A Chania cooking class means learning to cook in the area of Chania, the old Venetian port on the north coast of Crete. It is one of the Greece tours on this site. The notes below follow the class through its tools, foods and methods: culinary arts, the mortar and pestle, the chef’s knife, the cutting board, spanakopita and sourdough, then four cooking terms. Each term is explained in plain words, and the facts come from reference articles.
What does a Chania cooking class mean?
A Chania cooking class is a class about cooking in the area of Chania, a city of Crete. People who work in culinary arts, especially in restaurants, are called chefs or cooks. Culinary arts began with primitive humans roughly 2 million years ago.
Anthropologist Richard Wrangham says early humans tossed raw meat into flames to watch it cook. An anthropologist is a scientist who studies humans. In early civilizations, professional chefs were mainly employed by kings, aristocrats, or priests. A Chania cooking class sits at the end of this long line.
Culinary arts in the Western world began to evolve at the end of the Renaissance period. The Renaissance was a time of fresh art and study across Europe. The word Western here means the lands of Europe and the lands settled from Europe. A Chania cooking class belongs to this later part of the story.
Study areas include butchery, chemistry, thermodynamics, visual presentation, food safety, and human nutrition. Butchery is the cutting up of meat. Thermodynamics is the science of heat and energy. Chemistry is the study of substances and how they change. A Chania cooking class touches only a part of that wide field.
- First school: In 1879, the first cooking school was founded in the United States.
- Food manufacture: Culinary arts study includes food manufacture, such as milling wheat into flour.
- Techniques: Different cooking techniques require specific tools, foods, and heat sources to produce a desired result.
In short, culinary arts run from early fires to modern schools. Chefs and cooks work in restaurants and other kitchens. Food safety means keeping food fit to eat. Milling is the grinding of grain into flour. A Chania cooking class is one small place in that long story.
On a Chania cooking class, what does the mortar and pestle add?
A Chania cooking class is about food, and the mortar and pestle is an old tool of food. A mortar and pestle is two simple tools for grinding ingredients into a fine paste or powder. They have been used in cooking since the Stone Age.
The mortar is a bowl made of hardwood, metal, ceramic or hard stone such as granite. The substance is placed in the mortar, where the pestle is pounded, pressed or rotated into it. A pestle is the club-shaped tool. A Chania cooking class meets this tool only as a topic.
A mortar and pestle is used to crush spices and to make pesto. Mortars are used to prepare wet or oily ingredients such as guacamole and hummus. Pesto is a sauce of crushed herbs, and guacamole and hummus are thick spreads. A Chania cooking class is a fair prompt to read about such work.
Glass mortars are fragile but stain-resistant and suitable for use with liquids. Rough ceramic sets can grind substances to very fine powders but stain easily and are brittle. A material is stain-resistant when it does not take up colour. A Chania cooking class joins a craft with varied materials.
- Smooth bowls: Smooth, non-porous materials are chosen so they do not absorb or trap what is ground.
- Low energy: Pestling crushes the substance with low energy so that the substance does not warm up.
- Deep bowls: A deeper bowl keeps the ground material in place, with less waste and spillage than flat stones.
In short, the mortar and pestle is a bowl and a club. They turn hard things into powder and paste. Non-porous means without tiny holes that soak up liquid. A Chania cooking class is one more way to learn about this old pair.
On a Chania cooking class, what does the chef’s knife bring?
A Chania cooking class is about food, and the chef’s knife is a main kitchen tool. A chef’s knife is a medium to large kitchen knife used in food preparation. It was originally designed to slice and disjoint large cuts of beef and mutton.
A European chef’s knife has a blade 20 centimetres, or 8 inches, long. Individual models range from 15 to 36 centimetres in length. A blade is the cutting part of a knife. A Chania cooking class meets this tool only as a topic.
Forged knives are full-tang, with metal running from the tip to the far end of the handle. A tang is the part of the blade that runs into the handle. A stamped blade is cut to shape directly from cold rolled steel. A Chania cooking class is a fair prompt to read about such blades.
Carbon steel is an alloy of iron and about 1% carbon. An alloy is a mix of metals or of a metal and another element. Ceramic blades hold an edge the longest of all, but they chip easily. An edge is the sharp cutting line of a blade, and chipping means small pieces break off.
- Handles: Handles are made of wood, steel, or synthetic or composite materials.
- French style: French-style knives are not symmetrical and curve strongly up to the tip.
- German style: German-style knives are curved equally along the whole cutting edge and the spine.
In short, the chef’s knife is a broad, all-round blade with different shapes and materials. The spine is the blunt back edge of the blade. A Chania cooking class is one more way to learn how a kitchen tool is made.
On a Chania cooking class, what does the cutting board add?
A Chania cooking class is about food, and the cutting board is a plain tool of the kitchen. A cutting board is a durable flat surface on which to place material for cutting. Kitchen cutting boards can be made from a plank of hardwood or polyethylene.
Kitchen cutting boards come in different widths and sizes. Other board types exist for cutting raw materials such as leather, rubber or plastic. Polyethylene is a tough, light plastic. A Chania cooking class meets this tool only as a topic.
