Ruk and Cook – Order by Chef

Recipe-1
Shukha bhuna chicken masala
slow cooked marinated chicken

     

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S.no	Ingredient’s	Quantity
1	Chicken (curry cut)	800 grms
2	Ginger	25 grm
3	Garlic	25 grms
4	Green chilies	10 grms
5	Curd	100 ml
6	Ginger and garlic paste	20 grm
7	Mustard oil	50 ml
8	Turmeric powder	10 grm
9	Red chili powder	10 grm
10	Coriander powder	10 grm
11	Garam masala	5 grm
12	Black pepper powder	5 grm
13	Whole coriander seed	5 grm
14	Whole red chili	5 grm
15	Whole jeera	5 grm
16	Kasuri methi	5 grm
17	Coriander leaves	25 grm
18	Salt	20 grm

1. Wash chicken thoroughly remove fat if any, should not have any blood  strain it and pat dry it.
2. Marinate the chicken with curd, ginger and garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder, coriander stem and salt keep aside for 2 hours.
3. Fine Chop onion, ginger, garlic and green chilies
4. Take a kadhai add mustard oil add chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies sauté it until light brown color.
5. Add chopped onion sauté it until brown color and add marinated chicken in medium flame mix it well add remaining liquid of marination and cover it . Frequently check the chicken as there is less moisture inside it.
6. Broil (dry roast first cumin seed then coriander seed then whole red chili and last kasuri methi) until they are roasted nicely and releases flavor. Grind it and make a powder.
7. Sprinkle the ground masala on top of the chicken and mix it well if needed can sprinkle few drops of water remember this is dry preparation
8.  Finish it with chopped coriander leaves .
9. Serve hot with Roti, naan and  kulcha
10. Best as a starter

Effective Menu Planning...

Menu planning plays an important role in any Food outlet whether it is a specialty restaurant or any theme based restaurant. Everywhere menus are planned well in advance. There are some factors which effects the Menu planning and if Restaurants/food catering industries  are really considering these points then they will be able to fulfill the requirements of customers and able to achieve satisfaction. Nowadays places are known for their food attractions and unusual preparations of the same old classical dishes make that area more popular and they are establishing themselves as a landmark also. Effective menu planning with accurate usage of ingredients’ also helps restaurant to run in economic way that is done by using standard recipes. All reputed star hotels they have their Standard recipes booklet from which they prepares the food which gives rough estimation of the ingredients to be ordered. Different color combinations, usage of different ingredients, and sequence of the course all these elements need to be considered while planning the menu. Organic and healthy food ingredients usage in the meal is a new trend in the world despite having junk food still people does take care of their health. Food wastage is also one of the major issues raised in the Food catering industry it can be minimized by using proper menu planning. In this blog lot of factors are explained with examples which will clear the concept of doing menu planning.     

Seasonal availability-

Menu should be planned as per the seasonal availability of fruits and vegetables. It not only reduce the Food cost it stops you to order overpriced hybrid vegetables from the market .it also helps  you to reduce your food cost and motivates you to serve fresh to the customers.

Customer’s choice-

Dish  like Dal Makhni, Paneer butter masala, Chicken tikka are extremely popular among the  people and these are almost fixed in all the Indian restaurants but sometimes the same old fashion thoughts doesn’t work in the market .Nowadays palate has been changed people wants to taste some unusual dishes which attracts them to try out of the box. So it is always better to do survey and make a list of Choices of food of that particular area as well as add some fixed dishes which cannot be taken out to balance the menu.

Skilled staff-

 To prepare the food skilled staff is required based on the types of establishment. So menu should be prepared in such a manner which can be easily handled by the staff otherwise the company has to hire more skilled staff which can cost them extra just because of the unbalanced menu.

Preparation time-

Time is one of the major constraints in Food service industry. Less time taking dish, pre-preparation of food reduces the cooking time. Depends on the types of establishments ( Bristo, Brasserie, Gastrodome) .in bristo the dish should not take more than 10 minutes because they deal with all the fried and  pre prepared food only reheating and refrying is done before service. In restaurant menus are elaborated and there is standard time within 30 minutes food has to be in front of the Guest. So according to the Establishment Menu should be engineered.

Estimated selling Price (E.S.P.)

(Multiplication method)

 - It has four components

1) Raw ingredients cost- The cost of individual food ingredients to prepare one single dish

2) Labor cost- Manpower involved to prepared that dish

3) Overhead- Electricity, Gas, Rent

4) Profit- Profit margin from the dish

 Rough calculation of E.S.P, If Restaurant is preparing one portion Omelet so What would be the Estimated selling price of that particular dish in restaurant 

S.NO	INGREDIENTS	QUANTITY	MARKET PRICE	COST
1	EGGS	3 PCS	5	15
2	ONION	20 Grm	10	1
3	TOMATO	20 Grm	40	1
4	REFINED OIL	10 ml	100	1
5	SALT	2 grm	20	1
6	BLACK PEPPER POWDER	1 grm	500	1
			Total Estd Price	20

Now, the Restaurant is spending 20/- as ingredient cost to prepare one portion of omelet now here is estimation of % in each segment

Question will raised

Now what would be the selling price of an omelet? How we can set the Selling price?

