Module 8: Safety, Allergens & Recovery

Learning objectives. (a) Name every allergen in our class and the alternative path, (b) explain coeliac cross-contamination prevention, (c) recover from the 10 most likely problems.

Allergens we routinely see

  • Gluten / coeliac. GF dough is our path. CRITICAL: GF made FIRST on dedicated equipment. Wheat flour dust travels. All sauces are GF-certified, including the FISH-FREE fish sauce.  Also make sure we tell guest we don’t certify for coeliac due to chance of cross contamination.
  • Sesame. In sesame oil and dipping sauce. Skip for sesame-allergic; alternative sauce without sesame.
  • Soy. Light and dark soy + soy in dipping sauce. Soy-allergic guests need coconut aminos alternative (Rezdy flag essential).
  • Eggs. NOT in our recipes
  • Peanuts. All ingredients are nut free
  • Mushrooms. Vegan path uses pre-cooked oyster mushrooms. Mushroom-allergic vegans will be offered an alternative filling
  • Fish. We have a fish sauce alternative that is FISH-FREE (vegan). No actual fish in any ingredient.

Coeliac cross-contamination prevention

If Rezdy flags a confirmed coeliac:

  1. Dedicated GF section of the long table, marked.
  2. Their own rolling pin, mat, bowls.
  3. Their flour bag is the GF bag only.
  4. Presenter coaching them washes hands thoroughly before approaching.
  5. Take-home box labelled GLUTEN-FREE.
  6. If wheat flour drifts onto their area, those dumplings reclassified as wheat-trace and CANNOT go to them. Bin and remake.

Food safety on raw beef

  1. Cold storage. Beef stays in fridge until ~T-15. Ziploc bags or labelled tins.
  2. Hand hygiene. After raw beef, wash hands BEFORE anything else.
  3. Cook timing. The pre-prepared dumplings get the full sear and steam times, every time, no shortcuts. No temperature probe is used in class – the completed times are the safety.
  4. Take-home. Guests’ own folded dumplings go home raw with 24-hour cook-or-freeze instruction in box label.

The 10 most likely things to go wrong

1. Power circuit trips during cooking. Reset breaker. Different outlet. If irrecoverable: finish in venue oven 200 C with steam tray.
2. Cook timing interrupted or anything looks underdone. Lid on, 2 more min. Lid on, 2 more min, retest.
3. Dumplings stuck to pan. Splash water, lid 30 sec, release.
4. Guest’s dough cracking. Wet their hands, knead the water in. Don’t pour more.
5. Filling too wet. Drain on paper towel + 1 tbsp more vermicelli.
6. Filling too dry. Massage harder. Last resort tiny splash of soy.
7. Flavour station overcrowded. P2 keeps just one group at the flavour station and holds the other at the dough station until the swap.
8. Vegan walks in without Rezdy flag. Apologise and explain it was requested at booking.  Let them make a filling no beef.
9. Presenter unwell mid-class. Collapse to 1 demo bench. Ops upgrades to floor float.
 

The mindset

Things will go slightly wrong every class. That is normal. What matters is that you handle it quietly. The guests should never feel like you are flustered.

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