. It is very versatile as you can do all these actions and more
with one machine.

Use a ladle or spoon to skim fat from fresh stocks, sauces and soups. This improves the
quality of the stock and makes it healthier for customers. You can use an unprinted paper
towel to soak up oil from the surface of soup.
Selecting the right equipment isn’t enough…

Click on Leo to find out why.
Most of us go to work every day and never realise just how often we place ourselves and
others in danger through unsafe or unhygienic work practices. How can you minimise the
likelihood of accidents and cross-contamination occurring at your workplace?
• Assemble equipment safely

• Clean equipment hygienically
• Use equipment safely and hygienically
Let’s learn more about these over the next few screens.
How do you assemble equipment safely?

Click on the tabs to learn about equipment safety and cleanliness.
Safely assemble and disassemble

Before using food processors (or any other electrical /mechanical equipment) assemble
them correctly according to manufacturer’s instructions. If you don’t understand these
instructions, ask someone experienced to demonstrate how to do so.
After you’ve finished using the equipment, ensure you turn it off and unplug it before
disassembling and washing. Again, do this according to manufacturer’s instructions or
under an experienced colleague’s guidance.
While assembling and disassembling equipment, check for cracks, frayed cords, faults,
and incorrectly fitted blades or components which might make it unsafe. If something
doesn’t look right, ask someone to check it for you.
Don’t take any risks. Always put safety guards in place.
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Update technology skills and get training

Some tools and equipment are more complicated to assemble, use and disassemble than
others. Before using any equipment, make sure you have the skills and training to put it
together and operate it safely.
Here are some tips on how to develop the technology skills you need to safely operate
equipment with advanced or pre-programmed settings and functions.
• Read manufacturer’s instructions and product manuals.

• Ask your colleagues or supervisor for guidance, support, feedback and advice.
• Attend workshops or training sessions.
• Ask a more experienced person to demonstrate.
• Practise!
Ensure cleanliness before use

Ensure that all tools and equipment are clean before you use them. Why?
Pieces of packaging, sponges, or chemical residue cause cross-contamination. Leftover

food particles harbour bacteria and are unhygienic. If you use unclean equipment, you risk
cross-contamination and possible food poisoning outbreaks.
Be on the lookout for these visible signs of uncleanliness when assembling equipment.
How do you clean tools and equipment hygienically?

Hygienic cleaning means keeping bacteria at bay. Clean and sanitise your tools and
equipment according to workplace and manufacturer’s instructions between preparation
tasks as well as after use.
Click on the pictures to learn some cleaning procedures.
Cleaning utensils and tools

Thoroughly clean these after use and between different preparation tasks. Wash them in
hot water and neutral detergent. Rinse thoroughly using water at least 77 °C to kill
bacteria and remove any chemical residue. If you don’t have water at this temperature,
use a commercial spray sanitiser.
Cleaning stockpots and saucepans

• Hand wash with an all-purpose neutral detergent and degreaser. These chemicals are
safe to use on stainless steel but use with care on aluminium so you don’t dull the
surface.
• Descale (glossary) stainless steel using acid cleaners.
• Remove carbon build-up and stains from badly burnt stockpots and sauce pans with a
caustic/chlorine cleaner or soak them for a few hours.
• Again, rinse thoroughly using water at least 77 °C to kill bacteria and remove any
chemical residue.
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Cleaning the food processor

Avoid electrocution! Unplug food processors and other electrical equipment from the
socket prior to cleaning. Do not wet any of the electrical components.
Wash all safely disassembled parts with neutral detergent and hot water according to
manufacturer’s instructions. Rinse them and then dry. Again, remember to use water
which is at least 77 °C. This is the lowest temperature required to kill most food poisoning
bacteria.
Don’t scratch it! Do not use scouring powder or steel wool unless absolutely necessary.
They create scratches which are the perfect place for bacteria to hide. Steel wool
fragments may also break off and remain in the equipment. You don’t want it to transfer to
the food!
General handling tips

• When transferring food between pots, equipment and surfaces, use tongs, forks or
serving trays (not your hands!).
• If you have to use your hands, wear disposable gloves.
• When handling food, avoid cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods at all
stages of food preparation. Make sure that drips from thawed meat and poultry don’t
come in contact with surfaces, equipment and cooked or high-risk foods.
• Practise good personal hygiene and wear protective clothing when handling food and
using equipment.
How do you use a food processor safely?

Although we’re looking specifically at food processors, take similar precautions when
operating any electrical appliances such as mixers, vitamisers, blenders, juicers, etc.
Click on the dot points for some important safety tips.
 Set equipment and blades up correctly according to manufacturer’s instructions.

 Check for any damage such as frayed cords, cracks, damaged or loose
components.
 Put the cover securely in place before you switch the appliance on.
 Do not operate the appliance near the edge of the bench. Vibration during operation
could cause it to move and fall.
 Never use near water or on a sink.
 Avoid contact with any moving parts. This includes your fingers, hands, knives and
other utensils.
 Never feed food into the processor by hand. Use the food pusher provided.
 Never leave unattended.
 Switch off and unplug before removing bowl and contents.
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In a nutshell
Remember to operate all electrical equipment according to manufacturer’s instructions
and your workplace procedures to avoid injury.
How do you use stockpots safely?

Don’t burn yourself with ingredients, boiling water, steam, hot pots or stovetops!
Click on the check boxes for safety tips to remember and apply.
 Keep your work area clear. This prevents pots and saucepans from tipping over and
gives you space to set hot equipment down.
 Face all long handles inwards. This prevents people from knocking the hot pot and
its contents from the stove top.
 Wear your uniform. It’s designed to provide some protection.
 Use cloth gloves/mitts or dry tea towels to touch hot tools and equipment.
 Don’t use wet cloths or rubber/latex gloves to touch hot tools and equipment. These
conduct the heat and cause nasty burns.
 Use tongs to add ingredients so you avoid burns from splashes or steam.
 If dealing with large quantities of stock, sauce or soup, leave the pot on the stove
top. Remove it only when it has cooled.
 Use a ladle to remove liquids from the pot rather than pouring directly from the pot.
 Always allow the steam to escape away from you rather than towards you.
 Switch off hot equipment when not in use.
How do you use knives safely?

Preparing stocks, sauces and soups requires lots and lots of chopping, cutting, deboning
and slicing. Don’t cut yourself or anyone else in the kitchen!
Click on the tabs for some general safety tips.
Do’s
 Sharpen your knife! Sharp knives require less pressure and are less likely to slip.
 Select the right knife! Each knife is designed to perform a specific task. Use them
accordingly.
 Chop on a chopping board, not in your hand (except when doing decorative or detailed
work such as turning potatoes).
 Hold your chopping board firmly in place by placing a damp cloth or non-slip mat under
it.
 Cut away from yourself and your fingers. Pay attention to where the sharp edge of your
blade is pointing.
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 Curl your fingers under when cutting.

 Carry your knife with the point towards the ground and the blade close to your body to
avoid injuring others.
 Always clean and dry your knife if the handle becomes greasy or slippery. A slippery
handle is dangerous, as you can lose control of the blade.
Don’ts
 Never try to catch a falling knife. Let it fall! (And get your feet out of the way!)
 Never run your finger down the edge of a blade to check for sharpness.
 Never leave your knife facing up. Always put the blade down flat.
 Don’t put your knife near the edge of the bench, where someone could easily bump or
knock it off.
 Never soak your knives in a sink of water. This isn’t good for the blade. It’s also very
dangerous for any unsuspecting person who puts their hands into the water!
End of section
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3 Section 3:
Portion and prepare
ingredients
• How to sort and assemble ingredients.

• How to weigh and measure ingredients correctly.
• How to minimise waste.
Just follow the recipe…

To get good results, you just have to follow the recipe right?
Click on the start button to find out if things are that simple.
So it’s your first big test at work and you want to impress.
As a trainee chef, you’ve been told to follow the recipe to make cream of chicken soup
That’s all. Just follow the recipe and you’ll get great results.
You’ve had it drummed into you. It’s child’s play. A robot could do it!
Follow the steps to success. All there is to being a chef is following the steps in the right
order. And nothing else.
So, what do you do?
You do as you’ve been instructed and then relax and imagine how great it’s going to turn
out.
Your soup should now be ready so are you ready to see how it has turned out? You
followed the steps and it looks like… a complete disaster!
So, what went wrong?
Quite simply being a good chef means not just following the black and white steps written
in a recipe.
Being a good chef is far more engaging and colourful than that. To be a good chef, you
need to do more. Click to the next screen to find out what.
What’s ‘Mise en place’?

Mise en place (French for ‘everything in its place’) prevents disasters. It refers to all the
preparation tasks you do before cooking, which ensure the kitchen works efficiently and
your stocks, soups and sauces turn out as perfectly as possible.
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Click on the tabs to see some mise en place tasks you need to perform.
Select ingredients
As you learned in section 1, it’s important to have all required ingredients at hand when
making sauces and soups. If you don’t, you’ll ruin your dish. A béchamel burns if you
leave it for a second and run to the pantry to get missing ingredients. You can’t resurrect a
burnt sauce and will have to start all over again. What a waste of time and money!
Get equipment ready

As you learned in section 2, it’s very difficult to make a roux or stir a white sauce if the pot
is too small for the amount you’re making. Your sauce will end up lumpy, poorly combined
and lacking in consistent flavour. Choosing the right tools and equipment helps you make
a sauce successfully.
Prepare ingredients
Making great sauces and soups depends on adding the right quantity of ingredients at the
right time. To do this, you need to sort, assemble, weigh and measure your ingredients in
advance according to the recipe and food production sequencing.
As you undertake your mise en place tasks, you must make sure you minimise waste and
store re-usable by-products correctly as well. You’ll learn more about all these aspects of
preparing ingredients over the next several screens.
STAGE 4: PREPARE INGREDIENTS

When it comes to making stocks, sauces and soup, there are many ingredients to
assemble (and even precook!) before you start making the dish. Sort these ingredients
and place them together to make assembly more efficient.
Proper preparation requires you to read your recipe closely, sequence your tasks,
determine which ingredients go together and assemble them in order, before you start
cooking! This requires certain self-management skills.
Click on the icon to see tasks to complete so your ingredients are ready.
 Make stock for a sauce or soup.

 Soak beans.
 Precook meat, grains, beans, etc.
 Bone and cut or mince the meat.
 Wash, peel, cut, dice and slice vegetables.
 Wash, peel, core and chop fruits.
 Peel and crush/chop ginger, garlic, etc.
 Chop herbs.
 Grind chillies, rice, etc.
 Separate yolks and whites of eggs.
 Squeeze limes, lemons, etc.
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 Weigh and measure ingredients.

 Prepare garnishes. Grate cheese, slice lemons, chop herbs, bake croutons, etc.
Click to the next screen to find out what these are and how to develop them.
The importance of self-management skills

Effective and efficient cooks complete tasks to a high standard with the least amount of
time, effort and energy. Conserve your energy. Don’t waste it! Organise your tasks to
minimise work and maximise productivity.
Click on the icon to see a systematic approach to self-management.
 Read the recipe closely.

