Day Two: Breakfast (Basic)

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day!

By Evan Garibay

Kenzie mastering the art
of cooking eggs
    On this amazing day 2 of the Art of Cooking J-term, we really got a taste of what it was like to properly make a traditional American Breakfast. Who knew it could be so difficult to cook eggs in different ways! We had our struggles, but with the help of Maestra and Chef Averille, we got through the trials and tribulations of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. And the school.
    Starting off strong, we learned contrasting techniques like poaching, firing, sunny-side up, and scrambled. While many of the chefs in our group had some experience with these methods, only a few of the students could get it right the first time, but with the help of Chef Averille, every question was answered! From bad flips to broken eggs, just about every issue you could come across was tackled in our makeshift Post Oak kitchen. 
    
Starting some buttery
scrambled eggs!
After everyone somehow managed to perfect their eggs, Chef Averille thought it was time to move on to making a dish with a lot of class, very mature food, and high respect throughout the cooking world. Pancakes. surprisingly enough, very few people in the class had ever had pancakes completely from scratch, myself included. As we sifted through the flour, baking powder, sugar, and began to combine the wet ingredients with the dry, we got the chance to talk with our groups and learn more about the food we were making from the head chef. Once we got to cooking the pancakes was where we found ourselves with a problem. Different groups mixed their pancake batter in different ways, and that affected the cooking process accordingly. Some pancakes came out clumpy, some came out dry, some wet. Though by the end of the day we all got our pancake recipes perfected and had them for a delicious and very fluffy lunch. 
Chef Averille showing us
 egg-frying techniques
After everyone had a delicious and filling lunch of pancakes and more, we all headed back into the DIY kitchen of classroom 105 and began on our second dish of the day. This was a tasty snack that had diced fingerling potatoes tossed in a garlic and pepper-infused seasoning mix with light paprika sprinkled on the topm
    We started by boiling the diced potatoes in water with a bit of salt for 10 minutes until we drained them allowing for them to get that perfect soft texture with a bit of firmness. We then tossed them in a plethora of different spices and seasonings to create that perfect peppery potato taste.
Charlie seasoning our mini-potatoes
    By the end of the day, everyone was all cooked out! Having a very fulfilling day with the most delicious breakfast foods imaginable, and loads of helpful tips from Chef Averille, everyone was grateful to learn more tools and tricks to help cook their favorite everyday breakfast dishes, and even learn some new ones to use at home!

Trying to get that perfectly
season scrambled egg
Teamwork on potato breakfast!

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