Culinary Specialist

Cook Job Description

We are seeking a skilled Cook to join our team at Holly Nursing Care Center. As a Cook, you will play a vital role in preparing and serving nutritious and delicious meals to our residents.

Key Responsibilities:

• Prepare and cook a variety of foods in large quantities, ensuring that meals are palatable, appetizing, and attractive.
• Establish a practice of serving hot food hot and cold food cold, maintaining a high standard of food safety and quality.
• Cook a variety of foods, including meats, fish, fowl, vegetables, fruit, soups, salads, desserts, breads, and pastries, as specified and scheduled by the menus.
• Be familiar with seasoning and cooking time requirements, as well as the cooking characteristics of various cuts of meats, fish, and fowl.
• Prepare foods for cooking, including peeling, washing, trimming, and cutting vegetables and fruit, washing, cutting, de-boning, and trimming meat, fish, and fowl.
• Cook food, including baking, roasting, stewing, and steaming-cooking meats, fish, and fowl, basting as necessary to retain flavor, making gravies, stocks, dressings, sauces, and soups.
• Prepare cold meats, sandwiches, griddle cakes, cooked cereals, and beverages.
• Use initiative and judgment in setting up meals and utilizing leftovers to avoid waste.
• Follow standard recipes but make independent decisions in line with current experience.
• Understand the importance of proper food-handling techniques and the hazards of improper food handling.
• Estimate quantities of food required and apportion servings while monitoring portion-controlled guidelines for individual residents.
• Taste, smell, and observe food to ensure conformity with recipes and appearance.
• Serve food according to dietary guidelines, checking each tray for completeness and accuracy.

Kitchen Duties:

• Comply with meal schedules.
• Maintain and use equipment and supplies.
• Work cooperatively with other staff and departments.
• Wash pots, pans, and other equipment as used.
• Responsible for supervision of other food service employees in the absence of the Executive Chef.
• All other duties as requested.

Talent:

• Executing
• Demonstrates resourcefulness
• Detail oriented and follow through
• Ability to prioritize and multi-task priorities
• Relationship Building
• Work well with people including staff, residents, families
• Enjoy working with older people
• Demonstrates friendliness and enthusiasm
• Have a caring attitude and sincere interest in others
• Demonstrates honesty
• Influencing
• Communicates clearly and effectively
• Strategic Thinking
• Displays creativity
• Curiosity and desire to learn

Skills and Knowledge:

• Ability to prepare and cook a variety of foods in large quantities.
• Aware of special diets, seasoning requirements, cooking times, temperature controls.
• Ability to estimate quantities of food required, limit waste, utilize leftovers while serving attractive, appetizing meals.
• Serve safe certification.

Education and Experience:

• Education: High School Diploma or GED preferred.
• Experience: Previous experience in the dining department of a senior care community preferred.

Physical Demands:

• Frequent walking per shift.
• Frequent standing per shift while preparing and serving food.
• Lifting 1- 20# frequently, 21-35# occasionally, # rarely.
• Bending and reaching, squatting and kneeling, crawling and climbing.
• Extreme hot and cold temperature changes.
• Use of large and small kitchen equipment.

Classification:

• Non-Exempt.

Work Area and Environment:

• Kitchen, freezers, refrigerators, loading dock, dining room.

Standards:

• Standards: State Health Department Regulations.

Other:

• Reports to Executive Chef.
• Department-Dining.

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