 Make a list of tasks you need to complete (including cleaning up as you go).
 Prioritise and schedule your tasks.
 Do other tasks while items are cooking or resting.
 Avoid distraction. Concentrate on the job at hand.
 Ask for help if you’re struggling to meet deadlines.
 Observe other experienced cooks in action and ask for advice to identify more
efficient ways of working.
How do you weigh and measure ingredients?

Don’t give your customers heartburn! Weigh and measure ingredient properly to ensure
the amounts you learned to calculate in section 1 actually get put in.
Click on the pictures to find out how.
Read the standard recipe

Organisations develop standard recipes to make sure the end products look, weigh and
taste the same every time. They accurately cost these recipes to determine the exact cost
to produce each portion. Follow them closely.
Calculate recipe ingredients

If necessary, adjust the recipe according to the number of servings you need. Double-
check the calculated ingredient quantities before you start.
Don’t guess!
Use accurate, good quality measuring scales and devices.
Weigh it
Weigh each food item carefully on a set of accurate scales. Remember to account for the
weight of any containers you use in the weighing process, such as measuring jugs, bowls,
etc.
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Count it
If a recipe requires a certain number of ingredients (such as twelve button mushrooms or
twenty cherry tomatoes), take time to count these out correctly rather than just estimating
that it’s ‘about a handful’.
Measure it
Use correct measuring spoons or jugs to make sure you add exact amounts of required
ingredients.
Are all preparation tasks listed on the recipe?

Some recipes detail every preparation task while others assume some basic tasks have
already been completed. One of these is washing your ingredients.
Click on the icon to find out more about washing vegetables.
All vegetables need washing before preparation to remove soil and chemicals from the
skins, insects and snails from the leaves, and residue from pickers, packers, transporters,
and other handlers.
When washing vegetables, take note of these points.
If you are using vegetables that have grown below the ground and are not peeled, such
as potatoes, thoroughly scrub them in water using a stiff vegetable brush and rinse
thoroughly.
Wash loose leafy green vegetables like baby spinach leaves and pre-prepared salad
mixes in at least three changes of cold water to remove fine sand and insects. Before
each water change, lift the vegetables out and place them into a colander to allow the
sand to sink to the bottom of the washing tub.
Pay special attention when washing leek. As leek grows and pushes its way above the
soil line, it traps a great deal of fine sand in between the layers of leaves. Split the leek
down the centre to the core and wash each layer under cold running water to remove
embedded dirt and grit.
One of the most common customer complaints about vegetables is the grit and sand that
is all too often found in spinach. To prevent this problem, leave bunches of spinach intact
when washing them. This stops fine sand from washing into hollow stems and becoming
trapped. When the spinach is thoroughly washed, remove the edible leaves from the
stems.
Note...
Some nasty food poisoning bacteria is found in soil. Examples are clostridium perfringens
and bacillus cereus (glossary), so it is important to wash vegetables carefully regardless of
whether they are grown above or below the ground. Don’t forget!
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Cutting and portioning vegetables

Vegetables are a common ingredient in stocks, sauces and soups. You can cut
vegetables into many different shapes and forms. Most of these have particular names,
based on their origin, shape and size.
Click on the icons to learn about the two cutting categories used for vegetables.
Rough cutting
Use rough cutting when the vegetables aren’t going to be eaten as part of the dish.
Use to release flavour and colour to items like stocks, soups and braises. Once the flavour
has been extracted, strain the vegetables from the mixture and discard them.
Precision cutting
Use precision cutting when the vegetables need cutting into specific shapes and sizes for
serving in a dish, as a garnish, in a salad or as an accompaniment. Your aim is to make
sure that all vegetables are cut uniformly in size for appearance.
Rough cuts
The most common rough cut for vegetables is called ‘mirepoix’.
Click on the video to find out more.
Mirepoix (pronounced ‘Mirri-pwa’)

Tool: Cook’s knife
A mirepoix is a uniform mixture of carrot, celery, onions and sometimes leek. The shape
of the cut vegetables isn’t important from a visual perspective because the vegetables
never make it onto the finished product. What’s important is an even mix of each of the
vegetables so that one flavour doesn’t dominate. Some recipes call for a white mirepoix.
To prepare this, simply omit the carrot so that the orange colour isn’t transferred to the
dish.
You can add a mirepoix to stocks, soups, sauces and braised dishes. You can also place
it under meats when they’re roasting, to lift the meat off the base of the pan. This allows
air circulation for even cooking, imparts flavour and lifts the meat out of cooking fats. You
can then use the vegetables to make a sauce with the roasting juices. This is called a
‘trivet.’
Precision cuts
There are quite a few precision cutting techniques used in commercial kitchens around
the world. Each has a specific origin, size and use. There were discussed in the unit that
covers basic methods of cookery. Let’s briefly refresh the main cuts used when preparing
stocks, sauces and soups.
Click on the tabs to see each cut.
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Brunoise
Brunoise (pronounced ‘broon-wahz’)
This cut originated in the French district of Brunoy, where fine spring vegetables are
grown. It’s a very fine dice of vegetables used for Scotch broth, soups and garnishes.
Dimensions: 2 mm even dice.
Macédoine
Macédoine (pronounced ‘mass-e-dwan’)
This cut is named after a region in Eastern Europe: Macedonia. It describes a larger dice,
used for chunky soups, vegetable dishes and stews.
Dimensions: 5 to 8 mm dice.
Paysanne
Paysanne (pronounced ‘pay-zahn’)
This translates to ‘country style’ or ‘farmer’s wife style’, and refers to food cut into
triangles, rounds or squares used for soups or stews. You’ll often cut vegetables
paysanne for minestrone soup.
Dimensions: 15 mm diameter and 3 mm thick.
What a waste!
If you don’t calculate ingredients for your stocks, soups and sauces correctly, you may
have to throw them out. So wasteful!
Why is minimising waste important to your organisation? You have 30 seconds to list as
many reasons as you can.
Good work, see if any of the reasons you’ve listed appear on the list on the next screen.
Why minimise waste?

Nobody likes throwing food away, especially when you can easily avoid it.
Click on the icons to see why minimising waste is important.
Saves money
If ingredients go into the rubbish, you lose potential revenue from them. You also lose the
money you spent purchasing them. No business wants to lose money twice!
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Saves your reputation

Good storage and stock rotation procedures lead to ingredients staying fresher and at
their best quality for longer. Therefore, your stock, sauces and soups will look and taste
better. This results in a great reputation for your workplace.
Saves the environment

Minimising waste reduces negative impacts on our environment. Less land is needed to
provide space for landfill.
Note...
Use your enterprise skills and get motivated to reduce waste. How?
• Follow correct storage procedures.
• Follow correct stock rotation procedures.
You’ll learn how to do this over the next few screens.
What are correct storage procedures?

Perishable foods have a relatively short shelf-life especially if you don’t store them
properly.
When making stocks, sauces and soups, you usually have reusable by-products left over.
Knowing where, how, how long and at what temperatures to store these items minimises
waste.
Click on the pictures to learn storage procedures which optimise shelf-life and
ensure food safety.
Dairy
This includes milk, cream, yoghurt, butter, and cheese.
• Refrigerate at 3 to 4 °C.
• Keep cheese sealed to avoid it drying out or absorbing odours from other foods.
Meat and poultry

Store meat for four to six days and poultry for three to four days in the following
conditions.
• Refrigerate at 1 to 3 °C.
• Keep humidity at around 85%.
• Store all meat on trays and wrap with plastic wrap.
• Never store raw and cooked meat on the same tray.
• Store raw meat on shelves which are under rather than over cooked meats to prevent
cross-contamination.
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Seafood
When stored correctly, you can keep seafood for up to five or six days.
• Gut, scale and clean prior to storage.

• Cover with plastic wrap.
• Store on crushed ice at 1 °C.
• Replace ice as it melts.
• Change trays daily.
Fruits and vegetables

• Store most fruits and vegetables at 6 to 10 °C.
• Store beans at 7 °C.
• Store broccoli at 1 °C (usually packed on ice).
• Store bananas and other tropical fruits at 18 °C (storing below 13 °C turns the fruit
black).
• Store root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, etc.) in a dark, cool, dry, well-
ventilated room.
Frozen goods
You can store fish safely in the freezer for up to three months, meat and poultry for up to
six months and blanched vegetables for up to nine months.
• Store frozen goods in the freezer at -18 °C or below.

• Wrap and store food in sealed containers to prevent damage and freezer burn.
Dry goods
Dry goods include food items in cans, jars, bottles and sealed packaging, as well as semi-
perishable foods such as sugar, rice, peanuts, etc.
• Store dry goods in a cool, dry, well-ventilated storage area.

• Transfer dry goods into clean containers with tightly fitted lids to protect from vermin
like rodents (rats and mice), weevils, flies and ants.
• Place open bags of flour and other dry goods in bins suitable for food storage.
• Remove canned fruits and vegetables from packaging and place in clean, dry, airtight,
food grade containers in the refrigerator.
Hot tip
Keep plastic wrap, packaging and other materials used for food storage in clean, dry, pest
and contamination-free stores to prevent cross-contamination.
What are correct stock rotation procedures?

Click on Leo to find out.
Remember FIFO? It’s the most common method of stock rotation First In, First Out.
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When you’re storing reusable by-products or deliveries, check their expiration dates
(glossary) and compare them to those already in storage.
Put items with an expiration date closest to the current date at the front and those with a
later date behind them. That way, you always use products with earlier expiration dates
first.
This process should be used for all food and beverage supplies held in storage areas and
front of house display equipment, including the dry store. While stock in the dry store may
have a longer expiration date, rotating it means you’ll use it while it’s still in peak condition.
What information do labels contain?

Suppliers usually label or stamp perishable supplies. They print the use-by and best-
before dates on packaging or stickers.
Click on the tabs to find out more.
Use-by date
A ‘use-by’ date indicates when the customer must consume the product by, or risk
potential illness. After this date, the item may no longer be safe. You’re not allowed to sell
it and must discard it.
Best-before date
A ‘best-before’ date is an indication of quality rather than a food safety standard. If you
properly store items, they’ll remain fresh and of good quality right up to (and sometimes
beyond) their ‘best-before’ date.
The potential for spoilage increases beyond the best-before date.
Storage conditions
Both these dates assume intact packaging and correct storage according to
manufacturer’s stated conditions. Once you open it, the product may no longer retain
optimum quality until the stated date.
For example, let’s say the best-before date is 12 months away, but the label says
‘Refrigerate and use within two weeks of opening’. Once you open it, the product will spoil
within two weeks.
How do you let other staff know when to use it by? The answer is internal date coding.
How and in what circumstances do you place internal date codes on products? Click to
the next screen to find out.
What is internal date coding?

