There are two general goals for this course:
Each cooking session will revolve around a common theme that emphasizes or reinforces the principles introduced in the previous day’s lecture. Students will cook in groups of two. Typically, each group will have a different recipe to prepare, but all the recipes on a given day will revolve around a common theme. At the end of the day, students will meet to sample and discuss the recipes prepared that day.
To facilitate cooking and maximize student participation, enrollment is limited to sixteen students. Enrollment is based on the assumption that the kitchen in the Church Street Facility (formerly the BCM) or a similar facility with two ovens will be available. Cooking will be done in stages: preparation, baking, and post-oven tasks (e.g., frosting cakes). Stages will overlap so that one group of students will be preparing their product for the oven while a second group is using the oven and a third group doing post-baking tasks. With two ovens, cooking can be organized around two parallel teams of two (four students) working simultaneously for each stage. Assuming one-hour per stage, students should complete all three stages within three hours. In practice, most recipes will take less time but a few may take more.
Depending on what is being prepared, the first two teams will typically begin cooking around 9:00 each morning with subsequent teams arriving at one hour intervals. There may be numerous variations in this schedule. For example, a team may need allow something to rest or cool for several hours. In that case they might come in early to start the process, be free to leave for a while, and then return later in the day. In a few rare instances, some recipes will need to be started the day before.
At the end of the day students will reconvene for about one hour, at most, to sample and discuss the day’s effort. We will often include guests at these tasting's so you can show off what you have accomplished. These tasting sessions will be followed by a quick cleanup. In general, we will clean as we go, so this shouldn't take long. A general expectation of the course is that all students will do their share in cleaning.
We have used this cooking model in the past and it works well. It ensures that each student is able to actively participate. I will try to make all reasonable scheduling accommodations, but student taking this project should have fairly flexible schedules.
A typical day in the classroom will begin with a quick recap of the previous days cooking and the principles exemplified by that cooking. This will be followed by a lecture on the next topic or topics of interest. This will typically focus around the science of baking but might also include comparing recipes, documenting recipes, doing cost and nutritional analysis of recipes. Next, the recipes for the next day will be assigned and a schedule set. This will be followed by a discussion of the recipes, the relevant scientific principles, and the cooking techniques required. This portion of the class may also include instructional videos.
Of the days that we will not cook, one or two will be set aside at the start of the course so that we can cover cooking fundamentals including measurement, knife skills, kitchen safety, and sanitation before we actually go into the kitchen. We will probably use the last morning of Interim to wrap up the course and will probably not cook that day.
Total anticipate fees of $175 based on an enrollment of 16 students. Fees must be paid at the first meeting, December 1. This is necessary so that equipment and supplies can be purchased before the start of classes in January. In general, funds will be used to
Any unspent funds will be refunded but this is not anticipated. Equipment will be stored for use in future interims.
After the first class in December, I will begin purchasing equipment. If a student drops the course after that point, it may not be possible to fully refunds fees since some of the money will have already been spent. Should a student drop the course and another student enrolls effectively taking their place, the student dropping the course will receive a full refund of their fees. Since fifteen students have requested overrides for the course, it is very likely a replacement can be found if you contact me in a timely manner. If, however, a student waits until the the first day of classes in January, it is unlikely anyone will take their place. At that point, any refunds will come only at the end of Interim from any remaining unspent funds. As such, a full refund cannot be guaranteed. You should also keep in mind that any refunds will come from the Business Office and are subject to their operational schedule as well as of College policies.
There are two texts and a website subscription required for this course (that are not included in the fees for the course). We will have selected readings in:
Students are also expected to scribe to the Cooks Illustrated website which will server as a primary source for recipes for the course. The cost of the website is about $5 for one month. Students should also bring an apron and one or two kitchen towels to the cooking sessions.
Under the heading of recommended but not required, I'd suggest you buy one or the other of these two books:
If you have a particular interest in bread, either of these is a good place to start. I've pretty much made all the recipes in both of these books. There are many other useful book. See Recommended Readings.
Attendance and participation will be required of all students. Required participation will include:
Please keep in mind, cooking-possibly several hours at a time-can be as physically demanding.
Students will be graded Honors, Pass, Unsatisfactory. The primary criterion for Pass is active participation in the course in the areas listed above. Failure to adequately participate in any one of these areas will constitute grounds for an Unsatisfactory grade for the course. Students with excused absences will be required to do outside work to make-up missed classes. Students desiring a grade of Honors will be given the option of completing additional projects.
Makeup Paper
To minimize the possibility of having to award a failing grade in the Interim, students will be allowed to write a makeup paper should they miss work. Students that do not miss any work will not need to write this paper; it is only for those that need to make something up. I hope no one will actually need to write a paper.
Basically, it works like this—each activity in the Interim will be assigned a page value. If you fail to participate in an activity, the page count for your paper will be increased by the page count for the missed activity. This is, infractions are cumulative. Here is a partial list of page count values:
Unexcused absence from a lecture/discussion session: 2 pages per hour missed
Unexcused absence from a cooking session: 6 pages
(Excused absence: no page penalty)
Failing to do a days reading assignment: 1 page
Failing to make an assigned blog enter: 1 page for each missed entry
Failing to email cooking experience/background and preferences: 1 page
Failing to participate in cleaning activities: 2 pages first infraction, 4 pages each additional infraction.
Students initially start with a page count of zero.
This mechanism will give you an opportunity to makeup missed work and will prevent me from having to award a failing grade for a really minor infraction. Of course, it you fail to submit the paper or if it can’t be given a passing grade, you could still fail.
You will be advised by email each time you page count increases. Papers will be due the final day of Interim.
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Last modified: January 5, 2010
Contact: Joe Sloan, sloanjd@wofford.edu
© Joe Sloan