Serving up some special training for our chefs

Our chefs are an integral part of the day to day running of our 16 care homes, and every day they produce mouth-watering meals to cater for all the requirements of our ladies and gentlemen.

All our chefs at Hartford Care receive ongoing training through our Chef Development Days. The development days, run by Bidfoods, are designed to inform our chefs about new products and innovations and teach new techniques which can benefit our residents.

Attending the day were chefs Cherie Pemberton and Jethro Binns from Ashley Grange in Downton, Salisbury, chef Della Ling and kitchen assistant Nicole Humphrey from Belford House in Four Marks, Hampshire. They all spent a day learning new skills to help boost their confidence with the types of meals they can prepare and offer.

The Chef Development Day started with introductions and discussions on the different needs across both the homes and typical dishes served throughout the day. Everyone spoke about what they were confident in doing, what areas they thought they needed to work on, and what equipment was available to use at their homes.

The Bidfood team delivering the training gave attendees some ingredients and asked them to present a starter and a pureed version. Together, they then discussed the completed plates. Bidfood provided feedback on the presentation and ways to make the food more appealing visually. Ensuring the dishes have vivid colour is always important as it helps our residents, especially those who are visually impaired, identify what they are eating.

For the lunch meal, the team had to present a meat dish and a vegetable dish, along with a pureed option. Once again, the Bidfood team provided feedback on each meal presented.

Finally, for dessert, our Hartford Care chefs were allowed to try out a new product, which was a powdered form of ice cream. Their task was to be creative and prepare a pudding, which they did, and all of them were delicious.

By the end of the day, the team had learned to prepare, create, and present three different dishes plus a pureed version. They also found out about a new product that could be used to prepare alternative desserts quickly if they needed to.

The team seemed to really enjoy the day, and all said they found the information valuable. Thank you as always to Bidfood for providing so much food for thought to our chefs.