Serious Foodie Class in Vancouver

[Daddy-A]

How were the rillettes? I haven't tried mine yet ... still letting flavours develop.

Rib homework is going well. Here's what I was up to with the ribs last week. CLICK

A.

[fud]

How were the rillettes?  I haven't tried mine yet ... still letting flavours develop.

Rib homework is going well.  Here's what I was up to with the ribs last week. CLICK

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So fatty. So good. Had to force myself to store the rest for later. Later being now.

[BCinBC]

How were the rillettes?  I haven't tried mine yet ... still letting flavours develop.

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I only got to try two of the rillettes, and since I can't remember what group number I was a part of, I don't think I even got to try our own. (I was in Derek's group for the duck as well as for this week's pork out.)

Group #7's rillette was a little under-seasoned to start with, but that went away the more I forked down. Can't explain why. Richness masking under-s&p-ing maybe.

Group #5 - Alex's group - did a very nice job, seasoned well and they added orange rind too which was a nice touch.

Overall they were of course super rich; despite that we did pack away quite a bit. Then came the pork belly, stuffed chops and the starting of the cassoulet beans and sausages (which was v cool, sorry you missed it dude).

PS: Derek, thanks for the beer. Blue labeled one was very nice, smooth for a high alc content. The Habanero beer was also good, surprisingly drinkable for the concept (spicy beer). Reminded me of this, though much better:

Cave Creek Chili Beer - crap beer from the States which I had for breakfast one day. Pretty undrinkable.

Sadly I did not get to try the stout.

Edited to remove external photo.

Edited May 17, 2006 by BCinBC (log)

[BCinBC]

How were the rillettes?  I haven't tried mine yet ... still letting flavours develop.

Rib homework is going well.  Here's what I was up to with the ribs last week. CLICK

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So fatty. So good. Had to force myself to store the rest for later. Later being now.

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I must have missed you last night. How did you get ahold of the rillettes?

[fud]

I must have missed you last night.  How did you get ahold of the rillettes?

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I have spies. They saved a morsel for me and delivered it.

I'm not sure which group's I had though they didn't say.

Edited May 16, 2006 by fud (log)

[BCinBC]

I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the calibre of assistants for this course. Not only does Chef have the regular student helpers, but also the likes of eGullet luminaries Chef nwyles and HK Dave - who helped save my pan sauce last week. It is great for learning a lot on the fly.

[nwyles]

I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the calibre of assistants for this course.  Not only does Chef have the regular student helpers, but also the likes of eGullet luminaries Chef nwyles and HK Dave - who helped save my pan sauce last week.  It is great for learning a lot on the fly.

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Stop kissing ass !

I am ready if Chef Tony faints or something, to jump in, but be prepared, there will be yelling, screaming and lots of crying. The first order of business will be to get Brian into the "gimp" outfit, complete with the red rubberball mouthpiece.

[BCinBC]

Oh good, my plan is working...

[canucklehead]

I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the calibre of assistants for this course.  Not only does Chef have the regular student helpers, but also the likes of eGullet luminaries Chef nwyles and HK Dave - who helped save my pan sauce last week.  It is great for learning a lot on the fly.

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Stop kissing ass !

I am ready if Chef Tony faints or something, to jump in, but be prepared, there will be yelling, screaming and lots of crying. The first order of business will be to get Brian into the "gimp" outfit, complete with the red rubberball mouthpiece.

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Uhh... won't that just result in some REAL ASS KISSING. I guessing pictures from that particular class won't be making it onto thread. Thankfully.

[HKDave]

I would be remiss if I didn't make mention of the calibre of assistants for this course.  Not only does Chef have the regular student helpers, but also the likes of eGullet luminaries Chef nwyles and HK Dave - who helped save my pan sauce last week.  It is great for learning a lot on the fly.

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I'm a luminary? I like... I'm going to start using that. 'Luminary' sounds so much classier than 'semi-employed aging prep cook'.

Ass-kissing back at ya: the calibre of the students is high, too. Many folks have obviously been practicing their knife technique in the off season; and the plates that are coming out look very pro.

[fud]

and the plates that are coming out look very pro.

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Any Jackson Pollock's yet? I hope someone is carrying my torch

[Daddy-A]

and the plates that are coming out look very pro.

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Any Jackson Pollock's yet? I hope someone is carrying my torch

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Jeeezuz! You're not even in the class, and you're STILL annoying me!

