NUTR 334a Evaluation

Overall, I enjoyed the course. I liked cooking and learning new techniques and recipes. I feel like I learned more from that lab than the lecture. Other than a few minor burns the class went well. It would have been helpful if we were given more of an orientation to get used to where everything is located. After a few weeks I would have liked a little more complicated recipes (if time allowed) so that I could learn more techniques. I would also have enjoyed more freedom with what we cook as well. I would consider creating healthy/tasty recipes as part of dietetics, so it would have been nice to be able to experiment a little bit.

Week 9 Food Network

This week I chose to watch Five Ingredient Fix. She made curried chicken thighs with yogurt sauce, Middle Eastern Nachos, couscous cakes, and an apricot gillette.

Tips: Greek yogurt tenderizes meat, lamb is naturally high in fat so the fat can be slowly rendered and used in something else, use a rolling pin to transport a pastry without tearing it, and prick the bottom of the pastry when it is in the pan so that it doesn't rise while baking.

Unfamiliar: I was unaware that the term for a flat pastry is "gilette", and couscous can be cooked three days before using.

Ingredients that don't make sense: all of the ingredients made sense; however, I though that the Middle Eastern nachos were an interesting idea

Flavor profiles: the host talked about the somewhat nutty flavor of cumin, and the tanginess of the Greek yogurt

Learn/apply in lab: she worked at a very quick pace, so that could be mimicked in lab to help it run more smoothly

Class: I liked the Middle Eastern theme--it would be interesting to apply that to class.

Week 9 Monday & Wednesday

Monday went well. To my recollection, all of the food went out on time and the Halloween ideas were really cute. The carved, stuffed peppers and the mice meatloaves turned out well. I had the goat cheese cauliflower for lunch and it was delicious! The only thing that didn't go well was the fact that the food took longer than normal to finish the food so we didn't have time to clean. I learned how to carve jack-o-lantern faces into peppers and how to make vegetarian stuffing for them. In order to improve for next class I could work on identifying when it is necessary to pick up the pace.

Wednesday also went pretty well. We did not work off of recipes--which is somewhat easier for me because I don't double check everything a hundred times to make sure it is as close as possible. We also got finished with all the food early enough to clean most of the mess we made. What didn't go well was the preparation of the blackened cajun catfish. I have never blackend anything before so I was scared of the fire; and Fran yelled at me for not doing it right (which pissed me off). Once he actually showed me the proper technique for laying the fish in the pan I learned how to do it correctly without making a big flame. For next class I could just practice the proper techniques for things we do.

Food Network Assignment Week 6

This week I chose to watch Cooking For Real. She made chili and red velvet cake. A couple of the tips she gave on how to prepare the food was to not over-mix the cake (gluten formation) and to let the chili simmer for an hour at least. The only word that I was unfamiliar with was "slurry". It was some kind of liquid mixture she put together when making the red velvet cake. She didn't pair any ingredients that didn't make sense; however she paired some interesting ingredients. She used cocoa powder in the red velvet cake, and she made the chili with out beans and with cinnamon. She did not really mention the flavor profiles specifically but she mentioned how much heat the jalapenos, chili powder, cayenne pepper, chorizo, and hot sauce adds to the chili. I learned that air must be incorporated into the cake batter in order to produce a fluffier cake. The chili itself looked really good. That is a recipe that could be easily incorporated in class. The chili didn't have beans, but it had chorizo and ground chuck. It was also light on the tomatoes.

Week 6 Monday and Wednesday

Monday:
Monday went well. All of the food smelled really good. The only thing I can think of that didn't go well was that I think one of the items wasn't quite finished when we set all of the food out for lunch. I didn't really learn anything new. We are getting used to the policies and everything around the kitchen. In order to improve for next class I could remember to record all of the temperatures when items are done cooking.

Wednesday:
We worked well together on Wednesday for it being a sort of "off" day. Nobody showed up to open the cafe that morning so we had to change our plans. We ended up making pizzas and marinated salads. I really enjoyed not having to follow a recipe. The pizzas looked really good except for the one that didn't make it :( I learned how to use the pizza oven and I learned that I now want one at my house! In order to improve for class next week I could practice coming up with easy recipes at the right scale in order to be prepared for another day like Wednesday.

