TeachingCulinary101

Cake Decorating: This year, I modeled my cake decorating unit after the SkillsUSA Competition Cake. In the Commercial Baking and Pastry Competition, the students receive two pre-baked cake rounds (I have the students bake their own and bring them in) and whipped topping and/or pre-made commercial icing. The requirements for the cake are two different borders, spray of "roses" (I have a mental block on buttercream roses so my students make ribbon roses), and Happy Birthday. This is not exactly SkillsUSA but it its close. *In class we go over three types of icing (American Buttercream, Swiss Buttercream and Italian Buttercream) and whipped topping, but for my cake decorating project we by commercial grade from local restaurant suppliers.  This is a three day lab. In groups of two. Day 1: Demo How to torte. How to  cover a cake using a piping bag.  *This allows you to skip dirty icing your cake and keeps your students from messing up their cake . ...

Pasta Who invented pasta? The Chinese, The Italians or the Indians? The Chinese- Eaten pasta as far back as 5000 BC. The origins of ‘macaroni; in Italy go back as far as the time of the Ancient Romans who gave the credit to the ‘Gods’ History of Past a What is pasta made from? The word pasta comes from the Italian word for paste, meaning a combination of flour and water Top quality pasta is made from durum wheat semolina (flour). When pasta is made the aim is to convert the flour of the durum wheat semolina into an product we can eat. Steps to making Pasta BLENDING OF SEMOLINA FLOUR AND WATER KNEADING AND MIXING OF THE DOUGH SHAPING THE DOUGH DRYING PACKAGING AND DISTRIBUTION Categories of Pasta: Ribbons, Shapes and Tubes! Lab: Make Ricotta Filled Ravioli and Signature Sauce.

Pastries is on of my favorite units to teach. So excited to share some of my notes and labs with you. Happy Baking!!! Pastry Defined True pastry is defined as a dough made from fat, flour and liquid that bakes in "layers". the layers create "flakiness". This flaky dough is used in variety of breads, candies, desserts and of course pie. Making good pastry is a real challenge to bakers because the layers of fat and flour are delicate and must be handled gently.   Pastry Ingredients  Flour provides structure to the pastry. Flour contains two proteins gliadin and glutenin, and when these two proteins are mixed with water they come together to create gluten. Gluten is needed in bread products for structure, but to much gluten in a pastry and the pastry will become tough. Liquids add moisture to your pastry and help the dough come together. The most common liquid is water, but other liquids are used as well; such as milk. Be careful with liquids because to ...

Shellfish:Shrimp Shellfish can divided into two groups: Mollusks : Soft bodies that are  partially covered by hard shells Ex. oysters, clams, and scallops Crustaceans : Covered by firm shells and have segmented bodies Ex: Shrimp, lobster, and crabs Shrimp ,crabs, lobster and crayfish are decapods (They have 10 Feet) Hundreds of spp. Are found in brackish and marine waters Shrimp is the most popular seafood in the United States *prawn is another word for shrimp. Steps to Purchasing Shrimp: Step 1 Pick your size: (The smaller the shrimp the more Shrimp Per Pound). Shrimp come in sizes of small, medium, large, jumbo, and colossal. Step 2 Check for Freshness : First, do not purchase shrimp that smell like ammonia that is the first sign of spoilage. Next, avoid shrimp that are limp, slimy, or falling apart. Finally, an advanced way to tell if your shrimp is fresh is to look for small black dots on their heads. Those black spots are oxi...

I LIKE to spend money on my student's lab experiences, BUT STUDENTS DO NOT LIKE TO PAY LAB FEES. So the way that I make up for the lack of student generated funds is catering. I make hundreds-to-thousands of dollars in just one day! If you can cook for 20 you can cook for hundreds, so don't be afraid.  Last Friday we had a meal for 45 and on Sunday afternoon we cooked for 160.  YES, I do work the weekends sometimes, but it is WORTH IT for my STUDENTS.  Our menu was simple: Chicken Cordon Bleu Sweet Green Beans Mashed Potatoes Rolls Carmel Pecan Pie Fudge Pie Fruit Tea and Lemonade.  Purchasing: The first thing that I do when I am cooking for such a large group is write the grocery list. The list and grocery shopping are considered the most difficult and time consuming to me. *   I use the   Ellen's Kitchen Blog  to ease the difficulty of starting my grocery lists!  Her blog provides insight ...