Resources

  • Poultry Science Resources

    Universities and Research Centers NC State University: Department of Poultry Science North Carolina is one of the national leaders in poultry production; approximately 800 million broiler chickens and 39 million turkeys are produced annually in this state. Research at North Carolina State focuses on poultry science in conjunction with human nutrition, genetics, immunology, developmental biology, toxicology, biotechnology, and health. University of Georgia: Poultry Science The Department of Poultry Science provides undergraduate and graduate educational experiences for students and service to…Read More

  • Food Science and Technology

    Introduction The average supermarket carries more than 20,000 items, most of which were developed into safe, affordable, and tasty products by food scientists and technologists. Food Science and Technology is the discipline in which biology, engineering, and physical sciences are used to study the nature of foods, the causes of their deterioration, and the principles underlying food processing, such as the selection, preservation, packaging, distribution, and use of safe and nutritious food. This field is distinct from that of nutrition…Read More

  • Food and Agriculture Statistics

    Food and agriculture industries are responsible for feeding the masses around the world. For centuries, humans survived on subsistence farming and limited trade. In the early 1900s, German chemist Sam Kean made a ground-breaking and Noble Prize winning discovery – he managed to pull nitrogen from the atmosphere. This nitrogen was then developed into products which revolutionized how crops were grown. With this discovery, food could be grown at exponentially faster rates. Today, different countries specialize in the food and…Read More

  • Foodborne Bacteria

    Cooking Schools Guide: Foodborne Bacteria According to the CDC, 1 in 6 Americans contract an illness from the food they eat every year, which translates into 48 million cases. While the vast majority do receive medical attention from a hospital, 3,000 of those afflicted with “food poisoning” die from the infection. The CDC goes on to state that 80 percent of the pathogens that cause foodborne illness are unknown, including 56 percent of those that eventually result in death. However,…Read More

  • Food Safety

    Cooking Schools Guide: Food Safety Every year approximately 1 in every 6 Americans contracts a food-borne illness, which equates to roughly 48 million people. Of them, 3,000 will die as a result. Proper food safety measures help to prevent greater numbers from contracting illnesses. Optimally managing the safety of the nation’s food supply is an ongoing and continuously developing challenge, with acts of Congress still being drafted in response to the need. How food is grown, processed, shipped, cooked, and…Read More

  • Bread Baking

    Cooking Schools Guide:  Bread Baking In a host of cultures around the world, bread has been a major part of diet and culture. Today, bread baking is both an art and a science. In its highest form, it is a practice that requires the eyes and taste buds of an artist, but the knowledge schemata of a biochemist. That’s why we’ve put together this basic guide to bread baking: to provide the non-expert with an introduction to bread baking. In…Read More

  • Food Preservation

    Cooking Schools Guide: Preserving Food All methods and types of food preservation have a common goal: to significantly retard or completely kill the bacteria that cause diseases. There are many methods used to achieve these results, including: refrigeration and freezing canning freeze-drying and dehydration salting and pickling fermentation carbonation irradiation cheese-making chemical use The focus here will be on the processes of canning and pickling as two fun things you can do at home with produce you grow in your…Read More

  • Livestock Resources

    Cooking Schools Guide: Livestock Resources It may be easy to take the meat and dairy sections of the supermarket for granted. The trays are always stocked. What more is there to wonder about? The logistics of raising and bringing those products to market is multifaceted and as such can be impacted by multiple factors. And those issues begin to affect not just the meat and dairy section, when one stops to consider the widespread use of animal products. American Livestock…Read More

  • Agriculture Resources

    Cooking Schools Guide: Agriculture Resources In the United States alone, according to the USDA, there are 255 million acres of farmland devoted to the eight most common types of crops alone: soybeans, corns, wheat, and so on. The U.S. also produces over half the world’s corn, a third of which goes to the production of bio-fuel, and exports nearly a billion bushels of wheat. The sheer size of the industrial farming industry, which is currently the only way to support…Read More

