Courses > Plant-Based Cooking: An Introduction
Course Overview
In this course you will learn about how exciting plant-based cooking can be. We will help to arm you with the tools needed to live and eat a plant-strong diet — from basic knife skills, to basic nutrition, to learning about how to convert or substitute recipes. You will also learn how to begin in…
Click to expand...Course Objectives
- Begin to handle your knife like a pro
- Prepare delicious salads with great flavor and texture
- Learn how to prepare plant-based snacks and treats
- Select, prepare and serve delicious vegetables, grains and bean dishes
- Learn the importance of mise en place and organization
- Shop with confidence and stock your pantry with essential plant-based staples
- Gain confidence with basic cooking techniques and methods
- Use herbs, spices and other ingredients to develop flavor
- Explain essential nutritional and health benefits of a plant-based diet
- Develop an action plan for a successful transition to a plant-based lifestyle
Course Syllabus
Unit 1: Plant-Based Series Overview & Orientation
Welcome to the Rouxbe Cooking School. Before you begin learning about transitioning to cooking and eating more plant-based foods, you will want to be sure that you understand the course structure, how the learning platform works, what we expect of you as a student, and what you can expect from us. This introductory unit sets your learning stage.
Lesson 1
Course Orientation - Plant-Based Cooking: An Introduction
Unit 2: Getting Yourself Set Up & Motivated
This unit introduces a few foundation lessons, that will help establish the framework for approaching the next few weeks and months as you progress through this course and then use it as a reference and resource. Our goal with this unit, is to prepare your mind for many of the hidden, and often overlooked challenges associated with a shift to a plant-based way of life.
Lesson 1
Plant-Based Primer First Steps
Lesson 2
Lesson 1: The Map of Cooking
Lesson 3
Lesson 2: The Challenges Ahead of You
Lesson 4
Lesson 3: Your Plant-Based Motivation
Lesson 5
Lesson 4: Kitchen Tools & Pantry Set-Up
Lesson 6
Lesson 5: Basic Seasoning
In this lesson, you will learn about the types of salt which are commonly used during the cooking process and how salt affects food. You will also learn how to season with salt and when to salt food during the cooking process, so you can bring out the best flavor in your food.
Lesson 7
Unit Review
Unit 3: Knife Skills & Let's Get Cooking
This unit charts a path for you to become more comfortable and proficient with handling a knife. Since a knife is the most important tool in the kitchen, we offer guidance on how to select and care for your knives while giving you ample opportunity to practice your skills.
Lastly, we need to get you cooking. So you’ll be using your knife to begin preparing delicious plant-based recipes.
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 2
Lesson 6: Selecting a Knife Set
Learn what to look for when selecting the right knife for you and why it's important to use high-quality knives.
Lesson 3
Lesson 7: Proper Knife Handling
Tackle the techniques behind using most important knife in your kitchen: the chef's knife.
Lesson 4
Lesson 8: How to Cut with a Chef’s Knife
Tackle the techniques behind using most important knife in your kitchen: the chef's knife.
Lesson 5
Daily & Weekly Meal Strategies
Lesson 6
Unit Review
Unit 4: Plant-Based Nutrition
In this unit, you will begin to learn about how to get the proper nutrition that you need in order to thrive plant based. You will discern the differences between refined and processed foods versus whole foods, and learn about how plants benefit the body.
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 2
Lesson 10: Learning to Eat
In this lesson, you will learn how to discern processed, refined food from whole foods, and explore nutrient density.
Lesson 3
Lesson 11: Introduction to Plant-Based Nutrition
In this lesson, you will learn about the macro and micro nutrients the human body needs to thrive, nutrient function and their sources.
Lesson 5
Unit Review
Unit 5: Basic Cooking Methods, Part 1
This unit focuses on cooking methods, especially moist-heat methods such as steaming and submersion, and techniques such as poaching, simmering and boiling. These techniques are essential for making soups, stocks and many other dishes.
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 2
Lesson 12: Submersion Cooking Methods
Submersion cooking methods are moist-heat cooking methods that consist of poaching, simmering and boiling. In these cases, ingredients are cooked by being submerged in hot liquids.
Lesson 3
Lesson 13: Steaming Fundamentals
In this lesson, you will learn how to properly prepare food for steaming, and how to infuse subtle flavor into your vegetables with the steaming technique.
