Safety, big focus in cooking class
Local chefs are now halfway through the Rockmart Farmers Market’s newest six-week cooking course, and lesson three saw the class tackle the ins and outs of breakfast foods.
Since American breakfast uses plenty of animal products, lessons focused on both safety and taste.
“Salmonella infection is a common worry when dealing with raw or undercooked eggs,” market executive director Shonna Kirkpatrick said. “In poultry, the salmonella bacteria can inhabit the outside of the egg or the inside of the shell. One must cook the eggs to 160 degrees to kill all traces of the virus, and this will cook the insides of the egg hard.”
Using hygiene and prep tips from earlier classes, the group quickly made their food safe to eat and moved onto preparing the main items.
Grits, sweet potato hash browns, biscuits, pancakes, eggs, and much more were made from locally grown items directly from the market.
“Everyone has heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” Kirkpatrick said. “Unlike many of our evening meal choices, our breakfast has remained relatively unchanged throughout the last three hundred years. This is due in part to the simplicity of the ingredients involved in our breakfast dishes. While our evening meals are often complex or exotic, our breakfast meals are wholesome and filling- made to get us through the day.”
The students left after having learned how to make some of their favorite breakfast foods, but the remaining three classes have much more to teach. While it’s too late to sign up for the current six-week course, future classes can be found at http://www. rockmartfarmersmarket. com/upcoming-classes.
Those interested in seeing where the class gets their ingredients can visit the various farmers at the Rockmart Farmers Market from 2 through 6 p.m. every Thursday on Rockmart’s Water Street.