Commercial Cookery Certificate: Detailed Work Activity Log Analysis

This assignment presents a comprehensive work activity log from a student pursuing a Commercial Cookery Certificate at Errol's Restaurant and Bar. The log details the service period, menu, and the student's specific tasks, including mise en place activities such as cleaning, vegetable preparation, meat preparation, and equipment readiness. It highlights knife skills like dicing, mincing, julienning, chiffonade, and coarse chopping, used for various dishes. The assignment further outlines five cookery methods employed, such as baking, roasting, smoking, sautéing, and deep frying, alongside customer requests and dietary considerations. It also describes team interactions with colleagues and supervisors, detailing collaborative efforts and knowledge sharing. The document concludes with end-of-service procedures, emphasizing waste minimization, recycling, and storage protocols, along with examples of cleaning duties and chemicals used. The assignment includes a bibliography with relevant references on food safety, cooking techniques, and nutritional aspects.

Running head: COMMERCIAL COOKERY CERTIFICATE
COMMERCIAL COOKERY CERTIFICATE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Work Activity Log
Name of the Establishment/Outlet: Errols Restaurant and Bar, North Melbourne
Date of Service: 23rd of August, 2019
Covers:
Menu Style: A la carte menu, breakfast menu, lunch menu, dinner menu, beverages and dessert
menu, as well as main course and sides like salads
Service Period: 6 months
Number of Kitchen Staff: 10
List the dishes cooked for this service period: The following are the dishes from the menu which I
was required to prepare:
Grilled chicken salad Steak sandwich Lamb
Thunder salad Errol’s burger Tandoori Chicken
Open lamb wrap Chicken Parmigiana Pancetta
Wild rocket salad Primavera
Fennel and orange salad Frutti di Mare
Record your specific Mis en Place tasks for this service period including preparation
of equipment and areas: One of the most important preparatory tasks which I had to engage in
is the cleaning and sanitation of equipment and counters which are to be used for cooking. Me
and my colleagues were instructed specifically by our supervisor to perform this preparatory task
since it will ensure that the food which is cooked is hygienic and free from any form of
contamiantin which may cause harm or illness to our customers.
The next Mis en Place task which I was required to perform was to chop and prepare all
the vegetables required for the salads whose preparation I was assigned to. These included
chopping, julienning and slicing of vegetables like broccoli, pumpkin, onions, lettuce, basil
leaves, tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, olives as well as limes and potatoes for obtaining juice
and preparation of fries. My Mis en Place activities also included preparing the meat items for
all salads and pizzas, such as boiling and shredding chicken, beef and lamb as well as marinating
meats like prawns for specific dishes like the Frutti Di Mare. Additionally, for items requiring

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cheese, such as pizzas, I was required to grate and keep the cheese aside in order to same time, as
well as crumble the feta as required. For dishes like the salads and wraps, my Mis en Place lists
included caramelizing the required quantities of onion as well as mix the lemon juice, olive oil
and condiments for the dressings and vinaigrette required. Fruits were also required for
preparations of salads which is why, the Mis en Place list were also comprised of avocado and
pomegranate as well as roasting of nuts and seeds such as pumpkin seeds.
The next preparatory activity which I was required to perform is to ensure that all
equipment were ready for cooking the required food items. These included preheating the oven
for baking breads and pizza bases as well as heating skillets and saucepans for deep frying,
sautéing and stir frying. This will not ensure adequate cooking of all food items but will also
ensure that dishes are prepared and served to the customers in a timely manner without any
delay. Additionally, I will also keep the blenders clean and ready for blending and preparing
coarse spices mixtures required for marinating meats as well as for preparing vegetarian dishes
like hummus. Lastly, my Mis en Place tasks also included cleaning and sorting all equipment for
food preparations such as the ladles, woks, spoons, bowls, glasses and plates and cutlery for
serving.
Identify which knife skills you demonstrated on which commodities: For all main course
recipes, pizza toppings as well as garnishes, the key knife skill which I was required to
demonstrate, included dicing. This involves cutting or chopping food items into extremely small
cubes. The next knife skill which I was required to demonstrate and engage heavily in mincing. I
was frequently required to mince garlic and ginger for almost every main course dish, which
comprised of chopping the ingredients into extremely small, fine, minute and dainty cubes. For
vegetable Mis en Place lists, especially salad ingredients like carrots or potato fries, the knife

