Blog 23: Senior Project Reflection

1) For the project in general, I am most proud of the job I was able to obtain, keep, and do well at. I never thought I'd be a legitimate kitchen worker while still in high school unless I was a dishwasher or busboy. I'm proud of myself for being able to work and excel in this professional setting. I am also proud of my knowledge on Cuisine, after all the research. For the presentation, I am most proud of how I got through to students. Many came up to me after the presentation and commented that after watching my presentation, they now feel they'll be able to make food taste better. Also, during the activity debriefed discussion, many students asked question, made observations, and theorized answers to those questions that proved to me how much they truly paid attention. Some students brought to my attention thinks even I hadn't noticed. I am proud of this, because it means that I made theses students think in new and different ways.

2) 

a. I feel I deserve an AE for the presentation because of how well I kept the students attention and how I not just taught them content, but got them to think about the subject in a different way. Also, I feel I designed a fun and creative activity that kept the students entertained while demonstrating my answers very clearly and allowing them to put into practice the things they learned. As I walked around during the activity, I could tell this is what the students were able to do.

b. I would give myself an AE because I got an AE on my Exit Interview and Lesson 2, and I feel I deserve an AE on both the final presentation as well as the I-Search paper. I got mostly P's on the small things, like research checks, and went above and beyond with what was required of the mentorship component as well.

3) The things that worked for me were my passion for the subject; it ensures that my boredom couldn't last lint and me strive to always better. Mrs. Ortega and Mr. Rivas worked for me, because they gave me the tools and encouragement to do well in this project. My mentorship worked for me, because they both trained me in being a prep cook as well as providing extra incentive in payig me for my work. Most of the books and journal articles I read worked for me because they were the framework for just about all of my research, far more helpful than web pages and magazines, and kept research checks entertaining.

3) If I could go back in time, I would quit my previous job and worked more at my mentorship. I also would have not only stayed on track with research, but gotten ahead. I would have made sure I always had my headphones so my disruptive classmates couldn't have distracted me. I also would have done something other than mentorship as my second Independent Component, so that I could have furthered my experience in a different way.

5) The senior project taught me how to research. This is an invaluable skill, because now I will go into college knowing how to find reliable sources in sources other than web pages... And I will use less web pages. I also know how to focus on research better. I am also now considering some type of food related job, which I wanted when I was little but cast aside by the time I was 11. I stopped wanted to work with cuisine because I thought being a chef was impractical, but now I know it is possible, and even if I don't become a chef, there are a plethora of other jobs available, such as food developer. Finally, through mentorship, I have learned how to prioritize tasks in a high stress environment. They give me like 4 things to do at once and it's up to me to analyze the situation and see what I should do first and last. This is a skill I know will come in handy in the future.

Blog 22: Mentorship

LITERAL

• The link to my to my mentorship log is on the right of my blog, under Links, labeled Senior Project Hours.
• My mentor's name is Chris Baker. He is employed at The Avocado House in Chino.

Interpretive

• The most important thing I gained from my mentorship is working with a kitchen team. I can now do a "kitchen dance" (a weird combination of ducking, dodging, and softly shoving), and I'm a lot better at the lingo used in a kitchen. (Instead of saying excuse me while walking through a crowd, I know repeatedly state "behind you.") I still need to working on reading sloppy waitress writing. Ive learned a lot about the etiquette of cooking with other, where you are both working on the same thing and different things, together. For example, I could be making one sandwich alone and helping a coworker with two more sandwiches, which he is working on at the same time as working on a third sandwich.

Applied

• My mentorship has helped me understand my EQ first through my mentor. He often drops little nuggets of wisdom while working. Just mall things, but it'll be about the amount of salt to use in a soup, or when to use butter or oil. My coworker, a prep/line cook, also has a lot of information like this. Also, I've made a lot of soup in the last two months and that allows me to experiment with interesting combinations. They let me make what I want, so I usually start with a recipe and go from there. I'll add sugar, or lemon, or certain spices to alter the tastes and flavors in the soup, which puts my answers to the test. For example, in support of my third answer, I once made carrot soup. I knew the soup didn't taste quite right, and my coworker suggested I add nutmeg. A teaspoon later, the soup suddenly had a very warm feeling and reminded me of Christmas, just because of the nutmeg.

Exit Interview

Content
(1) Essential Question, answers, and best answer.

• EQ: What is the most effective way for a culinary artist to enhance the flavor of a dish?

• Answer 1: The most effective way for a culinary artist to enhance to flavor of a dish is by multiple tastes perceived by the human tongue.

• Answer 2: The most effective way for a culinary artist to enhance to flavor of a dish is to utilize all natural ingredients.

• Answer 3: The most effective way for a culinary artist to enhance the flavor of a dish is to use salt and proper seasoning while cooking.

