1.1.1

General Practical Skills

Test yourself on General Practical Skills

Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

General Practical Skills

You should know the following skills for your exam:

Weighing and measuring

Weighing and measuring

  • Measuring solids and dry ingredients - usually use a balance or electronic weighing scales.
    • Example food products - sugar, margarine, butter, flour, icing sugar.
  • Measuring liquids - usually use a measuring cups jug and pour in the right amount of litres (or millilitres).
    • Example food products - milk, water.
  • Measuring small quantities - usually use spoons (teaspoons or tablespoons).
    • Example food products- baking soda, ginger, oregano, chili powder.
Preparing food and equipment

Preparing food and equipment

  • If you're baking cakes, you should grease or line your cake tins. For some other dishes, you may need to put oil, butter or flour on your equipment as lining.
  • Examples - lining a tray with grease-proof paper, flouring a surface before rolling dough when making bread, greasing a cake tin when making a fat lemon drizzle cake.
Choosing & changing cooking times

Choosing & changing cooking times

  • You'll need to choose an appropriate cooking time based on what type of food you're cooking and how big the portion size is.
  • Cooking is an art. You may need to cook things for longer or take them out sooner when things change.
Factors affecting cooking time

Factors affecting cooking time

  • The size of what you're cooking affects how fast it cooks (this is linked to surface area: volume ratios). For example:
    • Small chunks of diced chicken will be cooked through faster than a whole chicken breast.
    • A thicker cut of lamb will take longer to cook than a thinner cut of lamb.
  • Some foods take longer to cook than other foods. For example:
    • A pork fillet will take longer to cook than a fillet of fish.

How To Test If Food is Ready?

Techniques for testing if food is ready include:

Knife/skewer test

Knife/skewer test

  • Technique - pierce foods like cakes with a knife or skewer. They're cooked if the knife/skewer is clean when you take it out.
Temperature probe test

Temperature probe test

  • Technique - pierce foods like meat with a temperature probe to check that they're hot enough.
Poke test

Poke test

  • Technique - press on cakes. They're cooked if they bounce back.
Visual colour check

Visual colour check

  • Technique - check the colour of baked goods like pastries. They should be golden brown once done.
Sound check

Sound check

  • Technique - tap on a bread roll. You'll hear a hollow sound if baked through.
Bite test

Bite test

  • Technique - taste foods like spaghetti or rice while cooking. You'll know they're cooked enough when they taste how you want them to.

Judge and Modify Sensory Properties

Techniques for judging and modifying sensory properties include:

Changing taste and aroma

Changing taste and aroma

  • Things you can use to change the flavour of food:
    • Spices.
    • Herbs.
    • Salt
    • Reduction.
    • Pastes.
    • Pepper.
    • Infusions (e.g. herb infused oils).
    • Jus (juices from cooked meats).
Changing the texture

Changing the texture

  • Things you can add to change the texture of food:
    • Crisp.
    • Crust.
    • Crumbs.
  • E.g. making goujons by coating chicken strips in breadcrumbs.
Changing the flavour

Changing the flavour

  • Browning - two processes that brown food are dextrinisation and caramelisation. You can also brown food surfaces using a blowtorch.
  • Glazing - you can brush foods with eggs to glaze them before cooking. The food will come out brown.
Presentation and food style

Presentation and food style

  • Garnishing - you can add a bit of colour or flavour by garnishing dishes.
    • Examples - mint leaves, herbs like basil and coriander, edible flowers.
  • Piping - a decorative technique.
    • Example - icing on a cake.
Jump to other topics
1

Food Preparation Skills

1.1

Food Preparation Skills

1.1.1General Practical Skills1.1.2Knife Skills1.1.3Preparing Fruit, Vegetables & Using Equipment1.1.4Cooking Methods: Prepare, Shape & Combine1.1.5Sauce Making, Tenderising & Marinating1.1.6Dough & Pastry1.1.7Shaping & Finishing Dough1.1.8Raising Agents & Mixtures1.1.9End of Topic Test - Food Preparation Skills 1
2

