Most of my class were already seated when I arrived. The ladies attending hogged the perimeter of the main counter while the three men attending crouched around one table. I decided to sit with the men who turned out to be fun and eager to learn today's lesson. I will see two of them next Saturday for part two of the class.
The class began with the chef/owner giving a lecture on knife construction, brands and basic starter sets. We then progressed to actual hands on slicing of onions, carrots and celery for practice. Each of us got to try out different kinds of knives like chef, prep, santoku and ceramic while emulating the techniques demonstrated beforehand by the chef. I strongly urge you to try a ceramic knife if you've never had the pleasure. It is lightweight and extremely sharp. For top brands, you only have to send it in once every five years to the manufacturer for sharpening. There is no real maintenance like honing and sharpening as is with stainless steel or stainless/carbon mix.
During the practice, it became to clear to me that I had a very easy time of doing things. Sometimes I take for granted what I know. I observed people getting frustrated with the techniques and the top quality (and very sharp!) knives. Thank you to my relatives and mother who allowed me to help in the kitchen at a very young age. I would help clean the rice by picking out tiny pebbles or imperfections prior to cooking it as well as taking the strings off the beans, etc. You may recall I made my first pot of rice over the stove at 10 years of age -- no electric appliance there with pre-measured lines.
I stayed quiet during class and gently helped others where I could during our practice and then into our ingredients for a tricolor salsa and then a fruit salsa. Preparing a cantaloupe seemed like such a challenge for a few while I just zipped through. In my mind, I kept wondering if these people had ever cooked as in prepared food from scratch. There were adults in their late 30s and 40s in this class. Maybe our society has come this? We're so used to fast food that when it comes to slow food, we're at a loss.
We received little bowls of each of the salsas with prepared tortilla chips and a glass of wine of our choice. I chose Riesling the last time, too, as I like sweet wines. A bottle (pictured below) made it in my bag along with food grade mineral oil for the wood cutting boards and wood utensils in my kitchen.
Myrna has been missing on my calendar lately. She's been filling in for another accounting position at her law firm. The job wasn't familiar and it was demanding. Her excuse was that she's been in a bad mood. I cajoled her into an early dinner. Afterwards, we stopped at a fish and meat market. I picked up two kinds of large stuffed mushrooms: crab stuffed and chicken Florentine. Mmm, my mouth waters as I think of them on my dinner plate this week.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment