As this year comes to an end new things are coming as well. We got new groups in culinary and it is very chaotic. The teacher, we love her, put me in a group with my very best friend. Today we made breakfast food. It was just her and I there today and we made potato burritos. We fried bacon, then cooked the potatoes in the grease. After that we made eggs and assembled the burritos. They were so good. Other than that we’ve made lots of sweets, pasta, bread, soup, honestly a lot of things.

With the end of the year coming our final is rapidly approaching as well. For our final we are creating a food truck. our truck has to have three drinks and five food choices, then we will make one of the drinks and one of the food items for the class. I have chosen to make a breakfast food truck and I am going to make a tropical smoothie and a chicken and waffles breakfast sandwich. With this we also have to cost all of the menu, and design our truck.

We also have a charity event called Cheeseburger in Paradise. For the charity our class is making a variety of treats. We make cupcakes, brownies, tons of different bars, and little tarts. My group is making Truffle Cookie Tarts. It has an Oreo like crust and a gauche filling. They aren’t hard to make but it is a very tedious process.

Overall the end of the year is rapidly approaching, as is the end of this blog. I regret to inform my loyal readers that I did not chose to write this blog. But was in fact forced to write this blog series for my senior English class. If I am being completely honest, I hated writing these. I would rather do this than take a test, but that isn’t saying much. That being said it has been fun, but I am no longer being forced to write this. As Usher has said, “Peace up, A-Town”. I am out.

The past two weeks we have been working with more bread and different types of bread. Last week we made Buche de Noel and bagels. Buche de Noel is a chocolate cake roll that is usually filled with a chocolate whipped cream. According to Allrecipes “A bûche de Noël is a sponge cake that is typically served around Christmastime. It’s believed to have originated in France during the 19th century. The cake is filled with frosting and rolled to look like a log. It can also be decorated with frosting to make it more log-like or a simple dusting of confectioners’ sugar to resemble snow on a log.” We made the cakes on Tuesday then filled them on Wednesday. On Wednesday we also batched up the bagel dough, then boiled and baked them on Thursday. Today, Friday, we were able to try the bagels then spent the rest of the class cleaning the kitchens. Last week we made pizza, cinnamon rolls, and soft pretzels.

Next week we are doing a soup challenge. My group is making a loaded baked potato soup. It has potatoes, bacon, cheese, and butter, so I’m sure it won’t be bad. We are also having judges come in to rate the soup. We’ve done these challenges before. We did a deviled egg challenge, a pie challenge, and now this one. They are always really fun and I am really looking forward to it.

I don’t know if I am just coming in with a new attitude or if Culinary has gotten better, but I find that I am really enjoying the class. It feels fun again and I enjoy it. We has got new groups, which I think helps. The class is so much better when you are working with people who know what they are doing verses working with people who ask hundreds of questions.

We have entered the last semester of my final year of high school. They were right when they said this year would fly by before we even noticed. We’ve only been back for a week, yet so much has happened. On Monday, the 2nd, we batched up bread dough and found compound butter recipes. On Tuesday we had someone who was sick over finals do their presentation, baked the bread, and made our butters. My group made male bacon butter. The rest of the week was spent doing research on a chef that we chose and we made a little information “pop-out”. It was fun and for my chef I chose Alex Guarnaschelli. Finally this week we watched Ratatouille.

Some new things happening this semester, we are participating in the King Arthur Bake for Good program. What is the Bake for Good project? According to the King Arthur website, “Bake for Good is King Arthur Baking Company’s free outreach program for students in grades 4 through 12. We have three goals: learn, bake, and share. Students learn the math and science of making bread from scratch. With supplies from King Arthur, they bake the bread recipe at home or together in school. The recipe makes two loaves, one to keep and one to share with someone in need or as an act of kindness.” So with this the first batch of bread that we made we got to try and the next batch that we make we will take to an assisted living home to give to residents. I think that this is a really cool program and I’m proud to be able to be a part of it.

Lastly this week we have a new student. Culinary is a year long double period class, that requires knife safety and taking a test to get a food handlers license, but we have a new student regardless and people are less then thrilled about them. Honestly, I don’t blame them, I think that it is absolutely ridiculous that they were allowed to join the class. Not only because it is a year long class and they just decided to join in the middle of the year, but also because they did not get any food safety or kitchen safety training. Also because we had the perfect amount of people to have five groups of four and to have an extra oven to use, but now we have six groups. I am trying to keep a positive attitude about it, but they make it very hard. I also work with this person outside of school and they are very bad at their job, so I have very little faith that they will be a team player in the kitchen and be able to do the jobs that the kitchen requires.

I took my final for culinary on Wednesday the 30th. We have to do a demonstration that has a minim of seven ingredients, knife skills, and the whole demonstration has to be 30 to 45 minutes or less. I decided to make Cowboy Caviar, which is a salsa. I looked online but none of them seemed right, so I got my moms recipe and made her recipe. It has corn, beans, tomatoes, white onion, garlic, cilantro, and Italian dressing. I served it with tortilla chips. I did my demonstration on the very first day at the first time slot. I have not gotten my grades back yet, but I think that I did really well. I followed the rubric and did what I was supposed to so I am confident that I did good.

Other than that we have not done much in culinary. On Tuesday we made cookies for a Foster Kids Christmas Party. We had cut out cookies in Christmas shapes, like stockings, trees, and snowmen. We didn’t frost them because at the party there is going to be a cookie decorating station, so the kids can decorate the cookies themselves. We also made some other cookies so they can have an assortment. My group made oatmeal risen cookies, they turned out very well.

