Culinary Cuisine was one of my first modules. So far it has also been one of the most enjoyable! I had a triple class every Thursday with Ms.Dunne and it was the highlight of the week for me. For the first Thursday of the module, Ms. Dunne explained to us what the aim of the module was - that those who don't have a clue how to cook get the chance to make a stab at it and improve and that those who do know how to cook, get to work on and improve their skills. But the main purpose of the module was really just to enjoy yourself and to expose your taste buds to different dishes and flavours.
During one class, we were also shown how our evaluations should be written up and we were told what we would be cooking for the next few weeks. Before we began, we were warned that we would be rolling home every Thursday with a full belly! (For future reference I would also advise that you go into that class with an empty one!)
The tasks for the different weeks included an Asian, Italian, Chinese, Thai or Spanish dish; a two course meal for two; chocolate caramel squares (these required a lot of skills); brown bread and soup; edible treats (for instance chocolate truffles) to mention but a few. One great thing is that usually most people would end up making different types of Asian, Chinese, French dishes etc. so you get to taste many different palates of food that you may never have before – (this could end up turning you off something for life however...)
I'm sure that we probably drove Ms. Dunne up the walls and back down again, setting things on fire, burning foods and running around the kitchen like lunatics, but it was worth it! The class really gets you to expand your comfort zone and experiment with different flavours. I think that all of 4E will agree with me when i say that Culinary Cuisine is one of the many highlights of 4th Year and an extremely enjoyable module!
By Sarah Browne, 4E
