When I first signed up for the Techniques of Fine Cooking 1 class at the Institute of Culinary Education, I was a touch skeptical. I’m a fairly adept home cook, so I wasn’t sure how much I could really have to learn in the first level of a cooking course. As it turns out, a lot!
Techniques of Fine Cooking is a 25-hour course taken over 5 days. Each class had a general technique or skill that we worked the entire menu around: grilling, braising, roasting, etc. And of course the highlight of each class was sitting down to enjoy an incredible meal with my classmates.
Because I’m such a thorough blogger (hah!), I completely forgot to take pictures of our work with my nice camera. Honestly, we were so busy prepping the meals that taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. I snapped a few iPhone photos that will have to suffice! (At least they aren’t as bad as Martha’s twitpics, guys.)
From top left:Poached egg on toast with red wine reduction, chocolate souffle, braised leeks and potatoes with court boullion sauce
Our instructor, Liz Young, had the perfect mix of expertise and humor to keep us on track in the kitchen each evening. She taught us about all of the things that you assume are a no-brainer, but really aren’t: how to truss a chicken, how to encourage a Maillard reaction, how to poach an egg. Not sure what all of those techniques entail? I wasn’t either — now I know.
My class met on Thursday evening from 6-11 p.m. It made it difficult to get up for work in the morning on Friday, but the amazing leftovers I had to look forward to for lunch were well worth staying up past my bedtime.
We did not make this cake — the talented pastry students did. But we did get to sample their hard work!
My favorite meal was definitely mussels in white wine, braised osso buco, and a sabayon-based chocolate mousse (pictured at the top). That evening’s class was definitely a moment where we all looked at each other and said “damn, we did a good job here.”
The best takeaway from this course for me was thinking more about method of preparation and less about following a recipe. It was amazing to see how we went from relying on the class recipe book so heavily in the beginning to inventing our own flavor combinations and variations on the last day of class. The bonus was the fact that I had great classmates who were fun to work with and really excited about cooking (and eating!).
Comments