January Chef Studio – France plans, classes & dinners
[1] Class Act dinners
[2] SPECIAL: 5-day cooking series
[3] Session in France May 2012
[4] Indian Cooking series
[5] Butchery and Charcuterie
[1] Class Act dinners
6.30 Saturday January the 21st & 28th
4-course menu. Cost is $45 (not including service)
Wine additional @ 7/glass – RSVP: troufood@me.com
Robert Reynolds will continue the Chef Studio class/dinners through February, bringing together the talented teachers who cook here. The table has only room for a dozen people. The menu will change nightly.
[2] SPECIAL: 5-day cooking series
There is room for 1 or 2 participants to join us for 5 days in the current 8-week Apprenticeship course. Sessions run from 9 AM to 3 PM Monday through Friday. Contact Robert for details.
Americans have an image of food that mostly comes from restaurant experience. However, food is meant to nourish body and spirit, in variety, style, technique and presentation. It forms that part of the fabric of life centered around the table. Restaurants come second. There is a lot for students to learn and to un-learn. So we start with techniques.
For example, Madeleine Kamman explained: “Sear your meats, then season them. That way you build up layers of flavor.”
I will forever hear Josephine Araldo saying: “This dish is constructed this way, first you do this…. Or, “Cooking is only about texture and taste.”
“Look always in the saucepan.”
” Judgment is called for at every step along the way.”
Students are shaped first by the flavor of the ensemble, then by the magic. Over time they learn to appreciate particular things. When they do, I take my cue from Josephine of simply preparing dishes from good ingredients. “A gourmet dish,” she said, “is a well prepared dish. Period.”
[3] Session in France May 2012
The Chef Studio is offering a one-week cooking course in the Bordeaux region May 10-16, 2012. It will be conducted by Courtney Sproule and Blake Van Roekel, who co-taught the Spring 2011 session in the region. With the assistance of other Chef Studio staff and former students, the participants will be offered two hands-on cooking classes per day and a window into the local food culture in an authentic way not normally accessible on other tours.
Each morning we will visit a market to buy local ingredients for the day’s. We will return to our kitchen prepare a quick, improvisational lunch. Each afternoon we will then venture out into the region to visit the winemakers, and food producers whose efforts lend distinction to the region’s cooking. Finally, we’ll take a pause before returning to the kitchen for a second, more formal instruction and compose the meal, set a French table, and linger over dinner and conversation about our. Instructors will work very closely with participants to make this an extraordinary learning experience.
This is why Robert created this course, in his own words:
I have always felt that the goal and vision we pursue is really best served by having a segment of training at the source in France. I want students who come to the Studio to understand that the ideas we advocate about cooking are supported in France by a philosophical commitment. The pursuit of excellence is not a marketing device; it is a way of life. We in Oregon, with our incomparable agricultural richness, are particularly aligned to understand and appreciate the authenticity of place.”
Read Robert’s essay on our last trip to the Southwest of France this spring:
View photos of the trip here.
Tuition & Enrollment:
$3,200 includes lodging, lunch and dinner, and local transport for classes and tours. Students are expected to get to Bordeaux on their own (we are happy offer travel suggestions). It has been our experience that we eat in as often as possible what we have prepared with ingredients we find at the market. Contact Courtney Sproule at 971-544-1350 or courtney@dindinportland.com if you’re interested or for more information. Enrollment will close on March 1st.
[4] Indian Cooking series - 4 Wednesday evenings beginning January 11th - 6 to 9 PM.
Kaaren Bedi is returning to teach a new session on Indian cooking. She plans to examine the basic components: Rice, dal, bread and & spices and condiments that will allow intensive explorations going across a variety of Indian cultures to open up new horizons and deepen understanding of the elements that make up Indian food.
[5] Butchery and Charcuterie
Camas Davis will teach a four-part basic butchery and charcuterie class series in February. This will be an excellent series for those of you who have taken one or two classes from the PMC already but want to gain more practice. It’s also a perfect combination of classes for anyone wanting to learn the art of home butchery and charcuterie. Students will have the opportunity to break down their own ducks, chickens, rabbits, and pig, and they’ll learn how to make rillette, bacon, hams, sausage, and pâté. In addition, they’ll find out how to prepare, cook, and cure cuts of meat that they may not have experienced otherwise. Register quickly, as the class size is limited to eight.
