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.