Cook

Duties and Responsibilities

• Prepare, cook, season, and serve adequate, attractive, nutritious and balanced meals, including meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, fruit, soups, salads, desserts, breads and pastries, as specified and scheduled by the menus.
• Clean dietary work area.

Essential Functions

• Handle and prepare food that is palatable, appetizing and attractive, following standardized recipes.
• Comply with meal schedules.
• Maintain and use equipment and supplies, sanitize after each use.
• Work cooperatively with other staff and departments.
• Use initiative, judgment and portion control in setting up meals and utilizing leftovers to avoid waste.
• Follow standard recipes.
• Cook a variety of foods in large quantities.
• Understand importance of proper food-handling techniques and hazards of improper food handling.
• Be familiar with seasoning and cooking time required.
• Be aware of cooking characteristics of various cuts of meat, fish, and fowl.
• Estimate quantities of food required and apportion servings while monitoring portion-control guidelines for individual residents.
• Prepare foodstuffs for cooking: Peel, wash, trim, and cut vegetables and fruit; wash, cut, debone and trim meat, fish and fowl.
• Taste, smell, and observe food to ensure conformity with recipes and appearance.
• Serve food according to dietary guidelines, checking each meal for completeness and accuracy.
• Wash and sanitize pots, pans and other equipment as used.
• Responsible for supervision of other food service employees in absence of dietary service manager and assist in training of new employees.
• Cook foods: Bake, roast, stew and steam-cook meats, fish and fowl, basting as necessary to retain flavor; make gravies, stocks, dressings, sauces and soups.
• Prepare cold meats, sandwiches, griddle cakes, cooked cereals and beverages.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of food preparation and serving techniques.
• Ability to follow standardized recipes and meal schedules.
• Good hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity.
• Ability to work cooperatively with others.
• Basic knowledge of food safety and handling practices.