Foods 1010 Lessons

How to do this Module

Everything you need to hand in for this lesson is included in this check list. Each of the lessons will teach a portion of what you need to complete items on the check list. Please hand in the checklist and all the photos once you have completed the module.

Foods 1010: Food Basics Check list

Checklist for Module Completion

In this Module you need to learn to handle food in a safe and sanitary manner and learn to use a recipe.

Check off each of the following when you have done them.

Here is a link to the Checklist in Word format

Here is a link to upload your completed work

Safety in your kitchen

Lesson Questions

• What is important to make your kitchen a safe place for food preparation?

Lesson

Cooking should be an enjoyable and productive experience. To ensure that is the case it is important that you pay attention to safety in the kitchen.

Your tools

• Keep kitchen appliances clean and in good condition
• Follow instructions carefully when using stoves, ovens, microwave ovens, and other kitchen appliances
• Make sure your knives are clean and sharp

Fire prevention & safety

• Wipe up spilled grease as soon as the surface of the stove is cool
• Keep pot handles on the stove pointing to the back and always watch young children in the kitchen
• Don’t store items on the stovetop because they could catch fire
• Wear short sleeves and tie back long hair while cooking (this also keeps hair out of the food!)
  
• It’s wise to have a fire extinguisher near the kitchen; keep it 10 feet away from the stove on the exit side of the kitchen
• Never pour water on a grease fire; turn off the stove and cover the pan with a lid

Cleanliness

• Handwashing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of foodborne illness
• Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before handling food
• Keep countertop & workspace clean to reduce bacteria and can prevent foodborne illness

WHMIS Symbols -  short course

The following is a summary of the WHMIS system and symbols.

WHMIS is a short form for Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. WHMIS is a Canada-wide system designed to ensure that all employers obtain the information that they need to inform and train their employees about hazardous materials used in their workplace. Information is provided by means of product labels, material safety data sheets (MSDS) and worker education programs.

WHMIS labels provide the essential information that a person needs in order to handle a particular product safely.
MSDSs provide basic technical information about a product's physical characteristics and its hazardous properties.

Worker Education is that part of the program that ensures workers are able to apply the information to protect the personal health and safety
At this point in your school career, you likely be dealing with materials that are safe to handle. However, you should become familiar with the following WHMIS symbols. As you enter the workforce it is very important that you understand how to handle hazardous materials safely.

The WHMIS system groups hazardous materials into eight classes or categories based on the hazard that they represent. Each hazard has it is own symbol. In this activity you will investigate the symbols used in the workplace to identify hazardous or controlled substances.

What to do

Here is a Drag and Drop to help you learn these symbols:
Click here

Just drag the description to the symbol - feedback is immediate ~if you are right you will see a red check, if you are incorrect the description will bounce back

• Take a photo of your clean workspace.
• Take a photo of you wahing your hands with lots of soapy water

An organized workspace

Lesson Questions

• How do you create an organized workspace in your kitchen?

Lesson

The kitchen work triangle

• connects your refrigerator, sink and stove in an effective way
• set up four main workspaces:
• preparation area
• cook area
• serve area
• clean-up area
• Organize your most important tools and ingredients around these key kitchen zones
• Keep useful items in each zone, for example storing your dishes and silverware between your cook and serve areas

The picture at right shows how work triangles look differently in different kitchens.

Mise en Place

The phrase 'mise en place' (pronounced 'miz on plas') is a French phrase which means 'everything in place' or 'putting in place'. It refers to all the preparation a cook does before starting to cook. It involves collecting all necessary ingredients for your recipe around your work surface (washed and chopped vegetables, cut meats, spices, liquids, dry ingredients, etc.), and gathering all necessary tools. It also encompases preheating ovens and getting out any other kitchen applicances that may be needed (blenders, food processors, etc.). Doing all of this in advance lets you focus on the cooking process instead of running around looking for ingredients while others burn in the pan. You do not necessarily have to put all of the ingredients in separate bowls, but do have them prepared and readily available, on a plate for instance, or in piles on a cutting board (keeping in mind the rules about raw meats!)

Here are some examples to give you an idea of what mise en place can look like:

What to do

Take a photo of your workspace with all ingredients and tools needed to complete your recipe.

Sanitary food preparation

Lesson Questions

• How do you ensure safe sanitary practices in your kitchen?

