Serious Foodie Class in Vancouver

[fud]

It's a frog holding a berry with his saucy froggy arms?

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Bing! Not only that but you saw arms where I just saw sauce so really that's pretty impressive!

The frog is going after a small stack of berries.

[Ling]

^Holy crap, I'm good! Now where's my prize?

[BCinBC]

Nice try fud, really, but I am resigned to the fact that I'm just not that photogenic. So sad.

Our roasted squash soup was infused with: the garlic bulb from the squash roasting (well just the roasted cloves obviously), plus nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, sage and a chili that refused to release its heat. Moosh came up with a great idea afterwards: ancho chili. Would have worked beautifully, as the soup was good but lacking something... all the spices were lingering and subtle and I was left wanting one to walk right up, smack my palate, and say "hi".

Part of our mistake was that, with the exception of the nutmeg, we were adding spices after we added the squash - we should have been adding all the spices during the mirepoix sweating stage. Then they would have left behind their wallflower-ness a little more.

What totally worked, though, was the pan roasted squash cubes garnishe with balsamic - the tarty acid-y flavours totally zinged up the silky textured soup. (Apparently it is make-up-a-word day.) Also, honestly the two soups together heightened each other - for me anyway. Maybe it was the kippers that provided that missing smoke, and the smooth texture beside the more rustic one... ? Great flavours in your soup BTW Team Parsnip.

Our ribeyes were really expertly done rare-med-rare by Michelle, who used to work at the Keg (as she revealed to us). The constant flipping, in direct contradiction to the old-school drop-it-and-leave-it-till-you-cross-hatch-it method that I have always used, really made for some excellent uniformity of colour between the two very thin caramelized outside layers. The bias helped quite a bit too. However, I remain unsold on polenta. Garlic mash, frites or even wild rice still outrank it at steak's side for me.

The berry sauce for the pannetone - yes please and thanks. Again, a tarty winner. I do think this "dessert" would make for a nice breakfast in bed surprise, should one ever be in need of brownie points.

Yeah sad times, class is over, but I am really looking forward to April. The way Chef described it - no 3-courses, but rather taking a dish from the absolute start (breaking down a rabbit say) to finish with guidance rather than instruction - it sounds exactly what I've been hoping for. Now if I can somehow convince him to let us do a bit of charcuterie...

I can't leave out a thanks for the student assistants either, they were really helpful - and fun - and made a great class even better. Cheers to them.

VanLee: I hope you pick up this thread in January!

[*Deborah*]

Oh, look, more photos of soup, meat, and Pannetone French toast!

My six little bundles of cubed squash sautéed to death in butter, S& cracked black pepper, and since my hunted secret ingredient of chipotle or smoked paprika was not available, roasted red hot pepper (Geez, I didn't get an action shot of achiu doing that! d'oh!)...ours gave up its heat jest fine):

...waiting to be sat atop the glistening goodness that Christine made of our squash soup, with the roasted garlic, some onion, S& a touch of white pepper, and...I can't remember if we added any additional spices? the garlic in there was just sooooooo nice, I think we may have decided that it worked beautifully on its own:

Action shot of soup pouring (Daddy-A's team did the very nice parsnip soup topped with smoked kipper that we plated with):

Restaurant style, multi-plates ready to rock:

I was stirring polenta (with garlic, a smidge more of that hot pepper, and sage) during the steak prep, so I have no pics of that, I'm afraid. achiu used his Hattori [Hanzo ] to beautifully slice our steak, which was a bit uneven in thickness...I assure you that we did have some nice MR bits, but the photo has washed it out so it looks much more done than it was.

Christine did a kick-ass sauce with the balsamic, red wine, and marinated mushrooms....sexxxxay:

Plated close-up:

Then the teamwork in action for the dessert: Christine cut the holes in the pannetone pucks, and I filled them up with the ricotta mixture (oh, YUM) and patched them back together (I'm an expert in this, as my pastry always has cracks that need mending ), and then she dipped and fried them, and Alex made our luscious sauce with boysenberries:

And topped with cinnamon icing sugar:

I had never put liquor in my French toast liquid (usually just vanilla), but Chef said Frangelico, GM, whatever, works well, and I will try that sometime at home.

Aside from having succumbed to a head cold today, I am quite sad to see the end of this class. It's been so much fun, and I mean I get the biggest kick out of doing something that I thought was so hard correctly...last night, I got that chefly one-handed toss of vegetables in the pan! not consistently, but I know I can do it! how exciting is that?!

Mille grazie, not only to our esteemed Chef, but to the great helpers, I wish you all great success! and to my classmates and teammates, especially the eG crew, who made this more about fun, and less about being scared of messing up publicly

Cheers, guys. À la prochaine.

[fud]

^Holy crap, I'm good!  Now where's my prize?

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You get to use me to test your next dessert experiment.

Maybe even take the course with Chef Marco and then use me as a Guinnea pig.

[lauraf]

Who else is signed up for the January course? I'm thinking of signing up . . . do I dare? You'll laugh at my profound ineptitude . . .

[Daddy-A]

Who else is signed up for the January course?  I'm thinking of signing up . . . do I dare?  You'll laugh at my profound ineptitude . . .

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Don't worry Laura, Tony made all the inept students clean out the deep fryers, so you at least get to learn a skill!

I can't speak for everyone in the class, but I don't think anyone felt pressure to perform. It was a great learning environment, so if you needed to work on your knife skills there was plenty of opportunity. The assistants were always there to answer questions, and Chef Tony worked his way around the class giving demos as needed.

