Art of Cooking J-term Day 1

To start off our first day of the art of cooking, we got to meet the chef's we're going to be working with Jessica and Averil. The first thing that we learned were some basic knife safety and how to properly cut foods. This section was especially helpful for me, because I wasn't entirely sure on the best and safest way to cut. After that we started working on our dish for the day, Bibimbap. We started out by cutting carrots, radish, garlic, and onions, which actually made some people cry. After that we made the Gochujang sauce which had a sweet smell but a spicy taste. Once the sauce was done, my group sautéed the onions and sprouts using several different ingredients to give it a good flavor. With all of the food being cooked in one small place, the room started to smell like it was actual restaurant, though I did have to leave the room once because the smell became overwhelming.  Finally to finish it off, we cooked beef and chicken to put on top of it all. Once we were all done, we cleaned the kitchen and served ourselves our food. During this time, chefs Jessica and Averil were both very patient with us, and were good to work with to make our food.
My favorite part of the dish was the meat and rice, but I also liked the spicy vegetables even though I had a hard time eating them.

I learned a lot of things about knife safety that I hadn't known previously, and it was really fun working with the different ingredients. I think the best part was at the end when we finally sat down and ate the food which we worked to make, and having it actually taste good. This was a good start to the project, and I look forward to seeing what we will cook next.

Chef Averil explaining the differences between knives.

Sarah and Charlie working on the Gochujang sauce.

The finished product, ready to be eaten.