Slide outline for Lesson 6.9. Twelve slides, one day. Slide 4 is the flowchart and it stays up all period. Slide 7 is the golden-brown photo pair and it is the most useful slide in the deck. [Sal: this is Lab 4. Do not reteach the phases or the roles.]
Lab 4, Black Bean Quesadillas
- Unit 6, Lesson 6.9
- Topic 6.2 Food Preparation Methods and Science
- Eight quesadillas. Two skillets. Eighteen minutes
Teacher notes
Image: a plate with a quesadilla cut into three wedges, a cup of salsa beside it.
Do now, at your station
- Hair back. Sleeves up. Wash hands. Sanitize your surface
- Role card in your pocket
- Stand at your station with your hands empty
- The timer starts when every station is standing
Teacher notes
The second question goes on the side board: "Eight quesadillas, two skillets, three minutes each. How long does the whole batch take if nothing goes wrong?" The math says twelve minutes. They have eighteen.
These two. Nothing else cuts
- A butter knife spreads
- Kitchen shears cut
- Nothing else cuts anything in this room, today or any day
- And nothing is ever cut in a hot skillet
Teacher notes
Image: a butter knife and a pair of kitchen shears on a clean counter, nothing else in frame.
This is the hook and it is a hard rule. Hold up both tools.
The flowchart
Minute: 0 5 10 15 20 25 28 35 40
Skillet 1: |#1|#2|#3|#4|
Skillet 2: |#5|#6|#7|#8|
Beans: |drain, rinse|refill as needed |
Cheese: |measure| |refill as needed |
Dessert: |set| |build stacks| |serve|
Plates: |line up| |cut, salsa, eat|
Clean: |as you go, all period |ZONES|Teacher notes
Leave this up all period. The two skillet rows are the whole lesson: they should have no gaps.
Today's new thing: throughput
- Lesson 6.8 had one long task that set the clock
- Today the clock is set by how many come off per minute
- You do not work faster
- You stop the skillet from ever sitting empty
Teacher notes
Name this out loud. It is a different scheduling problem than the pasta lab and it is the objective.
Prep, 0 to 10
- Rinse the beans until the water runs clear
- Measure and level 1 1/2 cups of cheese
- Both skillets on the burners, handles in, sprayed
- Heat goes on at minute 9, not before. An empty hot skillet smokes and is a hazard
Teacher notes
Unrinsed beans taste like the can, and students will tell you the dish is bad when the beans were the problem.
Golden brown, not burnt
Teacher notes
Image: three photos in a row of the same quesadilla: pale and floppy, golden brown in patches, and dark brown with black edges. Labeled "not yet," "done," "too far."
This is the doneness standard. Point at the middle one. Then the two rules: if the tortilla burns before the cheese melts the heat is too high, and if the cheese will not melt the heat is too low and it needs thirty more seconds a side, not more flame.
One quesadilla, in order
- Tortilla flat in the skillet
- About 3 Tablespoons of beans on one half, spread with a butter knife
- About 1/4 cup of cheese on the beans
- Fold over, press gently with the spatula
- 2 minutes, flip, 1 to 2 more
Teacher notes
More filling is not better. An overstuffed quesadilla falls apart when it is cut.
The empty skillet is the whole lesson
- The second one comes off, the next goes in
- The Helper Cook is the line feeder
- Dishes are a job for whoever is not feeding the line
Teacher notes
When you see an empty skillet on heat, ask whose job the next tortilla was. Do not fix it yourself.
Plate and eat, 28 to 35
- Cut into 2 or 3 wedges on the plate, with a butter knife
- Salsa cup at every plate
- Count the plates. Everyone has one before anyone sits
- Dessert stacks come out last
Teacher notes
Score the Lab Rubric on the clipboard while they eat.
Clean, 35 to 40
- Work your zone: stove and skillets, counters and supplies, dishes and sink, floor and trash
- Count the shears back to me
- Station Manager walks the check
- Nobody leaves until every station is signed
Teacher notes
Count the shears out and count them back in, every time, all year.
Your throughput
- What minute did #1 come off? What minute did #8?
- How many minutes of cook time?
- Quesadillas per minute?
- What minute did the line stall, and what one change would fix it? Name a role and a minute
Teacher notes
The Station Manager reads the station's throughput out loud when you sign. The Lab Reflection is finished in the first five minutes of Lesson 6.10 or goes home. Cost per station: about $12.94 main dish, about $20.91 with the dessert at full prices, which is over the cap. Run the swaps or share one dessert platter for the room [update from this week's circular].