50 Minute Lessons – Teacher’s Guide

The aim of this pack is to provide teachers with practical lessons that focus on recipes using red meat that can be achieved within a one hour lesson. Each pack comprises a teacher’s guide, a recipe, two activities/resource sheets and an Excel spreadsheet with recipe costs. All resources can be edited to suit the needs of your school. The lessons can be taught in any order.

Pack One

Pack One consists of six recipes:

Lesson / Focus / Learning - knowledge / Learning – practical skills
Posh Burgers / Handling and cooking red meat safely. Encouraging creativity.
The ‘premiumisation’ of products, such as burgers. / Food safety – handling and cooking red meat.
Creativity.
Applied nutrition – healthier options. / Weigh/measure, safe use of claw grip/bridge hold, combining/mixing, shaping, safe handling and cooking of raw meat, safe use of the grill.
Quick Lamb Kebabs / The basic structure of meat, cuts and cooking methods, handling and cooking red meat safely and applying principles of current healthy eating guidelines. / Structure of meat (basic), cuts and cooking methods.
Tenderising meat.
Current healthy eating guidelines.
Fruit and vegetables. / Weigh/measure, peel, cut/slice, crush, combine/mix, assemble, safe handling and cooking of raw meat, safe use of the grill.
Pork Risotto / Handling and cooking red meat safely and the safe cooking and storage of a cooked rice dish. / Food safety – handling and cooking red meat.
Food safety – cooking, cooling, storage and reheating of rice dishes.
Composite dishes.
Applied nutrition and current healthy eating guidelines. / Weigh/measure, peel, cut/slice, safe handling and cooking of raw meat, combine/mix, fry, simmer, safe use of a kettle, safe use of the hob.
Chilli Ginger Beef / Preparing and cooking a dish from an international cuisine and explores the importance of making healthier food and cooking choices. / International cuisines.
Flavourings and seasonings.
Sensory evaluation (product profiles). / Weigh/measure, peel, cut/slice, safe handling and cooking of raw meat, preparation of chillies, stir fry, safe use of the hob, boiling/simmering, draining (noodles).
Quick Lamb Rogan Josh / Understanding cuts of red meat, handling and cooking red meat safely and the use of spices to add flavour and colour. / Cuts of red meat and cooking methods.
Flavourings and seasonings.
Factors affecting food choice. / Weigh/measure, peel, cut/slice, safe handling and cooking of raw meat, safe use of the hob, safe use of a kettle, draining (rice).
Quick Pizza / The rubbing- in method to make a pizza base and the functions of the main ingredients. / Functions of ingredients – shortening, coagulation of protein, dextrinisation of starches.
How cooking affects ingredients.
Applied nutrition and current healthy eating guidelines. / Weigh/measure, peel, cut/slice, grate, rub in, mix and shape, assemble, use of decoration/finishing techniques, bake, safe use of the oven.

Activities

The activities/resource sheets are fully editable and can be used as starter or plenary activities, set as homework or independent learning or used to lead onto extension tasks to consolidate learning.

The resources include:

Recipe/lesson pack / Resource
Posh Burgers / Food hygiene questions–activity sheet to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding of food hygiene.
Food safety and hygiene worksheet – focuses on the steps undertaken to ensure that the pupil’s finished burgers were safe to eat.
Quick Lamb Kebabs / Meat cuts – research task to investigate meat cuts and cooking methods.
Red meat under the microscope – investigation task and worksheet looking at red meat, meat cuts and cooking methods.
Pork Risotto / Food safety – worksheet focusing on bacterial growth, high risk foods and Bacillus cereus.
Healthy eating questions – worksheet focusing on composite dishes, modifying recipes and designing meals based on current healthy eating guidelines.
Chilli Ginger Beef / What does it taste like? – product profile worksheet.
Where in the world? – worksheet tasking students to research where a variety of ingredients are grown, reared or caught and how they are prepared (answers provided).
Quick Lamb Rogan Josh / Factors affecting food choices – worksheet to investigate reasons associated with food choice.
Tasty choices – research task focusing on herbs and spices.
Quick Pizza / Functions of ingredients – activity to undertake during the practical lesson (or for homework) focusing on the functions of the pizza base ingredients.
Thinking pot questions – a selection of questions based on Blooms Taxonomy to assess understanding.