• Best Answer: Answer 3, because: it is the only answer that, once explained, includes multiple senses, which inherently goes best with my definition of flavor; all but one of the cooks and chefs I have asked came to the same conclusion without my help; salt is universally agreed to be a "flavor enhancer."

(2) Arriving at my answer

I thought of all of these answers at one point or another between finalizing my essential question and February. I often went back and forth between wanting to use any of these answers, or picking a few others I'd come up with along the way. I also kept changing which was my best answer. I believe it went something like.. "My answer 1 sucks... No, I love it, it's my best!..actually, I think salt is the answer, but I don't have enough support... You know what? I think Answer 2 is my best answer! It all makes sense!... No, Answer 1 for sure... No, Answer 3, that's it. That's definitely it." This took place over the course of about four and half months. At a couple of points I got really stressed out. I felt like I had so much supposrt for my Answer 1, and after having my Finding 1 peer edited, I realized my first answer was probably the least developed

(3) Problems
I feel like my biggest problems were research based. I've wanted salt to be one of my answers for six months, but never could find the proper research to support this. It seemed more philosophy than science. Then I expanded salt to include seasoning and looked through past research. It seemed every book I'd read had said one thing or another about salt, pepper and seasoning, even if it was just in passing. I used these little notes as my base for creating the answer, then started researching more deeply to find specifics. I ended up with multiple books on how herbs and spices work, and why they add flavor. Also, in looking up my first answer, I found many examples of how salt can help a meal. It was clear that even though salty is a taste, salt is something independent of that. In this way, the two answers are related.

(4)
Dornenburg, Andrew, Karen Page. The Flavor Bible. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2008. Print.
McGee, Harold. On Cooking and Food. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print. pgs. 397-399

The Flavor Bible is one of my most important sources because it helped me develop my question and helped me decide on all three answers, in some way at least. It has become my Bible.
On Cooking and Food helped me realize my idea for a third answer was plausible; it gave me scientific explanation as to how it would be possible for seasoning to truly affect a meal. Without this book, I don't think my third answer would've been my best answer.

Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo is a fresh Mexican salsa that is one of the simplest yet most delicious things I know how to make. At its base, you only need five ingredients: tomato, onion, cilantro, lemon, and salt. However, you can add any number of ingredients to spice it up (literally or figuratively), such as Serrano peppers, cucumber, mango, corn or a number of other things. You'd never want to add all of these things to pico de gallo at once, but one or two of these additives, and sometimes the subtraction of tomato, can change this simple salsa into an exciting one.

Pico de Gallo

Ingrediants
Half a white onion, diced
6 Romano tomatoes, diced
A handful of cilantro, shredded
The juice of one lemon
Salt to taste

Procedure
Combine onion, tomatoe, and cilantro in a bowel and fold together. Mix in lemon juice and salt. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to one week. Best with chips, tacos, or tortillas :)

I took this recipe and added two ears of corn and two Serrano peppers, minced. That way, I have added both sweet (the corn) and spicy (the peppers) elements. I also love the bright crunch the corn adds.

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I, Desiree Zarate, affirm that I completed my Independent component which represents 37 hours and 37 minutes of work.
(b) Baker, Chris. Personal Interview. 17 Feb. 2015.
(c) My Independent Component 2 Log is updated and completed
(d) I worked in a restaurant kitchen as a preparation cook on the busiest day of service. I chopped vegetables, made pancake batter, restocked the omelette and sandwich stations, constructed sandwiches, and often made soups. I completed about 37 hours working for the restaurant.

INTERPRETIVE
My mentorship is significant because I got to experience real life in a restaurant kitchen. I am a legitimate preparation cook and have worked side by side with real cooks in a very busy restaurant, serving over one hundred people in just a few hours. My work demonstrates 30 hours because I had a six hour shift once a week every week for the last two months (and three months before that for mentorship). I will bring in my most recent pay stub Monday (after recieveing it from work on Saturday) as part of my proof I work there. I also have these pictures a coworker took fr me on a slow day.

I would have liked to get pictures of myself making soup or sandwiches, but I mostly work on those when the restaurant is busy. These pictures are from particularly slow days doing my most basic duties.

APPLIED
This component helped me answer my EQ by exposing me to many taste and flavor combinations I never would have thought of. For example, one of our sandwiches contains sliced tri-tip steak, cream cheese, grilled onion, grilled bell peppers, and Monterrey jack cheese on sourdough bread. I would have never made this combination at home, but after trying it, I really enjoyed how the onions and peppers became sweet and felt well complimented by the creamy cheeses. The sandwich was a bit decadent for me, but it's also one of our best selling sandwiches. I also got to try making a couple different soups, which was fun because I made a couple different ones I'd had but never made, or had never had and wanted to try. When I made broccoli soup, for example, I didn't know the recipe included Worcestershire sauce. However, trying the soup before and after adding a few teaspoons of the sup made it clear that Worcestershire sauce was very important because it was the only ingredient that included umami; the soup was definitely lacking something salty and savory and moth filling; the nearly 100% umami sauce helped a lot. These types of exaples were presented all the time, and I got to work with my mentor a lot. He'd often drop little bombs of wisdom, related to my EQ or just my topic in general, which was always entertaining and interesting to listen to. He was my 3rd interview, and told me about the chef I interviewed for Interview 4. Both of these sources are cited many times on my three column and in my I-Search Paper. My mentor basically formed my second and third answer with me during mentorship. He was the one that advocated strongly for btoh quality ingredients and the importance of salt/seasoning when cooking.