Agreed, it's been great with Dave in there. As far as Neil goes, he's offered me a couple chances to come and help out at the HSG ... but I KNOW he's just end up yelling at me, and I'm damned if I'm going to let him see me cry! Thank goodness Chef Tony is there to keep Neil under control.

Just to stay OT, the calibre of instructors at NWCAV is really high. If I was ever looking at cooking as a second (hell, who am I kidding ... more like 5th or 6th for me!) career, I would give serious consideration to this school.

A.

[fud]

Jeeezuz!  You're not even in the class, and you're STILL annoying me!

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I take pride in what I do

Even though I did not take this course here are some pics from Erin she wanted to share. Way to go guys what amazing dishes! Deb your plating was pretty!

Thanks everyone for some of the leftovers! (P.S. Hi Debborah! Vivian mistook your name hee hee).

[Daddy-A]

Hey Wes, can you get Erin to post the pictures of the pig butchering class ... or at least email them my way!

Last night's class was a "Black Box" (even though we were told last week what we were getting) with crab and pheasant ans the featured proteins.

Great class even though it was the last . I was totally impressed with the calibre of dishes coming out of the kitchen. My only regret is not getting to taste everyone else's cooking!

Pictures of our dishes are coming later today.

A.

[*Deborah*]

Wes, thanks for posting those! she got some really good pictures I'll leave mine where they are and good to get a good look at everyone else's stuff...last night was a blur.

So much fun, that class! thanks to everyone at NWCAV, esp Chef and HKDave of course

[BCinBC]

This morning is a blur - thanks BTW to everyone who left wine behind. Tony, Dave, Derek and I did our best to clean that up at midnight or so. I'm feeling very tired today, but will post pix once I clear some of this fog.

[BCinBC]

So last night I was teamed with Alex (achiu) and Greg (Gregk). The week before we had decided to do four courses, which at the time seemed a bit ambitious because Greg wasn't there and we didn't know if he was going to be able to make the final class. But he did, and I am glad for it.

We were able to get away with a fairly minimal pre-purchase list, I think, though there was some special stuff that Alex had to bring in. You will see.

The crab it turns out was boiled for us, which in a way I was disappointed with, but then again time being what it was (short), it worked out better that way. The pheasants though still had to be broken down, which fell to the hands of Greg. Alex shelled the crab while I mise'd like a mad man. Garlic, shallots, ginger, onions, carrots, celery, various herbs... Sometimes I actually don't mind doing mise, I find that I slip into a sort of Zen state somewhere along the line. Plus we had two workstations to ourselves so tonnes of room.

Once the crab was shelled, I started a crab stock:

I also charred a red pepper and a serrano on the open flame, which has been on my list of To Do's ever since I read The World According to Garp. I have never owned a gas stove, so finally! HKDave had his doubts that the serrano would skin properly, but it worked. (Doubter!)

Turns out I added too much water to the stock, because it would not reduce fast enough to make our first time deadline. I was stuck, but fortunately Chef Tony stepped in and applied a little white magic and we finally churned out our first course (a half hour late, sorry!):

Crab and roasted red pepper bisque

Taste was nice, definite crab flavour in there so I was happy with that. Body was lacking a bit, obviously needed more reduction. However on the plus side I got a couple tips from Chef Tony to tuck away into the ole grey sponge for future use.

Second course, and in fact all of our others, we banged out like there was no tomorrow. I guess in retrospect we may have over-mise'd, if there is such a thing, at the beginning. I should have helped with the shelling to get the stock started earlier, and then gone back to do some of the other mise, but there you go. Anyway, next came a crab ravioli. Pasta was also pre-done so we did not have to make it, let it rest, etc. Just roll it out.

Assistant Paul, some doofus, and Greg on a big roll out session

Crab ravioli with truffle beurre blanc

(The more astute of you may have noticed that this was shamelessly ripped off from a local Iron Chef, but it worked!)

We used some of Alex's truffle paste in the beurre blanc, and the sauce turned out unbelievably well. I would say it was restaurant-quality. Nice one Alex! Chef Tony said upon tasting this dish that it was so delicate, he felt like bathing a baby afterwards, which I think was a compliment.

Oh by the way, our first two courses were paired with the leftover Lindemans sauvignon blanc that I used in the stock. It was nice with the bisque, but too light for the truffles.

Next course was an Alsatian-inspired tart.

Pheasant confit'ing and onions caramelizing

Greg caramelized these onions for probably over an hour, and they were so sweet by the end. Also did a great job with the confit (and initial breakdown). Really wonderful flavour and possibly even better than duck confit (that's right I said it). We cheated with ready-made puff pastry, but there you go.

