Food lab #10: IRON CHEF shanghai noodles with meat, broccoli and Wasabi sauce

Shanghai noodles with meat, broccoli and Wasabi sauce 

food lab #9: Pasta with Alfredo sauce

Pasta with Alfredo sauce

• What were some challenges you faced during your lab? How did you deal with them?

In this lab, we decided to make the pasta ourselves which was a challenge for many of us because non of us, including me, didn't know how to do it correctly. After we started the dough, the texture of it wasn't right which started confuse us; but after a few minutes of mixing the dough with hands,it became okay and ready to be flattened and cut. when we were cooking the pasta, we forgot to add oil to the boiling water which made our pasta to stick to each other but with adding some olive oil before putting the sauce on it, the problem was solved .

• How can this lab be altered to suit one’s preferences/cravings?

well, Pasta that we made was a simple one so it had a flat taste. for making it flavorful, one can eat it with different sauces that suit that person preferences better. for example, if some one is vegetarian or vegan, he or she can enjoy a tomato and garlic sauce while some people like to have ground beef or dairies in their sauce. as long as Pasta is served with different sauces, anyone can enjoy it.

• Does this food remind you of any  family recipes? Which one? Talk about it.

At home, my mom cooks a really special kind of pasta sauce which is incredibly delicious! it contains curd, cumin, fresh parsley, some chopped basil and garlic. Basically, you have to chop and mix everything together and cook it on medium heat for about 15 minutes till its lava like and cooked. then you season it with black pepper and salt!it's ready to be served in anytime after that!!

food lab #8: Banana Bread

Banana Bread

• What is your biggest ‘take away’ or lesson that you learned during this food lab?

My biggest take away from this food lab was to NEVER EVER bake banana bread without adding baking powder because if you do not, your banana bread will be a thin, not fluffy, miserable cake- like thing that does not look good at ALL! Also, I learned every time we have a food lab, we should choose a checking- person who reads the recipe carefully and makes sure that each step is followed perfectly.

• Who might be interested or enjoy your dish? Why or why not? Be specific. (ie. children if colorful, etc...

This dessert is a joy- bringer! it is a dish that everyone can enjoy in any age! It would be a great choice for people who love having picnics! Also, it would be a really good homemade gift to give to your new neighbor or if your invited to a party. Also children will love it because it tastes so good because of the natural flavor of bananas and also is eatable with all kinds of juices and drinks such as tea, coffee or milk. High school students can make it and sell it to raise funds for charities because it is easy to make and most of the people like its taste. All and all, it can be interesting for most of the people who enjoy a simple, delicious dessert.

• How can you add your own creativity to personalize the dish?

As we did in this food lab, you can add chocolate chips and oats to make it something more than a simple banana bread. also you can serve it with jam, butter or nutella for more flavor!you can also add nuts such as hazel nuts or peanuts to create a stronger flavor. Also you can add coffee powder to it to create a banana- coffee flavor which can be interesting for some. you can also put some sliced pieces of banana when you are pouring it in to the molds which gives you a texture of the actual bananas.

food lab #7: Fruit smoothies

Fruit Smoothies

• Where or what types of places can you envision this dish be served at. discuss in 1-2 sentences. (events, sports, and etc…)

Fruit smoothie is a great choice for hot summer days when you feel dehydrated and you need something cool and also delicious. It would be a perfect drink to serve in formal meetings, birthday parties, weddings and even simple gatherings because firstly, it is so easy and fast to make! secondly, it is healthy and full of vitamins and thirdly, it is cost- efficient. ( you can mix any fruit that you have in your fridge with a little honey, yogurt and ice and your drink is ready!!)

• What do you think was the inspiration behind this food lab?  Was the inspiration successful? How does this connect to our course.

In my opinion, the inspiration behind this food lab was firstly, the start of hot days, which is the best time for having cold drinks. Secondly, to learn how to work with blenders properly (safety cautions, leak checking and also some brilliant hacks such as using tin foils instead of a lead!) and lastly, to face the challenges of competing in a food competition for the first time in this course. I think the inspirations were so successful because it was a really fun lab and I learned a lot on that day! for example I learned how to manage my time so I can compete in a real competition and also, I learned how to make a healthy smoothie in less than 10 minutes! I think it is really connected to our course because most of the things we learn about in the class are connected to healthy diet and healthy eating! so I think making a healthy and simple drink really helped us to use the things that we learned in our class in a positive way.

food lab #6: Fish & chips

Fish & chips

• What were some challenges you faced during your lab? How did you deal with them?

The fist challenge that we faced was the lack of communication! Me and my teammates didn't have enough communication so it was a hard job to organize everyone. The second challenge was that we " accidentally " fried our halibut first instead of our " try- fish". The last challenge and I think the hardest one was the lack of agreement on literally anything! Everyone had different ideas and it was hard to make all of them work at the same time!

• I liked/Didn't Like… at home I could alter this food product by…

I, unfortunately, didn't like the size if the fish cuts and if I want to make it at home, I will make them a little bigger and also thinner. The fries were awesome but I didn't like the little potato fries! ( they were too hard to eat!). I would omit them and instead of them, I would make regular fries.

