Magnifying Home Economics: First close up in NIE kitchen

DCX 130:

Teaching of Food and Nutrition

With the Food and Nutrition team introducing the NIE kitchen to us, it was just simply so awesome. The broad selection of the latest utensils and equipments made available to us added on to my kitchen dictionary by at least 30%.

Let me share with you 3 great utensils which you could have never come across in your secondary Home Ec Class:
Note:
The pictures uploaded below are not the actual equipments found in NIE kitchen
1. Salad Knife

Uses:

Prevents lettuce from turning brown, prevent nutrient lost

Cleanly slices cakes, breads and brownies
Properties:

• Made from Serrated plastic blade.
• Safe for use on coated cookware.

• Dishwasher safe.

2. Thin Silicon Chopsticks

Uses:

can be used for cooking, mixing, deep frying all types of food

Properties:

• Made from steel with a silicone coating, they provide safety and hygienic cooking.
• Heat-resistant to 480°F.
• Can be used for serving food.

3. Food Brush With Silicon Head

Uses:

Useful for applying marinades and sauces to items on the grill or hot broiler pan
Properties:
• can withstand temperatures from 500 to 800 degrees F

• Heat-resistant to 480°F.
• Dishwasher safe.

4. Silicon Oven Gloves

Uses:

High - heat resistance

Properties:

• Dishwasher safe.
• Durable.

I am sure, out of all these 3 utensils which I have introduced you, at least 1 would be an eye-opener for you.

Out of all the unique utensils which I had shared with you, one equipment that caught my eye is the Salad Knife.

Salad Knife:

It minimizes nutrient loss as well as the oxidation of nutrients. Reducing oxidation also helps improve the appearance of cut fruits/vegetables as a whole as it minimizes enzymatic browning.

Let's Recap

Enzymatic Browning:

Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes catalyze the transformation of an array of aromatic compounds that have two adjacent phenolic groups on them. This includes a number of polyphenols in plants that act as antioxidants. These copper-containing enzymes oxidize the phenolic groups to reactive oxygen molecules known as quinones, which continue reacting with each other and other cellular factors to form brown spots known as melanin. This browning causes the deterioration of fruits and vegetables.

Enzymatic Browning has been my main concern as it affects the overall appearance of fruits and vegetables.

Despite the usual methods to delay enzyamtic browning such as:

(Refrigeration method, salt/sugar solution method, adding acid like citric acid)

These methods are limiting in some food preparation

E.g. are not suitable for salads - as immersing in salt/sugar solution will affect the taste.

I am still in search for ways to delay enzymatic browning further and this salad knife will come in handy for delaying browning as well as retaining nutrient loses.

The blade of this salad knife is formulated to chop vegetables that minimizes nutrient lost and reduces the rate of enzymatic browning due to the sharpness of knife blade.
A sharpened knife will then improve the visual quality of the fruits/vegetables, yet at same time not affecting the taste of the salad that you prepared.

Such Great Stuff isn't it.

Next up,
Let me share with you other great electrical appliances that NIE provides to enhance our learning and teaching ability in future.

Steam Oven that serves many baking/cooking purposes but by steaming
Much healthier choice :)

E.g. Baking Bread, Setting Dough

Convectional Microwave Oven that serves as a microwave oven as well as an oven

E.g. Basic useful purposes of a microwave oven as well as baking purposes

PART 2:
Competencies Profile Checklist

We were expected to complete the competencies profile over the whole course module. It is an on-going process that will accumulate marks/points with every task completed for each lesson.

There were 4 parts to the first competency profile which we were required to complete.

Namely:

Section A: Cutting Technique
Section B: Handy Measures
Section C: Food Lab and Equipment
Section D: Reading Recipes and Converting to Metric Measures

Cutting Techniques

Dicing

Dicing is a culinary knife cut in which the food item is cut into small blocks or dice.

3 types of dicing:
large, medium, and small.
Large is usually a 20mm (3/4 inch) cube, medium 10mm (1/2 in.), and small 5mm (1/4 in.)

Shredding

Shredding is done using a shreddar, shredding carrots into fine, sort shreds.

Julienne (ju-lee-en)

Julienne cuts are match-stick cuts using same cutting skills for dicing.

A stick shaped item wtih dimensions of

1/8 inch X 1/8 inch X 2 inches

Fine Julienne:

1/16 inch X 1/16 inch X 2 inches

Chiffonade
Chiffonade is a preaparation of finely sliced or shredded leafy vegetables/herbs used as a garnish or a base under cold presentations

Chopping
Chopping is to cut an item into small pieces when uniformity of size and shape is not necessary.
E.g. Coarsely Chopped Onions

Slicing
To slice is to cut an item into relatively broad, thin pieces.

E.g. Sliced Onions

The other sections of the competencies profile executed will serve as a useful guide in future practical lessons.
I do hope my first blog post for this subject was a great insight for you.

Section B: Handy Measures
Useful in saving time, improving lesson efficiency. Students need not crowd around weighing scales and avoid uneccsary time wastage
A useful technique learnt !
Section C: Food Lab and Equipments
Helps me to get familiar with all the tools and unqiue equipments for different usage and purposes.
Adds on my prior knowledge of kitchen equipments
Section D: Reading Recipes and Converting to Metric Measures