Hot kitchen
To the uninitiated a hot kitchen is just what it says – a hot kitchen. In catering terms, though, a hot kitchen and a cold kitchen are different parts of the same overall kitchen, the difference being in the use to which a particular space is put. A hot kitchen can best be summed up as being that part of a kitchen where raw materials are prepared and cooked, whether baked, fried, roast, boiled or steamed. From here the finished dishes are usually sent to the cold kitchen to await serving. The hot kitchen is normally equipped with modern facilities such as electric stoves, exhaust fans, ovens, chillers, hot and cold water supply, dishwashers and so on.
Students at the Prue Leith College of Food and Wine learn all about the hot kitchen during the Prue Leith Diploma Course, which is recognized in the catering and hospitality industries the world over. Tiny Barnetson and Graham Ledger started the college in 1996 after recognizing that there was a dire shortage of good, well-trained and highly motivated staff throughout the industry. The owners of many restaurants, hotels and game lodges had been complaining about the shortage for some time since the increase in foreign visitors to South Africa after the lifting of sanctions in 1994.
The college has a wide and comprehensive curriculum, which is enjoyed by up to 120 students in three parallel courses at any one time. Courses commence in January and July of each year and go on for eighteen months. Soon after the junior course starts, students are thrown in at the deep end, so-to-speak, when they are put work in the Prue Leith Restaurant, the college’s own fine-food restaurant in the college grounds in the picturesque Centurion suburb of Hennopspark. Here they man all of the jobs in the hot kitchen, preparing and cooking dishes for the restaurant. They also man Front of House and act as Maître d’Hotel and Wine Steward. When they come to their final term students are placed in some of South Africa’s leading game lodges, restaurants and hotels and a few lucky ones in hotels in the Middle East and Europe. Here they spend up to six months in the workplace, thus gaining further “hands on” experience in real working conditions.
Back at the college students gain further working experience with Prue Leith Catering. This catering company, situated just a couple of kilometres from the college, was started in April of 2005 to meet the demands of the area. The catering company gives students the opportunity of not just working in the hot kitchen of the catering company, but also of completing and serving dishes at a venue of the customer’s choice, giving them the opportunity of experiencing having to work in an unfamiliar location. In the college grounds they spend some time working in the 24-seat outdoor boma where they are trained in the art of bush cooking and pan-African cuisine. By the time they graduate, students at the Prue Leith College are well versed in the workings of the hot kitchen.