Food Network Assignment Week 5

This week I chose to watch 5 Ingredient Fix with Clair Robinson. She gave several tips on how to use ingredients including: let the succotash steam before mixing and use the mayonnaise on the outside of the grilled pimento cheese sandwich rather than butter to keep it at 5 ingredients. She did use a technique that I was unfamiliar with--she peeled a lemon and put the rind in a simply syrup mixture. Some ingredients that were strange to pair together were ham and bacon in a succotash. I always thought that succotash was purely a vegetable mixture. She mentioned the flavors of mayonnaise and sharp cheddar and how they mix well together. She also mentioned that block sharp cheddar has more flavor than pre-shredded sharp cheddar. I learned that when making biscuit dough one should use cold butter to achieve the desired consistency. It wasn't really the most healthful meal so I wouldn't really suggest incorporating the recipes into class--It looked really good though :)

Week 5 Monday and Wednesday

Monday:
Monday went well. We got all the food out and ready on time and had time to clean a little before leaving. I got finished with with the carrot casserole very quickly so I was able to start on the salad bar sooner than normal.

The only thing that didn't go well on Monday was that I spilled nasty beets all over me. I don't think that I really learned anything new that day, other than I'm going to con someone else into opening the beets next time.In order to improve for next class I could just continue to practice cooking and prepping food items at home.

Wednesday:
I thought that today went pretty well too. Fran ran the lab today. We got all of the items finished but we didn't work as quickly as we should have.

I learned how to use the steam kettle. I used it to cook macaroni and cheese, which smelled really good. I guess in order to improve for next week I could continue to practice at home when I have time so that I can work more quickly in lab.

Food Network Assignment

This week I watched Giada. She mentions the functions of ingredients—for example, oil for moisture, and vanilla for richness. She used very few red pepper flakes on pork chops because they are very spicy. She explained that it is necessary to use pasteurized egg whites for the meringue topping because they will not be cooked.

As far as words that I was unfamiliar with; she mentioned the term, “Al dente” when cookin g pasta which means perfectly cooked.  She also pointed out that "dolce” means sweet. I have heard these terms before, I just did not know exactly what they meant. 

Some strange ingredients that were used together in a dish were pasta with beans—this is not typically something one sees in the same dish. She also made a coffee meringue icing for pound cake with brewed coffee.

Giada didn't really mention any flavor profiles but she did say that lemon zest perfumes whole dish.  

I learned that one should add garlic last because it is likely to burn. This is information that could be used in lab because we often cook with garlic.

Something that I would like to incorporate into lab is her curved knife. The knife made smooth, less difficult chops.

Monday & Wednesday week 4

Monday:

Class went well even though we were down one person. We got everything made and we had all the ingredients we needed.

We worked a little slower. I don't think we adjusted to having a missing person.

I learned how to make mashed sweet potatoes. I hate all kinds of potatoes so I have never cooked with them before. It was interesting to learn how to prepare them.

For next class I could try to prepare ahead of time for being down one person.

Wednesday:

I thought that class went really well today. We were down two people, but we still got everything out on time and had time to help clean at the end.

The only thing that didn't go well was that I mis-read the directions for the soup. I thought it said 9 tomatoes when it actually said 9 pounds of tomatoes.

I learned about all the spices it takes to make curry. I knew that there are many different kinds of curry--I just didn't know that it is made from a mixture of many spices.

For next class I should definitely slow down when reading directions. It wasn't a big deal today, but it could be in another recipe.

Food Network

I watched Chopped again this week. A good tip that was given was that trout has a lot of bones that need to be removed together, in one motion otherwise they have to be removed individually with tweezers.

I was unfamiliar with a few of the ingredients; but everything else I had seen or heard of before.

Since it was Chopped, there were many ingredients that were paired together that didn't make sense including: rainbow trout, Napa cabbage, smoked paprika & white chocolate chips (appetizer); quail, escarole, chocolate covered raisins, & coconut (entrée); papaya, rice crackers, sake, & jura erguel (dessert).

