Staff Lunch How-To

Kitchen hygiene, etiquette & safety

• Washing hands: Always wash your hands with soap and warm water the first thing you come to the kitchen! Dry your hands with paper towel.
• Wear closed shoes: You don’t want to lose your toes if something falls on them. 
• Cutting safety: Wet paper towel under your cutting board will keep it in place and prevent you from cutting yourself.
• No kitchen knives in the dishwashing area! If you need to wash a knife, do this by hand immediately, dry it and return to the knife drawer. Dishwasher detergent is very abrasive, and along with the banging around that happens during a wash cycle, will take the sharp edge right off your knife. 
• Bokashi organic waste: Set up a container next to your cutting board to discard your offcuts to keep your station tidy. Cut up your food scraps max. 5 cm pieces. Empty this in the bio waste container in the bokashi bin when it’s full. Only use fresh, uncooked vegetables for the Bokashi!
• Co-existing with the chefs: If you are preparing lunch when a chef is there also preparing for the evening service, the chef has priority. Ask which side of the kitchen island you can use, and which fire pits you can use. When you walk behind someone in the kitchen, make yourself known (so that they don’t turn around with a knife or a hot pan). For example you can say “behind” or "achter" (in Dutch). 
• Leftover food: If you have leftovers from what you cooked, fill a box with it and add a label with the dates and what it is. When using leftovers, always smell it before using to determine that it’s not spoiled. Leftovers should stay good for at least for 3 days when kept below 4 degrees. When you heat up leftovers, heat it piping hot before serving.
• Maximum two people making lunch in the kitchen and cleaning.

Planning

Rough schedule for the lunch shift:

On the day itself.
Ask for help: If needed you can ask one other person to help you with cooking.

Count at the check-in how many people will be in the office, also send a message to Mediamatic all 2.0 to double check and to see if there's any extra people joining the lunch. Always prepare 5 extra portions, just in case. 

• Check leftovers: Preferably use the leftovers in the staff fridge. 
• Check dry pantry: Have a look in the pantry in the dry storage, use the products from the STAFF shelfs. If you take any other products check with the chef if that's allowed. We always have various things that you can use, such as pasta, rice, other grains, cans of tomato, dried and canned beans, coconut milk, spices etc.
• Aquaponics: you can drop by at the greenhouse to find fresh greens. It’s good to check with the aquaponics people what could be harvested and what’s tasty.

12:00 - Enter the kitchen and start cooking
13:30 - Serve lunch
14:00 - Clean up 
15:00 - Be done with cleaning up

Setting up

1. Dishwasher: Turn on dishwasher, press the ON button and set it on setting number 1. Open the dishwasher, put the stuff you want to wash in it and close the dishwasher. It should start automatically. (if not double check if the dishwasher is on or ask the cooks in the kitchen) 
2. Bins: Set up couple of white bio waste containers in the kitchen (only for the uncooked vegetables) and make sure that the mixed bins have a bin bag.
3. From dry storage: Grab an apron, black cleaning cloth and a tea towel from the dry storage.
4. Produce: Bring all the produce you need to the kitchen.
5. Plan cooking order: Think of the order in which everything needs to cook. For example if you’re making a bean stew, this will probably take the longest - start with that. If you are cooking pasta or rice, set the water to cook early - a big amount of water takes a long time to start boiling.
6. Set up your station: cutting board with wet paper towel under it (to hold it in place), knife (preferably sharp), metal container for offcuts and other bio waste, black cleaning cloth for keeping work surfaces clean.
7. Start cooking :)

Cooking

1. Recipes: Make maximum 3 different preparations (e.g. rice, bean stew and salad) that can be served from one plate. Some recipes from a previous chef can be found here
2. Amounts: Count how many people are eating and try to make the appropriate amount of food. (Tip: pasta/rice serving is around 80g/person. Add couple of extra portions just in case someone wants seconds)
3. Serving: When you are ready to serve, set up the right number of plates on the kitchen pass, as well as your salad, pans with warm food. Stay at the pass to serve until everyone has a plate of food. 
4. Prepare the tables, napkins, cutlery, glasses and carafes. 
5. Messaging: Send a message to the “Mediamatic All” Signal app when the lunch is ready.

Closing up

1. Clean the tables: make sure the restaurant tables and chairs are wiped and moved back to their original place.  
2. Wash the dishes: Everything you used is washed up and back in its place.
3. Clean the surfaces: Swipe all work surfaces with a damp clean cloth.
4. Clean the floor: Sweep the floor. (Brooms are in the little courtyard behind the kitchen.)
5. Bins (mixed waste): Empty the mixed bin outside in the big waste container (next to the street).
6. Bio waste: Empty all white bio containers into the green bokashi containers behind the kitchen.
7. Leftovers: Check that all the leftovers are in containers, labelled (with product name and date) and stored in the staff fridge.
8. Kitchen machines off: Double check that the fire pits and oven are off. If there is no chef coming later in the day, turn off, empty and clean the dishwasher too. (instruction soon here)
9. Leaving the kitchen: Be out of the kitchen latest at 15:00.