Equipment Module Version A 01062011
contents. page 1. general safety procedures 3 2. food preparation equipment: 4 mixer potato rumbler chipper 3. cooking equipment 7 grills fryers 4. washing equipment: 10 potwash 2
1. general safety procedures The Key safety points: Machinery must never be used in such a way that it endangers others. Guards must always be in good working order and must always be used while the machinery is in operation. Before cleaning or adjusting an electrically operated machine, it must always be isolated from the supply i.e. plugs must be taken out. Those machines designated as dangerous machinery must not be used by those under 18 years of age. Never interfere with any safety equipment Never distract others while machinery is in operation. Never use a piece of equipment/machinery until fully trained by a fully competent person. Always report faulty machinery/equipment to your manager immediately. Never leave machinery unattended whilst in operation. Always switch it off. Always wear the required safety equipment as instructed. 3
2. food preparation equipment mixer The mixer is used to bind the beef, lamb or vegetarian mixes together. General Usage: To assemble: first place the large bowl onto the standing arms with the small bolt on the end locked into the machine. There are two clips on either arm to hold the bowl steady. Then attach the mixing fork to the arm in the centre of the machine. Once this has been done you can load whatever needs mixing. Be careful to load the lighter ingredients first. The weight from heavier things like beef will stop the force of the mixer spraying spice mix and parsley out of the top of the bowl. Most items of mixing take around 3 minutes so it is possible to do a large amount of beef in a short space of time. If this is the case then remember to remix any beef that has sat in the fridge for any length of time. This only needs to be done for one minute and is to avoid beef that is either too dry or, at the bottom, too wet to press properly. Cleaning: The cleaning of this equipment is very easy. The bowl and arm should be put through the pot wash. The rest of the machine should be cleaned down in the normal fashion with hot soapy water. Occasionally the slider at the back of the machine which adjusts the height of the bowl will need some grease. This is to make it easier to move and so that the machine is not damaged. If there is not food safe grease on site, a little oil will do. Troubleshooting: There are a few points of interest when it comes to the mixer breaking: Make sure that the guard has been pulled all the way across before starting. Also the solid stainless steel section opposite the guard may come away slightly. This is not enough to notice but its worth pressing it back in so that it clicks. If the gearbox of the mixer has been changed it may have been left between gears and will therefore not start. 4
potato rumbler Remove the skin from the potato. General Usage The Rumbler is a very straight forward machine but requires some care to keep it working at optimum level. Always check that it has been cleaned down and reassembled since it was last used. Then bring all the potatoes you are planning to use, roughly 3 sacks per barrel. As the sacks are the heaviest item in the kitchen, take care when lifting. Line one barrel up underneath the rumbler to catch the potatoes. Turn on the water to a gentle stream and then turn on the rumbler to start it spinning. Ensure that the door to the rumbler is closed tightly every time otherwise the potatoes will escape. Load the potatoes by hand into the top of the machine; it should hold roughly half a sack at once. You should load by hand for several reasons: firstly it will mean any stones in the sack can be disposed of if there than risking damaging the rumbler or chipper by letting them through, also it minimizes the amount of dirt and mud that the machine has to process; this will stop the machines drainage system from being blocked. Lastly it means that the operator can stop any rotten potatoes and discard them. After a few minutes lift the lid of the rumbler to check the potatoes. Once all the skins have been removed, open the hatch and allow all the contents to drop into the barrel below. Repeat until all the potatoes are rumbled but use the time between loads to transfer the peeled potatoes to the chipper. Cleaning: The rumbler is one of the dirtiest pieces of equipment in the kitchen and as such extra time should be taken to ensure it is cleaned properly. All the segments of the machine can be removed and placed in the pot wash, but it will spray muddy water around its area including up the walls. The starchy potato will quickly decompose, becoming obvious due to the smell. Apart from blowing the fuse, which is fairly straight forward to identify, one of the major issues with the rumbler is drainage. As mentioned it is important not to let too much dirt into the rumbler as this can quickly be turned into a thick sludge in the pipes. This will slow down drainage and could even overload the machine with water, causing it to short circuit. As part of the deep cleaning jobs, the piping attached to the rumbler should be disconnected and cleaned out. 5
chipper To cut the chips. General usage: The rules of usage with the chipper are fairly similar to the rumbler. Turn the chipper on before loading as it has a very small capacity for potatoes and needs a steady flow to work efficiently. Take the freshly rumbled potatoes and begin to load then down the top of the chipper. Underneath the mouth of the machine should be the final barrel for ship storage, the chips will land in there. The chipper does not have any drainage so is not subject to the same problems as the rumbler. Cleaning: As with the rumbler it is important to clean down the chipper straight away after it has been used as it is much easier while it is still wet. Once it has dried, the potato is much more difficult to remove so unless there is a great pressure to do another piece of prep, these machines should be cleaned at once. The sections of the chipper can be taken apart and put through the pot wash to clean. Troubleshooting: When loading the potatoes in, it will become blocked as large ones will get trapped. Sometimes potatoes are so large that they get stuck in the wheel part of the machine. In this case turn off the machine, take it apart and remove before continuing. As long as it is cleaned properly every time it is used, there is very little that can go wrong with the chipper. Over time the blades may become blunt, but this would be over a very long time and they will need replacing therefore inform a Manager. 6