Internal date coding helps you control the movement of stock through your storage areas.
This maximises use and minimises waste. Sometimes, you might need to date code and
label the contents of an item before storing it.
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Click on the tabs to find out when and how you might do this.
Bulk buying
Some establishments order supplies in bulk and repackage them into smaller portions
after delivery. Individually mark the smaller, repackaged items with the date you removed
it from its original packaging.
If you’re freezing the repackaged item, record the contents, its weight and how many
portions it contains, on the label. This helps identify it faster, later.
Cooked foods
If you’re placing pre-prepared cooked stocks, sauces or soups in the refrigerator or
freezer for later use, date and code them. State the date cooked and any other relevant
details for easier identification.
Opened packaging
Once you open a sealed item (especially vacuum-packed foods) the use-by date no
longer applies. Date code the leftover food with the date you opened the packaging.
End of section
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4
Section 4:
Prepare stocks, sauces and
soups
• How to use cookery methods for stocks, sauces and soups.

• How to use flavouring and clarifying agents.
• How to make hot and cold derivations from basic sauces.
• How to use thickening agents and convenience products appropriately.
• How to make food quality adjustments.
Correct preparation and cookery methods

Preparing stocks, sauces and soups requires more than just throwing ingredients together
and boiling them up. You need to select the correct preparation and cookery methods to
make sure they turn out properly (and don’t destroy your kitchen!).
How many cookery methods used in preparing stocks, sauces and soups can you think
of? You have 30 seconds to list them.
How many different cooking methods did you think of? Compare them to this list. Then
click to the next screen to see how to use each cookery method to prepare stocks, sauces
and soups.
• Chopping • Straining
• Peeling • Skimming
• Boiling • Stirring
• Simmering • Folding
• Sweating • Whisking
• Blanching • Blending
• Braising • Liquidising
• Roasting • Binding
• Microwaving • Dissolving
• Sieving
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STAGE 5: PREPARE THE STOCK,

SAUCE OR SOUP
Throughout this section, we’ll be selecting and using various preparation tasks and
cooking methods to prepare stocks, sauces and soups. These techniques are crucial
skills. They’re your personal tools and you need to be able to use them like an expert.
Click on each toolbox to learn about the individual methods.
Toolbox 1 – Preparation tasks

Chopping
You chop to create rough-cut vegetables such as spring onions, onions, carrots and
celery. Remember you remove these vegetables from the stock prior to service, so don’t
worry about what they look like as long as they’re cut uniformly.
You chop larger bones into smaller pieces with a butcher’s hand saw or electric band saw
to prepare them for stock. Use a meat cleaver to chop smaller bones.
You finely chop vegetables for a mirepoix and meat for consommé.
Peeling
You peel carrots, potatoes, onions etc. to prepare them for soups.
Sieving
You sieve to remove lumps from dry food such as flour before making roux.
Straining
You strain many sauces and other liquidised foods to remove impurities or lumps.
Skimming
You skim the surface of stocks, sauces and soups with a spoon or ladle to remove froth
and impurities such as fat and skin from the surface.
Stirring
You vigorously stir milk into cooled roux to make béchamel.
You gently stir stock into roux to make espagnole.
Folding
You fold to gently incorporate dry ingredients into a mixture, particularly when making cold
sauces derived from mayonnaise.
Whisking
You whisk ingredients together when creating hot and cold emulsion sauces. You can
also use an electric mixer for this purpose to save time and energy.
You whisk egg yolks and cream together to form a liaison.
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Blending
You blend some soups and sauces to purée them so all ingredients are uniform
throughout the liquid.
Liquidising
You process a food so that it changes from a solid to a liquid form.
Binding
You use thickening agents, such as eggs, roux, cornstarch, arrowroot, etc. to bring
ingredients together.
Dissolving
When adding sugar to your sweet sauces, make sure the solid ingredients completely
disappear into the liquid.
Let’s look at how to use various cookery methods to prepare these sauces over the next
several screens.
Toolbox 2 – Cookery methods

Boiling
You don’t often allow stocks, sauces and soups to rapidly boil. Most of the time, you
reduce them to a simmer as soon as they reach boiling point.
You boil bones for stocks to remove excess blood, impurities and fat. Start the process in
cold water and bring to the boil for about four minutes. Rinse in cold water.
Simmering
You slowly, gently simmer most stocks, sauces and soups for the length of time required
to retain natural flavour and stop them from sticking to the base of the pot.
Sweating
Sweating uses a low heat and oil to soften and moisten ingredients. You don’t use this
technique for cooking the stocks, sauces and soups themselves, but you do use it to
prepare some ingredients such as onions, bones and vegetables.
Blanching
You blanch young animal bones before using them to prepare white stock.
Braising
Braising is the slow transfer of heat to food that is half covered with an appropriate liquid
and enclosed in a tightly lidded container in the oven. You may use braising to prepare
vegetables or meats for sauces.
Roasting
You roast meats and use the sediment and juices to make jus roti and jus lié. You also
roast vegetables for brown stock to give them colour.
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Microwaving
You may be required to microwave sauces and soups to reheat them. When you do so,
stir them to make sure there are no cold spots.
Béchamel (white sauce)

From the short list of ingredients and equipment, it may appear that béchamel (recipe 71)
is one of the simplest sauces to make. But be careful! It’s very easy to ruin.
Click on the steps to learn how to make béchamel.
Watch the video.
Step 1
Combine equal parts flour and butter in a pan over a low heat. When combined, take off
the heat and cool.
Step 2
Put 500 ml of milk with an onion clouté (glossary) in a separate pan and bring to the boil.
Step 3
Return the cooled roux to the heat and begin adding the milk slowly while stirring
vigorously. Make sure the sauce is quite smooth before adding each small quantity of
milk. If the milk is added too quickly, the sauce will become lumpy. Sauce should be
cooked for 15 to 20 minutes to cook out the starch taste.
Step 4
Pass the sauce through a chinois.
Hot tip
As a point of interest, the first step in this process is how you make a white roux (roux
blanc). You’ll learn more about making and incorporating roux later in this section.
Espagnole (brown sauce)

There are many steps involved in cooking espagnole, (recipe 73) so we’ve broken them
down into four separate stages. Preparing brown sauce takes a long time, so start
preparation the day before you need it.
Click on the tabs to see how to create espagnole (brown sauce).
Watch the video.
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1. Creating the roux

As with béchamel, you start with a roux. While béchamel requires a white roux; espagnole
requires a brown roux.
Click on the steps below.
Step 1
Combine equal parts flour and lard or dripping in a pan over a low heat.
Step 2
Continue to stir until the roux turns to a light brown colour.
Step 3
Cool the roux.
2. Adding the stock

Step 1
Bring the stock to the boil in a separate pan. Reduce the heat to allow the stock to
simmer.
Step 2
Place the roux back on the stove top and use a ladle to slowly pour stock into the pan with
the roux. Stir the stock into the roux.
Step 3
Continue adding small quantities of stock while stirring. Make sure the sauce is quite
smooth before adding each small quantity of stock. If the stock is added too quickly, it will
become lumpy.
Step 4
When all the stock has been added, bring the sauce to the boil then reduce to a simmer
for eight hours.
Step 5
Use a spoon or ladle to remove all fat and any impurities from the surface.
3. Adding the vegetables

Step 1
Prepare the vegetables. Remove the skin from the carrots, the leaves from the celery and
the skin from the onions. Rough-cut the vegetables.
Step 2
Shallow-fry the vegetables in oil. They should be a consistent brown in colour.
Step 3
Add the vegetables, the tomatoes or tomato paste, and the bouquet garni (glossary) to the
sauce.
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Step 4
Simmer for at least two hours to allow the flavours to combine and the vegetables to
soften.
4. Finishing the sauce

Step 1
Remove the bouquet garni.
Step 2
Strain the sauce using muslin or tammy cloth or a chinois, removing any impurities.
Step 3
Continue simmering for at least another six hours until the sauce achieves the desired
consistency.
Step 4
Use a spoon or ladle to remove all fat and any impurities from the surface.

Where possible, use homemade stock. It’s more nutritious than convenience alternatives
and is also free from salt, which can contribute to heart disease. Also - ensure that the
stock and roux are different temperatures to ensure a smooth sauce.
Chicken, veal or fish velouté

Preparing a veloute (recipe 72) is much the same as preparing espagnole (brown sauce)
except you don’t add vegetables.
Use a ladle to transfer hot stock to the roux rather than pouring it. This is crucial to making
a fantastic velouté, as it allows you to add stock slowly and safely. Otherwise, the sauce
becomes lumpy.
Click on the steps to see how to prepare velouté.
Watch the video.
Step 1
Create a blond roux and cool it.
Step 2
Bring the veal or chicken stock to the boil in a separate pan.
Step 3
Return the roux to heat.
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Step 4
Use a ladle to transfer the stock into the pan with the roux. Stir the stock into the roux a
little at a time, making sure the sauce is smooth before adding more stock.
Step 5
When all stock is added, bring to the boil.
Step 6
Use a ladle to remove any impurities that appear on the surface during the cooking
process.
Step 7
Remove from the heat and pass through a tammy cloth or fine strainer.
In a nutshell
If you cook a blond roux a little longer, it becomes a brown roux. However, don’t cook roux
for too long. If it turns brown and has a nutty aroma, you can’t use it as the basis of
velouté, but you could use it to create a brown sauce.
Preparing Jus roti (roast gravy) and Jus lié (thickened gravy)
The processes for making roast and thickened gravy are extremely similar so let’s look at
them together.
Click on the steps to learn how to make jus roti and jus lié.
Watch the video.
Step 1
Remove the meat from the oven. Transfer the cooked meat to an appropriate dish.
Step 2
Pour excess oil from the roasting dish into an appropriate container. Use a spatula or
wooden spoon to dislodge the sediment.
Step 3
Set the temperature on the stove top/hob element to high. Place the pan on the stove
top/hob.
Step 4
Add stock using a ladle and mix the ingredients.
Step 5
Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down. Monitor the sauce as it reduces, stirring
when required.
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Step 6
When the sauce is ready, strain for use.
Hot tip
If you want to make jus lié, add a thickener to the sauce after completing the six steps.
You’ll learn more about thickeners later in this section.
Also, avoid cloudy stock or stock with a layer of fat. Cloudy stock produces a bitter tasting
sauce. Stock should have a good flavour and a pleasant smell.
Making coulis
Step 1
Hull the strawberries by washing them quickly under cold running water and removing the
green stem leaves from the top with a knife.
Step 2
Place strawberries, sugar, cointreau and lemon juice into a pot and bring to the boil. This
dissolves the sugar and gives couli its syrupy texture.
Step 3
Pass the sauce through a fine strainer and refrigerate until required.
Hot tip
You can use any other fresh, frozen or canned berries in the same way.
Mayonnaise
You can buy mayonnaise, but freshly made mayonnaise (recipe 75) tastes far superior.
Eggs and oil are most stable at room temperature (between 18 and 20 °C). For best
results, make sure all your ingredients are in this range.
Click on the steps to see how to prepare mayonnaise.
Watch the video.
Step 1
Mix vinegar, egg yolks, mustard, salt and pepper, thoroughly with a whisk.
Step 2
Gradually drizzle the oil into the vinegar mixture while whisking vigorously and
continuously.
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Step 3
When the emulsion forms, you can add the oil slightly faster. If you’re preparing large
batches of mayonnaise, using an electric mixer will save time and energy.
Preparing stock bones