Going into the final days of school other people are also taking their final. So far my class has made mac’n’cheese, pasta, breads, shrimp stir fry, chicken quesadillas, and kimchi fried rice. So far my favorite has been Hannah’s who made a pickle cheese ball, Kayden’s who made cheesy garlic bread, and Richard’s who made Korean Beef Bulgogi.

Not everything has been good, but for the most part everyone’s final has turned out really well. I definitely think that going into next semester, we need to review safety and sanitation, and how to properly handle contaminates that carry diseases.

Image Link:

D.09.27.2022, Renee, et al. “Cowboy Caviar.” Love and Lemons, 2 Sept. 2022, https://www.loveandlemons.com/cowboy-caviar-recipe/.

As we near Thanksgiving break and the end of the second semester, I think things in culinary are getting better. Since the last post we have gotten new groups, and this group is much less hateful. I still find myself answering the same questions that are clearly listed in the recipe, but there are no longer members saying Anti-Semitic statements. Which is sad that that is the plus, but this is the reality that we live in.

With the end of the semester coming, exams are also in tow. Midterms in a culinary/cooking class look a bit different. Instead of having a huge written test, we prepare a demonstration. Which is where we prepare a dish in front of the class and explain how it’s made. The requirements are not out yet, but I think that I am going to make potato latkes. Potato Latkes are a jewish potato pancake that is often served around Hanukkah.

So far my experience in Culinary, I honestly have not learned much but there is much more to come in the second semester. We are looking into taking a field trip to a shop in another city to observe the cooking classes that they offer. I think that this will be a really cool experience and a great learning opportunity. I really hope that things in culinary get better, because right now everything feels very stagnant.

I am very excited for the upcoming semester and I really hope that things get more exciting. The next unit that we are going over is noodles, and I think that we are going to make and sell chicken noodle soup. I think that is going to be so fun and its going to taste really good. Overall I think that things are going to get better, hopefully.

We are just ending the first quarter of my senior year. At the beginning of the year I loved culinary, I thought that it was the best class and I was so excited to have the opportunity to learn. Lately however, I have been counting down the minuets I have left in each class. I don’t have the same joy about the class that I once did. I still enjoy the actual learning involved in the class, but labs, when we cook, seem to take much more energy than it used to. Often in the class I find myself dreading having to cook food. Just thinking about it now is making my stomach flip. I love cooking the food, but being around the food and eating it drowns me in waves of anxiety.

I think that when we get new groups some of the anxiety will ease. It often feels like I am babysitting some of the other people in my group. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I have been in the group for the better part of six weeks. I have to make sure that they follow the recipe and they repeatedly ask questions that are explained in the recipe. I would understand if they would read the recipe before asking me, but apparently they don’t know how to read.

One person in my group is also very unsupportive and often times make very anti-Semitic comments. It really makes me really uncomfortable and I have asked him to stop several times but it continues. I am not sure what to do anymore, but the next time he says something I am going to report him.

Overall I think that when we get put into new groups things will get better, I really hope so at least. I really want to enjoy this class.

So for the past few weeks all we have made, pretty much, is cookies. I have made chocolate chip, snicker-doodle, regular peanut butter, and peanut butter blossom. I have never made so many cookies, and I am ok if I never do again.

We had gotten orders for a class reunion, homecoming, and for our wacky Olympics. Baking takes so much patients and working with other people, who all have different skill level, takes a lot of patients. I have learned how difficult it can be to work with other people who cannot follow a recipe or follow the proper measuring technique. Overall this class takes a lot of patients and explaining.

Over the past weeks we did take a break from making cookies to make zucchini bread. It turned out really well and was really surprising. I thought it would be like normal bread, but it had a similar taste and texture to banana bread. After baking them we had sold them to teachers around the school. Many of them said that the bread turned out good and they enjoyed it.

For the Zucchini Bread you will need:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 T cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini

1. Grease and flour two 8 by 4 inch loaf pans. Preheat the oven to 325
2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well
4. Stir in the zucchini until well combined. Pour batter into the prepared pans
5. Bake for 40-60 minuets or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 20 minuets before removing

We are entering our fourth week of culinary. So far we have had 5 labs. We have made Pico de Gallo, Pain Perdu, and three different types of cookies.

I have learned a lot so far. For the Pico de Gallo we used tomatoes that I had brought in from my garden at home. I learned new knife skills. It turned out really well, but it was really weird eating chips and Pico de Gallo at nine in the morning though. For the recipe you need 1 pound tomatoes, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 jalapeno ( optional), 1/2 cup cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper to taste. In a medium bowl combine everything, you can refrigerated or enjoyed immediately.

The next recipe that we made was Pain Perdu, which is french for lost bread. Pain Perdu is a fancy french toast. In that lab I learned about proper slow cooking. Pain Perdu is a french toast that is cooked slowly and takes 6-8 minuets for each slice. For the recipe you will need 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in a splash of cold water, 1 cup whole milk, 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, sliced french bread, and butter for the pan. Firstly you preheat a pan over medium heat. Next you beat the eggs well, add the sugar and beat again, add the cornstarch into the water then add milk and nutmeg. Dip the bread into the mixture and coat it thoroughly, add to the buttered pan and cook slowly for 3-4 minuets on each side.

I have had so much fun in Culinary so far and I am so excited for the year to come.