Pheasant confit and caramelized onion tarte with salad greens

Since the onion was so sweet and the confit so rich, we went with a bright salad dressing. I found some pear vinegar and did up a vinaigrette with lemon, garlic, olive oil, s&p. Also threw in some ?? cheese, blue-ish, sharp and footy. The dish as a whole worked well I thought.

And the piece de resistance, the thing that required all the equipment, was the final course. When Alex talked about this the week before, I was pretty excited as I have never done this before nor even seen it in action.

Alex Glad-pressing-and-sealing the pheasant breasts for sous vide!

The breasts were poached for about an hour at 140F. Really an interesting exercise. Heat diffuser, thermometer, Glad press-and-seal and Ferran's your uncle. We're not sure if Chef Tony thought it was too frou-frou or not, but he kept calling us Feenie's Weenies after that.

To add colour and a bit of crispiness to the skin, Alex decided to pan sear to finish, then deglaze for a pan sauce.

Pheasant breasts out of the sous vide and into the fire

Greg also blanched some asparagus and did a risotto, using the common pheasant stock that was made from all the carcasses. We also wanted to use our mushroom terrine from the week before, but when it came time to plate, we couldn't figure out how to make it all work. Then someone pulled out a ring mold, and at that point I figured we might as well go up and over the top.

Pheasant breast sous vide with blueberry sauce, mushroom terrine and asparagus risotto

Shaved asparagus on the outside of the mold, risotto inside, topped with the terrine, then breast slices, then blueberry sauce. And a couple asparagus spears to make it look not quite so weird. In retrospect we probably shouldn't have used the terrine (cold between hots for one thing, just plain excessive for another), but oh well go hard or go home. The breast was very soft, an interesting texture.

For our pheasant courses I picked up a bottle of Le Freak shiraz viognier, which wasn't as good as I was hoping. The viognier did not even show, so it was just a peppery shiraz. Not as fruity or well-rounded as others I've tried.

Anyway, a busy night and by the end we were all so full and exhausted. And that was just one night and ~20 plates! So chive-flavoured props to all you cooks who work a line, we only got a small taste of how mentally and physically demanding this is.

A fraction of the plates turned out by the teams last night

As you can see above and in Wes' photos, there was some really quality stuff put out last night. Very impressive. Like Arne, I too was sad that I was unable to taste everything that went out. I had maybe half, and things that stand out in my mind were the other bisque from Derek's group I believe (great crab flavour in that one, nice body too which mine was lacking!) and the pappardelle from Arne's group (very clean and honest flavours, no unnecessary messing around).

Anyway, thanks again to my teammates and Chef Tony, Dave, and everyone else. What a great class, worth every penny. Keep in touch Chef, let us know what's in store for Foodie III (This time it's personal!).

Cheers,

Brian

[achiu]

Nice pics Brian. Many thanks to Brian and Greg for making a great team. We probably overdid the mise in the begining and got a bit caught out with the first course but we were able to bang everything out quickly afterwards. My favorites in our group were the ravioli and the tart. The pheasant sous vide turned out a bit more cooked that I would have liked because I didn't account for the extra cooking from the pan sear. We also had a lot of help from HKDave, Chef Tony and all the helpers that were there providing tips or an extra hand and also carting away the tons of pots and utensils we used to the wash. Thanks!

I must say that I was glad Brian was there to come up with the plating ideas. I usualy draw a blank there and Brian's plating was clean and understated.

The quality of the cooking was very high and what I was able to taste was very good. Alas, I was too full to try everything so I ended up taking some leftovers from the other groups and had it for dinner tonight....yum!

Now where do we sign up the for advanced advanced course

Alex

Team Feenie's Weenies

[fud]

I ate the tart for lunch at work today and almost orgasmed on the floor. Holy crap. Even reheated it was wonderful.

[Daddy-A]

So here goes ...

Our group (Doug, Liz & I) tried to take a simpler approach with a couple of the courses so as to give ourselves more time to enjoy the evening. It sorta worked.

Crab Ceviche

This dish was all mise, so while I was getting the meat from the crab, Liz was chopping her heart out. At the same time, Doug was prepping the pheasant, and getting the crab stock going for the second course.

This was my favorite of all the things we did. Really really good, but very simple prep. J & I enjoyed the last of it on the patio last night with a bottle of viognier.

