EN:Cold Kitchen

Cold Kitchen encompasses dishes served cold, with no heat-based preparation immediately before consumption. These include open-faced sandwiches, salads, cold platters, aspics, pâtés, carpaccio, cold sauces, steak tartare, ceviche, and cold soups such as gazpacho.

In professional food service, the cold kitchen (garde manger) can be a separate department responsible for preparing cold appetisers, salads, canapés, and decorative platters for buffets and banquets.

In Czech culinary tradition, the cold kitchen is associated particularly with open-faced sandwiches, ham rolls with horseradish, meat and fish salads, and cold platters for celebrations.