Welcome to Gaia! ::

Okay, so I'm at the other extreme end at the moment, which is being hyper as heck! So, this is a....



Here, I will post up the basics of cooking, such as the difference between grilling and rotisserie, Cooking in the oven and cooking with the stovetop, the dos and don'ts of a kitchen, kitchen safety and hygiene, and a few vocab words. As I get farther into posting here, I will go into more complicated aspects of cooking, such as making a roux then using it, cheesecakes, fudge (this is tricky as you have to do everything JUST RIGHT), substitutions and how to do them, decorations on cakes, and bigger vocab.

Now, this might start as semi-homemade, meaning you will use some prepared ingredients or parts to a dish, but it won't stay that way. I will slowly get rid of those parts and make the recipes I post fully from scratch, which is always fun, somewhat messy, and always gives you a sense of pride when you are successful. And yes, I am going to post up recipes, and if I have any, tips and tricks you can do to ensure they come out right. When I can, I will post up pictures to go with the lesson I'm posting up. Some of these recipes will be from other regions for some contrast and to expand your tastes. It will also be interesting to see how other people cook too, no?

These are the different aspects of cooking/ baking I'm going to talk about.

Basic Cooking

This will cover beginner's lessons, such as Kitchen safety and hygiene, the Dos and Don'ts of cooking, differences of cooking techniques, and simple recipes to get started. I will also give simple vocab here, and post up pictures, as it's about time I start using my camera for something.

Intermediate Cooking

These lessons will start the weaning of prepared food ingredients and heading to full from-scratch recipes. We will learn a few ways you can substitute certain ingredients, which is important when you know someone who has a food allergy. We will learn the beginnings of baking, starting with the classic cakes and cupcakes and cookies. We will learn the importance of each ingredient and what can happen when too little or too much is used. We will get to bigger recipes, and with them bigger vocab. Some of the previous cooking techniques will start to be explored here. We will also start looking at making meals by cooking more than one food at once.

Holiday Cooking

This is in between intermediate and experience cooking because of a few things; complexity of the meal, timing, and making multiple recipes at once. Main holidays covered here are 'feast holidays' as I call them, which is Christmas/ Yule, Mabon/ Thanksgiving, and Ostera/ Easter (reason they are called this by me is because my family is christian, and we have a feast on these holidays). I will also include recipes for other holidays, especially if they are coming up.

Experienced Cooking

If we haven't weaned off of semi-homemade before now, then this is where we will stop it cold-turkey. It's time to get down to the nitty-gritty. We will look at complicated techniques, like making caramel from scratch using two methods, planning full course meals from scratch and getting them on the table at (almost) the same time, tips and tricks for the meal planning too. We will learn MORE vocab (so much, I know), and we will look at decorating foods to make them look nice or even elegant or special.

I will Color The titles of each post so people can know what post is at what level. I will also include a list of supplies needed at each level. Also, if I get a question posted here, or someone is having trouble, I will make a post to Directly address that question/problem. I hope you'll like my class, as this is my first one! whee

Safety and Hygiene (Dos and Don'ts of the Kitchen)

Woo! First Lesson!

Okay, We will begin with learning basic safety instructions and hygiene. Hygiene is fairly simple, and can help make your meals a bit of a routine if your a very organized person.

yum_strawberry First up, is to pull that long hair into a ponytail or bob, so it is out of your face, gives less chance for stray hair to get into food, and to cause less hazard for you when dealing with hot elements.

yum_strawberry Next, is to wash those hands! it doesn't matter what you were doing before you started to get in the kitchen. Bacteria live on every surface, so you must send them on a boat to the drain! Make sure you just don't rinse; use a good sanitary soap to help send those germies packing.

yum_strawberry Try to also refrain from touching other parts of your body, be it your face, tummy, or other areas when dealing with food, as that can transfer germs too, not to mention throw people off from eating your food.

yum_strawberry Third on our list, make sure all the utensils you are using are clean. Any residue can be germ or mold cultivators, and that can be dangerous, so give them a good scrubbing if any food residue is found

yum_strawberry Which brings us to the next hygiene tip, is to wash your dishes soon after your done using them, to prevent mold, and therefore odors and bugs, from appearing.

Now that we covered the basics in hygiene, We will look at the safety rules of the kitchen.

gaia_spoons NEVER leave the stove if a burner is on. Major fire hazard right there, people.

gaia_spoons WATCH THE OVEN!! Many people cause fires by forgetting about food in the oven.

gaia_spoons CLEAN TEH OVEN!! ANOTHER reason fires start. Believe me, it happened in a cooking class in high school. If it does happen though, douse the flame with baking soda, as water will ruin the hot oven, and immediately turn off the oven (obviously).

gaia_spoons For the love of all that is precious, never ever ever ever put metal in a microwave. It can not only destroy the microwave but make it explode.

gaia_spoons If you make a mess, clean it up. Not only is this hygienic, but if you leave a mess on the floor, that can be a falling hazard.

gaia_spoons When in doubt, throw it out. If you aren't sure when the food expired, Don't risk it. There are deadly food-born illnesses out there, and I'm sure you don't want to visit the ER on a weekend.

gaia_spoons General rule is to have leftovers for at least a week in the fridge before tossing, maybe two in the freezer if properly packaged.

gaia_spoons Be VERY CAREFUL of guest or family food allergies. After all there are those, like being lactose intolerant, that can just cause minor digestive problems, to ones like nut allergies, which can cause death.

gaia_spoons Use mittens or potholders when dealing with hot containers, to prevent burns

gaia_spoons Be careful with knifes. I know many know this already, but I'm posting it anyways. Knives can cut you badly if you aren't careful. I still have the scar from ten years ago decapitating a chocolate rabbit with a steak knife.

gaia_spoons Don't put cold water in a hot pot or pan. This can damage, or even break, the pots and pans.

These are your basics, and they will serve you well in the kitchen when heeded. The Do's and Don'ts of the kitchen review these points, and also add a bit more to include shopping for ingredients. Here is the list.



gaia_angelright DO make yourself sanitary to cook, i.e washing your hands, tying your hair back if it's long, etc

gaia_angelright DO use clean utensils when cooking

gaia_angelright DO clean up your messes

gaia_angelright DO take notes of food allergies*

gaia_angelright DO wash your dirty dishes when your done or going to make something else in it, even if it's another batch of brownies used in the same dish as first batch. If the first one ha nuts and second didn't, make sure to wash it as they second batch will get contaminated with nut oils and such

gaia_angelright DO keep your area clean, including the oven

gaia_angelright DO watch the dates of leftovers and any other foods like canned goods or perishables

gaia_angelright DO buy cans that are undamaged and unopened



This will be updated later as more safety and hygiene issues arise, and I will edit this to show the updates by making the text red.