The flavor of the smoked paprika was mentioned many times—it was said how well it complimented the fish. The flavor profiles of the papaya and the jura erguel were also mentioned repeatedly.

It was brought to my attention that heating up pans prior to adding ingredients cuts down on time—this will help when it comes to time management and planning in lab. Overall, I think that the pace the chefs have to work at should be incorporated in class.

Monday& Wednesday

Monday:

Everything ran smoothly on Monday with the exception of a few missing ingredients. All of those things were able to be substituted for something else though.

The soy sauce that the baked teriyaki chicken called for was replaced with pre-made teriyaki sauce. Since I had already added the sugar to the recipe prior to finding out that there was no soy sauce the glaze probably ended up with a lot of added sugar (because of the sugar in the pre-made sauce and the cup of white sugar the original recipe called for). That was probably the only thing that didn’t go well because it altered the nutritional content of the food.

I learned how to properly check the temperature of meat that is cooked in the oven. I had an idea of how to do this before; however, I have never actually had to do it.

In order to improve for next class I could practice correctly taking the temperature of foods I cook at home.

Wednesday:

I thought that everything ran pretty smoothly again today. The recipes weren’t too difficult and we were able to complete them a little early.

I don’t think that we worked as quickly as we could have today; but we started to work at a faster pace toward the end of class.

I learned how to make fake chicken stock today. It was a good substitute to real pre-made or packaged chicken stock and it probably tasted just fine in the soup.

For next class I would like to concentrate on working faster since we will have more responsibilities next week.

Chopped- Week 2

For my Food Network assignment this week I watched Chopped. A few tips were offered by the chefs: one chef rehydrated dried ingredients to give it a better texture; another chef cooked bread pudding in a water bath to prevent it from drying out.

I was unfamiliar with a technique used to cook Hawaiian snapper--the chef marinated the snapper in egg whites and corn starch and then boiled it to prevent it from losing moisture. Another chef dusted snapper with dried shrimp, which I thought was interesting.

The idea of Chopped is to used ingredients that are not commonly used together or that do not make sense. For the appetizer course the required ingredients were: corn nuts, fruit cocktail, uni, and black garlic. For the Entree course the required ingredients were: watermelon, dried shrimp, dried procini mushrooms, and Hawaiian snapper. The required ingredients for the dessert course were: challah, almond butter, tamarind pods, and squash.

The term "flavor profile" was not used; however, the flavors of each item were mentioned. The uni was mentioned repetitively--specifically the sweetness of it and how it can be counteracted with the other ingredients to make an appetizer.

During the show the chefs have to work very quickly. That would be a good thing to take away from the show and apply to the lab.

A lot of uncommon ingredients were used during the show. It would be interesting to have to cook with an ingredient that I have never heard of or cooked with before.

Week 2 Wednesday

I thought that today went pretty well. We are all starting to remember where things are located. I think that we got everything ready in a timely manner.

We are still not completely used to where everything is--other than that I think that everything ran smoothly.

I learned that chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing.

For next class I could watch a lot of food network and try to improve my cooking skills.

-Emily Cutlip

Monday Week 2

In my opinion, today went by smoothly for a first day. I really enjoy cooking--especially things that I have never made before. I thought that Sarah, Andrea, Jeff, and I all worked well together. I feel like once we get used to everything it will go even better.

The only part that I thought didn't go well was the fact that we didn't know where a lot of things were located in the kitchen which slowed things down. Others seemed to think that today was hectic, but I didn't. I have worked in a restaurant as a server/bartender/prep cook for the past three years so I am used to the fast paced environment--I actually enjoy it.

I learned how to cook corn chowder! It smelled really good but I hate potatoes so I didn't try any for lunch. I also learned where some important items are located, and that I should cut the potatoes into bite size pieces next time. I am looking forward to using the nutritional software and manipulating recipes later in the quarter.

In order to improve for next class I could try to visualize where everything is located in the kitchen so that things may run a little quicker.

--Emily Cutlip