Melnick

Name: Anna Melnick

Guiding Question: Would I want to cook Panamanian food when I am fending for myself in college and later in life? (i.e. ease of cooking, expense of food, taste, leftover storage capability).

(Required) This plan is a “best guess” as to what you and your mentor think you will be doing. It is not meant to be a hard and fast schedule for your Exploration. The plan should illustrate how you intend to complete a minimum of 80 hours.


 * = Date ||= Location/Activity ||= Number of Hours ||
 * = throughout ||= Miss Maria's House- Cooking ||= 35 ||
 * = throughout ||= Pathmark (Super Market) ||= 7 ||
 * = throughout ||= Driving ||= 5 ||
 * = throughout ||= Miss Maria's house- Demonstration Observing ||= 7 ||
 * = throughout ||= Miss Maria's House- Wait Time (for things that have to set) ||= 4 ||
 * = throughout ||= Miss Maria's House- Eating ||= 15 ||
 * = throughout ||= Home/Mike's House- Researching Dishes ||= 5 ||
 * = throughout ||= Budgeting Money ||= 2 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||
 * =  ||> Total Number of Hours ||= 80 ||

Journals: 1. So far to date Michael and I have made guacamole, pico de gallo, spiced chicken for tacos, refried beans, and tres leche cake. The easiest to cook was probably the refried beans which consisted of dicing some onion, cooking them in a pan with a bit of olive oil, adding two cans of beans, letting them cook until soft enough to mush, and then squishing them to proper consistency with a potato masher. The nice thing about all the things we've made so far is that none of them required recipes or complicated ingredients or techniques and I still remember how to prepare them all a few days later after each day we cooked something, which supports why I would choose to cook Panamanian food if I were on my own because it's really quick and easy. However, some things we totally finished within a few hours (like the chicken) while we had leftover guacamole for many more days, and although Miss Maria taught us a trick to keep guacamole from turning brown (add the pit!), I don't know if I'd particularly want to eat guacamole for more than a day or two in a role (although it's an easy food to bring to a social gathering with chips, so I don't think I'd have too much left for very long). The other thing is that although most of the ingredients do not need refridgeration (condensed milk, avacados, etc), most of the products do need refridgeration, and so if I only had a mini fridge in my room, I don't think I'd be able to fit a pan of tres leche cake in there to set and then eat over the next few days. Overall though, I am feeling more confident in my ability to throw something together given fresh food options (and not just microwave a Lean Cuisine, as I'm eating as I type this), which makes the process of cooking Panamanian food much more appealing than styles which may take planning ahead, preparation, or intensive recipes. We have a date for next Sunday to learn to make a tradition Panamanian potato soup on an open fire (that can also obviously be cooked stove top), and so far the exploration, mentor, and exploration partner, are going excellently.

2. Last night we had a dinner party for which we made a Panamanian soup, Sancocho, which has chicken with an herb rub, broth, Mexican cilantro, and the "potato of South America", which I think was a yucca root. In addition, we made a fresh fruit salad with mango and papaya and Ojalda, which are fried flat breads that are really versatile and can be eaten with soup (like we did) or with melted butter and cinnamon sugar for a dessert/breakfast style bread product. It was the first time I'd ever peeled a yucca, which is surprisingly easy to peel; I thought it would almost be like I had to whittle away the bark-like outer layer of the root, but you don't use a vegetable peeler (you'd probably break it), but using a large knife to cut strips down the sides from the top (similar to peeling a pineapple), works best. The inside was kind of slimy and white, but once cooked it's fantastic. All it takes is a pot of boiling water, and it's pretty hard to over cook them or ruin a batch, so definitely a good option! However, the peeling and peels would make them possible not as good as making boiled potatoes, or a microwave baked potato, being that I don't think you can cook a yucca root in the microwave. Mexican cilantro has a milder flavor than regular cilantro which is fine by me as I really dislike the taste of cilantro, but I've found that Mexican cilantro is rather tasty, and that even regular cilantro, when mixed with things such as tomato or onion, isn't as pungent and strong taste wise as when it's directly chopped fresh plain over say, a piece of chicken. The ojalda was tasty and super easy to make, just frying them in a pan, which although runs the risk of a kitchen fire, we learned how to test oil for proper heat and how to manage the oil so that in case of an emergency, it would be okay! The papaya was the first time I've ever peeled a fruit that large; it's kind of similar to a pumpkin in that you have to scoop out the seeds and a bit of the pulp (and cut out the attachment of all the stringy bits), before peeling standing up with a knife the way I learned with the yucca root. I'm not a huge fan of papaya, but I certainly did eat a bunch of mango! Overall, I think the soup was a really easy and tasty dish to make, but it did require a bit of time, so probably something I'd save for a weekend if I were cooking dinner for a group of friends rather than just myself (it also makes a ton too). This was our second to last cooking session, but I certainly feel I've made amazing progress!

3. For our last and final cooking experience, Mike and I made empanadas and had a few friends over to share them with, which is similar to what I would do in college if I were not cooking for just myself, make a large, easy dish that many people would enjoy. The empanadas were super easy to make, and we had cheese, beef, beef and cheese, and sausage filling. I'm recognizing that one of the biggest things that makes Panamanian food the way it is is spices. Goya brand makes a lot of the stuff that Miss Maria uses, such as seasoning/flavor packets, bottles of spices, and the dough rounds we used for the empanadas. You can either fry them or cook them in the oven, so it's nice to have a healthy variety and a more indulgent one, as well as an easier or more authentic way to make them. The filling was literally a square of american cheese, nothing fancy, so definitely accessable for a college student. Overall we made 120 empanadas, which took 10 people about an hour or two to eat. They also store and reheat incredibly well, and, if sealed correctly (i.e. they don't explode in the oven), they're nice, neat little packages that can be made in large batches, refridgerated, and then heated up individually as needed, which is a really smart option for college (similar to making a huge batch of soup and then freezing it in individual portions). Overall, to answer my question, I would say that, yes, I would definitely cook Panamanian food for myself in college, and especially for friends or if I were to host a large dinner party because the food is so accessable and easy, and tastes fantastic too!