The ART of plating

Ever heard of the quote ''first impression counts?''

So my dear groupmates, since our microteaching is in 3 weeks time, lets us all learn one or two techniques of food presentation which hopefully can please the judges :p

Lets take a look at this video! May it be beneficial to us :)

Investigative Task: To investigate the physical changes on the different baking duration of chicken fillet.

Have you ever wondered why do meat turn brown when baked? Why does it turn darker when treated with a more extensive heat treatment? What is the reason behind that browning reaction?
Our group carried out an investigative task to investigate the physical changes on the different baking duration of chicken fillet. So this is the result.

As seen in the diagram above, the chicken which acts as the Control is raw,Variation 1 is baked for 5 minutes, Variation 2 is baked for 20 minutes and Variation 3 is baked for 35 minutes. When chicken is baked loniger, it turns from translucent to opaque due to the coagulation of protein, then eventually exhibited some brownish coloration on the surface due to Maillard reaction.
Maillard reaction, is a type of non-enzymatic browning, where the simple sugars(carbonyl group) react with with the amino acids (amino group). During this reaction, the condensation of the amino group and carbonyl group results in a polymeric carbonyl-amine compound of low solubility. The conjugated double bonds of the products of this reaction account for the brown or yellowish coloration on the meat, in this case chicken.Maillard reaction generally only begin to occur above 140°C.

Therefore, the longer the chicken is baked,  greater extent of Maillard browning will occur.

Source:

http://www.mnstate.edu/provost/BCBT100%20Browning.pdf

NOT JUST a Bowl of Soup.

I came across this very interesting video. A bowl of soup may look no different from the rest but these interesting touches really work wonders!

Reflection (Atiqah)

During textile class last week, we went through on the ways to write up lesson plan.  There were so many lesson plan samples and from there, they were a lot of key points to highlight.

I felt that this was a good session as we are able to learn from the seniors previous mistakes and not to repeat it. Although lesson plan is a tedious thing to do, I believe that it makes an inexperienced teacher like me to be more structured and organized in content. Writing a lesson plan with a general objective (GO) and specific instructional objective (SIO) focuses on what teachers hope students to accomplish at the end of the lesson and how teachers hope to accomplish it.

By planning of the lesson, I feel that as teachers, we would know what to do when we enter the class and its shows a sign of professionalism. It also gives us a chance to predict the problem created by students in class and how to deal with it.