Class Evaluation

Overall, I really enjoyed the class this quarter. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed learning how to make a variety of meals. It also gave me a greater appreciation for what goes into running a restaurant and the time management it takes to cook foods for a large group in a set amount of time. I think the class itself was fine the way it was. I am not sure if this had been done but in case it wasn't, I would maybe suggest to take the first 15 minutes or so of the first class period to take a tour of the kitchen just to familiarize students with where everything is. I know the first few times in the kitchen it took me a while to realize where everything was located. The only other suggestion I would have is I enjoyed being able to have input on the menu, so maybe give the students one or two more lab periods where they can choose the recipes themselves.

11/6

This week we had a pretty busy week...We made extra recipes for both days...Wednesday fran came in to evaluate our cooking and to see if we had improved from the start of the quarter. I helped make prime rib, and cream of brocolli and spinach. I feel like the speed at which I work has improved over the course of the quarter and my efficiency has gotten alot better. I did a better job of cleaning as I go which helped save time. I finally know where most of the stuff in the kitchen is, but there are still some times where there is an ingredient missing and I have to ask for help. Looking forward to this final week where we get to make the recipes we chose.

chopped

This week I watched chopped again. One of the problems a chef ran into was she was cooking chocolate to make a sauce when it started to boil up. I learned that if you add honey to the chocolate and take it off the heat it will help settle the chocolate down, making it smooth again. I thought that was pretty interesting. Another problem the chefs run into is time, because they only give 20 minutes to cook and plate 4 meals that typically take longer to cook. You are at risk for undercooking meat which can be dangerous for consumption.

Week 6 classes

Monday's class I made italian sausage links, peppers and onions, however there was no italian sausage so I used andouili spicy sausage. The meal itself came out really well, the sausage was nicely seasoned and cooked to an appropriate temperature while the vegetables also came out good. I did a much better job of timing the meal this time, by doing the vegetables first since the meat didn't take as long to cook. I also helped with salad bar.

Wednesday's class was pizza day, where we made 12 pizzas (3 different kinds). It was pretty fun and I actually ended up going to the grocery store the following day to make my own pizza. Things went pretty smoothly but because of a lack of room in the oven it took longer then expected to make everything. Overall I have learned alot from this class and I am now trying to incorporate these recipes into meals for myself at home.

Man V. Food

I watched Man v. food and in the end there was a big food challenge of a giant 6 pound burrito. They went through the making of the burrito in which they sauteed the vegetables, floured the tortilla, added their secret sauce, and grilled the meat etc. While watching the show I learned that when you eat starches, it is best to avoid alot of water because the water helps the starch to expand in your stomach, leaving less room for you to eat. It was a pretty interesting concept which I didn't know before hand.

10/5

in class i made a beef stew. The beef itself came marinated in a bag and had to cook in boiled water for over 2 hours. I cut up the onions and potatoes, and we also decided to add some celery and carrots. What I learned from this class with Fran teaching is that it is often beneficial to do things in a certain order. I started with cutting up the vegetables, when really I should have started cooking the meat before hand since it took longer. I also made scalloped potatoes which I should have started a little bit earlier as well, granted it still made it out on time. I'm enjoying the class, and am getting the hang of everything in certain aspects but I still need to do a better job of being more efficient with my work.

10/3

Monday's class I made asian style french fries from scratch. I cut and peeled 10 potatoes, and learned that you need to keep them sitting in water until they are ready to be fried so that they don't brown. It was the first time I had actually used a friar to cook something in, so that was a good experience. I think they actually turned out pretty well. There are still certain items and ingredients where I forget where they are located and sometimes that slows me down. I still need to do a better job of going faster with my work.

Hell's Kitchen

This week I watched Hell's Kitchen starring Chef Gordan Ramsay. This is actually one of my favorite food network shows because of all the drama. It was an already aired episode but there is a red and blue team and they compete to have the best dinner service. They each take turns cooking different things and when someone screws up it holds up the rest of the service line. Alot of the time since they are trying to hurry and get orders out to tables they undercook the food which we learned in food safety is the worst thing you can do because of bacteria growth. The most important message from the show that I have learned when it comes to food is communication. You have to be able to communicate with your coworkers to ensure the food service runs smoothly.

FNCE

This past week I missed lab because I was in San Diego presenting my grad work at FNCE. Overall it was an exciting experience. There were tons of different vendors from all over the country that had booths setup handing out free samples of new products and information. I talked alot with the booths that geared towards sports nutrition such as the energy drink and supplement vendors (myoplex, gatorade etc). I think my favorite booth was the coca-cola booth in which they had a vending machine that was all touch screen and had over 100 flavors of their product that hadn't hit the market. Overall it was a great experience, the presentation went well, and I met a few OU alumni in the process. I gathered alot of valuable information and tried a lot of new products.

cooking show

I watched iron chef this week which is a show i really love. Bobby Flay faced off against another chef, and the secret ingredient was canadian lobster. Throughout the competition they narrate what ingredients are being used, how they are going to use them and then they usually guess what type of food they are making. The contestants have to cook and plate 5 dishes within an hour. A big problem with the time component is making sure everything gets plated on time. The chef's scores are based on creativity, appearance and flavor. I learned from this show that it is important to be able to be quick thinking when making food, especially if you don't have certain ingredients near by. Improvization isn't always a bad thing and food can be made to taste better if you have a good idea of what tastes mix well together.

9/19 and 9/21 labs

This week in lab I made corn casserole, helped with the ceaser salads, made mashed potatos, rice and glazed carrots. Things are definetely getting easier compared to the first week of lab as far as knowing where everything is and preparing the food, however the workload i know will increase. I need to do a better job still of working faster since there is so much to do. I'm enjoying lab and learning how to make all these different kinds of food. The thing that is still challenging is not having all the ingredients and learning to adjust on the fly to make another variation without it effecting the overall quality of the food.

cooking show

I watched chopped on the food network the other day and it is one of my favorite shows. The contestants have a few specific ingredients they need to use for each round and the ingredients usually are things that don't normally pair together on a standard meal. It makes the contestents become creative when trying to think on the spot what to prepare. While the cooks are preparing the food the judges and narrator of the show go over the different types of flavors that each of the ingredients brings to the table and what different types of cooking methods would go well with the specific ingredients. Overall cooking just seems to be a fun and creative way to express yourself. I think incorporating different variations of normal food items would be a cool way to try new things.

9/14

Today in class I cooked the lasagna bolognese. It was a little easier this time around since I was familiar with making lasagna from the previous class. It seemed to take alot longer then the mexican lasagna from Monday's class because the ground beef wasn't thawed out. Other then that problem of the meat taking forever to cook, things seemed to go smoothly. I did a better job of locating utensils and ingredients but I still need to get a little better at it which I am sure will come in time. I'm definetely enjoying the class so far, and it is good experience learning how to cook different things.

Lab 9/12

I definetely learned alot this first day of lab. I didn't realize how tough time management would be in a 3 hour span, because three hours went by really quickly. I struggled a little bit in regards to where everything was located but now that I have had some experience in the kitchen, I think future labs will be a little easier. I made the mexican lasagna today which took a long time, but overall the food preparation wasn't that bad. I had to make a few adjustments to the recipe because certain items weren't available. I learned it is important to label everything and store food properly to meet sanitation requirements. For next lab and future labs I just need to keep getting familiar with the location of utensils and food items so that I don't have to waste too much time looking around or asking questions.