TERMS FOR REVIEW CHAPTER 5

STATIC MENU
A static menu is one that offers the same dishes every day. These menus are used in
restaurants and other establishments where the clientele changes daily or where
enough items are listed on the menu to offer sufficient variety. A static menu may be
in place indefinitely, or it may change at regular intervals, such as every season, every
month, or even every week.

CYCLE MENU
A cycle menu is one that changes every day for a certain period; after this period, the
daily menus repeat in the same order. For example, a seven-day cycle menu has a
different menu every day for a week and repeats each week. This kind of menu is
used in such operations as schools and hospitals, where the number of choices must
be kept small. The cycle menu is a way of offering variety.

à la carte
An à la carte menu (Figure 5.1) is one in which each individual item is listed
separately, with its own price. The customer makes selections from the various
courses and side dishes to make up a meal. (Note: The term à la carte is also used to
refer to cooking to order, as opposed to cooking ahead in large batches.)

table d’hôte
Table d’hôte (tobbluh dote) originally meant a fixed menu with no choices—like a
meal
you would be served if you were invited to someone’s home for dinner. Banquet
menus are
familiar examples of this kind of menu. The term has also come to mean a menu that
offers a selection of complete meals at set prices. In other words, a customer may
choose from among

prix fixe
Closely related to the table d’hôte menu is the prix fixe (pree feex), meaning “fixed
price,” menu. On a pure prix fixe menu, only one price is given. Each guest may
choose one selection from each course offered, and the total meal costs the single
price indicated. Often, on such menus, a few items featuring costly ingredients carry
an extra charge, called a supplement.

tasting menu
A special variety of the prix fixe menu sometimes used in fine restaurants is the
tasting menu, also known by its French name, menu dégustation. A tasting menu
(Figure 5.2) is offered in addition to the regular menu and gives patrons a chance to
try a larger number of the chef’s creations.

course
A course is a food or group of foods served at one time or intended to be eaten at the
same time. In a restaurant, the courses are normally served in sequence, allowing
enough time for each to be eaten before the next is served. In a cafeteria, the
customers may select all their courses at once—appetizer, salad, main dish and
vegetables, and dessert, for example—but eat them in a particular order.

fresh
If you call something fresh, it must be fresh, not frozen, canned, or dried. There is no
such thing as “fresh frozen.”

imported
An item labeled imported must come from outside the country. Better and more
specific than using the term imported is to indicate the country of origin.

homemade
The word homemade means the item was made on the premises. Adding a few fresh
carrots to canned vegetable soup does not make it homemade.

organic
For a food to be labeled organic, it must be raised without the use of hormones, anti
biotics, synthetic pesticides, irradiated components, genetically modified organ
isms, or reprocessed sewage. In some countries, including the United States, the use
of the word organic on labels is defined by law

recipe
A recipe is a set of instructions for producing a certain dish. In order to duplicate a
desired preparation, it is necessary to have a precise record of the ingredients, their
amounts, and the way in which they are combined and cooked. This is the purpose of
a recipe.

standardized recipe
A standardized recipe is a set of instructions describing the way a particular establish
ment prepares a particular dish. In other words, it is a customized recipe developed
by an operation for the use of its own cooks, using its own equipment, to be served to
its own patrons.

AP (as purchased) weight

EP (edible portion) weight

portion control
Portion control is the measurement of portions to ensure the correct amount of an
item is served. In order for portion control to be carried out, cooks and service
personnel must be aware of proper portion sizes. These are usually indicated on the
house recipes and on the working menu used in the kitchen and service areas.

metric system
Other countries use a much simpler
system called the metric system. It is possible that someday the metric system may be
used in U.S. kitchens. Even if this never happens, it is useful, in this age of
international influences on cooking, to be able to read and use recipes from around the
world. So it is a good idea to become familiar with the metric system.

gram
The gram is the basic unit of weight.

liter
The liter is the basic unit of volume.

meter
The meter is the basic unit of length.

degree Celsius
The degree Celsius is the basic unit of temperature.
Larger or smaller units are made simply by multiplying or

kilo
deci
centi
milli
Larger or smaller units are made simply by multiplying or dividing by 10, 100, 1000,
and
so on. These divisions are expressed by prefixes. The ones you will need to know are:
kilo- (kill-o) = 1,000
deci- (dess-i) = 1⁄10
centi- (sent-i) = 1⁄100
milli- (mill-i) = 1⁄1,000

yield
Each recipe is
designed to make a specific amount of finishes product. This amount is
called the yield. For example, you may have a recipe for 50 portions of
Swiss steak but need only 25 portions. You need to change the yield of your
recipe. This is called converting the recipe.

conversion factor
Nearly everyone instinctively can double a recipe or cut it in half. It seems
more complicated, though, to change a recipe from 10 to 18 portions, say,
or from 50 to 35. Actually, the principle is exactly the same: You find a
number called a conversion factor, and then multiply every quantity by
this number.

food cost percentage

yield test
You make stock with the
bones, grind up the small trimmings for meatballs, use the larger trimmings for veal
stew,
and sell the fat to the fat collector who picks up all your waste fat once a week. Now
you must do a yield test to figure your costs.

cutting loss
What is cutting loss? This is not something you can actually weigh. However, there
is always some loss of weight due to particles of meat and fat sticking to the cutting
board, to drying, and to other factors. So when you add up all your weights, you find
they total less than 30 pounds. To determine cutting loss, add up blanks 4 through 8
and blank 13. Subtract this total from line 1.

as served (AS)
AP (as purchased) and EP (edible portion).
A third expression sometimes used is AS, meaning as served. When foods such as
fruits are
served raw, AS may be the same as EP. But if the food is cooked, these weights are
different.

portion cost
Portion cost, or raw food cost, is the total cost of all the ingredients in a recipe
divided by the
number of portions served:
portion cost = cost of ingredients /number of portions
Here we cost out a sample recipe to show you how the procedure works. First, note
the following points and keep them in mind when you are calculating portion costs.
Many errors in costing are caused by forgetting one of these points.

hidden cost
Include everything. That means the lemon wedge and parsley garnish for the fish filet,
the cream and sugar that go with the coffee, and the oil that used for pan-frying the
eggplant. These are sometimes called hidden costs.

minimum-use ingredient
Minimum-use ingredients are those that are used in one or two items on your menu.
For example, an operation might serve chicken breast topped with sautéed mush
rooms but not use mushrooms in any other item. When the ingredient is perishable,
the result is a high percentage of spoilage or waste.

par stock
Par stock is the inventory of goods an operation must have on hand to continue
operating between deliveries. It is important to maintain a proper par stock to avoid
running out of essential items.