Nutrition unit: Cooking methods

We are currently doing the nutrition assessment for Home ec. This particular activity is about various cooking methods, what they are used for and how they affect the nutritional value of a dish.

Why are cooking methods important when it comes to lowering fats, salt and sugar? Different cooking methods have different effects and need different things. Methods such as frying usually require some fat in the pan, or roasting needing fat to help crisp up the food you are cooking. This makes a difference when it comes to trying to lower the fat/sugar/salt within the dish, and it is recommended that you choose a cooking method which doesn't need any fat. Cooking methods such as slow cooking help keep in flavour, which lowers the need for additional salt and sugar. 

Home ec practical: chicken salad

Yesterday in home ec, we made a chicken salad. we are currently doing a food safety topic and were practising our skills around preparing, cooking and serving high risk foods.
I think the practical went well, we cooked the chicken well, worked together and nobody has salmonella poisoning.


The practical:
The practical was made up of three major tasks; chicken, salad vegetables and other salad ingredients (I managed to screw up the egg).

The chicken needed to be trimmed of any fat/sinew ect and cut in halve horizontally. We cut the chicken smaller to cook it faster. We poached the chicken for about 15 minutes, until the internal temperature was 75 degrees or over at the thickest part. after cooking, the chicken was shredded.

The salad vegetables were cut using a green board and knife, then placed in individual bowls. The lettuce needed to be washed before eaten, so we washed it using a colander.

As extra ingredients for our salad, we added  crunchy noodles, home made croutons and Parmesan.

Our salad ended up great, the different textures and flavours were interesting and easily customisation. 

Health and safety practices:
in this practical, we handled a high risk food (chicken), so we needed to handle and cook it properly. The chicken was put straight onto a yellow board using tongs. The chicken was cut and put in the pot to poach, while we washed the board. The chicken was cooked to an internal temperature or 75 degrees at the thickest part to make sure the bacteria was killed.

We used separate boards and knives for different types of food, to avoid cross contamination.

Reflection: over all, our practical went well, we kept to time, safely handled high risk food and cooked our chicken well.
I think next time I would time the eggs while cooking, add the croutons after adding the dressing to keep their texture and wash more dishes as we go.

Nutrition notes:
I think this is a pretty balanced meal.
We have lean protein from the chicken, fat from the oil in the dressing, fibre from the lettuce, croutons and other vegetables, a small amount of dairy from the cheese.
To make this a more complete meal, I would add more carbohydrates (maybe in the form of some side bread) and more dairy (could be in a drink or dessert :).
Over all, a pretty good meal.