Our each category has equal contribution in the preparation of product so for the omelet preparation

We cannot simply multiply by 3 or 4 times, we have to see the feasibility of the pricing, so here is rough distribution of cost in each factor while preparing the omelet   

1) Raw ingredients cost- 20/-

2) Labor cost- 20/-

3) Overhead- 20/-

4) Profit- 20/-                                                       

It means I have given equal percentage to each elements if we are adding all the components it gives you 80/- (i.e x4)(20x4)

Note -Food cost percentage of the Bristo should be below 25%

Food cost percentage of the Restaurant should be below 30%

Food cost percentage is true indicator that you’re getting profit from the Food in the Restaurant.

Actual food cost is -20/-

Estimated selling price-20x4=80 (you can multiply by 3, 3.5and 4 to achieve the proper Food cost percentage)

Food cost %=Actual food cost/estimated food costx100

Food cost %=20/80x100=25%

Now the restaurant will have 25% as Food cost % of an omelet if you will multiply the ingredient cost by

3.5 Or 3 than this Food cost % will increase to 35 or 40 % based on the Food cost.

In specialty restaurant it is very difficult to maintain 30% because of expensive ingredients involved in the preparation and to prepare gourmet style food Chef has to be very skilled. For e.g.- For sushi  preparation sushi chef is required who actually knows the art of making sushi.

Sometimes the specialty restaurant Food cost % reaches up to 45%.

Space –

One of the important elements which affects the menu size and its production behavior. For e.g.- A Food Truck who sells food item very fast and it doesn’t have much space for the preparations and all those will be very quick in service so that kind of menu will be having any high priced ingredients, they will not be having much staffing, they will not be having sitting area to consume their food in that case their Rate of the Food will be low as compare top any small restaurants.

Type of Establishment-

Menu engineering in each establishment is done as per the Theme, Type, specialty and surrounding(climate and local food).if a restaurant is Chinese than its menu will be having authentic Chinese menus which contains all the basic ingredient’s which is being used in any Chinese restaurant in china. If it comes on authentic food than all the authentic ingredients has to purchase from the original source which may cost extra. In the same way if an Indian Restaurant is having the entire authentic restaurant than the restaurant will not comprise with the Ingredients.   

Some of the Specialty restaurant

Stix- Chinese restaurant (Hyatt Regency, Chennai)

Focaccia-Italian restaurant (Hyatt Regency, Chennai)

Bukhara-Indian cuisine specialty restaurant (ITC, Maurya Sheraton, Delhi)

Nature/Purpose of menu-

Menu is also designed by the nature of menu and purpose of the menu. Suppose if a Chef is preparing Menu for the CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities than they won’t go for any special and expensive menus. They will prepare all the basic food with the touch of love. Because there is no requirement of adding unusual Food ingredients which is not familiar among them, basic menu is served so that they can feel the food with the Love.

Second In the Cafeteria where Staff use to have their meals their menu is totally cyclic with less usage of expensive food ingredients ,staff meal is a privilege  which is given by the Company to the staffing this case all the regular food items will be there in the cyclic form that is known as Cyclic Menu.

Healthy Food –

Is totally up to the people but always there should be options to give them what to eat. Nowadays people are following keto diet which is very popular among teenager and health freaks personality in this case the one who involved in preparing the menu should be having enough knowledge about the keto functions and diet.

Types of service-

Table de hote-Food which is served in the buffet (which doesn’t have much choice and within one price customer can have whatever is displayed in the counter)

Menu for the buffet could be large or small based on the guest’s choice for their nature of events (parties, annual functions, wedding or reception etc.)

Ala carte-where customer orders from the menu and each dish have individual price and guest can order any of the dishes and he/she has to pay for food which they have consumed.

Ala carte is totally based on the nature of the restaurant (specialty, theme based)

Avoid recipes which has special expensive ingredient-

Some recipes has expensive ingredients which makes dish more expensive unnecessary avoiding and replacing those ingredients  helps to cut down the food cost and it also helps to bring down your food cost under your command . We can use the ingredients which look expensive but actually they are not. Replacement of the ingredients with the similar ingredients doesn’t make any difference in taste the only requirement is the knowledge about the ingredients’ and correct usage of it.

Temperature-

Menu is also planned as per the climate conditions. In hilly areas the food which is hot In nature is being consumed and this kind of menu helps them to survive in tough climates whether it is meat products, lentils and spices the menu looks very different from others.

Profit-

when menu is planned in food catering industry it is sure that money is involved in the procedure and to minimize the food cost the menu has to be well balanced between raw food ingredients and the selling price .restaurant’s and other food outlets menu has all the components which makes it reasonable later it helps to run restaurant efficiently and economically.