A Culinary Mecca

This week’s topics include a description of my first day of culinary school boot camp, a rare moment where the WF felt awkward, a culinary Mecca, I cry (though just a little), some gospel according to a chef instructor, and the perfect hardboiled egg. 

Off to Culinary School….  As I noted in my last blog, they let me into an actual culinary school.  No, I didn’t quit my job and pursue cooking for a living.  I simply dabbled in culinary school through the Culinary Institute of America’s boot camp program.

And, yes, I brought my own knives.  Just to keep it real, I brought them in a camo bag.  Who’s ghetto now?!

So, I show up to the school at 6:30 a.m. on Monday.  I check in and I’m given a bag full of stuff, including 2 chef’s coats and 2 chef’s pants.  You’ve seen these pants.  They’re the ubiquitous black and white pants that nearly all kitchen staff wear. 

I change into my outfit and feel like an impostor.  Who am I to wear the outfit of a chef?  I am a wannabe foodie, not a chef! 

I ignore this rare moment of introspective awkwardness and proceed to class at 7:00, where we are told that we are students of the school, and we will wear the uniform of a student and chef including the pants, jacket, neckerchief, and toque (the tall funny looking hat that chefs where).  We represent the school, so we will dress appropriately.

Yes ma’am, or perhaps more importantly, yes Chef!

We take a tour of this wonderful old building which houses the school.  For those of you who’ve never been there, the CIA’s St. Helena campus is in an old former winery.  Very old.  Frankly, it kind of looks like Hogwarts, for those of you who’ve read the Harry Potter books.  Truly the kind of old building that you desperately want to explore unsupervised.

Back to the  class.  The first 2 hours was essentially a verbal course on cooking generally and the topics for the day, which were dry heat cooking methods.  By the way, frying is a dry heat method.  Bet you didn’t know that, did you?

We then proceeded to the teaching kitchen, which is absolutely enormous.  Imagine a room which is  15,000 square feet of all cooking, all the time.   Check it out. These pictures really do not do justice to the size of this room. 

There are monster tables running lengthwise  down the middle and cooking stations on each side.  Probably 20-30 cooking stations on each side.  The back 1/3 was the baking section, where the pastry chefs are trained.  That section smells like heaven at all times throughout the day and also contains cooking stations, though modified for baking.

Yes, I heard angels singing when I first walked in.  I felt like I had reached the culinary Mecca.  I cried a little, but it was a manly cry.  Don’t judge.    

After some demos by Chef, we were broken into teams, shown our stations,  given a general description of where things were (very general), and let loose to cook under a deadline.  Very overwhelming.  It took me 10 minutes to find my first ingredient, annatto seeds.  For those of you at home, that’s a spice and it starts with “A.”  You wouldn’t think that would be that hard to find.  I start to feel like I’m on a cooking show. 

Day 1 dishes:  a) Grilled chicken with adobo de achiote  marinade; b) smoked corn and chile salsa; c) red quinoa pilaf with roasted peppers; d) mamba (peanut sauce), and e) grilled seasonal vegetables.

Ok.  Easy enough, right?  Well, yes, but now imagine cooking in a chaotic room full of 75+ other people all cooking at the same time.  Now imagine slicing and dicing while people are moving around you, and reaching underneath you for the cooking instruments which are stored in your station.

No matter where you are in this monster kitchen, you’re in the way. 

I felt like I was on a TV show.  I’m sure the viewers at home would have laughed a bit.  In any event, we got everything done and felt pretty good about our efforts.

The Review?  Adequate.  The freshly ground spices in the achiote rub were fabulous.  You can’t appreciate the burst of flavor and smell you get from freshly ground spices until you grind them yourself.  Truly a game changer.

I made the quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) pilaf.  I have never made a pilaf before and I’ve never worked with quinoa, so this was a new experience.  I loved the earthy, rich flavor of the red quinoa and can’t wait to use it again.  It’s supposed to be one of those near perfect foods.  A grain with lots of protein.

And, yes, my quinoa was under seasoned and slightly under cooked.   Apparently, quinoa takes a fair amount more time and liquid than rice in order to fully cook.  Now I know.

The first day was a blur of activity, sights, and smells.  I loved it and couldn’t wait to come back the next day, which will wait until another blog.

Great quote from culinary school and soon to be Gospel of the WF.  The instructor chef is discussing the positives and negatives of grilling on gas vs. charcoal.  And I quote:  “Gas is quick and convenient.  Charcoal is yummy.”  Preach it, sister. 

Easy way to prepare the perfect hardboiled egg, according to the CIA.  Put the egg (s) in a pot and fill the pot with water so that the egg (s) are about an inch under the water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  Turn off the heat and let the egg (s) sit in the water for 10 minutes.  Perfect hardboiled egg, every time. 

Happy cooking.

WF