Cooking Department

Before the first onion is chopped

Ask any chef what separates a calm kitchen from chaos and the answer is usually the same: mise en place. Weigh, chop and lay everything out first, then cook. It is a lesson in planning as much as in food, and it is where the Cooking Department will begin.

Recipes that do the math

The first tool we plan is a recipe scaler. Type how many people you are feeding and it recalculates every ingredient, switches between grams and cups or ounces, and converts oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius and gas marks. It turns a family recipe into a real-life math lesson, and works just as well for a class of thirty as for a home kitchen of two. It will also flag common allergens in each recipe so they are easy to spot.

Kitchen safety before knife skills

Safety comes first at every age. Short interactive lessons will cover handwashing, the bridge and claw cuts, hot pans and steam, allergens and storing food, each ending in a quick quiz Marked by Classfern. Practical cooking counts as Evidence kept at home (or at school) – a photo the learner keeps, never one we collect – with a simple checklist for an adult, Judged by a teacher or parent (rubric).

From fruit kebabs to a three-course meal

• Preschool and kindergarten: tasting, washing fruit, spreading and mixing, with picture recipes and no sharp knives.
• Elementary school: no-cook and simple-cook recipes, measuring, healthy plates and where food comes from.
• Middle and high school: cooking methods, nutrition, budgeting a weekly menu and adapting recipes for allergies and diets.
• University students and adults: cooking on a small budget, batch cooking and the basics nobody ever taught them.

Monsieur Escoffier runs a tidy kitchen

Escoffier ran the kitchens of some of the grandest hotels of his day and wrote a famous guide to French cooking that chefs still consult. He also put cooks into clear teams, each with its own job. Our Monsieur Escoffier will be polite, exacting and slightly horrified by a messy countertop, and he will always ask “Is everything in its place?” before the stove goes on.

A taste of our flagship

While the kitchen waits for funding, our flagship Music Department is serving up plenty: a metronome with backing tracks, instruments to play along with, and a wait mode that pauses until you find the right note. Cooking lessons will share that unhurried spirit – moving on only when you are ready.

Help us get cooking

The Cooking Department has its menu planned; funding is what will light the oven. Chefs, food teachers and nutrition experts: we would love to hear from you.