It was so exciting to learn so many different cooking techniques. Some were familiar for me, and others new. With each one, our instructor Chef Jason would demonstrate, and then we would need to execute! We made some super delicious tasting food, and even got to bring some home!
Cooking Technique Day 1 included learning to blanch, shock, parboil, simmer, poach & steam. See below the recipes for some of these techniques:
I feel incredibly humbled, and inspired to be a student at ICE, along with 10 other wonderful young chefs from all over the world. Class age range is 18 years old to 54. Everyone comes from very diverse and different backgrounds — 7 different countries! It is truly inspiring to work with this group. We are all becoming friends.
Day 1 Cooking Technique: Poach “To cook partially in boiling or simmering liquid”.
To poach first I peeled, cored and halved a beautiful pear and added to a pot with equal parts (1 cup) apple juice & white wine. The smell was divine. When pears were cooked, I removed and set aside. Then added a cinnamon stick and star anise to liquid in pot and brought to a boil to thicken and pour this goodness over the pears. A delicious dessert!
Delciously crispy potatoes with Chef Jason’s garlic confit was truly AMAZING! I had to go back for seconds.
Day 1 Cooking Technique: Simmer “To cook in water or stock that is bubbling very gently”. Dried prunes, apricots & figs were placed in pan with equal parts apple juice & red wine. Slow & steady & stirring created a wonderful delicious dish.
Day 1 Cooking Technique: Parboil “To cook partially in boiling or simmering liquid”. After these potatos wer partially cooke, the water was drained out of the pot and potatoes remained. Then placed in oven to crisp up and drizzled with AMAZING garlic confit!
Day 2 Cooking Techniques: Dredge “To dip and lightly coat food item (Tofu) in flour before Pan Frying “Fry in saute pan with oil halfway up the food item”. After dipping our baton like planks of Tofu in pastry flour, we then pan fried until tofu was golden and crispy. We then made our Stir-fry. “To cook briefly over high heat in a small amount of fat (olive oil) keeping the food moving by constantly stirring.”
Next cooking technique was to Deep Fry. “To fry in enough oil to submerge food @350-375degrees”. We made broccoli & carrots tempura. Dipping the vegetables in a mixture of 1 cup pastry flour, 1 cup seltzer, & 1 tablsepoon of Arrowroot. It was SUPER DELICIOUS!!!
Day 3 Cooking Techniques: Braise “To cook in a small amount of liquid, covered; on stove top or in the oven, ofetn used with whold or large pieces of vegetables or meat. The key to this beautiful braised cabbage and red onion is patience. You cannot rush. After carmelizing the vegetables, I added 2 cups of apple juice & ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar. Then salt & turned flame down. It was tasty and sweet!
Day 4 Cooking Techniques: Roast “To cook foods by surrounding them with hot dry air,in an oven or on a spit over an open flame”.
This red pepper was charred evenly, then set aside to cool. We then peeled the skin off and made julienne slices to garnish another dish – see below Baba Ghanoush.
Day 4 Cooking Technique: Bake “To cook foods by surrounding them with hot dry air in an oven”. These Baked Apples were a hit! First you core apple, scooping out seeds etc. Keep the top! Chop walnuts, and mix with raisons, a teaspoon of vanilla, pinch of nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon & a little maple syrup. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. All the juices in pan reserve and put in your sauce pot and heat on high allowing liquid to thicken and make a nice sauce. LOVE!
Day 4 Cooking Technique: We also roasted an eggplant on the open flame. Let cook, and then we scooped out the flesh, added tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and pinch of salt to make this wonderful creamy Baba Ghanoush.
