Shizara
23-01-2008, 09:09 AM
There will be some of us who had cooking lessons when at school. For me, these lessons began when I was aged about 12. The cooking teacher was strict, although, having said that she was extremely thorough and not only did we get a good background in cooking, but in good hygiene, selection of food etc.
A typical lesson would start with us lined up in the corridor, wearing the white aprons we made the previous year - mostly using hand stitching as there was only one sewing machine at primary school. Attached to buttons on the apron was to be a CLEAN tea towel and hand towel. At the previous lesson we would have been given a list of ingredients to bring for the next. These were not over the top expensive items, but things such as an onion, a potato, a carrot, even a fresh egg, wrapped in newspaper and put into something like a small baking powder tin to avoid breakage. - We learnt to test the egg in water for freshness and were taught to break an egg into a cup to be sure it wasn't unfit for use. There were no Use By dates on eggs then. Sometimes an amount of butter was specified. The cooking teacher would then check to see if each pupil had everything that was required including a careful inspection of hands and finger nails. We would be allocated a kitchen. Each kitchen was a different colour. Black kitchen was used if you didn't make the grade eg dirty finger nails, nail varnish etc and you would learn to smarten your act up. It was not done to intimidate as today's PC brigade may claim but to encourage a high standard in the kitchen.
The first part of the lesson began with a discussion of what was on the board which would likely involve some aspect of food hygiene and preparation. This would have to be carefully copied down into exercise books. We had a cookery book that was issued at the beginning of the school year. At the end of 2 years at this school - we called it Intermediate, being the 2 years between the end of Primary School and moving on to College / High School etc - we would have learnt how to make fresh fruit drinks, scones (we made the basic scone recipe but knew how to add other ingredients to make fruit or cheese scones, the basic butter cake recipe which provides the foundation for many cakes, how to cook a real meal, make soup from fresh. We learnt too use different cooking methods for different meals. eg how to blanch tomatoes, to cut onions and reduce the amount of streaming eyes and how to cook them until they are clear - saute, the roux method for making gravies or sauces. Towards the end of the second year, after a really thorough background in cookery we then had a special task. In the same building was a flat. We would have a day allocated and each very small group would have to invite someone for a meal. The task was to prepare, cook and present a 3 course meal.
By the time we were aged 13 we were all capable of cooking nourishing meals from basic ingredients. The making of things such as pancakes from pre prepared ingredients in packets was unheard of. Once you learnt the basics you carried the recipe and method "in your head" as my mother would have said. When making a batter for a purpose you just "knew" how much to use of the ingredients and how the batter had to "feel" when mixing it.
Of course seasons came into play as well. At Christmas we made a Christmas pudding using a cup to cook it, also a Christmas fruit cake which was baked in one lesson, wrapped in greaseproof, newspaper and placed in a tin until the next lesson where we made almond icing from ingredients - not from a premixed block, then made white icing. On the second year we learnt to make Baked Alaska. This was very popular, especially after the hard work of beating egg whites, by hand, with a rotary beater and marvel at the result when following the instructions to completely cover ALL the ice cream and it won't melt.
Very basic ingredients were provided from a tight school budget and each child brought anything extra such as a vegetable/s, egg, butter.
These classes were a normal weekly part of the school curriculum, not an optional extra. Those same standards and skills learnt are with me today and I still prefer cooking the traditional way.
To see cookery classes being introduced back into schools, even with small beginnings is very much a step in the right direction and will benefit not just the pupils but their future families. Even if the household budget is very tight a meal can be made to go further without a major expense and be a lot healthier than many of the pre prepared and packaged products that are so popular.
A typical lesson would start with us lined up in the corridor, wearing the white aprons we made the previous year - mostly using hand stitching as there was only one sewing machine at primary school. Attached to buttons on the apron was to be a CLEAN tea towel and hand towel. At the previous lesson we would have been given a list of ingredients to bring for the next. These were not over the top expensive items, but things such as an onion, a potato, a carrot, even a fresh egg, wrapped in newspaper and put into something like a small baking powder tin to avoid breakage. - We learnt to test the egg in water for freshness and were taught to break an egg into a cup to be sure it wasn't unfit for use. There were no Use By dates on eggs then. Sometimes an amount of butter was specified. The cooking teacher would then check to see if each pupil had everything that was required including a careful inspection of hands and finger nails. We would be allocated a kitchen. Each kitchen was a different colour. Black kitchen was used if you didn't make the grade eg dirty finger nails, nail varnish etc and you would learn to smarten your act up. It was not done to intimidate as today's PC brigade may claim but to encourage a high standard in the kitchen.
The first part of the lesson began with a discussion of what was on the board which would likely involve some aspect of food hygiene and preparation. This would have to be carefully copied down into exercise books. We had a cookery book that was issued at the beginning of the school year. At the end of 2 years at this school - we called it Intermediate, being the 2 years between the end of Primary School and moving on to College / High School etc - we would have learnt how to make fresh fruit drinks, scones (we made the basic scone recipe but knew how to add other ingredients to make fruit or cheese scones, the basic butter cake recipe which provides the foundation for many cakes, how to cook a real meal, make soup from fresh. We learnt too use different cooking methods for different meals. eg how to blanch tomatoes, to cut onions and reduce the amount of streaming eyes and how to cook them until they are clear - saute, the roux method for making gravies or sauces. Towards the end of the second year, after a really thorough background in cookery we then had a special task. In the same building was a flat. We would have a day allocated and each very small group would have to invite someone for a meal. The task was to prepare, cook and present a 3 course meal.
By the time we were aged 13 we were all capable of cooking nourishing meals from basic ingredients. The making of things such as pancakes from pre prepared ingredients in packets was unheard of. Once you learnt the basics you carried the recipe and method "in your head" as my mother would have said. When making a batter for a purpose you just "knew" how much to use of the ingredients and how the batter had to "feel" when mixing it.
Of course seasons came into play as well. At Christmas we made a Christmas pudding using a cup to cook it, also a Christmas fruit cake which was baked in one lesson, wrapped in greaseproof, newspaper and placed in a tin until the next lesson where we made almond icing from ingredients - not from a premixed block, then made white icing. On the second year we learnt to make Baked Alaska. This was very popular, especially after the hard work of beating egg whites, by hand, with a rotary beater and marvel at the result when following the instructions to completely cover ALL the ice cream and it won't melt.
Very basic ingredients were provided from a tight school budget and each child brought anything extra such as a vegetable/s, egg, butter.
These classes were a normal weekly part of the school curriculum, not an optional extra. Those same standards and skills learnt are with me today and I still prefer cooking the traditional way.
To see cookery classes being introduced back into schools, even with small beginnings is very much a step in the right direction and will benefit not just the pupils but their future families. Even if the household budget is very tight a meal can be made to go further without a major expense and be a lot healthier than many of the pre prepared and packaged products that are so popular.