  • Nutrition Resources

    Cooking Schools Guide: Nutrition Resources Most people know without a doubt that fruits and vegetables are better for them than steak or fast food, but what many are confused about is which vegetables and fruits are really the best. They are not all equally healthy. Bananas have a lot of sugar and are lower in vitamins and nutrients than winter squash or carrots. Iceberg lettuce and green beans don’t hold a candle to spinach, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. There is…Read More

  • Recipe Resourcres

    Cooking Schools Guide: Recipe Resources If it weren’t for recipes, it’s likely we would all be a lot skinnier. Recipes are how generations of great cooks have passed down their knowledge over the years, along with various tips and tricks for getting the meal just right. Now, with the advent of the Internet, all of those fantastic recipes are right at your fingertips, whether you’re looking for ethnic food, a delicious new breakfast or just a creative way to spice…Read More

  • Spice Guide

    Cooking Schools Guide: Cooking with Spices For many gourmet chefs, the meal isn’t finished unless it’s been touched off with just the right kind of spice. Spices have been around for centuries, turning drab meals into delicious works of art, and sometimes even starting wars. But what are they, really, and how can you use them to your advantage in your own kitchen at home? What are they? Spices have been around as long as cooking. Historians have found evidence…Read More

  • Food Safety

    Cooking Schools Guide: Food Safety On average, 16% of Americans come down with food poisoning each year, with about 100,00 ending up in the hospital or suffering from long-term health consequences. These illnesses are easy to prevent simply by observing a few easy rules about food safety. Key principles Food poisoning is a serious concern, but with just a few easy precautions, you can assure that your meal is always healthy and pathogen-free. There are four key principles to remember…Read More

  • Vegetarian Recipes

    Guide to Vegetarian Recipes Records of vegetarian diets can be traced as far back as the sixth century B.C.E. and could very well have existed earlier. Pythagoras, the mathematician and philosopher famous for his theorem, was a practicing vegetarian. In the modern Western world, vegetarianism is a relatively recent phenomenon. Many choose to follow vegetarian diets in response to the environmental and ethical concerns surrounding the food industry and sustainability. The Guide to Vegetarian Recipes explains vegetarianism, its history, and…Read More

  • Spices and Herbs

    Cooking Schools Guide: Spices and Herbs While spices today are appreciated for their flavors and ability to transform the taste of meals, their history is rife with drama and even warfare. The values of spices in the ancient world were so great that at one time cinnamon was said to be fifteen times more valuable than silver. Even the word for salary is linked with the Roman word for salt, showing its immense worth. The Guide to Cooking with Spices…Read More

  • Ingedients: Salt

    Cooking Schools Guide: The History of Salt Salt is the only mineral consumed by nearly everyone on the planet, past and present. It has been a major player in the human story from as early as 6050 BC effecting our health, changing economics, causing wars, even helping religious metaphors and ceremonies. Here are just a few of the many uses of salt: manufacturing of over 14,000 products preservation of mummies currency removing wine and tea stains fixing the color of…Read More

  • Ingredients: SPAM

    Cooking Schools: Guide to Using SPAM Since its creation by Hormel in 1937, SPAM has seen a rise in global popularity, due in part to its unique presentation. SPAM comes in canned form and is a combination of pork shoulder, ham, salt, water, sugar and sodium nitrate and has an indefinite’ shelf life. The meaning of the name is a bit of a mystery with the portmanteau of ‘shoulder of pork and ham’ and a contraction of ‘spiced ham’ having…Read More

  • Turkish Cuisine

    Cooking Schools: Guide to Turkish Cuisine The Ottoman Empire was the precursor to modern Turkey, which at its peak stretched from Algeria to Iraq. Its vast reach allowed it access to the cuisines of surrounding regions, ingredients from many climates, and the Silk Road bringing a variety of spices. The royal court of this dynasty fostered the development of culinary tradition with their royal kitchen. It created a melting pot of chefs catering to an estimated 10,000 hungry bells a…Read More