As you’ve learned, stock forms the basis of most soups and sauces. It’s made from liquid,
bones, vegetables, flavouring agents, etc. Bones determine the type of stock. After liquid,
they’re the major ingredient in all stocks except vegetable stock.
Click on the tabs to learn how to prepare stock bones.
Preparing large bones

• Trim bones of excess fat, marrow or blood vessels. This prevents the finished stock
from becoming cloudy or fatty.
• Cut or chop larger bones (such as beef leg bones) into smaller pieces with a butcher’s
hand saw or electric band saw. This exposes more surface area to the simmering
water and draws out the most flavour.
• If the bones have been cut with a band saw or they contain particles of animal
intestine, wash them before adding to the stockpot.
Preparing small bones

Use a meat cleaver or the heel of your cook’s knife to cut through smaller bones.
The bones of very young animals, such as veal or chicken, have higher blood content and
may cause stock to become cloudy. If you’re making a white stock from these bones,
blanch them to avoid this. Here’s how.
• Trim the bones of excess fat.
• Rinse them in cold water.
• Place the washed bones in a pot and cover with cold water.
• Bring the pot of water to the boil.
• Remove impurities as they rise to the surface.
• Drain the bones and rinse them well under cold running water.
• Now you can use the bones in the stock liquid.
Note...
The stock’s strength depends on how long it’s cooked and the proportion of liquid to solid
ingredients. The appropriate ratio is ten parts water, five parts bones and one part
vegetables. Let’s look at how to prepare the vegetables on the next screen.
Preparing the mirepoix

The mirepoix is the second most important contributor to the flavour of stocks. The
vegetables balance the flavours extracted from the bones and add further dimension. Be
sure to increase the quantity of vegetables when you make vegetable stock.
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Click on the icon to learn more about preparing a mirepoix.
Include equal quantities of vegetables in the mirepoix so one flavour doesn’t dominate
over the others.
The size of vegetable pieces depends on cooking time. Beef stock cooks for several
hours, so cut vegetables into 3 to 5 cm pieces. Fish stock cooks for a shorter period. Cut
vegetables into smaller pieces so they release their flavour more readily.
The kind of vegetables you choose and the way you cook them gives the stock its colour.
White stocks such as chicken and fish stocks should be flavourful, yet nearly colourless.
You use a white mirepoix without carrot to give a clear finish. You usually roast vegetables
for brown stocks to give them colour.
Preparing stock liquid

Now that you know what to do with your ingredients to bring out the best flavour in your
stock, it’s time to prepare it!
This list is the correct procedure for preparing stock liquid.
• Add cold water to the stockpot with the bones.

• Bring it slowly to the boil to extract maximum flavour.
• Add the vegetables and other ingredients only after the stock has come to the boil.
Turn the temperature down and slowly simmer for the rest of the cooking time.
Hot tip
You need to simmer stock slowly. Why?
Boiling pushes impurities and scum back into the stock. It’ll become cloudy and evaporate
quickly.
For how long do you cook stock?

As you’ve just learned, you need to simmer stock slowly over a long period to draw the
most flavour out of the ingredients. Opinions vary on how long to cook different types of
stock. Here are some recommended guidelines which may vary slightly depending on the
size of the bones.
• For example you can cook:

• White beef stock for 8 hours.
• Brown beef stock for 6 to 8 hours.
• White chicken stock for 3 to 4 hours.
• Brown game stock for 3 to 4 hours too.
• Vegetable stock for 30 to 45 minutes, and
• Fish stock for 20 minutes.
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Most chefs agree that you cook fish stock for the least amount of time.
Are there any special considerations when cooking fish

stock?
• Sweat the bones and vegetables before adding cold water. This maximises the flavour.
• When the fish stock comes to the boil, turn it down to a slow simmer.
• Cook it for no more than twenty minutes.
If you cook it longer, the stock turns cloudy and tastes very bitter.
Note...
Some kitchens may have a pot of brown beef stock cooking for several days. However,
this may be counter-productive. Why?
• The flavour begins to break down and degenerate.
• The stock generally turns out cloudy.
The calcium in the bones starts leaching out, giving a bitter taste.
Preparing and clarifying consommé

As you leaned in section 1, the word consommé literally means ‘concentrated’.
Click on the pictures to see the ingredients required for consommé.
 Cold, concentrated white or brown stock

 Lean minced meat (usually from the shin of beef or veal)
 Egg whites
 Finely chopped or minced mirepoix of vegetables
 Herbs and seasonings
The meat, egg whites, vegetables and seasonings are the ingredients used to make
what’s called a clarifying raft. This is responsible for making the finished soup crystal
clear. Let’s look at this next.
How does a clarifying raft work?

Meat and eggs contain protein. When you heat these proteins they coagulate (glossary).
This causes them to become smaller and more solid. The coagulation of raft ingredients
rids stock of impurities and makes consommé clear.
Click on the video to see how to make a clarifying raft.
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To make a clarifying raft, mix the ingredients together and then place the mixture into the
cold stock and stir until all ingredients are well blended. Some of the proteins in the raft
are water-soluble. These will dissolve in the cold stock. When you slowly heat the stock,
all of the proteins will gradually coagulate, become solid and rise to the surface, forming
the raft.
As the coagulating proteins rise, they collect all the raft ingredients, as well as the
impurities that cloud the stock, leaving it perfectly clear. When the stock has simmered for
a while, the raft ingredients form in a solid mass on the surface of the soup, trapping all of
the impurities.
What are the properties of the ingredients used in a raft?

The ingredients used in a clarifying raft all bring something crucial to the process.
Click on the pictures to learn more about them.
Stock
The stock determines the name of the consommé. You use beef stock for beef
consommé, (recipe 84) chicken stock for chicken consommé, and so on. You can also
use other stock flavours such as fish, game, duck, etc. Whatever stock you’re using must
be cold. Ideally, make it the day before and refrigerate overnight.
Lean minced meat

Finely chopped or minced meat is important to making consommé for two reasons.
• It contributes additional flavour and gelatine to the liquid.

• Most importantly, it’s a major source of protein that helps the clarifying raft to do its job.
Use meat which contains little fat. You don’t want fat melting into the soup. Shin beef
mince is ideal for making beef and game consommé. It’s very lean as well as high in
gelatine and water-soluble proteins.
Use beef and/or chicken meat to clarify chicken consommé.
Egg whites
Egg whites consist mainly of albumin (the water-soluble protein). Egg whites help give
additional strength to the proteins in the meat. This provides additional clarifying power.
It’s best to use fresh egg whites in a raft. They have maximum coagulating capabilities.
Use egg whites, vegetables and seasonings (no meat) to clarify fish consommé.
Mirepoix of vegetables
Add a finely chopped or minced mirepoix of vegetables to the raft to give additional flavour
to the finished soup. These vegetables also help give the coagulated raft some solidity.
Cut the vegetables fairly small to enable them to float to the surface with the raft.
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Herbs and other seasonings

Include chopped parsley stems, thyme, bay leaves, cloves and peppercorns in the raft.
They give the soup additional refined flavour and seasoning. You’ll learn more about
herbs, spices and other flavouring agents in a minute. For now click to the next screen to
learn how to prepare and clarify consommé.
Preparing consommé
Pay close attention to these steps. If you follow them carefully, your consommé will be
free from impurities, amber in colour, rich in flavour and full-bodied. If you don’t, your soup
will lack the necessary quality.
Click on the pictures to learn how to make consommé.
Step 1
It is important to start with a cold stock that is strong, rich and full flavoured. This helps
give aroma and body to the finished soup. The body comes from the concentration of
natural gelatine produced from the bones used to make the stock and can be felt on your
tongue and in your mouth when eating the soup.
Step 2
Mix all the clarifying raft ingredients together with a small amount of cold stock and then
add this mixture to the pot of cold stock that is to be clarified and mix in well with a whisk.
Step 3
Let the ingredients stand for at least one hour to allow the water-soluble proteins to
dissolve out of the meat and egg whites and to disperse throughout the cold stock.
Step 4
Place the soup on the stove over moderate heat and allow the stock to come to a simmer
very slowly. The liquid will need to be stirred from time to time to stop the raft ingredients
from burning on the bottom of the pot. When the stock has reached a slow simmer, cease
stirring to allow the raft to rise to the surface.
Step 5
Slowly simmer the soup for one and a half hours without disturbing the raft. If the soup is
allowed to rapidly boil, the raft will break up and cloud the consommé.
Step 6
Turn off the heat and gently pass the liquid through a chinois lined with filter paper. When
you are scooping the soup into the ladle, take care not to break up the raft. Let the liquid
drain through the filter paper naturally, as trying to push it through will also force fine
particles to pass into the soup.
Step 7
Degrease the surface of the clear soup with a small ladle or absorbent paper, adjust the
seasoning and retain for service.
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Hot tip
Ice Filtration is a technique where we freeze stock in an airtight container to trap in the
flavour, once frozen wrap well in muslin cloth and hang in coolroom above a vessel to
catch clear filtered liquid. Final product should be clear and full flavoured consommé.
Using flavouring agents

As you learned earlier, stock also contains flavouring agents. Be careful with them and
use them lightly! Otherwise, they dominate the stock and interfere with the natural flavours
of the bones and vegetables. This can reduce the quality of the soups and sauces you
make with them.
Click on the tabs to learn about adding flavouring agents to stocks.
Herbs and spices

You often add herbs and spices to a stock enclosed in a cheesecloth bag called a ‘sachet’
(French for ‘bag’). A sachet is also sometimes referred to as a ‘bouquet garni’.
Put the desired herbs and spices into the sachet. Tie it closed with a long piece of
butcher’s string. Tie the other end of the string to the pot handle. This allows you to easily
remove the sachet when you obtain the desired flavour. It works on the same principle as
a tea bag.
You can use the following herbs and spices, in varying quantities, for flavouring stocks.
• Bay leaves
• Peppercorns
• Cloves
• Thyme
• Parsley stems
• Mustard seeds
• Juniper berries
• Star anise
Tomato products
Tomato paste, trimmings, etc. contain acid which helps dissolve connective tissues in
meat and bones. They give flavour and body to some brown stocks.
Warning!
• Don’t add too much tomato paste. It makes the stock very cloudy.
• Never use tomato products in white stocks. They won’t be white any more!
Alcohol
• Add red wine to brown meat stocks used to make a jus or sauce to accompany red
meats. It provides a robust, full-bodied flavour.
• Add white wine to white stocks used as a poaching liquid for veal, chicken or fish or to
make a sauce for these items. It provides a light, fruity lift.
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• You can also use small quantities of other types of alcohol such as port, brandy,
sherry, gin, ouzo, etc.
Fruit juice
Add fruit juice to stock to raise its acidity level and provide a light, fruity flavour. Lemon
juice is the most commonly used juice, especially in fish stocks when you use the stock as
a poaching liquid.
Salt warning!
Stocks gently simmer for several hours, gradually reducing in volume. This concentrates
and intensifies the flavour of natural salts present in other ingredients. If you put in
additional salt, the stock might become too salty.
If the stock isn’t salty enough, you can always add it at the dish preparation stage.
Hot tip
Wash the stems of fresh herbs that would otherwise be thrown away. Add them to the
stockpot towards the end of the cooking time to obtain the best flavour.
Making derivations from mayonnaise

