Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Garde Manger & What Chefs Must Know

By Jennifer Marie Anderson


If you spend ample amounts of time preparing chilled platters and the like, chances are that you may consider yourself a garde manger chef. A garde manger, in simplest terms, is an environment in which cooler foods are prepared without the presence of heat. Even though the heat in question will not be so easily seen, there's no question that effort is still required. To become the best you can be, as far as garde manger cooking is concerned, culinary students should consider these ideas.

Depending on where you decide to take up a job, a garde manger position may be seen as something of an entry-level job. It's easy to see why, since smaller foods like salad do not require as much experience to create. For those who are simply trying to earn experience, without many opportunities, a field like this can prove to be quite useful. This doesn't mean that these duties cannot be more intricate, as time goes on, which you will be able to see.

If you continue to expand your skills, within the culinary arts, you may start to see just how useful it is to re-purpose ingredients. You may not want to toss out beef from last night's dinner, for example, so it would make perfect sense to incorporate said beef into a stew. While this idea will undeniably be applied to cooler meals, this is another aspect that a garde manger chef should understand. It will allow his or her job to be made that much easier, to boot.

If you'd like to understand the more complex aspects of a garde manger chef's job, you should consider the aesthetics aspects of the job. For example, if there is a social event that requires appetizers, it wouldn't be out of the question for various cheeses to be served in a well-composed platter. What if there is an upcoming wedding that requires a cake with the finest decorations? Elements like flowers made of icing will not only be set in place but made with quality intact.

If you'd like, there are opportunities to become a garde manger chef in your own right. To say that there are responsibilities associated with this line of work would be an understatement, as you will learn in due time. Yes, you'll be able to prepare certain foods, which is a means to attain knowledge in its own right. However, the entire experience will help you to gain more credibility, as a budding chef, which can result in even greater opportunities in the future.




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