HOTEL KITCHENS: THE SACRED KITCHEN AND ITS FOOD PORTFOLIO

I cannot end my discussions on hotel kitchens without touching on menus and Ghanaian foods. This article therefore attempts to fuse two articles into one, realizing that this is the last week of the month of March and I will be dealing with food service next month.

In some countries, cook trainees pursue chefs to be mentored by them.  The word ‘chef’ means ‘chief’ in French and as such the Chef is in charge of the kitchen and is the chief cook. It is a title and position which carries status and you would never address the Executive Chef or Chef de Cuisine by his or her first name while in the kitchen. Such kitchens seem to be ‘sacred’.

Over a pot, the chef stirs and drops in various ingredients and demonstrates his/her culinary art as trainees engage in various tasks under supervision. They watch and ask questions as a variety of foodstuffs/ingredients are metamorphosed into amazing tastes with flavors and aromas. Food is magical; the Chef’s vast knowledge of food properties guides him/her in the choice of foodstuffs to use. Reading the experiences of famous chefs overseas who train and mentor trainees, this must be rewarding venture.

I give thumbs-up for those offering in-service training no matter the industry.

I have also often wondered what frustrates chefs in Ghana the most. I find it frustrating looking for specific products in our markets. Unlike other countries where food regulatory agencies are effective and there are established specifications for commodities, Ghana hotel kitchens suffer from the lack of formal grading and specification of food commodities. I think this is a reflection of the underdeveloped state of our food service industry creating a rippling effect which impacts negatively on the growth of the hotel industry despite the changing skyline of modern architectural designs of structures our hotels are ‘showing off’ with.

In addition to making purchasing easier, standardization and grading of commodities enhances the development of standard recipes where one is able to achieve yield menu items and meet quality requirements. Foodstuffs such as plantains, yams, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, okro and garden eggs all have varieties with distinct characteristics during cooking. When it comes to meats and poultry products including eggs all need to be graded. Quality determination of commodities is a whole industry in the making! Ghana seems to be crawling at the age of 60 years in these areas.

In the above picture which shows just one of several delicacies in the portfolio of Ghanaian foods, achieving consistency in color, texture, taste and flavor from even one hotel kitchen is a challenge. Why?

Further, the average Ghanaian is quite conservative when it comes to traditional /authentic Ghanaian dishes. Don't be surprised if those who ‘own’ this food, nkontomire and apim, find it more enjoyable eating from the asanka than in an appropriate deep porcelain bowl. 

Personally, I get disappointed at presentations which have no flair or style especially from Chefs in hotel kitchens. Apart from the issue of appropriate service ware to serve the food in, how food is presented in a service ware is a whole art which I think we are yet to explore. 

I smiled at recent comments on social media about fufu (braised beef, manioc(which is cassava), plantain and yam, priced on the menu of a hotel at GHC110.00 while Banku, pan fried tilapia, fermented corn and mixed peppers, is priced at GHC105.00. I don’t intend to make any comments until I see how the foods were plated.

 Serving waakye in leaves has returned! I am yet to see a hotel venture into ‘plating’ waakye on leaves too but with some flair. It will be a whole experience eating it in an ambiance of a 4-5 star hotel restaurant; and this experience would be an add-on which I may not mind paying for.

The other concern I have is the under-utilization of computers in hotel kitchens. I know few are using the technology to communicate between the kitchen and the restaurant. What I would really love to see is a menu engineering software of Ghanaian foods. This would be real progress in ‘Kojokrom’ but is this possible without the specification and grading system mentioned earlier?

HOTEL KITCHENS: THE STEALING STIGMA

This is not a popular subject to delve in, but it is necessary. I am therefore going to be treading a tight rope.

How does it feel like to be stigmatized as an individual? It must be difficult despite efforts to undo the negative image. It would be harder still, I think, if you are a member of a profession which has been stigmatized. We all know a few of such professions, yet among them we also know professionals who come ‘clean’ and have proved to be exceptional. 

 I have often wondered if the professionals in the kitchen are aware of this stigma hanging like an albatross over their shoulders. While I empathize with the ‘clean’ ones among them, I have often wondered what efforts could be made to remove the stigma, at least in Ghana.

As usual establishing a common understanding is critical in continuing the discussion. 

Taking anything from an employer without permission is stealing. It does not make any difference if the item is something to be thrown out or if someone is taking food to feed their family. This forms the basis of the discussion which follows.

I have caught a kitchen staff with the heads of smoked fish. First, I was embarrassed and I was embarrassed for the staff. I was also disappointed. Was this really his/her first time? Could the individual have taken some uncooked lobster the previous day; some left over or excessive amounts of food last week and many other things earlier without being caught? Was she alone or the practice was done in turns among the staff? Those were thoughts I battled with. 

Would you fire for stealing food irrespective of the type of food? That theft involved a number of fish heads.