  • Poultry Science

    Cooking Schools: Guide to Poultry Science According to the USDA, the retail value of broilers, the most common type of chicken produced by industrial farms, was $45 billion in 2010, representing almost 37 billion pounds of poultry.  Such vast quantities of food would not be possible if not for a well-institutionalized set of common practices represented by the field of poultry science.  The eggs most often found at the supermarket, for example, are the result of intensive farming that uses…Read More

  • Native American Recipes

    Cooking Schools: Guide to Native American Recipes Native American recipes include many dishes influenced by the traditional diet and the foods brought by European settlers. Much of the information about the traditional Native American diet has been lost to history, mostly due to the strong oral culture and lack of written recipes. Historic accounts, however, have identified a few key staples in the Native American diet throughout history that remain important today. Anyone hoping to understand Native American cuisine is…Read More

  • Culinary History

    Cooking Schools: Guide to Culinary History There are a few basic necessities humans need to survive: sleep, water and food. Learning about what people ate over the course of human history teaches us a great deal about the evolution of culture, tradition and health. It also teaches us the environmental conditions of our early ancestors and about the developments in agriculture and cultivation that allowed populations to grow and civilizations to thrive. Historically, hunting, gathering and agriculture were the primary…Read More

  • Cooking with Food Pyramids

    Guide to Food Pyramids Here is some information on different food pyramids from various sources and about how the original graph was often criticized. This will help you understand the purpose for these pyramids, and the images will guide you through the different sections.  Take a look at our other resources on various cooking topics as you continue your studies and research about the culinary arts. While most of us are familiar with the standard food pyramid introduced by the…Read More

  • Microwave Cooking Safety

    Cooking with the Microwave Here is information on microwave oven food safety when using the appliance for cooking, reheating, or thawing.  Because microwaves cook food differently than ovens or stoves, food safety is quite different than in more traditional cooking mechanisms.  Unlike a conventional oven, microwaves cook food unevenly.  We provide basic tips for microwave food safety and links for more information about food safety in general. For Cooking Any food should be arranged evenly in a covered dish.  To…Read More

  • Ramen Recipes

    Guide to Ramen Noodle Recipes Top Ramen, Maruchan, Sapporo Ichiban: all these noodle brands have a reputation as cheap, backup food when there’s nothing else in the pantry.  However, with some simple ingredients and a few garnishes, plain old ramen noodles can be turned into a respectable meal, and not with a lot of hassle. Ramen noodles have their origins in China, but are best known as a Japanese dish today.  At least one ramen-ya, or ramen shop, can be…Read More

  • Irish Recipes

    Guide to Great Irish Recipes Here is a list of fantastic Irish recipes ranging from traditional dishes to many contemporary cuisines.  The Irish are the most well-known for their culinary love affair with the potato. Though not introduced into Europe until 1570, the potato quickly became a staple for the Irish because it was easy to grow and harvest. Traditional Irish cooking relied heavily on available wild game, and wild fruits and vegetables. One-pot methods of cooking date back to…Read More

  • Indian Recipes

    Guide to Indian Recipes Here are some Indian recipes according to the different regional areas.  As a vastly diverse country in many respects, India provides a variety of cuisines and cooking methods. Due to many factors including geography, differing populations, culture, religious beliefs, and perspectives on life, India’s cuisine takes on a very broad form. The distance between regions and towns for instance, is partially responsible for the creation of cuisines that remain specific to different areas.  As a result,…Read More

  • Cooking Temperatures

    Guide to Cooking Temperatures Here is a guide on cooking temperatures according to the type of food and also basic food safety information.  This is important to know so that you are preventing any foodborne illnesses from spreading that may cause some serious health issues.  Please refer to our other valuable resources on various culinary topics as you continue your readings. Cooking is about experimenting with an array of delicious recipes and flavors—and the outcome should be enjoyable and palette-pleasing….Read More

  • Cooking for Dairy Allergies

    Dairy Allergies and Intolerance This resource explains the many dairy allergies and intolerance issues that quite a handful of people have to deal with.  The advice below will help you be more cautious on the particular types of food used if you ever have to deal with food allergen prone people.  Please refer to our valuable guides on various culinary topics as you continue reading through this page. ISSUES WITH DAIRY CONSUMPTION While a lot of people have issues with…Read More

