Cockpit Chronicles: Video—Food in the cockpit. How it's prepared and what is served {Gadling}

Dec 17th 2011 1:59PM Cedarglen, I used to work for a flight kitchen and know the vast majority of preparation that goes on while on the aircraft. Y/C entrees are/were usually what as known as 'pop-outs' that were warmed(not cooked) in ovens. Some ovens are already in the carts that get wheeled down the aisles and were simply plugged into a receptacle. Most however are actually a part of the a/c. For F/C and B/C meals most were plated entrees that were warmed similar to that of coach - in ovens and served in the same dish.

On some long haul flights like transcons, and most int'l flights, the f/c and b/c meals are catered with the entree components being 75% pre-cooked by the flight kitchen and placed into foil pans ie. all eggs together, steaks together, potatoes together, the F/A then portions them onto plates when serving - adding the condiments, dressings, toppings, etc. The same goes for rolls, hot apple pie, soups, etc. On these long haul flights the f/a's will distribute the individual service items to the pax like napkins glassware etc. On short hauls, the tray is already completely put together by the flight kitchen and loaded into the cart/carrier.

Cooking instructions are provided to the crew on the same print out as the manifest describing the meal and the quantities they received. Funny thing about the sundaes Kent described, typically these items are not provisioned for the crew meals, they end up in the cockpit or with the f/a's when the flight is over-provisioned or there have been refusals from pax. While cockpit crew usually receives decent meals - f/a's usually are provisioned marginal or no meals whatsoever. They usually end up sharing any over-provisioned meals or refusals from either cabin - if there are any.

Hope that helps explain the process.