Further resources

The following resources are all available on the Meat and Education website:

My Cooking Counts (MCC) – a free interactive resource that enables pupils to record and rate their food skills and ingredients used. Teachers can upload and share recipes or use those on the MCC database. MCC enables teachers to track and monitor pupils’ progress and provides invaluable information for reporting purposes. There is a wide range of worksheets and activities on the website to support the use of My Cooking Counts in school.

All about meat -the All about meat resources provide up-to-date, accurate and clear information and teaching resources on red meat. These have been designed to support Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 students.

There are seven modules available:

  • This is meat– an introduction to the structure and composition of meat
  • Meat types and cuts- a summary of the different types of meat cuts and suitable cooking techniques
  • Meat storage and preparation-key information on shelf life, safety and hygiene, methods of heat transfer and the changes meat undergoes when being cooked
  • Meat and the consumer- insight into the key considerations made by consumers when buying red meat
  • Meat and health– basic nutrition information and the role of red meat in the diet
  • Livestock farming and meat production in England and Wales– an overview of livestock farming for meat production
  • All about me- an introduction to the 8 tips for healthy eating.

Digi bites - the short video clips ensures they can be easily woven into different lessons to stimulate student learning. There are 33Digi bitesto watch. To view the full list of Digi Bites visit the Meat and Education YouTube channel.

  • Digi bites - eat right
  • Digi bites - produce right
  • Digi bites –cook right
  • Digi bites - design right
  • Digi bites - careers

Food skills – the Food Skills toolkit has been designed to support progression in cooking, nutrition, health,meal planning, food safety and hygiene.There are 5 theory and 5 cooking lessons for Year 7, 8 and 9 available - all with support resources.

  • Food skills – year 7
  • Food skills - year 8
  • Food skills - year 9

Sausage creator

The activity, designed for students aged 11-16 years, challenges the user to model their own sausage recipe based on industry standards. The programme enables students to select from a range of ingredients that feature in premium pork sausages and facilitates calculation of the correct mix of ingredients to achieve a viable end product. Feedback on the choice of ingredients is given as the user moves through the programme.

Food hygiene classroom resources

  • Classroom ready starter, plenary and homework activities focusing on food hygiene and safety -
  • Food hygiene and safety active learning resource – use to stimulate research and independent learning, bingo game or board game with questions and answers -

Downloadable posters

  • Food provenance on your doorstep -
  • Eating nose to tail -
  • Know your red meat (beef, lamb and pork) -
  • Food skills and cooking techniques -

Make it with mince resources

Challenge your Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 pupils to be creative with beef, lamb and pork mince. Different contexts are provided to add variety. Completing one or more of the challenges would give your pupils the opportunity to understand where food comes from, discuss and apply healthy eating messages, demonstrate how to write a clear and easy to follow recipe and to calculate the cost of ingredients for dishes.

Resources include:

  • 10 different challenges each of which includes a teacher's guide, with aims and objectives, suggested activities and links to further supporting resources such as posters and videos
  • 14 worksheets, which are referenced in the challenges. These could be used as stand-alone tasks in the classroom, set for homework or be adapted as starter or plenary activities
  • A pupil certificate which can be downloaded and changed to suit your needs. Why not personalise the certificate and add your school logo?
  • A KS4 controlled assessment task sheet - 4 tasks with suggestions for research, design and development activities along with links to further resources.

Useful websites

Eat Welsh Lamb and Beef website -

Simply Beef and Lamb website -

Love Pork website -

Livestock and Meat Commission (Northern Ireland) website -

Storage of ingredients and cooked dishes

  • In order to prevent bacterial multiplication, high risk ingredients should be stored in the fridge, below 5°C, before the beginning of the school day.
  • The cooked dishes should be covered and labelled and then stored in a cool dry place until cool enough to go in the fridge. Store below 5°C within 90 minutes of cooking.

Storage and reheating labels

Adapt the following labels to suit your needs. Please ensure that pupils know that the food should be eaten within 48 hours from when it was made(24 hours for rice dishes).