Personnel sometimes purchase foodstuffs for the kitchen. In the market, they are given surpluses. Who gets those surpluses; the kitchen or the individual?

A few times I have observed some kitchen staffs that work long hours prepare private orders taken for cakes and pastries, at the job site, in the kitchen. They claimed they brought their own ingredients but they never bring their own equipment do they? The hotel’s equipment, fuel and time are utilized. How about that? Would you fire?

Sometimes it is equipment which are ‘borrowed’ (being taken home without permission but with the intention of returning them). 

Would your attitude be different if the individual is walking out with a dozen matching ramekins, uncooked food or leftover food?  Some would fire for stealing equipment and uncooked food but not leftover or food to be thrown away. Wouldn’t this be inconsistency? 

If you are in a position of power, how would you react? Would your reaction be influenced by what has been stolen?

If someone steals from you...there is no excuse; it is wrong. It is a violation of trust.

A lot of losses and waste occur in hotel kitchens particularly where foods are prepared from scratch which ultimately leads to increasing cost of food. A little here and a little there adds up to likely profits going down the drain. Theft is therefore costly. 

 

What could be the possible causes?

• A lack of trust between staff and management

• Organizational dishonesty

• General employee unhappiness.

• Unfair or inequitable employment conditions often associated with hospitality workplaces.

Something needs to change. Perhaps the Ghana Chefs Association will need to take 'this bull' by the horn; or would that be muddying some waters? It will be history in the making if they did.

HOTEL KITCHENS: 'THE INTRUDERS'

If you are an 'insider', I mean a hotel
professional, the signage on the left or its alternative, 'OUT OF BOUNDS' or even more intimidating, 'DUTY KITCHEN STAFF ONLY' at the door  of a hotel kitchen is not new to you.

It reminds employees and visitors of the hotel's policy and prevents ordinary people like you and I, from casually strolling into the kitchen; the heart and soul of food-service operations. In fact, you may be among the many that respect and observe the notice. However, there are some who ignore the signage and face the wrath of kitchen personnel.
Kitchen staffs fail to realize a bit too late that they contribute to the presence of a third group I wish to refer to here as ‘intruders’. I am making reference to the cockroaches, mice and rats, flies and their likes which go by the family name, PESTS!  There are also micro-organisms to contend with.

In Ghana, most hotels do not have purchasing agents. The Hotel Manager, the Chef, an assistant or other kitchen personnel serves as the buyer of the products used in the kitchen. Most of the foodstuffs are bought from open markets which are in unsanitary conditions. Some of these pests and micro-organisms are therefore ‘imported’ into the kitchens.

It is expected that a hotel kitchen has a receiving dock to formally receive the products irrespective of who does its purchasing. I am afraid most hotels, being small in their operations, bring the purchased items right into the kitchen. We ‘shoot ourselves in the foot’ by allowing anyone to handle the freshly purchased products with no regards to applying hygienic practices from receiving through the storage process.

First, in the absence of receiving docks, products are received /delivered with no consciousness of how close this activity is to the trash bin. Often, there are no tables or stands to place items on, so the habit of placing foodstuffs on floors continues unabated. There are also no sinks to clean the products. The intruders therefore enter the kitchen with glee.


In respect to storage practices, personnel seem to be restrained by inadequate and/or inappropriate storage equipment and are unable to follow best practice. Placement of fish, chicken and various meats together in the freezer are rampant. They also wrongfully assume that a freezer heavily built up with frost is functioning very well.

Rodents contaminate along access routes with urine, droppings and filth picked up from the environment; cockroaches defecate along their pathways and frequently expel saliva on surfaces to ‘taste’ their environment. Flies feed on fecal matter, garbage, rotting materials as well as stored and processed foods that will be present around kitchens and they regularly move between the contaminated food sources and clean areas, carrying contaminated filth on their bodies as well as microorganisms internally. You do not want ANY of THESE in your kitchens!
When it comes to micro-organisms (bacteria, parasitic worms, fungi and viruses), did you know that sponges, dishcloths and scrubbing brushes are breeding grounds for bacteria, the most common? Bacteria feed on the foods that are washed down the drain and what is left on dishes.
Sometimes staffs hide food with the intention of eating it later. They forget the food and it serves as a feast for these ‘intruders’.

The control of rodents involves eliminating their hideouts in and around the facility and preventing access to food, water and shelter. I am not certain if this ‘platform’ is adequate to educate kitchen personnel to clean foods before they are brought into the kitchen. There may be many other points of entry to the kitchen such as cracks, vents, pipes, cabling, drains, doorways and windows, screens, where measures can be taken to prevent access.