Meatloaf with a Cutie

I made meatloaf, baked potatoes, broccoli and garlic bread for dinner a few months ago; it was a nice night of straight cookin for hours. Meatloaf itself is nothing special; it's a basic recipe I've made dozens of times that's a favorite in the simple-palatesof my grandpa and father, so I figured, what better way to please them? Besides, it can still be entertaining to cook. What I didn't expect was for my little brother, Mattox, to walk in half way through preparing the meal and ask if he could help!

He has done this before, but I never took him seriously. I'd say, "Sure! Go mix that right there!" and he'd take one look and reply with, "Hmmmm, nevermind."

Othertimes, when he seemed more anxious, I wouldn't know what task to give Matt and I'd have to tell him he couldn't help. How could I let an 8 year old that's never been in the kitchen chop onions or sauté green beans? My teaching him to cook never seemed to work out.

Today, however, as he approched me hand mixing a bowl of ground beef, onion, and crushed bread, I thought I knew how he could help. I didn't want to wash my hands, but needed to add more ingredients, so I coached Mattox on adding pepper, seasoned salt, garlic, an egg, and worshishire sauce. Then, as I continued to mix, I had him.make garlic butter.

"Garlic butter?" He had exclaimed when I told him what he was doing. "Why not garlic bread, Dez?!"

"Don't worry, Matt, once we out the garlic butter on the bread and toast it, it will become garlic bread." Boy, did that make him happy!

When I was nearly done with the meatloaf and getting ready to shape it, Mattox asked me for gloves. When I said I didn't have any, he ran away and found some, stating, "You and I are going to switch jobs. I jist wanted the gloves so my hands wouldn't get icky." Well imagine my surprise when me germaphobe little brother stuck his hands into a pound and a half of beef and started mixing it all together!

Once I had him form the loaf, he helped me make a glaze. At first, pouring ketchup, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, and worshishire sauce groassed him out, but as I added a little more of this or a tab bit of that, he asked if he coud pour the ingredients and mix the glaze. Sadly, I couldn't get him to taste the glaze on his own, but at my age I wouldn't have either.

From there the movie Thor came on TV, so I was on my own for the broccoli and such as Mattox went to watch the movie. It was still a lot of fun to see my little brother take an interest in cooking. I hope he keeps it up so he doesn't live off of Top Ramen when I'm gone.

Want to try the recipes I mentioned above? Visit October 28, 2014 Recipes.

Fourth Interview Questions

My Interview 4 questions:

1. How would you define flavor?
2. What are the most important factors to flavor?
3. How important is taste when it comes to flavor? How does taste affect flavor?
4. What is the difference between flavor and taste?
5. The similarities?
6. What role does sight play in the enjoyment of food? How can you harness this to make a dish better?
7. And touch?
8. And smell?
9. And hearing?
10. If you had to rate the five senses in order of most important to least important in the enjoyment of food, what would your order be and why?
11. Describe umami as a taste. Is it important? Why?
12. What kind of role does umami play in cooking?
13. Which of the tastes is your favorite? Why? What is your favorite way to use it?
14. What is your favorite taste or flavor combination? Why? What are some examples of that combination?
15. In your opinion, what is the most surprising combination of ingredients you have worked with? What made them work well together?
16. Name two ingredients you would never put in the same dish and why.
17. How can you balance the tastes on a plate of food? That is, a main course that may have 2-3 different components making up the meal.
18. How important is the quality of ingredient you use when cooking? Does organic/free range/no additives affect the quality of an ingredient? Why?
19. What makes an ingredient high quality?
20. How do you define "natural" when talking about ingredients?
21. What are some good brands or suppliers that produce "high quality" or "natural" ingredients?
22. How can the average person incorporate natural food into their cooking?
23. How important is salt when in comes to cooking?
24. What is your favorite kind of salt and why?
25. What are your favorite seasonings? Why?
26. How do you utilize herbs in your cooking?
27. How might you alter the seasoning of a certain dish to make it reflect a different style of cooking?
28. What is the most effective way for a culinary artist to enhance the flavor of a dish? Please describe your answer and reasoning.
29. How did you develop your previous answers? Were there any movies, books, articles, or videos that helped you?

Nine of the questions above were used in my Interview 3.