My friends and I typically go to Port Richmond on Monday afternoons. This allows us to both observe the class and take our mentees aside to talk to them. My mentee has told me much about his life and his love for cooking. He told me that his favorite dish to prepare, serve, and eat is all the same: lasagna. In addition to learning a lot about my mentee, I also learn a lot from the class and I think its important to pay attention during them.

On Mondays the typical culinary class consists of the students being given the recipe they will be preparing for the week and discussing it. In addition to this, each time they do this they learn a little it more about how to accurately read a recipe. Two weeks ago, they reviewed a recipe and the recipe called for 2 eggs. This seems simple right? Two eggs, that’s easy. However, they don’t say what size eggs. There are many sizes, so which did the recipe need? The students were taught that if a recipe does not specify then it means to use large eggs. This is something I never really thought about. As someone who loves baking and cooking, I always just used whatever eggs I had in the house. I never thought that the size of the eggs could impact the taste and consistency of the dish, but as the students and I learned that day, they could.

Here is one of the many recipe given to the students at Port Richmond

The last thing I wanted discuss is something I believe all mentors should take a glance at while they are visiting Port Richmond next time. It is a poster outside the culinary classroom. On the poster is many different jobs and careers in the culinary field. It lists the title, the job description, and the salary. Both students, mentors, and teachers can learn a lot about the different careers the students can pursue from this poster. This can help when advising your mentee or just give an insight into the many culinary career options!