Lesson 4
Lesson 14: Steaming Vegetables
In this lesson, you will steam and finish many sizes of vegetables.
Lesson 5
Unit Review and Assessment
Unit 6: Basic Cooking Methods, Part 2
This unit focuses on dry-heat cooking methods. It will introduce some foundational knowledge on how to heat a pan. This unit also covers the techniques of sweating and roasting, both of which help build flavor in your food.
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 3
Lesson 15: Dry-Heat Cooking | How to Sweat
In this lesson, you will learn how to sweat food properly and why it is often beneficial to sweat the small stuff.
Lesson 4
Lesson 16: Dry-Heat Cooking | How to Sauté
Learning how to sauté is an important task for any home cook or professional chef. It is one of the fastest and most common dry-heat cooking methods used to cook bite-sized pieces of food in a pan.
Lesson 5
Lesson 17: How to Roast Vegetables
Lesson 6
Lesson 18: Combination Cooking Methods
Combination cooking involves both dry- and moist-heat cooking. Braising, stewing and pot-roasting are all combination cooking methods which are excellent for cooking certain vegetables as well as tofu, tempeh and seitan.
Lesson 7
Unit Review and Assessment
Unit 7: Vegetables & Salads
Fresh, raw salads and a variety of vegetables are the staple of the plant-based diet. While healthy, these do not have to be typical, dull and repetitive. In this unit, you will learn the basics of vegetable cookery, how to choose and identify an assortment of salad greens, how to build a variety of dressings.
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 2
Lesson 19: Salad Basics
This lesson focusses on the selecting and preparing of a variety of salad greens and preparing delicious dressings.
Lesson 3
Lesson 20: How to Preserve Vegetable Pigments
In this lesson, you will learn to identify common pigment categories and understand how to preserve the color and nutrients of each pigment category.
Lesson 4
Lesson 21: Cooking Vegetables in Water
In this lesson, you will learn how to cook vegetables in water while preserving their nutrients and color.
Lesson 5
Lesson 22: No-Heat Cooking Methods
No heat cooking methods include some of the most basic techniques cooks use everyday, including soaking, blending and marinating.
Lesson 6
Unit Review and Assessment
Unit 8: Grains & Legumes
In this unit, you will learn how to buy and store dried legumes and grains and how to prepare them for cooking. You will also learn how to properly cook and test legumes and grains for doneness, how to prepare legumes and grains in advance and easy ways to incorporate them into your diet. After this unit, you will have no more excuses for not eating your beans and grains!
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 2
Lesson 21: Rice Basics
In this lesson, you will learn the basics of cooking rice.
Lesson 3
Lesson 22: Cooking Rice
In this lesson, you will learn to make plain and infused white rice, along with brown rice with a flavorful stock.
Lesson 4
Lesson 23: How to Cook Grains
This lesson will teach you how to properly prepare grains in safe and healthy ways, and introduce you to versatile quinoa.
Lesson 5
Lesson 24: How to Cook Dried Legumes
In this lesson you will begin to understand how to buy, store, soak, and prepare dried legumes.
Lesson 6
Unit Review and Assessment
Unit 9: Substitutions & Converting Foods to Be Plant-Based
In this unit, you will be introduced to the variety of food products that can substitute for meat or other animal products. You will learn about how to prepare them in ways similar to meat, to help you achieve similar flavors and textures to a meat based dish, and you will practice converting a comfort food recipe into a plant-based version that tastes amazing.
Lesson 1
Unit Orientation
Lesson 2
Lesson 25: Plant-Based Food Substitutions
In this lesson you will learn how to substitute plant based food products like seitan and tofu for animal based products like meat and dairy. You will examine the vegan cheat sheet and learn plant based protein sources.
Lesson 3
Lesson 26: Converting Recipes to Become Plant-Based
As no one diet is best for everyone, each learner will need to understand and embrace the notion that substitutions, replacements, and variations are important part of the cooking empowerment process.
Lesson 4
Unit Review
Unit 10: Final Assessment
This is where it all comes together. In this unit, you will be given your final assessment on the material that is covered in the preceding units. What’s next? Level 2.
Lesson 1
Course Review & Final Assessment
Student Work
Pantry
This is a collage photo of my in-kitchen pantry and my back-up pantry. I keep extra supplies in the back-up pantry of those stock i... View More
Practice Recipes
