Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Cooking class in Institute of Culinary Education

The 5-day fine cooking I in Institute of Culinary Education was a great experience! We tried different forms of cooking and got hands-on experiences. The class started from 10am to 3pm, the 5 hours cooking class was awesome! Chef Anita was our instructor. There’re eight students in my class. People from Thailand, Russia, London and Chicago come to join the class, offering much diversity. We worked in groups of 3 and randomly rotated team members each day.


The first day was knife skills. We cut vegetables with different ways. Everything was new to me. We learnt how to cook vegetable soup and lamp chops in the first lesson. The lamp chops were cooked by a technique “sautéing”. By using a small amount of oil or butter and a very hot pan so the food browns and cooks quickly. The lamp was served with herb butter.


The second lesson we learnt how to cook chicken stock. The taste is so different compared to the chicken stock we bought from supermarket. The cooking technique was roasting. We first trussed the chicken then basted the chicken with butter and roasted it in oven.

After that we learnt rice cooking, we prepared rice pilafs. We boiled rice in pan instead of using rice cooker. We made baked tomatoes provencal as an appetizer by stuffing the ingredients into the tomatoes and baked until brown. It’s simple and delicious! The dessert was clafouti, a tart with pears/apples/cherries. It’s a typical dessert from the Limousin region in France.



The third lesson was a challenging one. We cooked lamps shanks with juniper berries and rosemary in wet braising. It required almost 2 hours cooking time. Mussel is one of my favourite dishes. We steamed mussels in white wine. Other groups cooked in tomato paste and Thai curry. For dessert, we cooked chocolate mousses in sabayon style. It was rewarding when you enjoyed the yummy food.


Mussels
 Lamp shanks 
The fourth lesson was all about eggs! We ate 5 eggs in the lesson - omeletes, poached eggs, salad Niçoise with tuna and soufflé! Omeletes were easy to made, simple but  people often cooked too old.

 

souffles

Times flies and it’s the final lesson of the course! The final technique we learnt was grilling technique for protein and vegetables. The steak will catch fire if your grill is not clean enough. We had a great experience for learning the grilling technique.





Each class ends with a group meal. We discuss the cooking methods and theory. We enjoyed the wine and food. The class was great and let me know the real taste of American cuisine. Not only do I have fun during the class, but I also gained important fundamental techniques and cooked American-style cuisine with confident. Chef Anita was excellent! Her instructions were easy to follow and everything was clear. I love the cooking class!

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