Accurately and fairly evaluating students’ cooking efforts may seem like running a fine line between objective and subjective grading. You want them to correctly produce the item and please the customer, who at this moment is you.

I discovered through discussions with other discipline instructors that there is a difference between our rubrics. I allot set point values for the entire item, usually five points for each item not on a practical, and also judge on eight to 10 other aspects of the dish. Other teachers grade on a singular component. For example, an English instructor might grade the use of periods in a written piece. Usually, the grading is fast-paced and a combination of both objective and subjective matter across the curriculum. 

When the grading begins long after the demo plates were consumed, all that is left are the predetermined grading criteria. Some items are easily defined: knife dimensions and cut consistency (objective); temperature (both objective and subjective); flavor (objective and subjective); and portion size, garnishes and plate presentation (objective). In a pastry shop, the grading criteria might be size, shape, consistency, height or spread, which are all objective. Subjective criteria might include color, flavor and temperature. 

Subjective grading aspects can be difficult for students to understand and instructors to explain. A long time ago, I was trying to explain to a student why this person lost points on an item because it wasn’t green enough. I tried using different adjectives describing the proper green color. It was hard and I didn’t do an effective job. 

I got an idea to help make subjective grading criteria more objective. I made a few trips to a local home improvement store (as to seem inconspicuous) and raided their paint sample racks. I went through every item on the class curriculum where color made a difference. I picked the correct production paint chip. If there was a color that indicated an incorrect procedure (for example too much cream in the cream-based soup), I selected the incorrect paint chip too. After a few trips, I had enough chips to complete every item we needed, plus others that I thought might come in handy for future curriculum and menu changes. 

I organized them in an order that made sense and numbered the squares. I then had them framed and hung in the kitchen. My grading criteria now reads like this:  

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples:  

• Bacon should be rendered crispy and finished as a garnish on top of the cabbage 
• Cabbage should be consistent chiffonade 
• Should have a sweet/tangy flavor 
• Cabbage should be cooked through till tender-not crunchy or completely mush 
• Reddish-purple in color/not bluish-grey. On chart- colors # 65, 66, 67 
• Seasoned and served HOT   

Sauce Choron:

• Light orange in color. On Chart- colors # 80, 81, “B”, about the same color as the salmon mousseline
• Smooth appearance
• Buttery, velvety texture with the proper acidity
• Sauce should have the richness of tomatoes, with a hint of tarragon
• Should be a proper emulsification, not broken, eggs not curdled, butter not solidified 
• Should be seasoned properly and served warm

Salmon Mousseline Forcemeat:

• Mousseline is light in texture and has the proper color. On chart- colors # “B”, 88
• Mousseline is the proper consistency, as shown in the demo
• Mousseline is seasoned well
• Mousseline is kept out of the TDZ

Carnitas:

• Meat diced into 1” cubes
• Meat has rested overnight in the marinade
• Meat is caramelized on all sides. On chart- colors # 4, 5, 6 after rendering
• Meat still retains shape after being cooked, but is still tender on all sides
• Seasoned properly, and is flavorful

You can use this objective color grading system for cream of green vegetable soup, risotto Milanese, gravy, green vegetables, beurre noisette, etc. I have seen students take their pots to the charts and compare it with the appropriate color swatch. 

I was talking to a pastry chef the other day and it occurred to me that this system could be used in a cake decorating class. For example, if you are creating your school’s logo color, you could instruct the students to use one quart of American Buttercream and a specific amount of color numbers from the chart. Or, have a system of matching colors on the wall to the amount of coloring you need in icing, fondant, etc. The same principle would apply to other formulas as well. 

Make sure to get extra colors when creating your color system, even if you think you don’t need them. Also, include colors of what a dish might look like if it was made incorrectly. Look at the above example of braised red cabbage. You might say, “If your product starts to look like this (insert color number), then you need to get a new mise en place and start over.”

Instructors also can scan the squares if you want a digital color guide. A side note: the numbers on the squares on my digital example may or may not match up to the sample rubrics I provided. If you decide to use the digital example, for the best results you might want to have them professionally printed. However, the cheapest and most fun way is to raid the home improvement stores’ stashes of paint samples. 

There are a few activities that I reference the charts on the wall: 

• Pigmentations
• Chocolate differentiation
• Butter tasting
• Wall chart
• Vegetable and Fruit Pigment

It’s not a perfect system, but it also helps remove the subjectivity from the desired outcome we want the students to achieve.

Chef Jennifer M. Denlinger, PhD., CCC, CHEP, is the Culinary Management Program Department Chair at the Poinciana Campus of Valencia College. She is also the vice president of ACF’s Central Florida Chapter. Additionally, Chef Denlinger earned the 2020 Innovation Award, sponsored by CAFÉ and the Idaho Potato Commission, for a creative escape room based on safe food handling procedures. She also earned the 2021 Green Award sponsored by the United Soybean Board and was runner up in 2021 for the Postsecondary Education of the Year sponsored by Sysco Corporation.