You can mix mayonnaise with other ingredients to create many different cold emulsion
sauces and dressings. Each variation has one or two key ingredients that distinguish it
from the others.
Click on the icons to learn some sauces derived from mayonnaise.
Aioli
Aioli has crushed garlic folded through the mayonnaise. It is very versatile. You can use it
as a salad dressing, but it is more often used as a condiment on sandwiches or a dip for
fresh, crusty bread.
Andalouse sauce
Andalouse sauce is similar to thousand island dressing and has finely diced red pepper as
well as cooked and puréed tomato concassé folded through mayonnaise. It is commonly
used on fries and hamburgers.
Cocktail sauce
Cocktail sauce has tomato sauce, cream, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and,
occasionally, brandy folded through the mayonnaise. It is traditionally served with oysters
natural or cold seafood such as prawns, so is ideal for cold seafood starters and salads.
Remoulade sauce
Remoulade has chopped capers, gherkin, fine herbes (glossary), and anchovy essence
folded through mayonnaise. You can use it in potato salad or as a dressing for shredded
carrots. It is more commonly served with crab cakes and other crumbed seafood such as
goujons of fish.
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Tartare sauce
Tartare has chopped capers, gherkins, and fines herbes folded through mayonnaise. This
is traditionally served with deep-fried, crumbed seafood.
Thousand Island dressing

Thousand island has finely sieved hard-boiled egg, parsley, and tabasco sauce as well as
red and green peppers folded through the mayonnaise. This is traditionally served with
cold seafood so is perfect for cold seafood starters and salads.
Vert sauce
Vert has spinach, fines herbes, and blanched, puréed watercress folded through
mayonnaise to give a distinctive green colour. It is usually served over warm foods such
as poultry, fish and baby potatoes.
Hot tip
You can add many other ingredients to a mayonnaise base to alter the flavour. Try lime
juice, curry, mango, honey, chilli paste, or even cucumber purée, just to name a few.
How do you make sauces from mayonnaise?

Most sauces made from mayonnaise require folding. You use folding to gently incorporate
dry ingredients into a mixture.
How do you make tartare sauce?

Tartare sauce has chopped capers, gherkins, and fines herbes folded through
mayonnaise.
You can fold by hand using either a spatula or spoon. Cut down into the centre of the
mixture from one side of the bowl to the other. Sweep the spatula up the side of the bowl,
scooping up the mixture from the bottom of the bowl and bringing it to the top.
Keep repeating the folding stroke, giving the bowl a partial turn after each stroke, until the
chopped capers, gherkins, and fines herbes are uniformly mixed through the mayonnaise.
Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate all of the mixture and to keep
your strokes gentle and smooth. Stop as soon as the ingredients are incorporated.
Hollandaise and béarnaise sauce

You need to hold warm emulsion sauces at 30 to 37 °C. Otherwise, they separate or
become solid. This temperature range is perfect for bacteria growth, so make warm
emulsion sauces and their derivatives as close to service time as possible. Throw them
away after two hours.
Click on the dot points to see how to make these sauces.
 Place butter into a bowl over a bain-marie to clarify. When the butter is clarified,
keep it warm (40 °C), but not hot.
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 Place vinegar and crushed peppercorns into a pan and reduce until the mixture is
almost dry. Remove from the heat and add water.
 Place the egg yolks into a round-bottomed stainless steel bowl and strain the
vinegar reduction into the eggs.
 Whisk the egg yolks and reduction vigorously over a bain-marie until the mixture
thickens and streams from the back of the whisk like a ribbon.
 Remove the sabayon (light and fluffy egg mix) from the heat and continue to whisk
until it cools to 40 °C.
 Using a ladle, add the clarified butter to the sabayon gradually while whisking
continually. Start off with a few drops at a time and slowly increase the flow as the
sauce develops.
 When all the clarified butter has been whisked in, beat in the lemon juice, and adjust
seasoning with salt and cayenne.
 Béarnaise is thicker as it has a higher egg to butter ratio. It has tarragon stems
infused into the vinegar reduction and you add tarragon and chervil to finish the
sauce’.
Note...
If you don’t follow correct procedure, the fat and other liquids won’t join together in an even
suspension. The sauce ‘splits’. It becomes very runny and small lumps appear. The notes
at the bottom of the hollandaise recipe (recipe 76) explain how you can adjust a split
emulsion sauce.
Making derivations from hollandaise and béarnaise

By adding a few key ingredients, you can make hollandaise and béarnaise sauce into a
number of derivative sauces.
Click on the key ingredients for some examples.
 Add a paste of tomato concassé and butter to Béarnaise to make sauce charon.
 Add warm meat glaze to make sauce foyot.
 Substitute fresh mint for tarragon and chervil to make sauce paloise.
 Add lightly whipped cream to hollandaise to make sauce mousseline.
 Add the juice of two blood oranges and the grated zest from one blood orange to
hollandaise to make sauce maltaise.
Making derivations from basic foundation sauces

By adding specific ingredients to a foundation sauce, you can change the sauce’s flavour,
texture and overall character.
Click on the icon to reveal the derivative sauce flow chart.
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Derivative sauce flow chart

This flow chart shows the specific ingredients you can add to a foundation sauce to create
a derivative.
How do you thicken sauces and soups?

Thickening soups gives them a heavier consistency and makes them a more substantial
meal. Thickening sauces helps them lightly stick to the food so it doesn’t run off and form
a puddle on the plate!
You can use starch-based and non-starch-based thickening agents to add body to your
sauces and soups.
Let’s learn more about both these types of thickening agents over the next few screens.
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What’s roux?
Roux is a group of starch-based thickening agents. You make it by cooking equal
quantities of plain flour and butter over moderate heat, stirring continuously to one of three
stages: white, blond or brown.
White roux
You thicken béchamel (white sauce), velouté soups and some cream soups with white
roux.
White roux is cooked without colouring. It’ll have a smooth appearance at first and then
become crumbly like breadcrumbs. When the mixture becomes smooth again, it’s ready.
Blond roux
You thicken white stock with blond roux to make chicken, veal and fish velouté sauce as
well as some velouté soups and cream soups.
This roux is cooked the same as a white roux. However, the cooking time is longer. When
the mixture starts to take on a very pale fawn colour, remove it from the heat source and
continually stir until it cools enough to stop the cooking process.
Brown roux
You thicken brown stock with brown roux to make brown soups, espagnole and other
basic brown sauces.
You can use dripping or lard instead of butter to make brown roux. Cook it longer than
blond roux, until it’s light brown. A fresh nutty smell is the tell-tale sign that you’ve cooked
it correctly.
Hot tip
It takes 120 grams (60 g flour, 60 g butter) of roux to thicken one litre of liquid. You can
alter this to include more or less roux, depending on the thickness or viscosity (flowing
consistency) you require. Less roux produces a thinner consistency. More roux produces
a thicker consistency.
How do you incorporate the roux?

Add a thin liquid such as stock or milk to a roux, thoroughly mix together and slowly
simmer. The liquid thickens as the flour gelatinises and becomes a thicker consistency.
How do you incorporate liquid into a roux? Click on the steps to find out.
Watch the video.
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Step 1
Make the roux in a heavy-based pan of a suitable size to hold all the liquid you’re
thickening. When the roux is the appropriate colour, remove it from the heat and allow it to
cool.
Step 2
Bring the liquid to the boil in a separate pan. Slowly pour a small amount of the boiling
liquid into the cooled roux (away from the heat) and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon
or whisk to prevent any lumps from forming. When a smooth paste is formed, return the
pan to the heat and add more of the boiling liquid and mix thoroughly. Continue adding
the liquid and mixing until all of the liquid is incorporated.
Step 3
Bring the liquid and roux mixture to the boil, continuing to beat well with a wooden spoon.
The roux will start to swell and thicken the liquid as it comes to the boil.
Step 4
Gently simmer the sauce, stirring from time to time, for at least 15 to 20 minutes. This
cooks out the starchy taste of the flour and fully develops the swelling capacity of the
starch granules. The flavour and consistency of the sauce will improve if it’s cooked for a
longer period. If the sauce is too thick, simply add more stock, milk or water to thin it
down. Adjust the seasoning.
Step 5
Strain the sauce through a chinois to remove any lumps that may have formed.
How do you incorporate roux into a liquid?

Establishments often make enough roux to last a whole week! You can use this existing
roux to make sauces and soups as required.
Make sure the roux is cold and the liquid is hot. Add small amounts of roux at a time,
whisking vigorously to prevent lumps from forming.
In a nutshell
Whichever method you decide to use, remember that the roux and liquid must be at
different temperatures to help produce a lump-free sauce. Always mix a hot liquid with a
cool roux or mix a cool liquid with a hot roux.
How do you use starch-based thickening agents?

