Not only will your students enjoy this assignment, but this will probably be one of the few times in your class that they can create unique dishes.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
In honor of February, why not have a 50-minute class on chocolate dipping? Before you read further, here is a disclaimer: I am neither a chocolatier nor a pastry chef. If you are either, please stop reading. For the rest of us mere mortals, let me show a quick, easy and fun way to teach some basic chocolate-dipping skills:
1. Preparation: Mise en place is critical here. Like cooking, chocolate work requires that everything be ready to go before you start. Remind students that mise en place applies to equipment as well as ingredients. (My students somehow always seem to forget this.)
Your students will want to reach for the tongs, spatula or spoon. Don’t let them. These six steps in class will effectively remove students’ fear—and enhance their thrill—of sautéing.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
For the last several articles I have addressed teaching business skills of our industry and teaching techniques. Now it is time to return to the teaching of specific cooking subjects. A cooking technique that both thrills and terrifies students is sautéing. To alleviate the fear, minimize the mess and cut back on food costs try the following six steps:
1. Teach What Is Sautéing. Sautéing basically means “to jump” in French. Tell your students that the different ingredients are cut into uniform size, and are added to the pan in the order of what takes the longest to cook going in first. The food is jumped, not stirred. In other words, the cook keeps flipping the food over in the pan so all sides of the food cook uniformly. Usually sautéing is done with a small amount of fat (generally oil or butter) in the pan.
Contrary to what students might think, life is not like “Hell’s Kitchen,” where food can be discarded with abandon. Here are eight easy and effective ways to teach basic food-cost principles that will serve your students well.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
I believe that for our students to climb the kitchen ladder of success, it is important to teach them not only also how to cook well, but how to think like a chef. One thing that has always been at the forefront of chefs’ minds throughout the centuries is food costs. In today’s world, food costs, more than ever, can make or break a commercial establishment. (Even if you are only teaching a class to teach people how to cook at home, food costs are still critically important, since food is a very large part of a household budget.)
Your students will groan with shock and surprise to learn that for every $100 in sales a foodservice operation earns only $4 to $7. But your job is to show them the real world they’re training to excel in.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
At the June 2011 CAFÉ Leadership Conference roundtable discussion on the 50-minute classroom, one of the concerns raised was that students have no idea of foodservice economics. They have grown up watching “Iron Chef” and “Master Chef,” where expensive ingredients like truffles and caviar are tossed around like water. They have watched “Hell’s Kitchen,” where allegedly experienced chefs mishandle and mis-cook scallops, lobster and lamb, yet still remain eligible for the grand prize of running a restaurant.
Educators attending the 2011 CAFÉ Leadership Conference shared scintillating tips that successfully motivate students. Among the biggest? Remember why you started cooking, and why you started teaching.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
At the June 2011 CAFÉ Leadership Conference in Providence, one of the hot topics was how to keep students motivated. We had instructors from England, Canada and all parts of the United States, and this was identified as a universal problem. Interestingly enough, it was an issue for high-school, vocational, college and culinary-school instructors.
Here are some of the ideas from the 50-Minute Classroom roundtable discussion, as well as other lectures and informal discussions:
Take a 50-pound bag of carrots and peel and chop 40 pounds of them. What percentage is that? The following 25 questions not only indicate math areas where students might be weak, but also teach basic culinary and management skills.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
At the June, 2011 CAFÉ Leadership Conference in Providence, one of the hot topics during roundtable discussions at the best-practices seminars and social meetings was the problem of students of all levels (high school, vocational and college) not knowing basic math skills. Surprisingly, the most consistent comment was that new culinary students cannot read an analog clock.
I had the honor of leading a roundtable discussion, and one of the questions posed was: “How do you assess culinary math skills?” In my vocational program, I give the students the test below, and then we go over each answer in detail. If most of the students missed a particular problem or problems, I create extra examples using the same type of math skills. It takes more than one class to do this, but I find it is time well spent.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
Chef Weiner suggests five steps to help students overcome their reticence toward baking.
Teaching baking in 50 minutes has some unique challenges. But it is more challenging to realize that we are teaching a generation who have not only grown up without seeing their parents bake from scratch, but have also grown up not seeing their grandparents bake from scratch. With Betty Crocker's first cake mix coming out in 1943, baking from scratch at home has become a lost art.
Fortunately, baking at home and in restaurants is making a comeback. However, we have to help our students overcome their shyness of baking. Here is a proposed 5-Step Program:
1. Start Simple and without Explanation. Divide your students into groups, give each group the same chocolate-chip-cookie recipe, and have them go at it. Stand back and don't get involved. Each group will produce a very different-looking and tasting cookie.
By L. Adam Weiner, CFSE
Mind the chef, don’t steal and watch food costs. Students should live by these and eight other essential dos and don’ts to remain employed in that job for which you’ve trained him or her.
Last issue I addressed how to help your students get jobs. This issue will be about how to make sure they keep their jobs. Here are 11 key points to cut out and give to your students:
1. Be on Time. Depending on which survey you read, 90% to 97% of firings occur because of failing to arrive on time, not showing up at all and/or leaving early. Timeliness and attendance are so important because the schedule of the kitchen is based on everyone being there, and everyone being on time. If you come in 15 minutes late in the morning, the kitchen will be behind all day.
By Adam Weiner, CFSE
What will a potential employer see if he or she looks up your student on Facebook? This and six other points will help you help your grads find meaningful employment.
With the end of the school year approaching, a number of your students will be out in the job market looking to turn all of their culinary skills (that you taught them) into gainful employment. Now for some painful reality: Unless you teach them how to get and keep a job, all of the technical skills that you have taught are in vain. You might feel that you don’t have time to teach these skills or that they aren’t part of your curriculum. Yet, you must remember that even if your student is potentially the next Bobby Flay, it is useless if he/she can’t get a job and keep that job.
This article will be about how to teach your students to get a job, and the next article will regard teaching how to keep the job.
By Adam Weiner
Chef Weiner completes his valuable student-handout series on purchasing and properly handling and caring for knives.
The articles for the last three months were written in a handout format for your students on how to buy knives/how knives are made, how to hone and sharpen knives and an introduction on how to use knives. This month’s article, again in a form to give out to your students, is about knife safety and care.