Early cutting boards date as far back as early 3000 BC. Cutting boards are known from ancient Egypt and from Greek and Roman kitchens. Early cutting boards were flat stones or large wooden slabs. A slab is a thick, flat piece of stone or wood. A Chania cooking class offers a fair reason to read about such boards.
Plastic boards are called HDPE, short for high-density polyethylene. Tamarind wood has a Janka hardness of more than 2000. The Janka scale measures how hard a wood is. Hardness is the resistance of a material to scratches and dents. A Chania cooking class joins a craft with varied materials.
- Teak: Teak has tight grains and natural coloration that make it attractive for boards.
- Glass: Glass boards can damage knives because of the material’s high hardness.
- Stone and wood: Early cutting boards were flat stones or large wooden slabs.
In short, the cutting board runs from flat stones in ancient kitchens to plastic and hardwood today. A cutting surface can be wood, plastic, glass or stone. A grain is the pattern of fibres in wood. A Chania cooking class is one more way to learn about this plain tool.
On a Chania cooking class, what does spanakopita bring?
A Chania cooking class is about food, and spanakopita is a Greek pie of spinach. Spinach, feta, onions or scallions, eggs and seasoning form the traditional filling. Dill, mint and parsley are herbs that can be used as flavouring.
Recipes can use a village-style pastry called horiatiko, which has a thicker crust. The pie can also be made with puff pastry. Pastry is a dough of flour and fat. A scallion is a young onion with a long green stalk. A Chania cooking class meets this dish only as a topic.
The pastry turns golden when baked. The pie can be eaten hot from the oven or once it has cooled to room temperature. Spanakopita appears on restaurant and hotel menus across Greece and abroad. A Chania cooking class is a fair prompt to read about such a pie.
Feta is a white cheese of Greece. The north of Greece lies near the northern borders of the country. The cheese version can be called spanakotiropita, especially in northern Greece. The fasting version is oven-baked until crisp. A fasting dish is one made without animal products. A Chania cooking class joins a dish with regional names.
- Zeljanica: Zeljanica in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a savory pie filled with spinach.
- Börek: The Turkish spinach börek takes its name from either Thessaloniki or Bosnia.
- Fasting version: The fasting version’s mixture is oven-baked until crisp.
In short, spanakopita is a spinach and feta pie. It is known by regional names from northern Greece to Bosnia. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in the Balkans. A savory dish is a salty one rather than a sweet one. A Chania cooking class is one more way to learn about this pie.
On a Chania cooking class, what does sourdough add?
A Chania cooking class is about food, and sourdough is one old way to make bread. The term describes bread baked with sourdough, while the sourdough itself is called a starter. Sourdough is a leavening agent containing naturally occurring yeast and lactobacillus bacteria.
A starter is a live mixture of flour and water containing wild yeast and lactobacilli. A leavening agent is something that makes dough rise. Lactobacilli are tiny bacteria that live in such a mixture. Wild yeast means yeast that comes from the air and the flour. A Chania cooking class meets this bread only as a topic.
The yeast produces carbon dioxide gas, which makes the dough rise. One of the oldest sourdough breads, dating from 3700 BC, was excavated in Switzerland. Excavated means dug up from the ground. A Chania cooking class is a fair prompt to read about such old loaves.
Sourdough remained the usual leavening down into the European Middle Ages. The Middle Ages are the centuries between ancient and modern Europe. Baked sourdough resists spoilage and mold without the additives other breads need. A Chania cooking class joins a bread with a very long record.
- Rye: In northern Europe, bread made from 100% rye flour is leavened with sourdough.
- Spoilage: Baked sourdough resists spoilage and mold without the additives other breads need.
- Gas: The yeast produces carbon dioxide gas, which makes the dough rise.
In short, sourdough is bread raised by a live starter of wild yeast and bacteria. Rye is a grain used for dark flour. Rye flour is made by grinding the seed of the rye plant. A Chania cooking class is one more way to learn about this old craft.
Ahead of a Chania cooking class, which common questions come up?
A Chania cooking class prompts four questions. The first concerns steaming and the second roasting. The third concerns grilling and the fourth the chef who leads a kitchen. Brief facts answer each below.
On a Chania cooking class, which cooking method uses steam?
Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. Steam pits used for cooking in the American Southwest date back about 5,000 years. Steaming can be far faster and more energy-efficient than full immersion in boiling water. Immersion means sinking something fully into a liquid. Boiling water is water heated until it bubbles.
Which cooking method uses dry heat behind a Chania cooking class?
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat. Roasting uses indirect, diffused heat, as in an oven. Food can be rotated on a spit or rotisserie. A spit is a long rod that turns food over a heat source.
Which cooking method uses surface heat behind a Chania cooking class?
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves heat applied to the surface of food. Heat transfer to the food when using a grill is primarily through thermal radiation. In the United States, grilling from above is called broiling. Thermal radiation is heat that travels as rays.
Which cook leads a kitchen behind a Chania cooking class?
A chef is a professional cook and tradesperson. The word chef comes from chef de cuisine, the director or head of a kitchen. A chef’s standard uniform includes a toque hat, a neckerchief, a double-breasted jacket, an apron and sturdy shoes. A toque is a tall white chef’s hat.