Food, Nutrition & Health

2.1

Macronutrients

2.1.1Proteins2.1.2Proteins 22.1.3Fats2.1.4Carbohydrates2.1.5Carbohydrates 2
2.2

Micronutrients

2.2.1Fat-Soluble Vitamins2.2.2Water-Soluble Vitamins2.2.3Minerals & Water2.2.4Minerals & Water 22.2.5End of Topic Test - Macro & Micronutrients
2.3

Nutritional Needs & Health

2.3.1Informed Choices for a Balanced Diet2.3.2Informed Choices for a Balanced Diet 22.3.3Energy Needs2.3.4Nutritional Analysis2.3.5Diet Modifications2.3.6Diet-Related Problems2.3.7Diet-Related Problems 22.3.8End of Topic Test - Nutritional Needs & Health
3

Food Science

3.1

Cooking of Food & Heat Transfer

3.1.1Reasons for Cooking & Heat Transfer3.1.2Water-Based Cooking Methods3.1.3Fat-Based Cooking Methods3.1.4Dry Cooking Methods3.1.5Dry Cooking Methods 2
3.2

Functional & Chemical Properties of Food

3.2.1Proteins & Carbohydrates3.2.2Fats & Oils3.2.3Raising Agents3.2.4End of Topic Test - Food Science
4

Food Safety

4.1

Food Spoilage & Contamination

4.1.1Microorganisms & Signs of Food Spoilage4.1.2Enzymes & Signs of Food Spoilage4.1.3Food Poisoning4.1.4Bacterial Contamination4.1.5Microorganisms in Food Production
4.2

Principles of Food Safety

4.2.1Temperature Control4.2.2Ambient Foods & Food Labels4.2.3Preparing, Cooking & Serving Food4.2.4End of Topic Test - Food Safety
5

Food Choice

5.1

Factors Affecting Food Choice

5.1.1Factors Which Influence Food Choice5.1.2Food Choices5.1.3Religious Food Choices5.1.4Food Labels5.1.5Mandatory Food Labels5.1.6Optional Food Labels5.1.7Marketing Influences5.1.8End of Topic Test - Food Choice
5.2

British & International Cuisines

5.2.1British Cuisine5.2.2Japanese Cuisine5.2.3Japanese Ingredients & Dishes5.2.4Spanish Cuisine5.2.5Spanish Ingredients & Dishes
5.3

Sensory Evaluation

5.3.1Taste Receptors & Olfactory Systems5.3.2Sensory Testing Methods5.3.3Sensory Testing Methods 25.3.4End of Topic Test - Cuisines & Senses
6

Food Provenance

6.1

Environmental Impact & Sustainability of Food

6.1.1Food Sources - Intensive & Organic Farming6.1.2Food Sources - Genetically Modified Crops6.1.3Food Sources - Reared Food6.1.4Food Sources - Caught Food6.1.5Food & The Environment6.1.6Food & The Environment 26.1.7Sustainability of Food6.1.8Sustainability of Food 26.1.9End of Topic Test - Environmental Impacts
6.2

Food Processing & Production

6.2.1Primary Food Processing6.2.2Primary Food Processing 26.2.3Secondary Food Processing6.2.4Fortification6.2.5Additives6.2.6End of Topic Test - Food Processing & Production

Practice questions on General Practical Skills

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    What piece of equipment is most commonly used to measure solids?Multiple choice
  2. 2
    What should be added to a surface before rolling dough?Multiple choice
  3. 3
    Which of the following is NOT a technique for testing if food is ready?Multiple choice
  4. 4
    Which of the following is NOT a method for browning food?Multiple choice
  5. 5
    Ways of changing the texture of food:True / false
Answer all questions on General Practical Skills

Unlock your full potential with Seneca Premium

  • Unlimited access to 10,000+ open-ended exam questions

  • Mini-mock exams based on your study history

  • Unlock 800+ premium courses & e-books

Get started with Seneca Premium

Knife Skills