January update of classes
Chef Studio Upcoming Classes
[1] 8-week Apprenticeship cooking program - January 3 – February 24 – Mon – Fri 9AM to 3 PM
I like to describe the 8-week session as a course for those who didn’t grow up French. You learn a lot that your French Grandmother might have taught you, and also a lot of good technical, solid skills, methods, all supported by physics, chemistry history, culture and a good measure of common sense. It’s the perfect training for someone who wants to know how good cooking happens whether your ambition is professional or avocational.
[2] There is also an evening version of apprenticeship Course of Study which meets two evenings a week, plus one Saturday a month for a period of 8 weeks. Either course leads to an enviable diploma.
[3] Indian Cooking series - 4 Wednesday evenings beginning January 11th – 6 to 9 PM.
Kaaren Bedi is returning to teach a new session on Indian cooking. She plans to examine the basic components: Rice, dal, bread and & spices and condiments that will allow intensive explorations going across a variety of Indian cultures to open up new horizons and deepen understanding of the elements that make up Indian food.
[4] Camas Davis and the Portland Meat Collective - 4 Friday evenings – February 3, 10, 17 & 24 – 6 to 9 PM
In February Camas Davis of the Portland Meat Collective is offering a 4-part butchery series focused on chicken, ducks, rabbit and pig.
[5] Pastry: the Basics with Laura Content - 4 Sundays – January 8, 15, 22 & 29 – 10 AM to 2 PM
A course giving a deeper understanding of techniques and ingredients covering:
[] baking cake and preparing icing
[] pies and tarts – doughs and fillings
[] custards and ice creams
[] plus quick and yeasted breads
Explore the methods of each topic in a small hands-on setting. From these basics you’ll have the confidence to create beautiful desserts and breads for any occasion.
Homemade chicken stock for celebration soup
CHICKEN STOCK
Vegetables
Meat and bones
Herbs and bouquet
Salt
VEGETABLES
Always twice as much onion as carrot
And an equal amount of carrot to celery
That way nothing dominated
The vegetables are the bed
On which you rest the bones
BONES/MEAT
Stock is not ‘bone water’
It includes bones and meat
So, for 1 chicken
1 onion
½ carrot
½ celery rib
BOUQUET/HERBS
12 parsley stems
1 branch thyme
1 bay leaf
(I usually tied them together with
A branch of celery, cut in half)
A pinch of salt
Because some proteins only render in the
Presence of salt, which makes the stock richer
However, not too much salt, or if and when
You reduce the stock, it becomes salty
WATER
When you build your stock/broth
You put the vegetables in first
Put the meat/bones on top
Toss in the bouquet garni
Hold everything in place with your hand
And cover your hand with water
You do not fill the pot with water
And, the reason you put your hands over the bones
When adding water, is to prevent them from floating
And diluting the stock/broth
When the ratio of water to bones, meat vegetables is right
When you refrigerate the stock, it jells
Once the water is in the pot
Add a pinch of salt (1/2 teaspoon per 6 cups)
Bring the water to a boil
Skim off the foam and discard it
Turn the heat to a simmer
And let the broth/stock simmer for 1-1/2 hours
After an hour and a half of gentle simmering shut the heat off
Let it cool
Strain it
Toss away the solids
Let the liquid cool to room temp
Then refrigerate overnight
In the morning the fats will have risen to the top
And solidified
Lift the fat off
Throw it away (or if you’re jewish, use it to cook)
Measure the liquid into 1 quart zip lock bags
And freeze if you can
Otherwise, squeeze air out, and refrigerate
Double bag if necessary
Try not to keep this more than 1 week if refrigerated
It keeps indefinitely if frozen
Reboil if necessary
Be mindful that stock is the perfect medium for attracting bacteria
So don’t leave it at room temp
Re-boil if in doubt
And, if there is the slightest hint of ‘sourness’ toss it
It’s fragile and susceptible
Otherwise it’s delicious
And it’s the basis of your soups
PUMPKIN SOUP FOR COMPANY
Serves 8
½ cup onion in a small dice
½ cup leeks in a small dice
1/3 cup carrot in a small dice
1/3 cup celery in a small dice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small pumpkin 1 to 1-1/2 pounds
roasted in a 400 degree oven
until it goes soft – 30 minutes
2 cups good chicken stock
2 cups water, at a boil (more as needed)
Sea Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Garnish:
Goat cheese & herbs, or
Gruyere and whipped cream, or
Olive oil & persillade or,
Foie gras on toast, or
Chicken liver spread on toast, or
A compliment of your own invention
Set the pumpkin to roast first on a baking sheet in a 375oF oven for about an hour, until it collapses. While the pumpkin roasts get everything in place, select a heavy casserole large enough to contain our soup, assemble ingredients and cut vegetables.