In addition to roux, there are many other starch-based thickening agents you can use.
Click on the pictures to learn more about them.
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Beurre manié
You use a beurre manié to adjust a sauce or soup that’s not quite thick enough (not to
thicken an entire sauce or soup though!).
Knead two parts butter and one part flour together to make a smooth paste. Add it to
simmering liquid in small quantities and thoroughly whisk until smooth. Repeat until you
reach required consistency.
Don’t boil the thickened sauce/soup too hard after adding a beurre manié. If you do, the
butter may separate and float to the surface.
You can add a beurre manié at the last minute to finish the dish, without further cooking.
The butter adds flavour/shine and the flour gelatinises.
Cornflour
Cornflour (or cornstarch) is fine, textured white flour made from maize/corn (sometimes
made from wheat). It has about twice the thickening power of wheat flour.
Use 40 g of cornflour to thicken 1 L of hot sauce such as jus lié. Don’t add it directly into
sauce. If you do, the powder thickens and the sauce becomes lumpy.
Use a little cold water, stock or milk to turn the starch into a paste. That way, it’s easier to
stir in. If you add too much paste, you can’t take it out, so only add a little at a time.
Whisk the paste into the sauce vigorously to avoid lumps. Cornflour starts to thicken the
mixture when the liquid reaches around 90 °C.
Sauces thickened with cornflour are usually cloudy and can’t be frozen.
Arrowroot
Arrowroot is white flour derived from the ground roots of the West Indian maranta plant.
This fine textured starch is used in the same way as cornflour, but doesn’t make the sauce
turn cloudy.
Use it for thickening sweet sauces where a clear transparent or semi-transparent finish is
required.
Starchy vegetables
Potato starch is extracted from potatoes which are cooked, dried and then ground to fine
white flour. You must dissolve potato starch in cold liquid before adding to a hot sauce for
thickening at about 65 °C.
If you’re cooking the thickened sauce over a long period, be careful! The starch will break
down and lose much of its thickening power.
You can also thicken soups with starchy vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes,
split peas, dried beans, okra, cassava root (tapioca), etc.
Starchy grains
Breadcrumbs and other crumbs derived from cereal products thicken liquids very quickly
because they’ve already been cooked. However, they’re rarely used due to their coarse
texture. The exception would be bread sauce or bread soup.
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It’s best to thicken soups using other starchy grains such as rice, barley, oats, semolina
and polenta (glossary) or pasta products like macaroni, spaghetti and vermicelli.
You can thicken lobster bisque with ground rice or rice flour, scotch broth with barley, etc.
Note...
Whatever thickening agent you use must be suitable in terms of flavour, texture and
colour.
Custard powder (cornflour, flavourings and colourings) is a good thickening agent for milk,
but not for fish or meat stocks. Likewise, a roux or vegetable purée wouldn’t be suitable for
thickening a sweet custard sauce.
How do you use non-starch-based thickening agents?

Besides starches, there’s a range of other ingredients sometimes used to thicken sauces.
Click on the tabs to find out about them.
Vegetable and fruit purées

You can add body, additional flavour and thickness to sauces by adding a smooth purée
of suitable fruit/vegetables or puréeing the mirepoix when you make the stock.
The sole thickening agent in purée soups is the puréed pulp of all the ingredients.
Pumpkin soup is a prime example. Some pumpkin soups are noticeably thick.
Sabayon
Sabayon is a French custard sauce made of egg yolks, sugar, a pinch of flour and other
flavours such as sweet wine, champagne, fruit juice, coffee, etc. You can serve it on its
own (hot or cold) with fruits or use it to thicken warm emulsion sauces.
Egg yolks
Sweet and savoury custards are thickened using egg yolks. Egg yolks can slightly thicken
a sauce due to the way the egg proteins coagulate when heated. Here’s how to do it.
• Mix the egg yolks with a small amount of cold liquid (usually milk).
• Add this mixture to the liquid you’re thickening. (Make sure this liquid is warm.)
• Continually stir while slowly heating.
• When the liquid reaches 60 to 70 °C, the egg yolks start to coagulate, lightly thickening
the sauce. At this stage, remove it from the heat and either serve immediately or keep
stirring until it cools down.
• Be careful! If you cook the sauce above 70 °C, the egg yolks will curdle (glossary) and
the sauce will separate / split and be ruined. Take great care to keep the sauce in the
right temperature range.
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Egg yolks and cream liaison

You form a liaison by whisking egg yolks and cream together. You can use liaison to
adjust sauces, thicken soups, and give them both a rich flavour, smooth texture and
glossy sheen when finished.
Watch the video to see how to add liaison.
 Bring the liquid to the boil.

 Remove it from the heat to cool slightly.
 When the temperature has dropped a little, add the liaison and whisk through well
before returning the sauce to the heat.
 Heat to between 80 and 85 °C and serve immediately.
 Don’t bring the sauce back to the boil. If you do, the egg yolk will curdle. If you’re
finishing a soup with liaison, incorporate it just prior to service for the same reason.
Note...
To adjust sauces, use two egg yolks and 100 ml of cream per litre. To thicken thin liquids
such as stocks, use eight egg yolks and 200 ml of cream per litre. If you’re finishing soup
with liaison, make it a little thinner initially to allow for the thickening properties of the
liaison.
How do you use convenience products?

Canned or powdered stocks, bouillons, boosters, flavour enhancers, etc. can boost the
flavour of fresh stocks, sauces or soups. Convenience sauces and soups are handy in
emergencies, and save labour costs in establishments with limited staff. Where possible,
use fresh stocks rather than prepared stocks. They’re higher in nutrients and won’t have
the additives which are in most convenience products.
Convenience stocks
The most common convenience stocks available are brown beef stock (beef booster),
white chicken stock (chicken/rooster booster), vegetable stock (vegeta) and white fish
stock.
They come in pastes or powders and are inferior to their correctly made equivalents. If
you have to use them, just dissolve them in hot water and voilà! They’re ready.
Remember to follow directions closely. Otherwise, the resulting stock will be too strong
and salty. Make a weaker stock if you’re reducing it by further cooking or adding it to a
sauce/soup with other strong-flavoured ingredients added.
You can also purchase a complete liquid stock in a heat-treated tetra pack. However, it’s
not cost effective to use in commercial kitchens.
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Convenience sauces
Again, follow directions when reconstituting so the sauce tastes the way it should. There
are several forms of convenience sauces. Here are the most common.
• Bottled (Heat and serve.)

• Bottled (Add milk and stock.)
• Powdered (Add water and cook.) Use these as a base ingredient. Add other
ingredients to improve flavour.
• Frozen (Slowly heat in a bain-marie or pot and serve.)
Sauce varieties
These are almost limitless! Here are a few common examples.
• Jus roti, jus lié and demi-glace

• Pepper sauce, sauce dianne,
• Mayonnaise, tartare, cocktail, thousand island
• Sauce anglaise, crème pâtissière, custard powder
• Hollandaise and béarnaise
• Tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sweet chilli, horseradish cream
• Red current jelly, mint jelly, cranberry jelly and sauce, apple sauce
• Coulis and fruit purées
Convenience soups
Soups made from fresh ingredients are cheaper. However, convenience products can
boost the flavour of fresh soup, are handy in emergencies, and may help enterprises with
limited staff save on labour costs.
These are available in a wide range of flavours and soup types such as consommé,
broths, creams, bisques, etc. There are several varieties.
• Canned (Heat and serve.)

• Condensed canned (Add milk/water, heat and serve.)
• Powdered (Add water, heat and serve.)
• Airtight plastic pouches and buckets (Heat and serve.)
Hot tip
How do you get the best results from convenience soups?
• Substitute all or part of the water for fresh stock.
• Add fresh vegetables and/or meat to the soup mix.
• Incorporate fresh cream when finishing convenience cream soup.
• Use a fresh garnish to enhance the flavour and appearance.
What are quality requirements for sauces and soups?

It’s your responsibility as a professional in the food service industry to make sure you
follow standard recipes so your sauces and soups meet quality standards.
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Click on the icons to see what these are.
Consistency
• Are your sauces and soups the consistency your customers expect?
• Check that they aren’t too thick or too thin.
• Are your soups and sauces consistent across all the quality points?
• Follow standard recipes so they appear, smell, and taste the same when they reach
your customers.
Taste
• Does the recipe produce a tasty result? Correctly season stocks, sauces and soups
according to standard recipes.
• What feedback have you received from your customers about the dish? Flavours can
vary from mild, subtle flavours right through to bold, rich flavours depending on the
sauce or soup.
• Do you need to make any adjustments to the recipes? Regularly taste them to make
sure they aren’t too bitter, salty, spicy, sour, or sweet.
Aroma
• Do your sauces and soups smell of the main ingredients? Check that the aroma is
appropriate to the type of sauce or soup.
• Do they have a pleasant and delicious aroma? Check that the aroma is fresh, vibrant,
and pleasant.
Texture
• Is the texture appropriate for the type of sauce? Sauces should be moist, rich, smooth,
velvety and free from lumps, but not too slippery.
• Is the texture appropriate for the type of soup? Bouillons and consommés are thin and
clean. Unpassed soups are thick and chunky. Passed soups, veloutés, and cream
soups are smooth and creamy with no crispy, crunchy, fibrous bits.
Temperature
• Have you cooked sauces to at least 63°C? If you overcook, undercook or burn them,
this negatively affects the taste and texture.
• Have you heated your soups throughout? Check that they’re a consistent temperature
with no cold spots.
You’ll learn more about correct temperatures for holding and storing sauces and soups in
section 5.
Note...
Foods that taste umami are made from fermented beans, grains, fish, prawns and seafood
or other ingredients such as yeast extract.
It’s a savoury taste found in the following sauces: fish sauce, soy sauce, anchovy sauce,
Worcester sauce, tomato sauce, and pasta sauces.
It’s also found in soups including miso, dashi stock, bouillon, etc.
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How do you adjust sauces and soups?

Even if you follow standard recipes, sometimes sauces and soups don’t turn out. If they’re
fermented, bitter or contaminated, you must throw them out. However, you can resolve
some common problems by making small, simple adjustments.
How do I fix common problems with sauces and soups?
Common problems Adjustment

Sauce/soup is weak tasting and bland. Reduce (glossary). Add seasoning or extra
stock.
Sauce/soup is too thin. Reduce. Add a thickening agent.
Sauce/soup is too thick. Add stock, milk or water depending on the

type of sauce/soup.
Sauce texture inconsistent and lumpy. Blend in food processor or strain using a
conical strainer.
Sauce isn’t rich enough. Enrich with cream, butter or liaison.
Soup isn’t rich enough. Add herbs, cream, milk or spices to create a
richer or more complex flavour.
Ingredients in soup are too crunchy. Lengthen cooking time to allow ingredients to
become more tender.
Soup tastes too strong. Add water.
Hot tip
When tasting and evaluating, use a clean spoon every time so you don’t contaminate the
soup.
Following your standard recipe reduces the need for adjustments. If a problem occurs,
only make food quality adjustments within the scope of your responsibility. If you need
help or are unsure, consult your supervisor.
End of section
Click to the next screen to read the unit summary.
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Section 5:
5 Present and store soups,
sauces and stocks
• How to present soups and sauces attractively.

• How to add garnishes.
• How to evaluate dishes and adjust presentation.
• How to store dishes.
• How to clean your work area and dispose of or store products.
STAGE 6: PRESENT IT PROPERLY!

Not presenting soups and sauces properly can have dire consequences. And not just for
you!
Click on the people to see how poor finishing can affect others.
Your colleague
We’re meant to be there for each other, but every time I see the dish I’ve been slaving
over being sloppily finished by a colleague, I just think, ‘what’s the point?’ No matter how
good my dishes are, they end up looking dreadful. What a waste of time!
Your manager
I’m sick and tired of having to deal with complaints from customers about the way their
meals look. I take pride in our establishment and constantly apologising about our poor
quality dishes is really embarrassing. If the kitchen staff don’t up their game, I’m going to
have to let some of them go.
Your customer
Look, don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t the worst meal I’ve ever eaten. In fact, it tasted pretty
good. But it looked so bland and boring on the plate that it put me off. Why bother coming
here when I can go to the place across the road and get something that tastes and looks
great? Sorry.
As you can see, sloppy and amateurish finishing has a range of consequences. Let’s
learn how to present sauces and soups like professionals throughout this section.
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How do you present soups?