Good sanitation practices to control cockroaches also involve cleaning practices which eliminate food residues quickly and deny them food supply. Waste should not be kept at food production areas, drains must be maintained to prevent accumulation of food debris and means of access and shelter should be observed and eliminated and garbage containers should be kept away from the food storage and processing areas, emptied and cleaned frequently.The application of standard hygiene practices are particularly important for controlling flies to reduce the attractive odors, feeding material and breeding sites for them.

Even if our ‘intruders’ were able to read the restraining notices of entry, they will not care two hoots! Kitchen staff must therefore become more conscientious and follow best practice even in the smallest operations.


This article is a wake-up call to urge my colleague professionals in the kitchen to tackle these 'intruders' as they would the human counterparts who have no business coming to their kitchens.

HOTEL KITCHENS: BASIC PRACTICES

Irrespective of position, anyone who works in a hotel kitchen must take the orientation of its basic acceptable practices seriously. It is observed that even our culinary professionals seem to easily forget themselves and they sometimes go about their tasks rather casually in this environment, the hotel kitchen. I tend to excuse them sometimes but some of the practices are just not acceptable, though they may be overlooked in a domestic kitchen.

I must confess that my best orientation in preparation to work in a kitchen was not in a hotel kitchen but a fast food, KFC; that was long time ago 'over-the-seas'. Having been employed, my first week or so, entailed going through a pack of training materials, referred to as "study guides".  The training materials comprised of about 35 booklets with pages ranging from 6 to 60. it was a self -study.

The booklets were in categories:"sanitation series", "food preparation series" and "customer service series". There was also an introductory set of booklets, among which was one I was quite thrilled about, "You are KFC". I was expected to go through each booklet which was accompanied by an audio visual(precisely, a filmstrip), answer questions at the last page of each booklet and go to the Manager for evaluation!

Food for thought: Managers, Chefs, Kitchen supervisors, how do you orient personnel coming to your kitchens? I must confess I am concerned about our professional kitchens.

With the above background, you may appreciate why what many Ghanaian culinary professionals may see as negligible is considered otherwise by this writer.

I am yet to enter a hotel kitchen in Ghana to find cooks, sous chefs or Executive chefs with POCKET THERMOMETERS as part of their uniforms to ensure foods are cooked thoroughly and not overcooked as most Ghanaian dishes are. An understanding of the relationship between food, cooking practices and temperatures is just a brush of the 'science of cooking'. The Ghanaian culinary professional tends to focus on the 'art' rather than the 'science'.

My little understanding tells me food presentation artistically/attractively is not sufficient, it needs to be supported by desirable flavors, textures and colors(the science of cooking).

The footwear of staff is often compromised in Ghanaian hotel kitchens. I often wonder if  kitchen personnel know that what they label as a 'sensible' pair of shoes is adequate for their foot protection and reduces slips; that slip-resistant footwear are required for their own safety.

While not technically part of a chef’s uniform, a kitchen towel(side towel) is an important accessory for individual personnel to have on hand in the kitchen. The state of cleanliness of these kitchen towels is critical but that is usually not an issue in hotel kitchens. The concern is the towels are usually found on the shoulders of staff instead of being tucked in the waistband or in the pockets of their aprons. Often these towels have the tendency of slipping off their shoulders to the floor.

Note that outdoor clothing and footwear is not permitted in the kitchen. 

A hand washing sink  is expected at the entrance of every hotel kitchen. The slogan here is CLEAN HANDS: HEALTHY FOOD. Elsewhere there is hot water and scrubbing brush to ensure the thorough washing of the hand including the fingers. There is a whole technique involved, after which dry disposable towels are used for wiping. Compare this with the practice here.

Observing personal hygiene is not limited to keeping oneself clean and fresh. Ghanaian culinary personnel are good in ensuring that their hair is restrained, finger nails are short and free from nail polish, rings, ear rings and other  jewellery are avoided while on duty. How about giving excuse duty to a staff who has caught a cold? 'It's a mere cold.' We reason it away.

For many of us, nursery rhymes such as ‘twinkle, twinkle little star’, and a few others learned during our early childhood days comes quite readily to us even after forty or fifty years. Such has this phrase been: "Clean as you go." I picked it up during cookery ‘practicals’ under the supervision of a particular teacher in secondary school. Somehow, I find this habit not easily practiced by some of our professionals. It just involves cleaning as you work; cleaning a little at a time makes it less of a chore.

We are still not used to the use of two spoons for tasting. We are never to taste anything from a stirring utensil. (the Ghanaian will say, "stop the 'brofosem'." Perhaps its because its easier for personnel to place a sampled temperature hot sauce on the fingers and they lick to taste the food rather than find the two spoons to do the right thing.

I cringe when I see foodstuffs placed on the floor; whether its just been bought from the market and the goods are being received or in storage where a bag of rice or yam is directly on the floor or while pounding fufu the bowl of water used to help turn the fufu is on the floor.

These are just few of the basic practices which betray us as culinary professionals. Perhaps you can think about a few more to alert us in the profession.