Culinary Arts

This one semester, introductory foods course is designed to explore food as it relates to daily living, personal and family health and ways to eat healthy on a tight budget. Kitchen and food safety, as well as the proper use of kitchen tools, equipment and gadgets will be covered. Basic cooking skills and techniques will be introduced as students create delicious foods from around the globe! Cooking is a creative endeavor and should be fun; students will be encouraged to enjoy the process! Students will plan menus, generate shopping lists and prepare meals and individual dishes.

Students will also explore a little food science as we discuss the functions of certain ingredients and how they interact. Good nutrition will be a part of our recipe selection process as we focus on fabulous tasting, fresh and nutritious foods! We will create from scratch as much as time allows. During the semester, students will participate in an Iron Chef style team “Challenge”. Each team will create and prepare a menu for our guest judges and the winning team receives donated gift certificates from local businesses.

Possible food service related career choices will be discussed and we and we will schedule one or two visits from local food professionals who will share their expertise with students. As we discuss and learn about where our food comes from, students will take a day long farm-hopping field trip to visit two or three types of local farms and an aquaculture grant to learn about sustainable local agriculture/aquaculture practices. With food from our school garden and donations, we will practice preservation techniques, making simple refrigerator pickles, water bath canned fruit preserves and dehydrated fruits.

Prerequisites:

1- Successful completion of Culinary 1 (or equivalent at another school) -OR-

2- Minimum 3 months employment cooking in a commercial kitchen setting (restaurants or delis) --

3- Grade of 80 or above on written Kitchen & Food Safety AND Tools of the Trade TEST (resource material may be used) OR

4- In-person interview with instructor covering same material

In this one semester course, students will explore food from around the world; Italy, Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean, France, Greece, Spain, South America and the US. Students will learn the flavor profiles of different countries and learn to make a variety of appetizers, main dishes, soups, salads, other side dishes (and the occasional sweet treat).With each regional cuisine that we explore, the class will discuss how culture and history have influenced the cuisine. Each region will introduce new cooking techniques, culinary tools, foods and spices. The course will include videos, worksheets, lots of food labs, visiting food professionals and a trip to Chinatown (Boston) and a large Asian grocery store. Students will master the flavor profiles and basic techniques of several cuisines, enabling them to create their own signature dishes and experiment with “fusion” cuisine!

This course will move at a comfortable pace as we explore cooking and nutrition basics, learning simple cooking techniques from making basics like rice and pasta using package instructions to making egg dishes, nutritious snacks and beverages, simple salads and soups, easy stir-fry, healthy muffins and cookies and more. We will also include some basic food service skills that will help students in the pursuit of food related jobs. Students will work alongside “teaching buddies” who will guide them and offer encouragement as they learn these basics. Teaching buddies will help in designing and fine-tuning the lessons for their buddies. We are hoping to offer a “Café Day” once each quarter. Come have fun cooking with your buddies!