Crab & Brie Capuccino w/ Fennel Biscotti

Yes, this is a total rip from The Pear Tree, but the addition of the brie really upped the richness. Liz provided the biscotti that went really well with the last minute addition of pernod to the bisque!

The plan was to use the crab stock in this soup ... unfortunately it was accidentally dumped down the drain Fortunately, Chef Tony had some lobster base on hand and we simply switched gears a little.

The Aforementioned Pappardelle with Mushrooms (Oysters, Criminis & Morrells), Shredded Pheasant and Lemon Thyme

This was a really nice pasta dish ... like BC said, very lightly sauced but with a wonderfully rich flavour.

Southern Style Pheasant

The pheasant breasts were brined with some bourbon & cayenne, and then smoked over mesquite (also soaked in bourbon). They were then seared, and a bourbon-cream sauce was made from the pan juices. Doug made cornbread muffins, and Liz made an apple-red cabbage slaw with bacon.

I really like the idea of this dish but I think the pheasant came up short, probably because I overcooked it a bit. The flavours were good, just not WOW.

Overall, I'd have given us a 7/10.

Best dish I tasted that night? Brian, Alex & Greg's tarte. I didn't loose control like Fud (get a room dude) but I would have easily expected that to be served at any fine restaurant in town. Really well done.

What am I going to do with my Monday's now??

A.

[gregk]

The course was a lot of fun and lived up to the promise of being a protien fest. I missed the last class and appreciated the planning work Al and Brian for the black box class. I found these classes filled in a lot of gaps of my cooking knowledge and exposed me to cooking methods I would not have tried on my own. It was also a fun way to spend Monday evenings and meet a lot of great people.

[fud]

In case anyone is interested, the NWCAV has a new set of classes:

8 day Serious Foodie Pastry, Friday night/Saturday, beginning September 22/23, for 4 weeks

8 day Serious Foodie Chocolate, Friday night/Saturday, beginning October 27/28, for 4 weeks

Serious Foodie Culinary Basics, beginning September 18, for 8 Mondays.

Serious Foodie Advanced Culinary, beginning September 27, for 6 Wednesdays.

Kids and Teen Camps throughout August

Considering the duck I had last night from two of the students who did the advanced course was so damn good I might have to re-negotiate to take the next session in September

[worm@work]

Am seriously considering signing up for the Serious Foodie Basic Class and commuting all the way from Seattle! Does anyone know of anything equivalent that might be closer to home and is anyone else planning to sign up for the September session?

-w@w

In case anyone is interested, the NWCAV has a new set of classes:

8 day Serious Foodie Pastry, Friday night/Saturday, beginning September 22/23, for 4 weeks

8 day Serious Foodie Chocolate, Friday night/Saturday, beginning October 27/28, for 4 weeks

Serious Foodie Culinary Basics, beginning September 18, for 8 Mondays.

Serious Foodie Advanced Culinary, beginning September 27, for 6 Wednesdays.

Kids and Teen Camps throughout August

Considering the duck I had last night from two of the students who did the advanced course was so damn good I might have to re-negotiate to take the next session in September 

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[makanmakan]

Am seriously considering signing up for the Serious Foodie Basic Class and commuting all the way from Seattle! Does anyone know of anything equivalent that might be closer to home and is anyone else planning to sign up for the September session?

-w@w

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a good friend of mine commuted weekly from bellingham to take the last session upon my raving about it!

[lemon curd]

Northwest Pastry Chef Marco just announced two new upcoming pastry courses - cost is $320+GST:

4-Day Serious Pastry Basic - Mon 6:15pm–9:45pm April 23,30, May 7 & 14, 2007

Examples of dishes you will create

From scratch:

- Austrian Apple Strudel

- German Beer Pretzel

- French Vanilla Ice Cream

- Carrot & Herb Bread

- Choux paste with Custard & Fruits

- Chocolate Mousse cake

- Cranberry Rye Bread

- Apple Streusel & Almond Tart

- Vanilla Crème Brulee

And much more……..

4-Day Serious Pastry Advanced Mon 6:15pm–9:45pm May 28, June 4, 11, 18, 2007

Examples of dishes you will create

From scratch:

- Croissant

- Spiced Pumpkin Bread

- Sour Dough Bread

- Crullers (deep fried pastries)

- Pecan Crusted Molten Choco. Cake

- Champagne Sorbet

- Red Wine Martini Granite

- Pain de Champagne

- Cheesecake

And much more….

for more details or to register call Northwest at 604.876-7653