General Cooking Guidelines

                                                                 General guidelines

1. Clean and sanitize equipment.
2. Use high-quality, wholesome food and beverage ingredients.
3. Follow appropriate cooking and reheating time and temperature protocols.
4. Follow the recipe.
5. Follow the time and temperature guidelines.
6. Handle food and beverages safely.
7. Taste before serving.
8. Serve in a way that enhances visual appeal.

Food safety

1. Food and beverages should be carefully handled to avoid contamination or bacterial grown.
2. Keep foods out of the temperate danger zone of 40 degrees F – 104 degrees F.
3. Heat potentially hazardous foods to proper internal temperature.
4. Check temperatures often; reheat when necessary.

PUREES
Prepare pureed foods in a manner that preserves nutrients. The recommended consistency should be “pudding-“ or “mashed potato-like”, and served in recommended serving portions.

Meat
The most difficult to puree food is meat due to differences in muscle fibers, fat and moisture content. It often can look unappealing, and therefore, uneaten.

Tips

1. Puree meats while they are warm.
2. Place meat in food processor and puree with a start and stop action to achieve a paste-like consistency.
3. Add a small amount of liquid, like water or broth, and puree.
4. Add a stabilizer, like Thick-It ® Food and Beverage Instant Thickener, and puree until smooth.
5. Add additional liquid and/or stabilizer and puree until mashed potato consistency.
6. Heat to minimum of 165 degrees F.

Starches
Starches puree better when warm or hot.

Tips

1. Puree spaghetti and noodles by themselves, and not with any accompany foods.
2. Puree rice and add additional liquid and Thick-It ® Instant Food and Beverage Thickener as needed to create appropriate consistency.

Vegetables
Vegetable preparation can vary greatly depending on what type of vegetable you are pureeing. Root, tuber and seed vegetables contain more starches than their leaves, stem and flowering counterparts. Therefore, it is difficult to have one basic recipe that applies to all vegetables.

Tips

1. If using canned vegetables, drain well and reserve juice to use during puree process.
2. Cook frozen vegetables to al dente.
3. Vegetables should be bright in color.
4. Loss of flavor, aroma and reduced palatability will result when vegetables are pureed and retained at cooking temperatures too long.