Melinda Loomis: What we learned in culinary school this week: Week 18

Saturday, May 17, 2014

What we learned in culinary school this week: Week 18

We wrapped up baking with Cookies and Candy on Monday, but guess what? Out sick again. My classmates didn't seem particularly taken with the stuff they made, but I think I'm more into the baking aspect of cooking than a lot of them. I actually took a candy making class at the school a while back (and made marshmallows and caramel), so I don't feel like I missed a lot, plus we'll cover this a lot more when I'm in the Full-Time Baking and Pastry Program.

Starting Tuesday, we embarked on ethnic food studies, starting with Asian food. Tuesday was Chinese, Wednesday was Japanese and Korean, and Thursday was Southeast Asian. I love Asian food, so this was a treat.

Friday we did Gastropub. We prepped a variety of dishes, then were supposed to get beer from Smog City Brewery in Torrance. Unfortunately I started to feel sick to my stomach while cooking, so I left early and missed the beer. Really sick of being sick. I went for the longest time without missing a single day, was really hoping to keep that streak for the whole program.

We went over various types of soy sauces, tofu, noodles and rice, plus a truckload of other uniquely Asian ingredients. In China (other than the north) rice is the focal point of meals. Small portions of meat and vegetables are added. BTW, always rinse your rice before cooking it.

We were advised not to spend big bucks on a wok. Just not necessary. They're about $15 at Asian markets.

Rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar are the same thing. Sake is an alcoholic rice wine. Like cooking with wine, use the good sake for drinking and the lesser quality sake for cooking.

In Asian society, they often don't differentiate between breakfast, lunch and dinner the way we do in the west. A classmate who had visited Vietnam said she had Pho (beef noodles) for breakfast every day.

Let's look at some food!