Prepare the vegetables in a small dice. Melt the butter in the casserole. When the butter is hot enough it foams, and usually the foam recedes. Add the mix of vegetables, and give it a pinch of salt. Put the cover in place securely so that no steam can escape. Turn the heat to low-ish and let the vegetables ‘sweat,’ or cook slowly 10-15 minutes. Check the pot from time to time to make sure that the vegetables aren’t browning. At the same time don’t work the pot lid so much that all the liquid evaporates, because without water collecting on the bottom of the pan you will burn the vegetables. If the whole process makes you nervous, add a half a cup or so of stock and let the vegetables cook in that.
Vegetables, particularly the fibrous ones, onion, leeks, and celery, need to be cooked through. Because onion is fiber, if it doesn’t break down by cooking, it becomes tough to digest, i.e. you make something indigestible. The best test of doneness is to taste. If the onions are sweet, have no resistance, no crunch, then you are ready to go on to the next step. Give a tiny pinch of salt and proceed to the pumpkin and lock in the flavor of the cooked mirepoix.
When the pumpkin has softened, cut it in half, peel the skin away, scoop out the seeds and discard them. Add the cooked pumpkin flesh to the base of the mirepoix. Add the chicken stock and the water, turn the heat up and bring it to a point where it almost boils; then turn it to a simmer and allow the flavor to steep for 5 minutes.
Liquefy the soup in a blender. Have more boiling water or stock on reserve so that you can thin the soup out as needed to achieve the texture of liquid heavy cream. Season the soup by batches. When the soup has been liquefied and flavored, return it to a clean bowl or pot and keep it warm.
Present the soup in a flat soup bowl. Add the garnish of choice directly into each bowl. Give a final grinding of pepper and serve the soup at once.
Select a red or white wine; the soup will love it. It’s meant to be festive, so it might be great for a holiday.
Chef Studio Class Act dinners
Class Act, dinner at the Chef Studio this Saturday the 10th at 6.30.
4 courses $45, service not included, & wine @ 7/glass
This menu is from the Savoie. I still have my old notebooks from when I studied with Madeleine Kamman in Annecy a city high in the French Alps. I recently revisited a recipe for a pear tart in an old cloth book that allows me to recall the warmth and generosity of the person who offered the notebook to me.
Madeleine Kamman explained how to prepare the pears that showed up in the market at Annecy. She had me poach them in red wine before encasing them in pastry to produce a tart like nothing we’d ever imagined. The red wine penetrates the pears lending them the visual quality of a ruby. The pears are perfumed with the slightest hint of spice. The simple crust guarantees the taste of excellent butter. Because its top was brushed with water and dusted with a scattering of sugar before it went into the oven, it finished with an additional fine crust like frost. Its re-discovery is loaded with memory and supports my illusion that the pears can be transformed into jewels.
Classes resume at the Chef Studio in January. Offerings include the Apprenticeship Course, full-time day session that meets Monday through Friday for 8 weeks. An Evening 8-week version is also offered that meets two nights a week, plus one Saturday a month. They are for the serious cook, with professional or amateur interests in a deeper and broader understanding of good cooking.
We also have a number of 4-part series that meet once a week for 4 weeks on varying subjects: Indian home cooking, three Basics series, one on Baking, another on Cooking, and a new series offered by Camas Davis on Simple Butchery. Any of these would make a holiday gift that is guaranteed to bring pleasurable returns.
More info: troufood@me.com
Baking Basics: 4 cozy Sundays
Four-part Baking Classes with Laura Content for those who love to bake but desire a deeper understanding of techniques and ingredients and a set of new recipes to play with.
We will cover to following topics:
[] baking cake and preparing icing
[] pies and tarts – doughs and fillings
[] custards and ice creams
[] plus quick and yeasted breads
You will explore the methods of each topic in a hands-on, in small group setting.
With these basics as your starting point, you’ll have the confidence to create beautiful, seasonally inspired desserts and breads for any occasion.
A light lunch will be provided for each class. At the end, sample the array of pastries made in class, and take your desserts home to share.
Weekend Series
Begins Sunday, January 8, 15, 22, 29
11:00 AM- 3:00 PM
Four Classes $600
Check out other class series beginning in January
The Chef Studio
