Friday, January 6, 2017

Stefan - Shola Reflection

I really enjoyed the experience of visiting Shola in his kitchen and learning about the modern techniques that go into making food. When I heard about modern cooking, I was expecting to be served strange, unheard of foods that I wouldn’t even like, but that was the opposite of what happened. While the appliances that Shola used to make his food were modern, he ended up making some of my favorite foods. He first baked cornbread in his steam oven. This gave the bread a crunchy outside and a soft inside. He next made us souffle, showing us the delicate process of whipping egg whites and mixing it into the bechamel sauce to give the souffle an airy consistency. He next showed us how fresh pasta is made. It was cool to see how simple the pasta making process is. Applying heat and pressure to a mixture of water and flour is all that is needed to create pasta. He also showed us how he makes pizza, his favorite food to eat and make. He explained how his pizza dough is made from 00 flour, a finer type of flour. He also said he let the dough rise slowly for two days. He made some of the best pizza I have had, with the help of his wood-fire oven.

I would call Shola both a chef and a cook. I believe that the two words are essentially interchangeable. However some argue that a chef is someone who bakes makes food that the professional level and a cook makes food without pay. However I would still argue that Shola could be considered both. He is a chef because he went school for cooking, makes food professionally as a chef and he is extremely knowledgable in his profession. But he is also a cook because he also loves to make food for himself.

No comments:

Post a Comment