Lesson

Why is food safety and sanitation so important? There are many foodborne illnesses from bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Listeria (which can cause diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, and dehydration). Without clean and sanitary kitchen practices, these can contaminate our foods. Happily, we can easily protect ourselves by ensuring hand washing (with plenty of soap) before and after handling food. For extra insurance, a sanitizer based on bleach can be used. If you don’t keep your hands, utensils and food preparation areas clean and sanitized, bacteria can spread easily. It can then contaminate your food.

Safe food preparation practices:

Chill food because disease-causing bacteria multiply quickly when food is kept at room temperature.

• Bacteria can grow in the danger zone between 4°C and 60°C (40°F to 140°F).
• To prevent the growth of harmful bacteria, keep cold food cold. Store it at or below 4°C (40°F).
• Do not keep food in the danger zone for longer than two hours. Foods that need to be refrigerated or frozen should be stored immediately after they are brought home from the grocery store.
• Refrigeration at or below 4°C (40°F) slows down most bacterial growth, while freezing at or below -18°C (0°F) can stop bacteria growth almost completely.
• Plan ahead: thaw food in the refrigerator, where the food will stay at a safe, constant temperature of 4°C (40°F) or below.

Separate raw food from other food because their juices can contain harmful bacteria that can contaminate other food.

• Bacteria can be carried in raw meat juices. So keep raw food away from other food while shopping, and while storing, preparing and serving foods.
• Place raw meat, poultry and seafood in containers on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. This will prevent raw juices from dripping onto other food or touching other food.
• Use separate equipment and utensils such as knives and cutting boards for handling raw foods.
• When serving cooked food, do not reuse the same plates and utensils that raw food sat on. Use clean plates and utensils for cooked and other ready-to-eat food.

Cook foods thoroughly to a safe internal temperature to prevent foodborne illness

• Bacteria can grow in the danger zone between 4°C and 60°C (40°F to 140°F).
• Keep hot foods at or above 60°C (140°F).
• Make sure that sauces, soups and gravy are brought to a boil when you reheat them.
• When cooking food in a microwave, stir or rotate the food half way through the cooking time. This will eliminate any cold spots and will help with even cooking.
• Use a digital food thermometer to check that the temperature of cooked foods has reached the safe temperatures

Canada's Food Guide

Lesson Questions

• How do you make healthy food choices??

Lesson

In our country, the best source of information about healthy food choices is the Canada Food Guide

Click here for Eating Well with Canada's food guide

What to do

Here is a link to a short quiz that will help you assess how familiar you are with Canada's Food Guide.

Click here

Following a recipe

Lesson Questions

• Demonstrate that you can follow a recipe to cook a food of your choice.

Lesson

The kitchen work triangle

• connects your refrigerator, sink and stove in an effective way
• set up four main workspaces:
• preparation area
• cook area
• serve area
• clean-up area
• Organize your most important tools and ingredients around these key kitchen zones
• Keep useful items in each zone - for example, storing your dishes and silverware between your cook and serve areas

Getting Ready to Cook

• take some time to organize your recipes, cook times, ingredients and tools.
• setting out tools and ingredients before cooking starts will help cooking proceed more smoothly
• Keeping your knives sharp is safer and will cut your preparation time in half.
• If you need to cook several side dishes at once, choose casseroles that fit into your oven with spaces in between to ensure good airflow

Most recipes are pretty straight forward but they can be messed up pretty easily if you're not prepared.

Here are some tips you may find helpful when tackling a recipe for the first time or one that's semi-complicated or intricate.

Read the Recipe

• check to make sure you have all of the required ingredients
• make sure you have all the appliances & tools or a reasonable substitute
• pay attention to the timelines described in the recipe

Prepare Ingredients and Utencils (Mise en place!)

• have all of your kitchen tools set up, and ready to use
• pre-measure ingredients into bowls or dishes so they're ready to use
• many cold ingredients should come to room temperature before you use them
• if the recipe calls for yeast prepare it ahead of time in a small bowl so you can just add it when needed
• preheat your oven when baking
• preheat your pan if you are frying or using oil
• fruits and vegetables should be chopped, sliced, diced, before you begin
• before cooking meats, trim away excess fat and remove bones from fish and poultry
• set up appliances like electric mixer, food processor, deep fryer, or blender before you begin

Following the Recipe

• the first time you use a recipe, follow each instruction exactly as written
• it's best not to double or reduce the recipe unless you have tried it before and you are sure it works.

What to do

Use a recipe to cook a food of your choice.