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skill which I had to frequently demonstrate was julienning. In order to cut into juliennes, I had to
slice and chop carrots and potatoes in to thin, strips of moderate thickness. For a wide range of
main course meals, I was required to provide a garnish of herbs like coriander. For preparing
such herb-based garnishes, the knife skill which I was required to engage mostly frequently in, is
‘chiffonade’. For demonstrating this knife skill, I had to roll the leaves of lettuce, coriander and
spinach and chop into small slices which resulted in the thin, fine strips of herbs. For some
ingredients however, which required ingredients to be chopped for blending or garnishing like
nuts, I was not required to demonstrate any particular knife skills but instead, chop the items
coarsely into small sizes, without any particular shape.
List 5 methods of cookery which you used during this service period:
Cookery Methods Special customer requests
and dietary requirements
Equipment used
Baking - for all pizzas Customers who engaged in
weight management enquired
on whole wheat pizza based
and toppings which were
lightly sautéed in oil and
without cheese.
Oven
Roasting, broiling - for all
lamb based dishes
Customers who engaged in
weight management or wished
to eat a low fat diet due to
cardiovascular concerns,
enquired about replacing lamb
with lean meats like chicken.
Oven, grill
Smoking - for preparation of
all dishes with salmon
Received customer feedback
on incorporating vegetarian
based dishes in the menu,
which contained flavorful
cooking methods like smoking
Grill
Sautéing - for preparing all
vegetables in wraps,
sandwiches, salads and
toppings
Customers with allergies had
to be informed in detail of the
vegetables used in each food
item
Skillet, saucepan
Deep frying – for preparing
chips to be served with
sandwiches and salads
Customers enquired about
replacing deep fried chips with
healthier alternatives due to
weight concerns, like baked
Fryers, woks,

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chips or stir fried preparations
of vegetables
Caramelisation – for
preparing caramelised onions
Customers who were diabetic
or wished to consume a low
fat, low calorie diet, provided
feedback on removing this
item from the ordered dish.
Saucepan, sugar
Which team members did you liaise with and about what?
Colleagues: With my colleagues, the major activities which I liaised was, the preparation
of vegetarian Mis en Place lists for salads, main dishes, sandwiches and pizzas. While me and
one of my colleagues chopped all required vegetables, two of my other colleagues chopped nuts,
roasted seeds and prepared all salad dressings. Cleaning activities were also liaised where in
groups of two, we cleaned the kitchen stoves and counters, the kitchen floors and all the
equipment. Further, regulation of oven temperatures were also liaised with each other. After one
cook removed food from the oven, he or she was required to ensure that the oven was ready for
usage by the next person.
Supervisors: The major activity which we liaised which we liaised with our supervisor is
the preparation of slow cooked meat dishes like lamb. While our supervisor taught us all the
strategies, techniques and temperatures to be considered during lamb preparation, we assisted
him in preparing the marinate as well as preheating the oven in order to save time. We were also
unaware of how to prepare the dough for pizzas and hence, learned as well as liaised the same to
with our supervisors. Lastly, considering the large number of equipment as well as the extensive
area of the kitchen floor, cleaning duties and sanitization of intricate equipment like ovens
compartments and blades of blenders were liaised with our supervisor.

