Introduction to Cooking 101

July 2, 2008

Since I began The New Cook back in March, I’ve been looking for a way to methodologize (yes, I’ll invent new words) both my writing and learning. As I’ve written previously, cookbooks aren’t the best way to learn to cook. I’ve been reviewing various books over the last couple months to try and find one that will teach me to cook methodically. I’ve finally decided to use Culinary Fundamentals by the American Culinary Federation.

It has 37 chapters and I intend to cover each one. There will be at least one post each week, but perhaps more for the longer chapters. What I like about the book is that it really focuses on techniques and basics.  Most chapters have a benchmark recipe that will help teach an individual technique.  Here is a quick overview of the book:

Section 1: Introduction

• Unit 1 - Professionalism

Section 2: Nutrition, Safety and Science

• Unit 2 - Nutrition
• Unit 3 - Sanitation
• Unit 4 - Food Science Basics

Section 3: Culinary Math and Recipes

• Unit 5 - Culinary Math
• Unit 6 - Recipes and Food Cost

Section 4: Tools and Equipment

• Unit 7 - Equipment Identification
• Unit 8 - Basic Knife Skills

Section 5: Ingredients

• Unit 9 - Dairy, Eggs, and Dry Goods
• Unit 10 - Meat and Poultry Identification and Fabrication
• Unit 11 - Fish and Shellfish Identification and Fabrication
• Unit 12 - Fresh Produce: Fruits, Vegetables, and Fresh Herbs
• Unit 13 - Basic Mise en Place

Section 6: Stocks, Soups and Sauces

• Unit 14 - Stocks
• Unit 15 - Sauces
• Unit 16 - Soups

Section 7: Dry Heat Techniques

• Unit 17 - Sauteing
• Unit 18 - Frying
• Unit 19 - Roasting
• Unit 20 - Barbecue
• Unit 21 - Grilling and Broiling

Section 8: Moist Heat Techniques

• Unit 22 - Braising and Stewing
• Unit 23 - Shallow-poaching
• Unit 24 - Poaching and Simmering

Section 9: Completing the Plate

• Unit 25 - Vegetables
• Unit 26 - Starches

Section 10: Pantry

• Unit 27 - Breakfast
• Unit 28 - Salad Dressings and Salads
• Unit 29 - Sandwiches

Section 11: Garde-Manger

• Unit 30 - Hors d’Oeuvre and Appetizers
• Unit 31 - Garde-Manger

Section 12: Baking

• Unit 32 - Baking

Section 13: Advanced Topics

• Unit 33 - Flavor Development
• Unit 34 - Plating and Presentation

Section 14: Cuisines of the World

• Unit 35 - The Cooking of Europe and the Mediterranean
• Unit 36 - Asian Cuisine
• Unit 37 - Cuisines of the Americas

And so we begin…

Posted in Cooking 101 |