catering

Guide to Kitchen Tools

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:30:47 +0100

Can your learners identify a rotary grater? Or a mandoline? How about a spider?

The infographic by Brooklyn-based Pop Chart Lab, organises a range of cooking utensils into a single, digestible flow chart.

The Tools are...

arranged by function;
broken up into sub-categories...
- slicers;
- presses;
- spoons; etc.

Graphic icons give each tool a simple visual identity. View the infographic, in full (click to enlarge) at http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/SplendiferousTools_large.jpg...

What's impressive isn't the presence of all the exotic kitchen implements it's the sheer amount of tools out there; the infographic doesn't even begin to cover pots, pans and bakeware.

Ideal Chef

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:43:04 +0100

Ideal Chef brings together video recipes that are submitted by top chefs from all over the world.

Italian;

American;

Scandinavian;

Mediterranean; and

Chinese dishes are all included in the database.

Visitors to Ideal Chef are also able to...

place recipe requests and receive the direct assistance of the many specialized chefs who already interact through the website;

watch the clips as many times as they need to grasp exactly what is being done and, when they feel confident enough, replicate what they have seen;

carry out direct searches based on...
- the type of cuisine;
- the dish;
- the ingredients that are used; and also
- the name of the chef.

Learners could, perhaps, produce their own clips for portfolio evidence?

Visit http://www.idealchef.com/ to find out more.

Sustainable Seafood

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:45:13 +0100

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS)...

...had advised many of the celebrity chefs in January’s Channel 4 ‘Big Fish Fight’ series.

The programmes are dedicated to catching eating and cooking fish and MCS hopes it will encourage individuals to try something different when it comes to their next fish supper.

If you and/or your learners watched the programmes and they served up more questions than they answered, then you will find all the help you need in the Marine Conservation Society Sustainable Seafood ‘at-a-glance’ Guide.

To get a copy of the guide, visit http://www.mcsuk.org/fisheries/.

National Baking Week 2010

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:06:47 +0100

...takes place from 19th to 25th October.

National Baking Week <http://www.nationalbakingweek.co.uk/teachers> encourages everyone to get involved in baking and their site offers a huge collection of...

recipes,
ideas,
advice and
resources for schools/family Learning providers/etc.

...to help them take part.

Visit http://www.nationalbakingweek.co.uk/ to find out more and/or to take a look at the resources available.

Visitors can download teaching packs include teachers’ notes, lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations for use in their classroom, by registering on the teacher’s site.

CookDinner

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:32:26 +0100

CookDinner...

can help visitors learn how to make delicious food and try their hand at cooking.
is a free to use recipe website.

Visitors...

do not need to create an account but, as expected form similar websites, registering provides additional features.
get a recipe view in which thumbnails of dishes are displayed.
can click on any image to highlight it and its time duration will be displayed.
can view the recipe’s details like...
- ingredients and
- preparation method. Along with
- duration and
- the number of people each dish will serve,
- a breakdown of...
  - proteins,
  - carbohydrates,
  - fats, etc.
    is also shown.

CookDinner also has a number of other features which makes it a useful tool for catering/cookery learners.

Visit http://www.cookdinner.com/ to find out more.

Eat the seasons

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:13:59 +0100

Shopping on Wednesday, the only onions I could find that came from the UK were shallots; New Zealand, Australia and Egypt were the other sources of onions!

Eating fresh, we are told, is one of the most important things when it comes to your health. We are all aware that, given the development in agriculture, any fruit or vegetable can be produced in any season. However, that doesn't mean it's the best thing to eat.

It is considered by many that the best food to eat is usually what is natural to that particular season and EatTheSeasons is an excellent web resource to find that out.

EatTheSeasons lists...

the vegetables
fruits
meat
nuts and
seafood...

...that are good for that particular season.

The information is updated each week so it remains accurate and fresh.

Visitors can click on any of the suggested food items to view its...

history,
nutrition information and
even some delicious recipes.

For those in the UK visit http://www.eattheseasons.co.uk/ and those in North America http://www.eattheseasons.com/.

Gourmet Origins

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:11:46 +0100

Certified foodie? Like to know all about the food you love? Then check out Gourmet Origins.

Gourmet Origins is a map-based online social guide that helps food enthusiasts discover the origins of gourmet foods. Through this site, learners (and practitioners) will be able...

to locate exactly where food comes from;
read facts and trivia about certain food provided by some producers;

Gourmet Origins' focus is in European cuisine, but they feature food from other parts of the world as long as they pass the criteria that Gourmet Origins set.

Users can also create their own personal food and wine diary as well as rate, give comments, and share some of the foods and wines listed on the site.

Gourmet Origins is a nice reference if learners want to find out just where and how these high-class foods are made.

Visit http://gourmetorigins.com/en to find more.

EggWatchers

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:12:14 +0100

EggWatchers is an online egg timer that helps to prepare a perfect boiled egg and entertains you by showing videos from YouTube while you wait for your egg to be cooked.

The site even lets you specify the type of egg you want to cook.

To use EggWatcher’s timer...

go to the site; and
choose what size of egg is to be cooked; then
specify if the egg is refrigerated; and
specify how you want it to be cooked (runny, squidgy, or firm).

After starting the timer, the website will play a random video from YouTube while showing you an indicator of the cooking egg’s progress. By the time the video is done the egg timer goes off and you will be asked if you want to make another egg.

Yes the idea seems silly, however with Egg Watchers, users won’t have the dilemma of whether you have to check on your cooking or finish watching the video – really a win-win situation.

Visit http://www.eggwatchers.com/ to try it out.

CookThing: How to Cook Anything

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:28:50 +0100

Visitors to CookThing can...

enter what they want to cook,
CookThing sends back the most common ingredients in that dish.
select the ingredients they want to use,
CookThing will return the recipes for what they want to cook with the ingredients they want to use

Try it out at http://www.cookthing.com/.

Two Foods

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:05:56 +0100

TwoFoods is a nice online tool for those who are calorie conscious or, more importantly, studying Food Science and would love to know the nutritional value that food has to offer.

The website has a simple interface showing two boxes where users enter names of two foods and compare their nutritional values. It provides a comparison table showing the...

calories,
proteins,
carbohydrates and
fat

...in both of them.

A simple and nice user interface found at http://www.twofoods.com/.