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Detail end of service procedures that you followed including provisions for waste
minimization, recycling and storage requirements of commodities, materials and
equipment as applicable: In order to ensure minimization of food wastes, after the cooking and
catering services for the day was completed, I checked for any leftover Mis en Place products
like chopped vegetables, fruits or nuts and seeds. Such foods were stored so that instead of
discarding unnecessarily, it could be reused for preparing next’s days Mis en Place lists such as
vegetable or chicken stocks, vegetables for gravies, pizza toppings or extra ingredients to be used
for vegetable gravies or for blending and preparing marinates or coarse spice mixes.
Additionally, for sauces, condiments, dressings, dips or ketchups which were left as extra – these
were not kept back into the original bottles or packages but stored separately in small containers,
which were further covered and stored in the refrigerator. This ensured adequate storage and
recycling of ingredients without destroying the shelf life of the original products.
Similarly, for leftover raw ingredients which were perishable, such as cuts of meats and
stocks – the same was stored in chilling or deep freezing compartment of the freezer, at a
temperature of -18C. Maintaining such adequate internal temperatures ensured the prevention of
microbial contamination - which the above perishable foods are highly susceptible to acquiring
– as well as ensure their freshness for future usage and thus saving of future expenses during
procurement of ingredients. Similarly, for meats which were deboned, the leftover bones were
boiled to prepare stocks which were further stored at the above temperatures. This ensured
recycling and sustainable usage of ingredients for preparing bases of recipes like meat-based
soups, sauces and meat based gravies without incurring unnecessary procurement expenditures
for expensive items like meats. Similarly some of the cooked Mis en Place items which were left
unused were incorporated into dishes to be prepared the next day. These included left over

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caramelized onions, cooked lamb pieces and seed and nut mixtures, which were added during the
preparation of next day’s wraps, sandwiches and pizzas.
After completing all services, the equipment which were used, such as ovens, stove tops,
saucepans, ladles and blenders were cleaned thoroughly in order to save time during next day’s
food preparation. Further, all the electrical appliances which were used for food preparation,
such as ovens and blenders were checked thoroughly and reported promptly to the supervisor in
case of detection of any malfunctioning.
Give examples of the cleaning duties you carried out (including chemicals used and
procedures applied): After completing all services, cleaning all counters and equipment was
also a part of the range of responsibilities which I had to engage in. For cleaning stove tops and
kitchen counters, I had to use liquid detergent or soap solutions, wash cloths, warm water and
dry towels. After dissolving the soap solution in the warm water, I soak a wash cloth in the same
solution and use it to wipe off greases, oil spills, grime and dirt from counters and stove tops. For
removing final traces of impurities after cleaning, I had to re-wipe kitchen surfaces using dry
towels. Warm soap solutions were also used for cleaning the kitchen floors and walls. After
removing all impurities, the entire kitchen floor as well as equipment were sanitized using
disinfectant solutions such as vinegar, chlorine bleaches, ammonia and lye.

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Bibliography
De Jong, A.E.I., Verhoeff‐Bakkenes, L., Nauta, M.J. and De Jonge, R., 2008. Cross‐
contamination in the kitchen: effect of hygiene measures. Journal of Applied
microbiology, 105(2), pp.615-624.
Fabbri, A.D. and Crosby, G.A., 2016. A review of the impact of preparation and cooking on the
nutritional quality of vegetables and legumes. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food
Science, 3, pp.2-11.
Kiddon, C., Ponnuraj, G.T., Zettlemoyer, L. and Choi, Y., 2015, September. Mise en place:
Unsupervised interpretation of instructional recipes. In Proceedings of the 2015 Conference on
Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (pp. 982-992).
Liu, G., Zong, G., Wu, K., Hu, Y., Li, Y., Willett, W.C., Eisenberg, D.M., Hu, F.B. and Sun, Q.,
2018. Meat cooking methods and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective cohort
studies. Diabetes care, 41(5), pp.1049-1060.
Lumb, M., 2018. Kitchen Knife Skills: Techniques For Carving Boning Slicing Chopping Dicing
Mincing Filleting. Chartwell Books.