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