This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
The march forward
When professionals get to work in their kitchen, lab or bakery, they are (if they are conscientious) very sensitive to hygiene and cleanliness.
It is impossible for a good baker for example to do a day's work without regularly cleaning the table where he or she works, and it is even more frequent for pastry cooks or cooks who handle more sensitive products such as MFE (meat-fish-eggs) which can easily be a source of contamination if strict hygiene and temperature respect are not respected.
It is impossible for a good baker for example to do a day's work without regularly cleaning the table where he or she works, and it is even more frequent for pastry cooks or cooks who handle more sensitive products such as MFE (meat-fish-eggs) which can easily be a source of contamination if strict hygiene and temperature respect are not respected.
19 K 5/5 (22 reviews)
Keywords for this post:HygieneProcedureCleanlinessUsesHaccpLast modified on: June 30th 2021
The march forward
They have a whole series of rules and ways of doing things, one in particular being that "the dirty never crosses the clean", otherwise known as the "forward march". This means that in a kitchen, all the products go in one place, the waste goes out another, and the processed products yet another. For carrots, for example, the necessarily earthy carrot boxes enter through a door, are washed, peeled, washed again, the wash water is changed, the peelings are discarded (hopefully composted) and the clean carrots enter the kitchen to be processed. With the forward motion, the peelings will never cross paths with the clean carrots again.
Not with as much rigor of course, but we can still be inspired by it, and then especially it makes life easier on the work surface. In practice, it's always better to work in one direction, which varies if you are right or left handed.
Here is a specific example: breaking eggs in a bowl, simple? Simple! but a little method is not bad either, see :
On this picture, we are going to break eggs to put them in the bowl of a food processor in the middle, it's really quite simple, but :
- The eggs are on the right hand side (for a right handed person), easy to access
- You break them on top of the bowl which is in the middle
- When it's done, you put the shells on the left hand side, not on the right hand side, and on a sheet of newspaper that preserves the work surface
- Once it's done, we fold the newspaper on the shells and go to the bin. The work surface remains clean and clear.
The eggs have thus followed the direction of the green arrow, the "forward march".
Of course for a left-handed person it would be more convenient the other way around.
This way of doing things, all French apprentices learn it at the very beginning of their training, they never put peelings, shells, trimmings or any other waste directly on the work surface, they always have in a corner a "dustbin" (a simple bowl for us) where all the waste goes which is never left for a long time near the food.
It's quite simple, more hygienic, more practical and a very good way to work in your kitchen.
To sum up: Think of always working in the same direction on your work surface, to avoid crossing clean food with raw food.
What about us?
In our kitchen, should we do the same?Not with as much rigor of course, but we can still be inspired by it, and then especially it makes life easier on the work surface. In practice, it's always better to work in one direction, which varies if you are right or left handed.
Here is a specific example: breaking eggs in a bowl, simple? Simple! but a little method is not bad either, see :
On this picture, we are going to break eggs to put them in the bowl of a food processor in the middle, it's really quite simple, but :
- The eggs are on the right hand side (for a right handed person), easy to access
- You break them on top of the bowl which is in the middle
- When it's done, you put the shells on the left hand side, not on the right hand side, and on a sheet of newspaper that preserves the work surface
- Once it's done, we fold the newspaper on the shells and go to the bin. The work surface remains clean and clear.
The eggs have thus followed the direction of the green arrow, the "forward march".
Of course for a left-handed person it would be more convenient the other way around.
This way of doing things, all French apprentices learn it at the very beginning of their training, they never put peelings, shells, trimmings or any other waste directly on the work surface, they always have in a corner a "dustbin" (a simple bowl for us) where all the waste goes which is never left for a long time near the food.
It's quite simple, more hygienic, more practical and a very good way to work in your kitchen.
To sum up: Think of always working in the same direction on your work surface, to avoid crossing clean food with raw food.
Lasts posts
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20251,7165
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20257,0013
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,4665
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,5655
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,6795
Other pages you may also like
What is the difference between bakery and patisserie?
This is a question that you may well have asked yourself and which I will attempt to answer. In France the two trades of "boulangerie" (bakery) and "pâtisserie" (patisserie and confectionery) have always been quite distinct, but where exactly do the boundaries lie? .February 7th 2017133 K 14.1
The so-called "nervous" meats
You've probably heard this before, we're talking about "nervous" meat, or meat with nerves, to describe what is indicated by the blue arrow on the left. This is a piece of beef, and what we call a nerve is not a nerve, it is in fact collagen (chemists sometimes call it a "collagen sink"), a...April 16th 202136 K4.5
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.June 23th 2021283 K 23.8
The little trap of thick cream
When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...December 13th 20246,9875
Candied fruits: don't get ripped off
Do you like candied fruit? You might like to nibble a handful or add it to a recipe, like a classic fruit cake or delicious Italian specialities like panettone or sicilian epiphany pie.June 21th 201766 K 24.2
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.