Did a fresh and enticing aroma greet you as you stepped out of the elevator on the 4th floor of St. Joseph High School? Something like cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter, or garlic, basil, and olive oil? Or perhaps a bright citrus with berries? You might have happened upon the weekly meeting of the Cooking Club, off to a great start this month with interest from dozens of students!
The Perfect Combo: Sweet, Tart, Crunchy and Creamy
The first meeting began with basics like identifying fruits, balancing texture and flavor, peeling and chopping. The result? A delicious fruit salad with bananas, two different kinds of oranges, strawberries, plums, apples, and a drizzle of lemon juice. The students were surprised to find that the lemon juice, too sour on its own, add just the right amount of tartness to the salad.
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
French toast came the following week, and the announcement was met with so much excitement that over twenty students came to try their hands at the recipe. With so many students present, the cooking happened cooking-show style, with three at a time learning methods to slice thick challah bread, crack and beat eggs, grate fresh nutmeg, and measure milk, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar. When the time came to head to the stove, each student got the chance to cook her own piece, learning how to keep the pan evenly heated, when to add just a bit more butter, and how to check for doneness. In all the organized chaos, no one had the chance to snap a photo!
NYC’s Favorite Food
The most recent venture this past week was the always-classic French Bread Pizza. While one day we will make our own sauce (and maybe even crust!) this time the focus was on reading the recipe and assembling the dish – the most important and surprising part was when the students realized they would need to do a pre-bake of the bread with a delicious mixture of garlic, olive oil, basil, butter and mozzarella cheese to protect the thick, absorbent bread from becoming soggy with tomato sauce. With the protective layer in place, sauce and more cheese went on top, and a final sprinkle of basil, olive oil, and shaved parmesan greeted the slices as they emerged from the oven.
The club has been a popular success so far – many students have expressed their unfamiliarity with cooking and their desire to learn, while others often cook at home and are excited for a place to share their enjoyment of cooking while also learning more! In addition to being lots of fun, and a great way to get a snack after school, learning to cook provides a feeling of accomplishment while allowing for a growing ability in the many forms of academic knowledge and skills that emerge in the kitchen – from gaining a tangible knowledge of measurement, particularly in terms of ratios and proportions, to learning how the density and other material properties of different objects respond to cutting, absorbing liquid, and heating, the basics of cooking inherently allow for a depth of learning through hands-on experience.
At the same time, the more obvious purpose of learning to cook is front and center – when you know how to cook your own food you can save money, help yourself and your family, and be less dependent on processed and prepared foods – all important life skills that will benefit students as they become adults.
What’s next? In addition to our weekly meetings, we eventually hope to offer some cooking demos and lessons for students with local NYC chefs! If this is of interest to you or someone you know, contact one of our cooking club Co-Moderators, Rose Tomassi (rtomassi [at] sjhsbridge [dot] org) or Tim Sennett (tsennett [at] sjhsbridge [dot] org).