• How can you transfer some of the concepts, skills, and procedures that you learn in this lab to new situations inside and outside the classroom.

In this lab, we learned how to work with hot _like really hot! oil which was the first time for me! ( we learned how to reduce the amount of oil splashes and also how to prevent it from burning!). Also we learned how to be quick- handed! because frying the fishes one after another was something that needed both speed and caution so it was a fun ting to experience and learn! and it is also really helpful because frying can come handy in many ways not only for fish!

food lab #5: Bruschetta

Bruschetta

• What factors contributed to your success? What would you do differently the next time you did the lab?

In my opinion, us working as a team and everyone having a responsibility such as slicing the tomatoes, slicing basil and garlic, preparing toasted bread and washing the dishes helped us to do a acceptable job in the food lab. Also, the fact that we had already practiced knife skills in the past labs helped us to do the cutting and slicing parts faster and better. For the next labs, the only thing that I would like to change is the amount of each item that we are going to use in cooking. In the past lab, we had a lot of toasted breads with a little amount of mixed basil and tomatoes and that caused a little bit of problem for us.

• Where or what types of places can you envision this dish be served at.

This dish which is a really light appetizer which can be a healthy and delicious alternative to the unhealthy snacks such as onion rings, french fries and many else. Bruschetta is so easy to makes and it takes almost 30 minutes to make almost 50 of them. It can be served in almost any gathering such as sport events, weddings, parents and teachers nights, parties, and even as a snack for children during lunch time.

• What other meals would taste good with this particular meal that we prepared at the food lab?

This dish is an Italian appetizer which is made of three main ingredients that are used in most of Italian meals; tomatoes, cheese and basil. any kind of pasta will taste good with this dish because they both have this special Italian flavor that kinda match each other. Also, this appetizer, if served with soup, will have a wonderful taste. I cannot think of any Persian dish ( the culture which I am almost an expert on the foods that are served in it) that will go with bruschetta because Persian flavors are so different from Italian ones.

Added Preservative Assignment: BHT

Butylated Hydroxytoluene

• What is it made of?

It is primarily made from the chemicals p-cresol & isobutylene. P-cresol is a chemical that is a mosquito attractant while isobutylene is a flammable substance one hydrocarbon away from common butane.

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• What it does and why it is added to the food(s)?

BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) are widely used by the food industry as preservatives, mainly to prevent oils in foods from oxidizing and becoming rancid. BHA and BHT may have some antimicrobial properties, too. BHT is even sold in supplements, as an antioxidant.

• What are the side effects of BHA and BHT?

There’s an ongoing controversy about the safety of BHA and BHT. Most researches have been on animals and test tubes, not on people. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorizes these food additives as GRAS—generally recognized as safe—which means they are widely considered safe in specified amounts. However, anything that is not natural has its own harms and side effects. In this case, BHA and BHT can cause Hyperactivity, Angioedema, Asthma, Rhinitis, Dermatitis and Tumors.

• Why HUMANS should avoid it?

Humans should avoid BHA and BHT for following reasons!!

* It is not natural and is made in science labs which means our bodies are not used to consuming it.

* It will change the taste, smell and the color of the food in a negative way.

* It will destroy some of the nutrition that exist in different foods.

and at last.. It can reduce the livers' ability to metabolize fructose and alcohol.

• some of the famous foods that contain noticeable amounts of BHA and BHT:

 

food lab #4: Crepes

Crepes

• I liked/ Didn't Like… at home I could alter this food product by…

I liked the idea of using berries to fill the crepes but I would like to add nuts and chocolate such as nutella to it for more flavor. Also, I would like to add more sugar to it because I like it to taste sweeter. I would fry my crepes in butter because it would taste better and also i like my crepes to be crispier. In my opinion, crepes will taste good with almost any fruit but I would like to try it with grapes and peaches. using honey to make it taste sweeter will be a both good and healthy idea too.

• Culture of the dish . is it a ‘fusion’ dish?. Explain a bit about how this dish is traditionally used in the culture.

the word crêpe is French for pancake and is derived from the Latin crispus meaning “curled”. On February 2 crêpes are offered in France on the  holiday known as "Fête de la Chandeleur", "Fête de la Lumière", or “jour des crêpes”.  Not only do the French eat a lot of crêpes on this day, but they also do a bit of fortune telling while making them  It is traditional to hold a coin in your writing hand and a crêpe pan in the other, and flip the crêpe into the air.  If you manage to catch the crêpe in the pan, your family will be prosperous for the rest of the year.