You’ve made the soup and it tastes fantastic. Now it’s time to present it attractively on
appropriate serviceware. If you don’t, even the most carefully prepared dish will leave a
negative impression.
Click on the tabs to see what you need to do.
Choose the right serviceware

When serving individual portions, make sure the bowl is an appropriate size. If it’s too big,
the portion looks meagre. If it’s too small it might not hold the correct portion.
Serve thin soups like bouillon and consommé in a straight-sided soup bowl called a
‘tasse’. Serve thick soups like veloutés and purées in round-sided soup bowls.
If customers are helping themselves, serve from an electric soup pot, chafing-dish or a
bain-marie at a buffet.
Portion correctly
Portion soup according to your organisation’s specifications. If you provide too big a
portion, you may not have enough serves for all customers. Not only that, you risk
increasing your organisation’s expenditure and reducing its profits!
Check serviceware for cracks and chips

Cracks and chips can harbour bacteria and allow small portions of the dish to fall into the
soup.
Check the temperature

If hot soups fall below 63 °C or cold soups rise above 4 °C, you risk poisoning your
customers. Don’t allow food to enter the temperature danger zone.
Of course, food served at the right temperature also enhances enjoyment! Place
serviceware for hot soups in a plate warmer. Chill serviceware for cold soups. This helps
maintain the soup at the correct temperature.
Check for consistency

Check that the serviceware is consistent in size, shape, colour, etc. Make sure that every
soup you plate meets organisational standards and recipe requirements for consistency,
appearance, texture, portion size and flavour. Every dish should look and taste exactly the
same from one customer to the next.
How do you present sauces?

Conduct the same checks as you would for soups. Keep in mind that you can present
sauces with the food or apart from the food.
Click on the icon to find out more.
Sometimes it is desirable to serve the sauce separately. This means that customers can
choose the amount of sauce that is to their liking. It also prevents food from getting soggy.
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Sauce can be presented to customers in a saucier, a gravy boat or in a bain marie. Take
care that food served in a bain marie is protected. The lid should be placed on the bain
marie to protect the food from potential contaminants.
If you want to present the sauce with the food, you must take as much care when plating
up sauce as you would for any other food item. Have you ever seen a poorly plated up
meal, with sauce dripping over the edges of the plate? It looks unhygienic and
unappetising.
Aim to create a meal that appeals to the eye as well as to the nose and taste buds. Use a
clean cloth to wipe away any smudges or spills. Some menu items can be enhanced if the
sauce is drizzled over the menu items or placed on the plate under the other menu items.
How do garnishes influence soup names?

In classical soup cookery, the soup had a particular name based on the garnish’s
ingredients.
Click on the pictures to see how a garnish can change a soup’s name.
Consommé
Soup name Garnish

Consommé ordinaire None
Consommé célestine Julienne of savoury pancake
Consommé royale Savoury baked egg custard
Consommé julienne Julienne of vegetables
Tomato soup
Soup name Garnish

Tomato soup No garnish
Cream of tomato Add cream when serving
Crème Portuguese Boiled rice
Crème pompadour Tapioca and shredded lettuce
Note...
There are literally hundreds of different soups, hundreds of different garnishes, and
thousands of variations of the two. Try looking in cookbooks and magazines to gather
some interesting ideas.
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How do you garnish soup?

Add garnishes to increase your soup’s visual appeal, create customer interest, vary
texture and flavour as well as make it more appetising and filling.
What are some other traditional garnishes for soups?

Some soups have a traditional garnish. For instance, minestrone is often finished with
finely grated parmesan. Pea and ham soup is frequently enhanced by diced bread
croutons called sippets. French onion soup tastes fantastic with round cheese croutons.
One rule that should always be applied when garnishing soups is that the garnish must
never be bigger or longer than the width of the diner’s soup spoon: otherwise it is too
awkward to eat. For example, if you use julienne of vegetables or noodles as a garnish,
cut them so they are shorter than the width of the soup spoon.
What can you use to garnish soups?

You don’t have to stick to conventions when garnishing. The only limit is your imagination.
However, never use a garnish bigger or longer than the width of a soup spoon. Otherwise,
it’s too awkward to eat.
Click on the checkboxes for some examples of soup garnishes.
 Chopped fresh herbs

 Grated parmesan cheese
 Toasted almond slices
 Croutons / sippets
 Sour or whipped cream
 Cheese straws
 Corn chips
 Precision-cut vegetables
 Cooked puff-pastry rounds

Don’t add salt, flavourings or preservatives. If you choose the right garnishes and
seasonings, your soups will be naturally delicious.
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How do you visually evaluate sauces and soups?

It’s important to visually evaluate by asking yourself a few important questions.
• Is the sauce’s colour appropriate for the type of sauce? Sauces can range from white
to a deep brown. Make sure the colour is right!
• Does the sauce have a glossy finish?
• Have your ingredients kept their clean, natural brightness? Cream of broccoli soup
should be fresh green, not grey. Tomato sauce should be bright red, not dingy brown.
• Have you selected ingredients with contrasting colours and shapes? A vegetable soup
containing carrots, red peppers, broccoli, mushrooms and corn, for example, is much
more appealing than one that has all green vegetables of a similar shape.
• Are there drips or fingerprints on the rims of plates or bowls?
• If you’re arranging a buffet, is there a variety and balance of colours?
How do you adjust presentation?

Common problem Adjustment
Sauce isn’t shiny. Add liaison.
Dishes lack colour/contrast. Change accompaniments and garnishes to
maximise eye appeal.
There are drips or fingerprints on rims. Remove marks using clean, wet service
cloth. Polish if necessary.
Buffet isn’t balanced in terms of colour. Rearrange dishes. Add floral arrangements,
decorations, etc. to vary colour.
Customer wants control of sauce portion. Change the way you plate up the dish to
serve the sauce attractively on the side.
Serving soup from tureen at table is Hold a small plate under the ladle until it’s in
creating drips on bowls. position and ready to pour. Use the same
plate when returning the ladle back to the
pot. This prevents drips in unwanted places.
Alternatively, use the same method to plate
up in the kitchen instead, for practicality of
service.
What’s the correct temperature?

Ideally, your sauces and soups go straight from you to your customers. However, this
doesn’t always happen. Don’t let them fall into dangerous temperature zones. If you do,
even the most well-presented dishes can become a source of food poisoning.
Click on the thermometers for some guidelines you must follow.
 Hold hot stocks, sauces and soups at 75 °C and serve at 63 °C or higher.

 Hold and store warm emulsion sauces at 30 to 37 °C. Otherwise, they separate or
become solid. This temperature range is perfect for bacteria growth, so don’t keep
them long. Throw them away after two hours.
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 Hold cold soups and sauces at 4 °C or lower. Store all stocks, sauces and soups
(aside from emulsion sauces) at temperature as well.
 Store soups and sauces in the freezer (depending on the ingredients used) at
- 18 °C or lower.
How do I refrigerate or freeze?

Never place hot or even warm stocks, sauces or soups directly into the fridge or freezer.
Allow them to cool first.
To speed up cooling time, place a small block of wood under one side of the container to
allow air to circulate around its base. Alternatively, place the container in a sink partially
filled with cold water. Stir every so often to reduce heat in a controlled manner.
Use a perforated cartouche to protect dishes from contaminants while allowing steam and
heat to escape.
Hot tip
When holding prepared sauces and soups for later use, you can use a cartouche or a few
knobs of butter on the surface to prevent skin from forming.
What other environmental conditions do you check?

When it comes to storing stocks, sauces and soups, temperature isn’t the only
environmental condition you need to check. Others are just as important.
Click on the tabs to find out what they are.
Ventilation
Refrigerators, freezers and the dry store all need good air circulation to keep foods at
optimum temperatures. Make sure any fans, motors or vents are clean. Don’t block
circulation by storing food in front of them.
Humidity
Store cooked foods in clean, dry, airtight containers so they aren’t affected by humidity
levels. Hard plastic is a good storage option. Clean and sanitise storage containers
between each use.
Light
Direct light (especially sunlight) can cause some products to lose quality. Keep your final
product out of direct sunlight and store in the fridge.
Atmosphere
Check each storage area for cleanliness. Remove any debris and clean up any spills as
they occur. This reduces the risk of cross-contamination, pest infestation and allows air to
circulate more freely. It can make a big difference in maintaining the long-term quality of
your food.
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Packaging
Before using any pre-prepared or convenience stocks, sauces or soups, check the
storage container or packaging.
• Was the package or storage container resealed properly after use?

• Are there rips, holes, tears, dents, punctures or evidence of pest damage?
• Have vacuum-sealed items been compromised so air has entered the packet?
• Could the food have become contaminated as a result? Could the quality of the
product have deteriorated? Has it dried out, discoloured, or become stale?
• If so, throw it away.
• If not, restore it in a clean, dry, airtight container.
How do you handle sauces and soups safely?

Your organisation no doubt has procedures in place to make sure you handle food safely
and are compliant with food safety legislation. Take the time to review them.
Click on the dot points to learn about common food handling guidelines.
 Wash your hands after going to the toilet or blowing your nose.
 Keep your work area clean and clear of waste and debris.
 Return food to the refrigerator if you’re not using it or have finished preparing it.
 Wear a clean uniform and apron every day.
 Wash dirty utensils, crockery, cutlery and equipment in hot, soapy water or in the
dishwasher.
 Put deliveries away as soon as possible.
 Make sure containers are clean and dry before you put food in them.
 Protect food by covering it, placing it in a sealed container, or resealing packaging
after use.
These procedures vary based on your workplace and job role. However, many of them
are the same no matter where you work. The main aim is to stop food from becoming
contaminated and unsafe to eat.
How do you reconstitute?

You can reconstitute clear soups and thin sauces by gradually heating them on the stove.
However, most sauces and many soups become thick, gelatinous and solid when chilled.
They require special care so they end up the right consistency.
Click on the steps to find out what’s involved.
Step 1
Start the cold, thickened liquid on a low heat. Add a small amount of appropriate liquid
such as stock, water or wine and stir frequently with a wooden spoon. This prevents it
from burning on the bottom of the pot.
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Step 2
Heat the thickened liquid to a flowing consistency. Gradually increase the temperature
until it comes to the boil.
Step 3
At boiling point, turn the temperature down. Slowly simmer for four to five minutes. This
helps reduce any bacteria that may have built up during storage.
Step 4
Once the liquid has simmered, you can adjust the consistency if necessary. Thin it with an
appropriate liquid. Thicken it with a beurre manié or liaison.
What are some good tips for reheating and reconstitution?

