Haute Cuisine: Koltsovo Airport Catering

zzaharr, a blogger from Yekaterinburg, says: “This cuisine is high, not figuratively, but literally. Few chefs and catering establishments can boast that the average absorption height of their dishes is 10,000 meters above sea level. And although, in its essence, airport catering is not much different from any other food processing plant or a working canteen, aviation would not be aviation if it did not bring its own specifics here.

Catering (English catering from cater - “to supply provisions”) is a branch of public catering associated with the provision of services at remote points.

So, I repeat once again that in terms of its structure and technology, catering is a completely mundane enterprise. Food is stored in the warehouse, cold dishes are made in the cold shop, and hot dishes are made in the hot shop. However, along the entire length of the technological chain, there are a lot of interesting details that I had no idea about before, and if I did, I could not find an explanation for this.

(Total 31 photos)

Source: Journal/zzaharr

1. Warehouse. Well, a warehouse is like a warehouse. Lots of boxes, trays, bags and other pallets. But not everyone, albeit a very high-quality product, can get here. The customer has very strict requirements for the geometry and other uniformity of the product. If cucumbers, then the same thickness, if berries, then the same weight. The same applies to the heads of cheese, and sausage sticks with ham. Everything is explained very simply: lunch on the plane is a very standardized product, everything must match the technological map down to tenths of a gram. And slicers, they are blunt iron mechanisms, they do not know how to measure by eye. Therefore, in order to have the same carrot slices at the output, we must have the same carrot at the input.

2. The berries lie separately from each other in case that if one starts to rot, so that the infection does not spread to others

3. Oh, this is generally a hurricane - baked red pepper! I'm afraid to guess what dishes it is added to.

4. Vegetable. No matter how many kitchen devices have been invented, manual labor in the kitchen cannot be avoided. Chopping a bunch of lettuce into even pieces is another task for the master. Fragmented vegetables will go further. Someone will get into an appetizer, and someone into a side dish.

5. Tenderloin is waiting in the wings ...

... to compete with marinated chicken fillet.

6. By the way, many people know that at a height, due to low blood pressure, a person's taste sensations change. Personally, I thought that because of this, more goodies are added to the earth. So, it turns out on the contrary, salt, pepper and other spices and spices are put much less than in earthly cuisine.

7. After the meat and poultry are divided into portioned pieces, they enter the hot shop, where such a miracle oven awaits them, with the difficult-to-pronounce name combi steamer. A combi steamer is a large and very sophisticated microwave oven: it fries, boils, and bakes, just press the buttons in the menu.

8. In the end, vegetables and meat meet in one place, a closer acquaintance will continue in casseroles.

By the way, cassette - where did the word come from? Perhaps this is a borrowing from the French cassoulet - "meat stew with beans" or "mess", "jumble".

9. In the meantime, they have another important stage ahead of them - shock freezing. After all, in an earthly restaurant, there are a few minutes between cooking and the start of a meal. And in air catering, the time difference can reach several hours. Until the meat is laid out in casseroles, until they are delivered on board, until the plane gains altitude. In order for the dishes to retain their original taste, they are placed in this cabinet with ice air. Cutlets in shock and cold.

10. The shape of the future air lunch is already beginning to emerge.

An interesting fact: in addition to the usual aluminum, crystallized polyethylene terephthalate (pictured), popularly referred to as PET-F, is also used to make cassettes. It seems to be plastic, but it withstands the heat of the stove, and it looks aesthetically pleasing.

11. Marking is a crucial stage. In order not to confuse anything, a special cheat sheet hangs on the wall.

12. So, if you forgot what day of the week it is, just take a look at the markings.

13. In the meantime, snacks are being prepared.

Interesting fact. Each airline has its own "troubles" about catering. For example, Aeroflot categorically does not accept pork on its menu, but Transaero requires their snacks to be at least 80 grams.

14. Well ... eighty, so eighty. Chefs are ready to fulfill any desire of the client.

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17. It just seems that working in the kitchen is not particularly hard. In fact, ten thousand servings come out from under these hands on the day shift, and the same number on the night. Total, twenty thousand meals a day!

18. Large airlines that have many flights through Yekaterinburg Koltsovo provide catering with their branded dishes, napkins and other trifles. For everyone else, such universal lunch boxes are being prepared.

19. Particular attention, of course, to business class nutrition, or, as professionals say, business class. Whatever they say, they also write.

20. In reality, such a beauty appears in front of a business class passenger.

21. Metal cutlery and ceramic dishes with a company logo are a sign of good taste with airlines.

22. For short flights, when there is simply no time to enjoy roast beef, flight attendants offer these light snacks.

23. Well, what kind of lunch without sweets. As I said, all sorts of creamy and protein creams on board the way is ordered. Their role is successfully replaced by ... cheese! Another delicacy that you will not find on board is various soufflés and other "bird's milk", again due to low pressure. At altitude, it becomes dry, brittle and tasteless. But chocolate and fruits with berries - as much as you like.

24. Guess what I took home in my beak? Praaally))

25. Meanwhile, lunch boxes and casseroles are ready to go on board, each in its own container. The cassettes are packed in these boxes, which are called “stoves”.

26. Already on board, the flight attendants will place them in real stoves.

27. Lunch boxes are folded into "carts" and "semi-carts". By the way, only 6 trolleys and 4 stoves are enough for an average A320 flight with 150 hungry mouths.

Pay attention to the two pedals at the bottom gas and brake. I joked about the “gas”, but the red one is really a “parking brake”.

28. Food for the crew is delivered separately. Moreover, for security purposes, each of the pilots has a separate menu, i.e. if the PIC chose meat, the co-pilot will eat fish. This is in case of accidental poisoning. For these humane reasons, legumes and other products that have a similar effect are completely excluded from the menu of pilots. The air conditioner in the cab is not omnipotent.

29. The responsibilities of catering also include the storage and delivery of any on-board equipment, such as blankets, pillows, covers, etc.

And another interesting fact. Some airlines require that their food and, in general, everything that is delivered on board, be examined on a viewing scope, well, you never know what.

30. And here is the autolift on the way. Now it will load, and on the platform.

31. This is where the earthly path of food ends.

Happy flight and bon appetit. Thank you for your attention.

Many thanks to the press services of Koltsovo airport and Ural Airlines for the opportunity to prepare the post and to Anzhelika Shlykova for her hospitality.