George Brown Culinary Arts I Cooking Class - Class 1 and 2

I have always wanted to learn how to cook. I watch cooking shows all of the time and am mesmerized by how well they chop and saute (and am also very jealous at some of their palettes and how they know that certain flavours work well together!), so when my mom asked me if I wanted to go to a George Brown cooking class with her I immediately said YES!

CLASS 1: Introduction

The first class was probably the most boring class we could ever have. The instructor went through the "ins and outs" of working in the classroom and how to clean up after ourselves in the room. She showed up where various things were located within the class room, including the dish washing stations and the first aid kits. We also went on a tour of the building.

We didn't make anything this first class since none of us had our chefs uniforms or any utensils. We were given a list of utensils we had to get as well as a coupon for our chef uniform. Our instructor also gave us some ideas about where to purchase our equipment. She suggested places such as The Bay, Kitchen Stuff Plus, Homsense, Nela and Tap Phong for things like knives. For other items such as a vegetable peeler, a ladle, whisks, and measuring cups she suggested we go to Dollarama. She said that they had some good equipment at Dollarama and that there was no point in going to an expensive store for those items. She also said we could just bring the equipment we use from home which my mother and I quickly nixed because we decided we would just leave the equipment in a bag so that we didn't have to repack it before each class.

The instructor made fish stock, beef stock and chicken stock and we each got to taste them. They were okay but needed salt, badly! Our instructor pointed out that these stocks were under seasoned because they were used at the base for other recipes and so in order to ensure that the other recipe was not over seasoned, you shouldn't season the stock. It makes perfect sense, but for our tasting pleasure I would have loved to have had some seasoning!

This class was a quick one and gave us time to get our uniforms from the George Brown bookstore.

CLASS 2: Vegetable Cuts 

This class was a lot more interesting than the first class and allowed us to actually "cook". Since we were all still new, this class consisted of us learning the different cuts- julienne, batonnet, brunoise, dices, etc. There are diagrams of each of the cuts in our chef manuals, but as the instructor pointed out since we are just home chefs we do not have to memorize these cuts or be able to cut them to the exact measurements. Which is fantastic because I highly doubt I would ever be able to cut a piece of carrot into a perfect brunoise (1/8 X 1/8 X 1/8 inch). We do have to learn how to recognize the cuts because they are listed in some of the ingredients, but we can always go back and refer to the diagram page if we need to.

In this class the instructor also discussed herbs and spices and how to tell whether dried herds are good (Smell or taste them to determine whether it is good. Older spices are still good, you might just have to use more of it to get the "original" taste). She also suggested that you season in layers.

Each class is made up of a discussion, a demonstration, and then a lab. The chef manual we have has 3-4 recipes for each week, but we only make 1-2 of these. The instructor begins the class with a discussion (this week was the herbs and spices) and then demonstrates all of the recipes for that week. Our instructor breaks it into sections and finishes (or almost finishes if it has to bake or cook for a period of time) each recipe before starting the next one. She also does the recipe(s) we are meant to cook at the end so that it is freshest in our mind.

This week the demonstration consisted of Tuscan Bean Salad, Cucumber and Onion Salad and Pacific Rim Salad. As the instructor demonstrates these recipes she gives various tips and tricks about it- thinks such as "does not do well if made too far in advance" or "to make everything look pretty, julienne it". I really enjoy this because I like learning what she has experienced in the field. Each of these was given to us so that we could taste them. I thought they were all really good but especially liked the Bean Salad and the Cucumber and Onion Salad.

After the demonstration we were told to go and make the Tuscan Bean Salad (good thing I liked it!). We made a large container full and were given aluminum trays to take our salads home. I would definitely make this salad again. I would also make the Cucumber and Onion Salad again. I might attempt the Pacific Rim Salad, but it wasn't a favourite,

Stay tuned for all the other classes that are in the Culinary Arts I class.


For more information about the cooking classes offered at George Brown, visit their website.