The students eat their finished dishes at the end of the lesson. Japanese cuisine is the theme of Cookology this quarter, and their pop-up restaurant will have Japanese food.
McCormick junior Thomas Wu (left) and McCormick junior Shannon Kollasch work together to make their dish.
Oakton Community College junior Jason Chiu teaches how to properly hand someone a knife.
Students practice knife skills as they make oyakodon. Cookology will hold a knife skills lesson on Friday.
Jeang puts the finishing touches on his dish of oyakodon.
McCormick sophomore William Jeang leads students in making oyakodon, a Japanese dish with chicken, rice and egg.
Photos by Carlyn Kranking / North by Northwestern
A small group of students gathered in Sheil on Friday to learn to cook oyakodon, a Japanese dish with rice, chicken and egg. McCormick sophomore William Jeang, a self-taught cook, led the lesson. He said that he learned to cook because he wanted to impress girls and because his mother was never a great cook herself.
“I’ve always been interested in food,” Jeang said. “I watched the cooking videos and I watched my mom cook her simple foods. Starting out, everything didn’t naturally just happen, but I picked it up pretty quickly, I think.”
Jeang began the lesson by showing students how to make oyakodon by making the dish and letting everyone taste it. Then, the students split into pairs and made the dish on their own.
“I think the knife skills part, knowing how to cut stuff, is the most difficult,” Communication sophomore Andrea Albanez said. “For me, I learned to cut meat in a better way that I didn’t know before.”
Because knife skills are so important, Cookology is holding a knife skills lesson this Friday. The group has weekly lessons, and its quarter will end with a pop-up Japanese cuisine restaurant.
“The reason why we have these cooking lessons is actually in hopes that general members will pick up some of these skills," Jeang said, "and if they’re willing to, they’ll be able to help us out at our pop-up restaurant.”