The five skills every cook needs to know & we ensure every participant understands & practices them perfectly!
- KNIFE SKILLS
Whether you are chopping a carrot or fresh herbs, a basic understanding of culinary knife skills should be the first thing you master in the kitchen. Efficient and accurate skills, such as how to dice or julienne, will be the difference between making your time in the kitchen a chore or a joyful breeze. Learning proper knife skills will help to make your dishes cook evenly, your flavors develop in a consistent manner, and your time in the kitchen much more relaxed. Learning proper knife skills should be the number one skill every growing chef should learn.
- SAUTEEING
Sautéing is a method of cooking proteins with direct, very high heat. It’s extremely efficient, uses a minimal amount of oil or fat, and achieves absolutely delicious results. Our favorite uses of sautéing include creating a delectable chicken breast or scallop in only a few minutes flat. Learning to sauté will help you make absolutely tasty proteins in those few seconds available between getting home from work and needing to get a meal on the table – a tool that should be available to every aspiring chef! - ROASTING
Learning how to properly roast will instantly make it your preferred method for cooking larger proteins. Ideal for cooking a delicious prime rib or an impeccable halibut steak, roasting uses the heat in the air inside the oven to evenly and thoroughly cook meats without burning the skin or drying out the meat. This method allows the fats to gently break down to infuse the meat with incredible flavor and the perfect amount of moisture. When you learn to properly roast a good piece of meat, it will make even a grown man weep tears of joy. (Are you drooling yet?) - BLANCHING
Most people are familiar with blanching from their history of cooking spaghetti or quickly cooking up some broccoli in a pot of boiling water. While there are a variety of different ways to blanch based on if your ingredient is a root vegetable, grain, or green vegetable, there are a few consistencies. Salted water is brought to a boil or simmer, which is when your cooking time begins (not before.) Once your ingredient is cooked through, you have the option to serve it immediately or to transfer it to a container of ice water to stop the cooking process and maintain the color. Blanching is a relatively simple process, but it is a method that will help you cook vegetables and specific grains that will make your mouth water. - EMULSIFICATION
Sorry to get scientific over here, but emulsification is what happens when you are able to combine two or more liquids that usually don’t mix well together. Picture oil and water – as much as you shake them and try to combine them, they’ll just fall back apart once you let them sit still for a bit. So to “emulsify” is to blend or to whisk the ingredients together so that their atoms actually combine into one, delicious creation. Picture a vinaigrette that doesn’t fall apart or mayonnaise where you know every ingredient and love adding it to every dish possible. That is the power of learning emulsification.
TASTE
“Taste” may be what comes to mind first when we think about flavor.
There are five primary tastes:
- Salty (such as cheeses, sea salt/kosher salt, or soy sauce)
- Sweet (such as sugar, maple syrup, sweet potatoes, or beets)
- Sour (such as citrus, vinegars, yogurt, or pickled veggies)
- Bitter (such as coffee, grapefruit, beer, or bitter greens like kale and radicchio)
- Umami (a loanword from Japanese that roughly translates to “pleasant savouriness,” this taste is found in foods such as bacon, cured meats, fish sauce, or seaweed).
The balance of these flavors affects what we taste in unexpected ways.
SKILLS AND HEALTHY HABITS WE & our kids LEARN BY COOKING
Here are seven skills that your children can develop while helping in the kitchen:
- Explore our senses. Processed foods are readily available and fast; watching you take the time to make a quick, healthy meal instead of something fast can help reinforce the behavior as they grow and start making food choices on their own. Invite children, especially younger ones, to experience the activity of the kitchen. If you’re baking bread, for example, kids can listen to the whir of a mixer, pound dough and watch it rise, smell it baking in the oven and finally taste the warm bread fresh from the oven. If it smells good, looks appealing and is easy to eat, they may just be willing to try it! Seeing you enjoy the process of cooking healthy meals can help them see cooking as fun and not a chore.
- Expand their palate. If you have picky eaters, bringing them into the kitchen to help cook can help open them up to new foods and flavors. Introducing new foods to children may be more successful if you introduce only one new food at a time along with something that you know your child likes. Consider trying healthy recipes from different countries and cultures to not only expand the palate, but your child’s worldview.
- Sense of accomplishment. Working in the kitchen provides kids and teens opportunities to gain a sense of accomplishment. Even if the end result is not exactly what you expected, praise your kitchen helpers for their efforts.
- Making healthy choices. Planning a menu and grocery list is an opportunity to explain smart food choices. Talk to your child about different food groups and encourage him or her to try new foods. Kids who have a hand in making the vegetables may be a little more willing to try a sample when they sit down to the dinner table.
- Responsibility. From following a recipe and learning how to safely handle kitchen equipment to cleaning up spills and putting things away, helping in the kitchen provides ample opportunities for children and teens to learn responsibility.
- Sharing good conversation. Share with your child or teen family stories and recipes. Or ask thought-provoking questions about food choices, school, friends and other activities. Developing these conversations while preparing dinner teaches your child how to carry on a thoughtful conversation and can enhance your relationship.
- Basic math, science and language skills. As kids learn to crack eggs and stir sauce, they also gain new science, language and math skills. Basic math skills (“How many eggs do we need?”) and sequencing skills (“What is first … next … last?”) give way to fractions (“Is this ¾ of a cup?”) as your child gains confidence in the kitchen. Reading recipes helps improve reading comprehension, and you can demonstrate basic science principles with something as simple as salt sprinkled on an ice cube.
BENEFITS OF CORPORATE COOKING CLASSES
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LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Many business leaders know the secret to achieving success begins with attempting to accomplish something firsthand. Throwing your employees into a kitchen and asking them to prepare a meal will seem easy to some and extremely challenging to others. For those without prior cooking knowledge, it’s a great way to teach them a critical skill – the ability to learn through experience. While our master chefs offer guidance, they also present intriguing curveballs to your company’s teams. Your employees will not only learn how to cook a meal but how to ask for help and how to adapt to their situation in real time to achieve success. The best cook usually assumes leadership of a team, and even then, they know their success is dependent on the people working alongside them. They must trust their teammates to accomplish the tasks they assign them, and their teammates must learn how to take direction and even ask for help! When it comes to teamwork and success, there’s a first time for everything. |