Food Preparation - Foundations of Cooking Course Online

Distance Education Course - Cooking and Food Preparation

Learn how to prepare and cook food.
Understand the principles for selecting, cleaning, cutting, preserving, flavouring, mixing, cooking; and everything else involved in preparing food for consumption.
Become a better cook at home, socially, or for work

This is a stand alone course; but one that also complements Food and Beverage Management, Event Management and Self Sufficiency. Some students may wish to become more self sufficient, others may wish to work in a restaurant, catering services, culinary supplies (eg. a kitchen shop) or hospitality services.

There are 9 lessons in this course:

Introduction
- History of cooking/ Trends
- Principles of Cooking
- Nutrition
- Scope of the Catering industry
- Weights and measures
- Basic cooking techniques
- Terms
Fruit and vegetables
- Why eat Fruit & Veg; How much a person should eat; How poor preparation can damage nutritional value
- How to choose fruit and vegetables when shopping
- Basics of preparation- peeling slicing etc
- Cooking techniques
- Nutritional information relating to food group
Cereals & Starches; Bread, cereals and potatoes
- Preparation- including how to make fresh pasta
- Why eat cereals & starche; How much a person should eat; How poor preparation can damage nutritional value
- How to prepare potatoes- different types of potato dishes- mashed, boiled, daulphinoise etc
- Cooking pasta- different recipes
- Cooking Rice, cous cous etc.
- Nutritional information relating to food group
Meat Fish and Alternatives
- How much a person should eat
- How poor preparation can damage nutritional value
- Selecting the perfect cut of meat/ basic butchery, fish mongery
- How to prepare and cook it, which sauces compliment it.
- Eggs- cooking different types
- Cooking with pulses
- Nutritional information relating to food group
Milk and dairy
- How much a person should eat
- How poor preparation can damage nutritional value
- Cheese making basics
- Cheese types and recipes
- Basic recipes e.g. Macaroni cheese
- Dairy free cooking
- Yoghurt
- How to make it, use in sauces
- Dairy free cooking
- Nutritional information relating to food group
Fats and Sugars
- How much a person should eat
- How poor preparation can damage nutritional value
- How to make perfect puddings
- Types of fat
- How to adapt recipes to reduce sugar and fat- catering for low fat and low sugar dietary requirements
- Nutritional information relating to food group
Flavouring Food
- More on complimenting foods- sauces- cream, wine, butter, vinaigrette etc
- Stocks
- Use of herbs/ seasoning
Menu planning on a Small Scale
- Designing menus- complimenting foods
- Recipes simple to advanced- Seasonal foods
- Planning a dinner party- case study
Menu Planning on a Large Scale
- Planning Meals/Catering for parties and events; outdoor, indoor etc
- Restaurant Menus/Catering

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

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