Determination of misconceptions in cooking methods and chopping techniques in culinary education

Abstract

This study aims to determine the misconceptions that students enrolled in the culinary program have regarding cooking methods and cutting techniques. Within the scope of the research, a three-stage misconception determination test was administered to first- and second-year students enrolled in the Culinary Program at Söğüt Vocational School. Concept maps related to the subject were prepared for the students before the test was administered. The test results were analysed in terms of general misconceptions and positive and negative misconceptions. The findings from the analysis of misconceptions showed that students had the most misconceptions about techniques such as “blanching”, “braising” and “stir frying”. When examining the findings on chopping techniques, the same results emerged for the concepts of “paysanne chopping”, “medium dice chopping” and “oblique cuts”. The high level of confidence in the answers chosen by the students indicates that the misconceptions are persistent. The results indicate the need to develop educational strategies for concept teaching in culinary education.