You may or may not also know that I have graduated from the culinary part and now I am getting a bachelors degree in restaurant management (basically).
Well, you probably definitely (I'm pretty sure) don't know that I get to take one more cooking class, if you do are already know this than, we are probably pretty good friends or acquaintances and I totally treasure that.
Moving past that exciting intro, let me tell ya about Advanced Cooking!
In short: It was a blast.
Long version: We assembled into small groups, were given a tray of mystery ingredients, 10 minutes to come up with a dish and about 2 hours to get that baby made and plated.
You know it's going to be a good time when your Chef starts off the class with "I'm sure you all have probably heard through the grapevine that I'm an ass. Just to clarify, I'm not like that in Advanced Cooking"
And turns out that he was sarcastic and funny and gave great feedback. Score.
Our Mystery Ingredients:
- Wellfleet Oysters (in the shell)
- Raw Shrimp
- Salsify (this a weird one, heres some info)
- Tarragon
- Oyster Mushrooms
So...what would you do?
This is what we came up with:
We called it something along the lines of "Fish & Chips" but then found out Chef does not like dishes that are "plays/takes" on other dishes. (i.e. a play on fish and chips)
We thought we were screwed but had faith in how tasty it all came out and guess what? It was a hit!
I was pleased with it. And it was a damn good time.
- Fried panko-breaded Shrimp and Oyster
- Tarragon Aioli
- Pickled Roasted Oyster Mushrooms
- Crispy Salsify Chips
Loved the pickled roasted oyster mushrooms. Have you had oyster mushrooms? One word: yum.
Every team got a different tray of ingredients and here's what they made:
Steamed Clams with Crispy Potatoes & Bacon with Roasted Cipolini Onions
Grilled Squab with King Trumpet Mushrooms, Demi Sauce, and a Frisee Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette and Camembert Cheese
Venison with Sunchoke & Cheddar Puree, Cranberry Beans, & Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
and
White Bean Puree, Salmon, Foie Gras Hollandaise & Crispy Salmon Skin in a Brussels Sprout Leaf
We plated up all of of our dishes and sat down to eat them with the whole class. That means 20 small plates from each group. Did I mention we get to choose wine pairings? A lovely touch.
Seriously Enjoyable.
At the end of the class we sit around and give each other feedback and describe how we came up with our dishes and what we could do better. Sounds fun right? It is.
Can't wait to share the dishes from our next class!
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