3. cooking equipment grills Cooking the meat & vegetables, finish the vegetarian burgers and toast the buns. General usage: For a comprehensive guide on cleaning and maintenance please refer to the Chargrills guide, the following lists general usage: Turning on the pilot light and igniting with the button should work, but this is not always the case. Over time the contact points between the buttons become loose. The pilot light may struggle to come on and you may have problems turning from pilot to full gas. In this case it is helpful to remove the black button and try to ignite without. The button can be replaced once the grill is lit. Another issue similar to this is that one section of grill will refuse to ignite at all, only to become functional again once all the other sections have got to maximum temperature. This has happened on most of the grills in the company at some stage so should not be a cause for concern. Turning on the grills at the earliest opportunity and being aware of retrying the burner that is off as many times as possible will normally ensure that this problem does not effect service. If on the other hand it persists through service you may be required to call out an engineer. All grills have a personality of their own. It is important that all team members, especially senior kitchen staff spend some time, not only just on service, but as a result getting to know the quirks of their grills. Some will have ignition issues as discussed. Some will have slightly different hot and cooler stops for cooking, it is vital to understand these as it will allow the grill chef to control the speed of service. Most importantly is the maintenance and cleaning of the grills. If this is done to the highest standard, any problems will be minimized and you will be able to produce the best food. Fire Risk: One major issue that can affect the grill during service is the risk of fire. Assuming that all the cleaning has been done properly, it is still possible for a fire to break out. This tends to happen after a busy period where a lot of debris from the burgers will mix with the fat as well as the fat from cheese and bacon, creating a base for the fire. Obviously, this is extremely undesirable. Not only will it char the outside of the burgers but will increase the heat for the grill chef, making it very difficult to work. If there is an outbreak of fire that is threatening to become uncontrollable, it is vital that you switch off the grill and continue using the other meat grill. You should only use the fire extinguisher in extreme cases as allowing the fire to burn out will only take a few minutes and avoids having to stop service for the day. Under no circumstance should water be put on the grill as this will only exacerbate the fire. This goes for the fire blanket as well. The base of the 7
fire is on the grill but the heat is below, putting the blanket on the fire will not smother it as designed, it only adds the blanket to the list of things on fire. The best way to avoid fire is to brush down the grills as soon as there is an opportunity. This should be done quickly with the wire brush then wiped down with some damp blue roll to pick up the debris. This is only a short term measure and should not be used instead of turning the grills. After a service has gone quiet, turn the beef grill off and allow it to cool down slightly. It only takes 5-10 minutes for this to happen. Obviously you do not want to attempt turning the grill while they are still on as such as fierce direct heat can overwhelm whoever is turning. Once you feel comfortable enough turning them use the Y shaped lifting tool to remove one section of the grill. Then using the fire retardant gloves quickly flip the other sections of the grill over, leaving enough space on the end to replace the first section. You will notice that the other side is much cleaner and easier to cook on while the debris on the bottom side will be burnt off when the grills are reignited. Turn the grills back on as soon as possible to avoid any delay to service and repeat if necessary on the other meat grill. 8
fryers Blanche chips and vegetarian options, cook chips, onion rings and vegetarian options. General usage With any equipment it is vital that cleaning is done regularly and to a high standard to ensure that the machines work to their optimum level. Fresh, clean oil will produce the best food. In the same way that the grills in different restaurants run slightly idiosyncratically, the same applies to the fryers. Although you may set them all to the same temperature they will not always be uniform so it is important to be able to judge what temperatures your fryers actually run at. This will aid in the timings of food production and will allow the chef to get the best out of their equipment. It is also important to judge the service before and during. This means that before a busy shift (Saturday lunch) it may be advisable to have 2 of your 3 fryers set to a blanching temperature. As most customers order chips, service can be slowed down if there are not enough chips available to be sent out; this adversely affects the running of the whole service. If you have not deemed it necessary to do this before the start of a service but find yourself running short of chips due to the sheer volume it is possible to turn one fryer down to blanche, therefore giving more volume to work with. Troubleshooting: To prevent the blanche fryer becoming full of water: Drain excess water from the chips before they are placed in the fryer, it is not possible to drain every last drop and over time there will be a build up of water which will sink to the bottom of the fryer and begin to boil. Although the fryers are cleaned regularly this can happen quickly, the solution being to drain this water off in the morning before turning the fryers on. As it sits at the bottom, releasing the value will mean that the water can be removed before they are ignited. 9
4. washing equipment pot wash Clean the crockery, cutlery, glassware and kitchen equipment and tools. General usage: Extra care should be taken to ensure that the pot wash machine is always as clean as possible. This not only applies to the cleaning done at the beginning and end of the day but also during each shift. During a busy period the filters in the machine will become dirty and should be removed and cleaned as soon as any sign that the plates are being affected is spotted. A quick change of water will not slow down the flow of clean crockery as much as the production of dirty plates will. Before every service check the level of the chemicals and the salt inside the machine. You do not want to have to change unnecessarily during service in the same way that the chef on window makes sure they have everything they need to hand. To this end, regenerate the salt levels in the pot wash after morning cleaning so that it does not need to happen during the day. It can take as long as 45 minutes for a full cycle, which can seem like a long time once the restaurant is open. Loading of the machine plays a big part to the speed in which the dirty crockery can be processed. Plates should be placed all facing away from the direction they have been loaded into the machine and in such a way that one rack will take 18. The same direction is used for bowls but instead turn the rack 90 degrees before placing them on. Use the power hose to remove most of the excess food stuffs before putting the rack through the pot wash, this will aid cleaning and also help keep the inside of the machine cleaner. Cleaning: The major issue of cleaning that can be overlooked regarding the pot wash is above the eye line. Inside the machine are the arms that distribute the water and these will become covered in all the grime that can collect in the machine; this is a major health hazard as it can lead to various bacteria dangerous to health. As part of any good deep cleaning schedule this should be cleaned down thoroughly on a regular basis. With proper cleaning maintenance the pot wash machine should work efficiently and without any issues. 10