• What were some challenges you faced during your lab? How did you deal with them?

the process of frying the crepes was the hardest part because you needed to pour the liquid and then turn the pan at the same time for crepe to from a thin circle. Me and my teammate did a good team work and that was the solution to our problem. also flipping it after one side was cooked was a challenge because it was so thin so there was a chance for the crepe to be ripped off or stick to the other side. i used too wooden spoons to flip them and it worked perfect.the other challenge was to fill it because the berries had different sizes but with slicing them properly the problem was solved.

food lab #3: Veggie Burgers (chickpea burgers)

Chickpea burgers

• Who might be interested or enjoy your dish? Why or why not? Be specific. ( children if colorful, etc...)

people who are vegetarian or do not like to eat meat but enjoy the flavor of burgers will definitely like this dish. Also people with high cholesterol level would love this meal because it has almost zero percent of bad fat but tastes good and yummy. Also it is easy to make and doesn't take much time so it would be a good idea for people in time limits. It is also a perfect lunch for students because it has the essential vitamins and minerals in it and it does not require warming or a lot of space.

• What is your biggest ‘take away’ or lesson that you learned during this food lab?

In my opinion, the biggest lesson that i learned through this lab was that you can make a delicious food with any simple materials if you know how to combine them. When first the teacher introduced chickpea burgers I wasn't sure about how it is going to taste but at the end I was in love with everything about it. Also I learned if you over do any thing, it will ruin the whole thing! like using too much peas or too much vegetable. every thing should have a balance and that's the key to a perfect food lab.

• Where or what types of places can you envision this dish be served at. discuss in 1-2 sentences. (events, sports, and etc…)

I think this meal will be a wise choice to make when there is an event which is public and many people with different tastes will be there such as sport events or school field trips. Also this dish will be a good as a part of the schools' lunch menu because it is both healthy and cost- effective.

• How can you add your own creativity to personalize the dish?

If I wanted to add my creativity to this dish, I would probably add more herbs and vegetable so that it would have both more vitamins and fiber. I would also make the burger bread my self and I would add fresh herbs and garlic to it for more flavor. I am a kind of person who likes sour food so I would add a little lemon for more flavor and at the end, I would add some nuts for better texture.

food lab #2: Tacos

Tacos

• How can you transfer some of the concepts, skills, and procedures that you learn in this lab to new situations inside and outside the classroom?

In this lab, we learned how to work as a group for one goal so we divided all the work between ourselves and everyone had a role.(My role was to prepare the meat.) Being able to work in a group is a skill which can be used in many places now or in the future. Also, knife skills can be handy when you are preparing a meal at home. Knowing how to use knife will guarantee your health in the kitchen and also makes you look professional. I never had a chance to try Taco or any other Mexican food and it was a really good experience for me to learn how to make some! In addition, I now know what are the flavors used in Mexican food and it is interesting because now i can easily make them at home for my family. 

• Who might be interested or enjoy your dish? Why or why not? Be specific. (example: children if colorful, etc...)

For sure, every one can enjoy this joyful meal but I think it is mostly desirable for people who like spicy food! Children will love this food because it is so colorful and cute! Most of Mexican people will love this food too, because it will remind them of their own country and maybe a taste of home! Also people who are worries about their weight can eat this food without calculating the calories or the amount of fat because this meal is full of vegetable and necessary vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber. it is also so easy to prepare and fast so it is suitable for people who are always in hurry and want to take all the nutrition they need in a short time!

• How can you add your own creativity to personalize the dish?

You can make this dish with different kinds of meat like pork or chicken!you can also make it all with vegetable which is a great choice for vegetarian people! As a Persian,i will make it with spices that are special and are only produced in Iran. Also, if I make it at home, I will probably add chopped herbs in meat to get new flavors. Also I can make the bread my self so I can garlic or herbs to it for more flavor!

• Does this food remind you of any  family recipes? Which one? Talk about it.

Yes. My mom makes the same composition and then mixes them all in a pan( She adds different spices but at the end it tastes the same!)! we do not put it in a bread. We just make a sandwich if we want or just eat it with salad! I always thought salsa is a sauce but now i know it is same as Salad- Shirazi which we make often. The only different that these two have is that we add cucumber to Salad-Shirazi.

food lab #1: chocolate covered strawberries

chocolate covered strawberries

• what were some challenges that you faced during this lab?how did you deal with them?

Well, one of the main challenges was the shortage in number of people in the group!We had to do all the works which others where doing in groups of five or more in a group of two and that was a bit of challenge for me! For dealing with this challenge me and my teammate split all the work in two so we could concentrate on each part and then every few minutes we switched our places so that we could enjoy both parts and avoid being bored of doing the same thing for the whole lab!

• what connection can be made between this lab and what was learned in the classroom?

the day before the lab, we learned about how to properly melt chocolate chips and how to make it look shiny with using margarine. Also we learned what are the safety rules when using hot pots and boiling water. in addition. we also were taught what should be done before and after every lab ( sanitizing the sink, putting long hair in a pony tale, removing all accessories such as rings and bracelets, removing long and loose sleeves, wiping the counter, bringing all the needed items and etc.) which really helped to make a professional and simple dish.

• what changes can be done for this dish to suit others preferences?

we could use multiple slices fruits such as mango, apple, banana, pineapple and other kinds of fruit to create a more flexible dish which contains different tastes so that if someone is allergic to one of the fruit, she or he can enjoy the rest. also if we could provide different kinds of chocolate such as milk chocolate and white chocolate to create a more colorful dish with shades of brown #fifty_shades_of_chocolate.