Don’t place soups and sauces in a bain-marie and allow them to slowly heat up. This is a
recipe for a bacteria cocktail! Follow these tips instead.
• Use a flat-top grill. It doesn’t apply direct heat to the bottom of the pot.
• Only reheat the quantity you need. It’s unsafe to cool and reheat the liquid again.
• To reheat frozen sauces and soups, thaw them completely in the cool-room first. This
prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot.
• Always bring hot liquids to the boil prior to service.
• Keep cold sauces and soups well chilled. Serve directly from the refrigerator or cool-
room.
What is a food by-product?

The food that is leftover during and after the production of a dish.
Click on the questions to find out their answers.
Why is it important to store and use by-products?

By storing and then using any food by-products in other recipes you can minimise waste
and reduce a kitchen’s costs. For example, poultry, meat and vegetable off-cuts can be
used when making stocks and sauces.
How do you store reusable by-products?

The same as you store any other similar type of food item. As the by-products will be used
in other food preparation processes and recipes, the same food safety standards apply.
Let’s look at what some of these are next.
Store or dispose of surplus food or by-products

Procedures for how to correctly store and dispose of a wide variety of different types of
food is covered in food handling, stock control and maintaining perishable items units.
Let’s look at how to apply some of the basic principles of food storage and disposal
outlined in those resources.
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70
Click on Andy so he can learn more about the storage or disposal of food.
‘What do I store and when?’

• Raw and cooked ingredients and prepared food once they are no longer needed for
preparation, production or service.
• Reusable by-products as soon as the preparation task is completed.
• Surplus dishes and ingredients as soon as service is finished.
‘What can I store?’

• Raw, partially or fully prepared ingredients and dishes must be refrigerated or frozen if
they are going to be used at a later time.
• Freshly cooked stock, sauces and soups can be chilled and stored for use at a later
time.
• Thawed frozen foods (for example, vegetables or meats) can be refrigerated for later
use.
‘What can’t be stored for later use?’

• Food that has been held between 5 and 60 ºC for longer than four hours; for example,
food held on stovetops, ovens or in displays (e.g., on a buffet).
• Any cooked food that has been reheated such as soups and sauces.
• Some soups and sauces do not maintain quality when hot-held and are usually
disposed of at the end of service.
• Any by-products from food preparation tasks that might be contaminated, such as off-
cuts from unwashed vegetables.
‘How should it be stored?’

• Any menu item that has been prepared or displayed in a container must be transferred
to a clean container for storage. For example, soups displayed in a bain-marie
container should all be placed into clean containers.
• All food should be securely covered with cling wrap or aluminium foil, or placed in a
lidded, sealed container. This prevents cross-contamination between different foods in
the storage area.
‘Should it be labelled?’
• Any food placed in storage containers at the end of service should have a date label
clearly placed on the outside of the container. This is especially important for cooked
rice as it has a short shelf life.
• The label may also name the contents of the container and who stored it. This helps
other staff to rotate stock correctly and decide if the food is safe to use if it has been
stored for a period of time.
‘Why are good storage techniques important?’

Stock, sauces and soups dishes are perishable foods and can easily become
contaminated by other foods. Correct storage is vital to maintain quality, freshness and
safety of the ingredients and prepared dishes. Removing and storing all food from
preparation and service areas also reduces the risk of a pest invasion.
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‘How do you dispose of food?’

Always separate food waste from edible foods to avoid cross-contamination. Place any
food to be disposed of in a lined garbage bin. When your shift ends or the bin gets full,
carefully remove the liner and contents. Place it in a sealed external waste storage
container to keep pests out (and odours in!).
‘How can I reduce food waste?’

Disposing of food waste has a detrimental impact on the environment. Try to reuse or
recycle off-cuts whenever possible. Only prepare enough ingredients and dishes to meet
anticipated demand to reduce the amount of surplus food. Ask your manager about
donating surplus food to charities such as SecondBite.
Clean and tidy your work area

If you have followed the policy of cleaning as you go, you may not need to complete as
many cleaning tasks in your work area. Some tasks cannot be completed until the service
period is over, all food production is completed, and the kitchen is ready to be closed.
Click on the icon learn more.
Common tasks
• Clean and sanitise all surfaces such as bench tops and shelves.
• Clean and sanitise equipment and containers.
• Put away cleaned equipment.
• Place dirty linen, such as tea towels and cleaning cloths, in the linen bag.
• Empty and wash the rubbish bins.
• Sweep and mop floors.
Clean as you go
To make cleaning quicker and easier at the end of the shift, try to clean as many items as
possible during preparation time. Clean your own equipment or transfer them to the dish
wash area when you have finished using them. Many items of equipment, such as pots
and service utensils, can be put through the dishwasher.
Cleaning schedule
A cleaning schedule allocates tasks to specific people or job roles. It can also describe
how to complete a task and when it should be done. This helps to ensure cleaning tasks
are not duplicated or missed. Look for a cleaning schedule that lists tasks to be completed
in your work area. It may be on the wall near the wash-up area or in a procedures manual.
Manual cleaning technique

1. Pre-clean: scrape, wipe or sweep away food scraps and rinse with water.
2. Wash: use hot water and detergent to remove any grease and dirt. Soak if needed.
3. Rinse: rinse off any loose dirt or detergent foam.
4. Sanitise: use a sanitiser to kill any remaining bacteria.
5. Final rinse: wash off sanitiser.
6. Dry: allow to air dry.
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Safety
Follow your workplace health and safety procedures when cleaning and tiding work areas.
Take care when dismantling and cleaning bladed equipment such as mechanical slicers
and vegetable peelers, and handling hot cooking and display containers and equipment.
End of section
Click to the next screen to read the unit summary.
Summary
Throughout this unit, you’ve gained the experience necessary to give your customers the
happy memories and taste sensations they’re looking for. They’ll be coming back to your
restaurant for more of your delicious soups or perfectly sauced dishes. Be sure to share
them with your family, too, and start creating memories of your own!
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GLOSSARY
Glossary
Word Meaning
Bacillus cereus (Pronounced bah-sil-uhs seer-ee-uhs). Soil-dwelling bacteria which
causes harm and poisoning in humans. Bacillus illnesses occur when
food is improperly cooked and held at temperatures which allow bacteria
to multiply.
Bouquet garni A mix of herbs tied together and used to impart flavour during cooking,
but taken out prior to service.
Clarification To make crystal clear or free from all impurities.
Clostridium (Pronounced klos-trid-ee-um per-fringe-enz). A type of bacteria found in
perfringens soil and decaying vegetation.
Coagulate As the protein present in some foods is heated or mixed with acids, the
tiny protein strands become firm and shrink. This is called coagulation.
Curdle Curdling occurs when egg protein hardens, shrinks, and separates from
the liquid, forming into small lumps.
Deglazing The process of using liquid such as stock or wine to remove the sediment
from the base of a roasting or frying pan to create a rich stock.
Descale Remove mineral deposits that build up on surfaces over a period of time.
Expiration date The use-by or best-before date of a product which is either placed on the
packaging by the manufacturer or on an internal label by staff.
Fine herbes Even mixture of finely chopped parsley, chervil, chives, and tarragon.
Freezer burn A condition that occurs when frozen food has been damaged by
dehydration and oxidation while frozen, usually due to poor or damaged
packaging.
Jus lié (pronounced jzew li-ay) A thickened gravy made from rich brown stock
and pan juices.)
Liaison You form a liaison by whisking egg yolks and cream together. You can
use liaison to adjust sauces, thicken soups, and give them both a rich
flavour, smooth texture and glossy sheen when finished.
Mirepoix (Pronounced ‘mir-er-pwa’). A mirepoix is a uniform mixture of carrot,
celery, onions and sometimes leek. It can be added to stocks or sauces
and is commonly placed under meats during roasting.)
Mouli A hand operated grater designed for grating or puréeing small quantities
of produce.
Onion clouté A peeled whole or half onion, studded with cloves that hold a bay leaf
across the onion. Used to flavour milk sauces.
Polenta Cornmeal.
Reduce To concentrate or thicken a sauce or soup. This is achieved by boiling it
to make the water evaporate, which reduces the volume.
Reduction The process of using heat and evaporation to create a thicker sauce.
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GLOSSARY
Word Meaning
Roux A base for sauces made from butter and flour.
Semolina Ground hard durum wheat.
Thickener Agents used to thicken sauces including arrowroot, beurre manié, corn
flour and roux. You’ll learn more about these in section 4.
didasko.com 2016 Edition 75

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Prepare Stocks, Sauces and Soups: Learner Guide

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Prepare stocks, sauces and

Version number 2.0

Section 1: Select ingredients ......................................................................... 3

Section 2: Select, prepare and use equipment ............................................ 19

Section 3: Portion and prepare ingredients .................................................. 27

Section 4: Prepare stocks, sauces and soups ............................................. 37

Section 5: Present and store soups, sauces and stocks .............................. 63

Please note the following condition

© 2016 Didasko Digital. All Rights Reserved.

Let’s look at what you will learn on completion of this unit.

Section 1: Select ingredients

Section 2: Select, prepare and use equipment

Section 3: Portion and prepare ingredients

Section 4: Prepare stocks, sauces and soups

Section 5: Present and store soups, sauces and stocks

• How to determine food production requirements.

Chaos in the kitchen!

Click on the speech bubbles to find out what’s going wrong.

Have a system in place

Click and drag the stages into the correct order

Stage 1 Confirm food production requirements.

Stage 2 Select ingredients.

Stage 3 Get the equipment ready.

Stage 4 Prepare ingredients.

Stage 5 Prepare the stock, sauce or soup.

Stage 6 Present it!

We’ll look at each of these stages in detail throughout this unit.

STAGE 1: CONFIRM FOOD

Click on the pictures to see the information they contain.

Special customer requests

Special dietary requirements

Ingredients and equipment

Step by step procedures/methods

Presentation standards and techniques

How do you calculate ingredient amounts?

Determine the desired yield

Number of servings x portion size = desired yield.

100 x 250 ml = 25 000 ml (25 L)

Your desired yield is 25 L of navy bean soup.

Determine the conversion factor

Desired yield ÷ existing yield = conversion factor

You want 25 L of navy bean soup. This is the desired yield.

The conversion factor is 12.5.

500 g navy beans x 12.5 = 6 250 g (6.25 kg) navy beans

1.5 L stock x 12.5 = 18.75 L

Let’s say your desired yield is only 1 L of navy bean soup.

The existing yield of the recipe is 2 L.

500 g navy beans x .5 = 250 g navy beans

1.5 L stock x .5 = .75 L (750 ml)

STAGE 2: SELECT INGREDIENTS

Click on the chef to find out more.

Chicken stock (fond blanc de volaille)

White meat stock (fond blanc)

Brown meat stock (fond brun/estouffade)

Vegetable stock (fond de légume)

Fish stock (fond de poisson)

Less common stocks

What are the main ingredients in stock?

Click on the icon to see the ingredients you use.

5. Scraps, trimmings and leftovers

Which scraps, trimmings and leftovers are suitable for use?

Dairy products such as milk, cream, butter or