Lab #12 – Chicken, Fish & Seafood

Yummy smells coming from the lab this week! We are working with different kinds of poultry – chicken, turkey, Cornish game hens and duck breasts. Poultry is very versatile and relatively inexpensive – the one exception this week, being the duck! Poultry works with every type of cuisine out there and is a great canvas for experimentation. Make sure to always protect yourself from cross-contamination and sanitize your cooking and prep surfaces when cooking with poultry. We are also having some yummy seafood and fish this week. Catfish po-boys, stuffed mussels and warm crab dip just to mention a few. Seafood is a wonderful source of protein, but just make sure you know the purveyor and that the restaurant you eat it at knows their seafood. You want to have healthy, fresh seafood that is coming from healthy waters and that you are not eating seafood or fish that comes from over-fished populations. The Audubon Society is a great resource to let you know what fish is good to eat at what time of year to protect you, the fish population and the environment! Next week we will be working with meat, MMMMMMM – but never fear veggie heads, we will have plenty of meat alternatives for you to nosh on as well! Happy cooking - Chef Kristi 

Lab #11 – Baked Goods

Wow, can we already be this close to the semester ending? This week we are working on classic baked goods. Cookies, apple pie, cream puffs, citrus bars, etc. We are learning about the specific requirements of baked products utilizing three major systems of leavening— air, steam, and carbon dioxide. How we can change the end result by tweaking the recipe and when not to. Chef Kristi shared with us her tried and true baking secrets for success. How to warm up eggs, cool down cookie sheets and make refrigerator cold butter pliable for adding to a recipe. This week we are also working as a team of 6 to create 1 recipe, some of us doubling our recipe and dividing up the tasks to get everything done in a limited amount of time. Very organized, very coordinated and very TASTY! Nice job everyone! Happy Baking – Chef Kristi

Lab #10 - Bread

Oh the lab smells good this week! We are up to our eyes in yeast risen doughs this lab. Classic white and whole wheat as well as bagels, cinnamon rolls and focaccia. We also prepared a gluten free buckwheat bread so the students could experience a bread alternative for someone who has eliminated gluten from their diet. Most importantly we learned that the 2 vital tools you need when baking any kind of bread is your thermometer and a good timer. Making sure you do all of the steps in bread preparation, for the accurate amount of time is crucial. You should also always make sure that your liquid temperature is between 110° - 115° so as not to KILL your yeast. Following a bread recipe to the letter can help you create wonderful products, but practice is essential. You can learn much from your bread each time you create the dough. It can be temperamental and picky based on the temperature and humidity of the day. But taking that time and care can help you create some yummy and comforting goodness! And the kneading process is very relaxing and can give you some great arms!! Happy Baking – Chef Kristi

Lab # 9 – Fruits and Vegetables

What a colorful week we are having! We have some very exciting and delicious recipes that show even the most skeptical veggie eater that vegetables can be oh so yummy! After a bit of advice from Chef Kristi about how to get the best out of your vegetables and fruit and how to prolong their life we explored some interesting and unusual fruit and veggies, tasting a few along the way. Horned melon, ugly fruit, cactus fruit, okra, yucca root and passion fruit begin some of the more unusual. We also discussed the issue of buying organic produce and if it was worth the cost. It is a very challenging topic that has many people thinking. Explore your grocery and try out some of the more exotic specimens and see what you think! It will be worth the adventure. Happy cooking – Chef Kristi

Lab #8 - The functional properties of EGGS

This week was egg overload. We experimented with every way an egg can be cooked in this lab. Poached, baked, custards, mousse, meringue…………… What a yummy week it was! Eggs, exquisitely simple, yet enormously complex. Simply a yolk, egg white, and shell. Eggs are known as the “cement that holds the castle of cuisine together.” They can help an emulsification come together and stay together. They provide a beautiful color when you “wash “ them over pre-baked pastries. We learned about how eggs are such an important part of the structure of some seemingly fragile dishes like a soufflé or mousse. The wonderful edible egg is probably the most versatile of cooking/baking ingredients. What would we do without them. Well…..if we had to be without them, there are many alternatives available from Egg Beaters to powdered eggs to vegan “eggs”, but you will always have a compromise of the texture and taste from a real egg. Thanks for the beautiful dishes this week. Nice job everybody! Happy Cooking – Chef Kristi

Lab #7 – Milk and Milk Alternatives

In this week’s “international” lab we worked with many varieties of cow’s milk and some of its “family” members; cheese, yogurt, cream, sweetened condensed milk, as well as alternative sources to dairy products, namely soy and coconut milk. We compared the thickening properties of certain milk products as well as the effects on texture and taste when we prepared several samples of the same recipe with a variety of milks. We also prepared a dish showing the many non-dairy sources of calcium we have in the plant world. During lecture we also touched on pasteurization and raw milk as well as lactose intolerance. Next week is spring break, so have fun and be safe. See you in March! Happy cooking – Chef Kristi  

Lab #6 – Characteristics of Fats and Oils

This week we dove into the world of fats and oils. We cooked with fats and ate a variety of healthy fats in our recipes this week. Good Fats vs. Bad Fats – Good fats/help in fighting heart disease, some cancers/lower cholesterol. Bad fats/ opposite effect, promotes heart disease, bad cholesterol, inflammation and digestion ailments. Pay attention to the oils you use and which oil should be used for which application. The smoke point was a very important topic this week. Never take an oil beyond the smoke point. It is irritating to our eyes and nose, plus not great for you to ingest. If your oil starts burning, throw it out and start over. Make sure you also smell oil to make sure the oil you are using in your recipe is not rancid. To help it stay fresh, try keeping more fragile oils – like nuts oils in the fridge. Have plenty of good fats in your diet – Salmon, nuts, avocados being just a few. Use moderation when you are dining on the French fries and the doughnuts. Next week we will be working with milk and milk alternatives. Thanks for your hard work this week. Happy cooking – Chef Kristi