For professionals as well as accomplished home cooks, a successful culinary journey is built upon a bedrock of central principles for cuisine and kitchen organization. Starting with the Map of Cooking, learners visualize what they may already know intuitively and experientially. During this introductory course on cooking fundamentals, students will evaluate critical soft skills for the kitchen, apply food and kitchen safety knowledge and practices, and employ essential knife skills. Applied cooking is also introduced through a primer in seasoning and taste, followed by preparation of various salads, vegetables and egg dishes. Learning strategies and activities include evaluated cooking practice, explanatory and reflection pieces, image uploads, and other graded assessments that demonstrate competency in course material. Ultimately, Professional Cooking Fundamentals is designed to assist the learner to make more informed decisions, decipher recipes, apply techniques, understand flavor development, and freely explore the world of food and cooking.

Course Objectives

• Understand basic professionalism in the kitchen
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic food safety principles and practices
• Select, handle and maintain a knife and demonstrate knife cuts
• Explain and demonstrate principles of preparing vegetables, salads and vinaigrettes
• Explain and demonstrate principles of egg cookery
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of seasoning and flavoring

Regional and national cuisines are organized on foundational cooking components such as a flavored liquid and cooked starch or grain. These elements can further be recombined to create or enhance distinct dishes and menus. In traditional cooking approaches these building blocks include stocks, soups, and sauces, as well as modern and plant-based sauces. From there, the learner advances to preparation and refinement of rice, grain, legume and noodle dishes. In addition to replicating European mother sauces, students create such representative dishes as Italian pasta and risotto, chana masala, tagine, phò, and consommé and hearty soups, among others. Foundations of cooking instructional activities include multiple cooking assignments with instructor feedback, explanatory process documentation, constructing an internally consistent value system, image uploads, and other graded assessments that demonstrate proficiency in the subject matter and cooking technique.

Course Objectives

• Demonstrate knowledge of basic food safety principles and practices
• Select, handle and maintain a knife and demonstrate knife cuts
• Explain and demonstrate stock, short stock, and broth production
• Prepare and present a variety of classic and contemporary sauces
• Explain and demonstrate principles of pasta, legume, rice, and grain cookery
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of seasoning and flavoring

The heart of cooking knowledge rests on applying basic cooking principles to food items. Beginning with dry-heat cooking methods, the learner practices roasting, grilling, pan frying, sautéing, deep frying, and stir-frying. Students practice moist-heat applications such as poaching, steaming and simmering, followed by the combination cooking methods of braising and stewing. Other methods of preparation such as fermenting and dehydrating are also introduced. Once learners become proficient in core cooking techniques, they advance to menu planning and batch cooking, where food is prepared in advance and later reheated or assembled to order. The course concludes with an exploration of plate design and workstation set up to aesthetically arrange, sauce and garnish a plate before serving it to a diner. Learning activities include readings, visual demonstrations, image upload, instructor review and feedback of cooking and plating techniques, and graded tests and quizzes.

Course Objectives

• Demonstrate knowledge of basic food safety principles and practices
• Select, handle and maintain a knife and demonstrate knife cuts
• Identify, describe and apply dry-heat cooking methods
• Identify, describe and apply moist-heat cooking methods
• Explain and demonstrate principles of meat, poultry and fish cookery
• Use and prepare a variety of legume dishes
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of seasoning and flavoring
• Explain and demonstrate principles of plating and presenting food

As the student grasps basic cooking techniques, they need to further master those methods using a variety of animal and plant-based proteins. These food items are generally the costliest to procure, the most difficult to reproduce expertly and consistently, and consequently come with a premium price on the menu. Students practice multiple preparations of beef, lamb, chicken, fish and plant-based dishes. Learners categorize cuts of meat and fowl, as well as illustrate the proper buying, storing and cooking of fish. Students refine their technique with plant-based proteins such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, among others. Learning activities include evaluated cooking practice, image uploads, and other graded assessments that demonstrate competency in cooking techniques.

Course Objectives

• Demonstrate knowledge of basic food safety principles and practices
• Select, handle and maintain a knife and demonstrate knife cuts
• Explain and demonstrate principles of preparing vegetables and plant-based proteins
• Identify, describe and apply dry-heat cooking methods
• Identify, describe and apply moist-heat cooking methods
• Explain and demonstrate principles of meat, poultry and fish cookery
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of seasoning and flavoring
• Explain and demonstrate principles of plating and presenting food

Students examine the basic principles of nutrition, including its application in food preparation, menu planning and a healthy lifestyle with an emphasis in plant-based culinary arts. High quality plant-based dishes are increasingly crucial to meet consumer demand. Students build a nutritional foundation related to personal health, the food supply, and dietary restrictions. Learners create menus focusing on food allergies, intolerances, preferences and restrictions. They practice techniques to reduce sodium, cook without oil or salt, and use whole food fats instead of processed oils. They also develop skills in raw gastronomy and enhancing flavor builders. Learners also practice techniques and dishes with global flavor profiles. They explore plant-based foods and spices from regions of their interest and apply various cooking techniques to create these international dishes.

Course Objectives

• Explain and demonstrate principles of preparing vegetables
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of seasoning and flavoring
• Explain and demonstrate principles of plating and presenting food
• Determine and evaluate basic nutrition, dietary sensitivities and eating preferences
• Explain and demonstrate basics of plant-based and allergy inclusive cooking
• Discuss how to develop specific flavor profiles, including the use of herbs and spices
• Prepare a wide array of plant-based staple recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Prepare plant-based proteins and non-dairy substitutes
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic food safety principles and practices

Baking and pastry arts rely on precise formulas and ratios, not improvisation and adjustment. Therefore, the field can be intimidating to many, yet proves exceedingly rewarding for the profile of any foodservice operation. This course focuses on the basics of baking, using ingredients, quick breads, breads, custards, soufflés, and chocolate. Basic concepts and techniques of baking such as ingredients and processes of baking are reviewed and practiced. Students appraise gluten, flour, yeast, water and salt and their functions in bread making. They identify the anatomy of a grain, practice the stages required for making basic bread, shape an epi, and make successful crepes. Common baked goods like raspberry almond torte, tarte tatin, lemon curd, biscuits, and Italian meringue pie are also prepared. Finally, the basics of chocolate are introduced and students process chocolate into varieties of dark, milk and white chocolate, and prepare chocolate-based recipes.

Course Objectives

• Demonstrate knowledge of basic food safety principles and practices
• Explain and demonstrate principles of plating and presenting food
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic bread, baking, and gluten functions
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of basic pastry and chocolate use
• Prepare a variety of breads, pastry and dessert items.