Learning design menus is important for aspiring chefs.
Appetizing, satisfying meals make hungry stomachs happy. Show aspiring caterers, personal chefs, chefs and others to make such meals by ensuring they learn design a menu. This knowledge will show them that a proper menu is not just a list of delicious food. It's more like a culinary battle plan. How-to-design-a-menu assignments will teach students the careful strategies necessary to create that battle plan.
Instructions
1. A balanced meal is a healthy meal.
Test students on their ability to provide a balanced meal. For certain events, a menu consisting of burgers, hot dogs and pizza is appropriate. But most of the time, more well-rounded food is in order. Have students design their sample menus using the standard four-item model of an entr e, a side, a vegetable and a dessert. For example: pork chops, red potatoes, green beans and parfaits; or chili, cornbread, fresh garden salad and chocolate mousse.
2. Have students design a colorful meal with different textures.
Ensure that menus consider visual appeal and have a variety of textures. For example, baked chicken, rice, cauliflower and custard is a balanced meal, but it's also colorless and rather visually boring. A menu that mixes it up a bit would be oven-fried chicken, herbed rice, broccoli and strawberry custard. And don't forget texture. Pork cutlets, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and fudge brownies is a colorful menu, but all the food is of a creamy, velvety variety. Add crunchy elements: pan-seared pork cutlets, corn-and-tomato salad, crispy potatoes wedges and walnut brownies.
3. Students should design menus that fit the occasion.
Make sure students' menus are appropriate for the event. Upscale, elegant fare is a good idea for occasions such as a wedding, professional dinner party or formal banquet, foods such as braised lamb, polenta, grilled ramps and nectarine-berry cobbler. In contrast, for more informal events, such as a family reunion, book club meeting or backyard supper, a more casual menu is fitting. Consider shrimp kebobs, veggie kebabs, potato salad and mini-cheesecakes.
4. Certain dietary guidelines call for specialized menus.
Let students practice tailoring menus to follow dietary restrictions. Some clients may have special needs, such as low-fat or low-carbohydrates, vegetarian or vegan and kosher foods. Or for medical reasons, they may be unable to eat dairy, sugar, salt, gluten or other foods. A low-carbohydrate menu would consist of turkey cheeseburgers without buns, sesame noodles, green beans and sugar-free strawberry-orange jello. A menu that could be tailored to fit vegans or vegetarians might contain vegetable lasagna, garlic bread, garden salad and rice pudding.