If you're at all interested in improving your cooking repetoire, I really encourage you to take the class.

A.

[Daddy-A]

Action shot of soup pouring (Daddy-A's team did the very nice parsnip soup topped with smoked kipper that we plated with):

Restaurant style, multi-plates ready to rock:

Deborah, the soup your team did totally made the combined dish! Parsnips? What was Chef thinking? At least the squash was roasted. Without the deep squashy-garlicky flavours (awesome little croquettes too!), I would have been really bummed out by our efforts in the soup department. Together, not only do they look wonderful, they tasted wonderful.

Let me add my thanks to Chef Tony et al. What a great way to gain weight on a Monday night! I especially want to thank my beautiful wife "J" who gave this course to me as a gift for my 40th birthday this year, and to all my classmates, eGullet and otherwise, who made this class so much fun.

See you all in April!

A.

ps. Time to quit lurking Dan! Sign up!

[makanmakan]

Who else is signed up for the January course?  I'm thinking of signing up . . . do I dare?  You'll laugh at my profound ineptitude . . .

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i have, and i think vancouver lee has too!

do sign up quick as i think spaces are going fast

[Vancouver Lee]

I haven't actually signed up yet. The very first telephone call I'll make after landing one of these consulting gigs I'm bidding on will be to NorthWest to reserve my place. It's all about $$$.

I'll be really bummed if I end up not being able to afford to attend.

[newbie]

I must say that I am also sad to see this thread come to an end. I have always wanted to take a course to learn some new tricks in the kitchen but alas there are no such offerings up here. I had spoken with one of the instructors with the culinary program at the college up here a while back though and hopefully one day something like this will be offered.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'll look forward to seeing installment # 2 in April.

[makanmakan]

lee, i'll cross my fingers for ya!

it'll be fun to have another egulleter in class.

[fud]

ps.  Time to quit lurking Dan!  Sign up!

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We know you're out there Dan! Get your butt on and post! [or I might paint little horns on your picture above]

Edited November 16, 2005 by fud (log)

[transfattyacid]

I have always wanted to take a course to learn some new tricks in the kitchen but alas there are no such offerings up here. 

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take a look here

[lauraf]

Okay, I did it! I'm in for the January start. Promise now not to laugh at my knife skills. I'm so bad I don't even have an inkling what I am doing wrong.

[fud]

Okay, I did it!  I'm in for the January start.  Promise now not to laugh at my knife skills.  I'm so bad I don't even have an inkling what I am doing wrong. 

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You'll do great Laura! I entered the class pretty green. My knife was SO blunt too! My god did I butcher that first tomato. They even help you learn how to properly sharpen your knives.

You will quickly discover just how laid back and unhostile the environment is. And the helpers are wonderful...you just wisper to them stuff like 'uhh what the hell is Chiffonade?' and they secretly show you to protect your pride

P.S. I found a beginners glossary of cooking terms (as you can see from the site name I truly am the eGullet Geek for the vancouver chapter)

[lauraf]

Okay, I did it!   I'm in for the January start.  Promise now not to laugh at my knife skills.  I'm so bad I don't even have an inkling what I am doing wrong. 

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You'll do great Laura! I entered the class pretty green. My knife was SO blunt too! My god did I butcher that first tomato. They even help you learn how to properly sharpen your knives.

You will quickly discover just how laid back and unhostile the environment is. And the helpers are wonderful...you just wisper to them stuff like 'uhh what the hell is Chiffonade?' and they secretly show you to protect your pride

P.S. I found a beginners glossary of cooking terms (as you can see from the site name I truly am the eGullet Geek for the vancouver chapter)

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Okay, I'm not THAT bad! Though bake blind is a new terminology to me . . .

[Vancouver Lee]

I just signed up for the January 25th Serious Foodie Class. I guess that makes 3 of us in January....lauraf, makanmakan and me.

Paying the rent is overrated, anyway...

[gingerfreak]

I've also really enjoyed hearing about your culinary adventures in this class, especially the "action shots". I'd LOVE to take the next round, but finances won't allow it.

Next group - please keep up the progress reports!

[barolo]

I just signed up for the January 25th Serious Foodie Class.  I guess that makes 3 of us in January....lauraf, makanmakan and me.

Paying the rent is overrated, anyway...

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I've signed up too, as an early birthday present to myself. This class has been on my "to do" list since it was still offered at Dubrulle, so it is about time I got on with it.

[lauraf]

Rock on. We'll be the party class, for sure.

[fud]

Rock on.  We'll be the party class, for sure.

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Shall we warn Tony or just let him face you guys unprepared?

[Vancouver Lee]

Rock on.  We'll be the party class, for sure.

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Shall we warn Tony or just let him face you guys unprepared?

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With you, Brian, Joie, Deborah and Arne in the last class, I suspect Tony is pretty much aware of what to expect.

Edited November 19, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[Daddy-A]

With you, Brian, Joie, Deborah and Arne in the last class, I suspect Tony is pretty much aware of what to expect. 

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I dunno about that None of us EVER said "rock on"

Tony will be well prepared ... just be sure not to disturb the other students.

A.

[makanmakan]

yay, lee! looking forward to also meeting lauraf and barolo. should be fun and thanks to the first group for breaking chef tony in for us!!

eek, we'll try to keep the rest of you entertained with our updates. t'is a hard act to follow!