  • Ingredients: Asian Vegetables

    Guide to Asian Vegetables Here is information on Asian vegetables and a thesaurus of the various kinds that you may run into when cooking.  This will describe to you what it looks like, the uses, and taste of the vegetable.  Take a look at our other resources on various cooking topics as you continue your readings. As consumers have developed tastes for ethnic foods, a wider variety of Asian vegetables and their seeds have become increasingly available within places like…Read More

  • Cooking Healthy – How to Shop for Healthy Food

    Shopping for healthy food can be a fun experience. Learning how to make simple delicious foods will allow you to fix dinner in the same amount of time as using a boxed meal. Living and eating healthy does not need to be difficult. Ease up your time, budget and waistline by using some common-sense tips when you shop for groceries. It really is that effortless! “Won’t It Cost a Fortune to Buy Healthy Foods?” There seems to be a huge…Read More

  • Cooking Resources: Food Allergy Information

    Many households have at least one family member that experiences some type of food allergy or intolerance. A true allergy to a given food occurs in approximately one percent of the adult population. In children, that number increases to around three percent. There is a clinical difference between an allergy and an intolerance. With a food intolerance, the person’s body reacts to the offending food with some sort of physical symptom of discomfort. When the person experiences an intolerance, the…Read More

  • The Basics of Solar Cooking

    The Basics of Solar Cooking Sunshine is the most reliable resource we have, so why not use it? Uses for solar energy are abundant, but most don’t consider cooking with it. Solar cooking takes the power of the sun, reflects and focuses it in such a way as to produce a remarkable heat source. This is done using reflectively coated walls around the food. Think about how warm the summer sun makes a stone or the interior of a car….Read More

  • Cooking and Kitchen Safety Tips

    Hot liquid, hot surfaces, poisonous cleaning substances, and sharp objects are present in any kitchen. It’s very common to suffer burns, cuts, oil spilling, and injuries in the kitchen. These accidents can happen as a result of negligence or a disregard for basic kitchen safety rules. For people who are camping out, precautions should be taken in the cooking area to prevent fire accidents and foods should be prepared without contamination. For outdoor kitchen or barbeque grilling, the right equipment…Read More

  • Wheat Free Cooking & Baking

    Wheat Free Cooking & Baking Wheat allergies can be a difficult thing to live with whether it be you suffering from them or a member of your family. So many foods contain products with wheat that it can be difficult to find foods that aren’t. The most common type of wheat allergy is a gluten allergy, and those suffering from a gluten allergy are said to have Celiac disease. The following is a list of wheat free recipes, including desserts,…Read More

  • What Does a Chef Do?

    Chefs have many, varied responsibilities. Specializing in a particular area of the kitchen or a specific cuisine adds related job duties, but overall responsibilities of a chef include the following: Oversee menu creation Manage kitchen staff assignments and personnel issues Ensure food safety and sanitation requirements are followed Maintain quality of food being served Oversee food ordering Ensure design and aura of restaurant is consistent Manage specific customer complaints or issues Maintain calm and orderly procedures in a stressful work…Read More

  • How Do I Become a Chef?

    There are quite a few roads to a successful career as a cook or chef. This exciting career requires extensive training, hard work and long hours, but is extremely fulfilling for those with a love of food, a flair for design, and interest in international flavors. Chefs work in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and even, airlines. Some work in homes, preparing food for parties or individuals. Cooking Education Most successful chefs attend cooking schools in order to receive needed training and…Read More

  • How Much Do Chefs Earn?

    The culinary industry has a reputation for underpaying and overworking their staff. However, experienced cooks and chefs working in high-end restaurants can earn a lucrative income, and the industry primarily promotes from within, giving strong opportunities for advancement. Following are the average wages and job prospects for each level of chef within the culinary industry: Assistant Station Chef Assistant station chefs assist the station chefs in areas with sauces, fish cooks, or vegetable cooks. Employees in this role earn an…Read More