The Essay: Importance Of Appetizers And Salad Dressings In A Restaurant Menu.

Mise en place and the significance of appetizers

Question:

Discuss about the Mise en place.
 

Sol 1: Mise en place means to have everything in place. It is important to have good mise en place for the appetizers on the menu, because appetizers are the foreplay of meals. Great appetizers will get the individual in the mood, and they will be excited to know what else is present in store for them. Moreover, Appetizers are small portions of food that are designed to stimulate the appetite of the individuals before having the main course meal. They are small, attractive, and tasty. Hence, they don’t fill up the individual completely and thus; the individual will order more food to have satisfaction.  The term hors d’ouevres is the French word which means “outside of the main meal.”

Sol 2: Vinaigrette is the salad dressing of wine vinegar, oil, and seasoning. Vinaigrette is made by mixing the oil with some acidic solution like lemon juice or vinegar. This mixture can then be enhanced with some herbs, salt, or spices. It is also known as the French dressing.  It can accentuate the salad's flavor, as well as, also provides the moisture to the salad.

The usual ratio of vinaigrette is one part of vinegar and three parts of oil. Different types of vinaigrette include Balsamic vinaigrette, Raspberry vinaigrette, Red wine vinaigrette, Strawberry Poppy seed vinaigrette, and Russian vinaigrette.

Sol 3: The function of the appetizer is to keep the person away from getting hungry before the main course is provided to him/her and also to keep him/her away from waiting too long. Moreover, the main function of the appetizers is to increase one's hunger and to prepare them for the main course. Appetizers are the important part of the menu of the restaurant and hence, must be attractive, tasty, and healthy. The good appetizer should possess the distinct, piquant flavor, as well as, the appetite-whetting qualities. Moreover, in present times people are more health and diet conscious, hence, providing appetizers to those customers is a great idea as they are more healthy, smaller in portion, and tasty also (Premavalli, Wadikar, & Nanjappa, 2009).

Sol 4: The term hors d’ouevres is the French word which means “outside of the main meal.” In recent years, the term hors d'oeuvres have gained much popularity and is seen on most of the classical menus served in the modest eating places. They are the appetizers that are spicy in nature and stimulates the appetite of an individual. A few examples of hors d oeuvres are salads, Caviar, shellfish cocktail, Melon Frappe, Saumon Fume, and Pate maison. 

Sol 5: It is important to label the appetizers before storing them for the safety and quality of the food. Further, it will help to ensure that appetizers are consumed before occurring of the spoilage, as well as before its expiration date passes. It will indicate that how long the food is of good quality and can be consumed without having any harmful effects on one’s body.

What is Vinaigrette and its uses in salads

Sol 6: A primary reason for stock rotation to position the older items in such a way so that the company or concerned department sell them more quickly as compared to the newer inventory. Therefore, stock rotation reduces the potential of throwing out all the inventory that perishes or expires, as obsolete inventory is the significant amount of cost for all the companies, as well as,  it can impede their profits. Hence, the reason for stock rotation is to reduce all the losses incurred from the deterioration and obsolescence.

Sol 7: Canape is an appetizer that consists of the piece of bread, toast, or a cracker, which is topped with the savory spread. The example of hot canapés is Hot Crab Canapes, which is a crab meat and cream cheese cracker spread crab appetizer, Hot Cream Cheese Canapes, which is the mixture of the cream cheese, onion, egg, pepper, and bread, and Hot Steak Canapes, which is composed of the beef strip sirloin steak. Examples of Cold Canapes are smoked salmon, which is smoked salmon served with the cream cheese on a rye bread, Salami Cones, which is Cornucopia of salami filled with horseradish cream, and baby shrimp, which is baby shrimp served with cream cheese on a rye bread.

Sol 8: The height in the salads is purely for presentation purposes as it gives visual appeal of live, vibrant greens as opposed to a salad weighed down by toppings or heavy dressings. The four basic parts of the composite salads are base, body, dressing, and garnish. Salad chefs are responsible for making salads in the kitchen.

Sol 9:

Sol 10: It is important to serve the spread of appetizers using a range of cooking methods, textures, colors, and flavors to give them attractive appearance, appealing color, or fragrance. It gives appreciation to the food one eats. Moreover, the spread is placed on top of the base of the appetizer so that the garnish sticks to the appetizer without falling off. To give flavor, design, and color to the appetizer the spreads are widely used.

Sol 11: Two basic salad dressings are Vinaigrette and creamy dressings, like mayonnaise or fermented milk products. The three functions of dressing in the salad are to provide flavor to the salad, it holds the salad together, and provides the taste and attractive appearance to the salad.

Sol 12: Four dressings in which mayonnaise is used as a base are Baconnaise, Cilantro Aioli,

Ranch Dressing, and Tartar Sauce (Oruna-Concha, Bakker, & Ames, 2002).

Sol 13: Utensils: Baking Pan

Mechanical equipment: Salad dressing shaker

Large fixed equipment: Microwave Oven

Sol 14: We can use the food processor for preparation of the breadcrumbs, chopping nuts, herbs, or vegetables, crushing vegetables and fruits, blending cake ingredients, and making pastries. 

Sol 15: While using meat slicers at room temperature it should be ensured that it should be cleaned, as well as, sanitized within every four hours of its use to prevent any growth of the disease-causing bacteria such as Listeria. One should always follow the workplace safety procedures, as well as, operating instructions of the meat when cleaning or using utensils and equipment, and also when working with chemical sanitizers.

Sol 16: It is important to use sharp knives while preparing appetizers as it is the main tool in the kitchen for making foods and sharp knives are safe to use. Dull knives are more prone to slipping out the food one is cutting and hence, cutting the person also. Moreover, a dull knife requires the additional force, which can be dangerous (Rossi, Scapin, Grando, & Tondo, 2012).

Sol 17: To prevent cross contamination in the kitchen one should always prepare the food with good hygiene, by storing the foods in the right place, and by using the different chopping boards for meats and other items (Cogan, Slader, Bloomfield, & Humphrey, 2002).

Sol 18: The salmon must be cured before it is used for the preparation of the smoked salmon canapé. I will refrigerate the salmon for 8-10 hours to cure before its smoking.

Sol 19: The salads and appetizers should be made as close to the servings as possible for preventing storage of the salads and appetizers so that they can be consumed at the time of preparation.

Sol 20: The storage conditions for cold salads and appetizers is to be stored under right place, at the right temperature, and for the suitable period depending upon its ingredients. 

References

Bell, C. (2002). Controlled atmosphere storage of fruits and vegetables. Journal Of Stored Products Research, 38(1), 93.

Cogan, T., Slader, J., Bloomfield, S., & Humphrey, T. (2002). Achieving hygiene in the domestic kitchen: the effectiveness of commonly used cleaning procedures. J Appl Microbiol, 92(5), 885-892

Dincer, C., Karaoglan, M., Erden, F., Tetik, N., Topuz, A., & Ozdemir, F. (2011). Effects of Baking and Boiling on the Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Sweet Potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] Cultivars. Plant Foods For Human Nutrition, 66(4), 341-347.

Ganry, J. (2011). More fruits and vegetables!. Fruits, 66(1), 1-2.

Oruna-Concha, M., Bakker, J., & Ames, J. (2002). Comparison of the volatile components of two cultivars of potato cooked by boiling, conventional baking and microwave.