Understanding helpful cooking methods
Not everything we work with starts out in a state of perfection. There is local food grown by farmers, and food certified by groups like Oregon Tilth. There is organic food sold at markets, and there is what we are offered when we go to the regular supermarket When nothing untoward has happened to food from seed to plate, it has its own truth, and often the best thing to do is simply shepherd that food via our cooking to the plate. I believe that the closer you are to the sources of food, the more you take this approach. The further...
read moreFrance Curriculum: Sample Recipes
Here are three recipes we made on our last France session. White Asparagus & Hollandaise SAUCE MALTAISE: For asparagus, made with sour orange juice. (Mikado is made with tangerine juice.) The method is the same as for Hollandaise. 2 tablespoons water 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons orange (tangerine) juice 2 teaspoons fine grated rind ½ teaspoon salt pinch of pepper 3 egg yolks 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted Make an infusion of water, lemon juice and ¼ cup orange juice, rind, salt and pepper Reduce to 2...
read moreHomemade 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...
read moreBaking 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...
read moreOne recipe, two dishes
If you prepare the dish as it is, it makes a magnificent dish of beans, similar to what I ate at La Tupina in Bordeaux. If you prepare the beans, but give it more liquid, broth, bean water, or just water, you will get a memorable soup of beans and vegetables. first, prep the veggies second, brown pancetta slowly. reserve meat, leave fat in pan third, saute onions and leeks soft, then add carrots and turnips, & sweat soft fourth, saute mushrooms separately fifth, add all veggies, mushrooms, beans, plus garlic and parsley sixth,...
read moree:tour – kitchen competencies
A basic sketch of kitchen competencies: how we think, how we train [1] Using tools: Your hands are the best tool, Knife skills help you learn to be organized and systematic. The point of learning knife skills is to be able to control the tool to learn basic vegetable cuts, julienne, brunoise, mirepoix, etc We train you to see the size of the cut ; how to position the knife, and execute with perfect control. Then you practice over and over until it is yours. [2] Understanding ingredients: “Vegetables are the jewel in the...
read moreOpen House November 6th
COOK WITH THE COOKS At the Chef Studio Special Open House 3 – 5 [] Sunday November 6 [] 2818 Se Pine Street [] rsvp: correspond@thechefstudio.com [] Info about the Studio and upcoming classes in January [] 8-week apprenticeship program with Robert Reynolds [] 2-day a week pastry program [] 4-part evening pastry program [] diploma course: evening sessions 2 times a week for 8 weeks [] 4-part evening classes on Indian cooking with Kaaren Bedi [] 4-part evening classes on Italian cooking with Marietta Sisca [] 4-part evening...
read moreThings Italian
“What is your favorite shape of pasta?” my friend Marietta would ask her guests as she went around the room asking each person face to face. They would answer earnestly, and when she was done she’d turn back to the kitchen where her decision, already made, was boiling away in a big pasta pot. She would say to everyone, or no one, “Just because I asked you what your favorite shape was, doesn’t mean you’re going to get that. You’ll get the one I like.” My experience with Italians and Italy is that they have a favorite...
read moreCooks dream
Cooks dream in food. When Kristen Murray sites in her back yard under the canopy of plums slowly ripening, she dreams of the little pastries made in the Southwest of France, called rissoles. The dough is made, not with butter, nor with lard, but with the fat of the southwest, duck fat. The crust is slightly salty and as flaky as a dough you’d know that Grandma made with lard. The plum tucked inside is ripe and lovely. It is the stuff of dreams. When Kaaren Bedi reflects on her experiences in India, she realizes that all of the cooking of the...
read moreSimple beauty
It was the easiest thing To take a piece of crusty bread Smear it generously with butter & set it in a baking dish. We flavored a glass of cider with brandy, Poured it over the bread Topped it with half a pear That we peeled and cored. We sprinkled sugar over the fruit So as it baked, the bread drank the cider, The butter enriched the flavors, And along with the sugar Gave anice crustiness. It looked like a tart It tasted like bread pudding. It had a tough time lasting; One of the students’ brother Ate all that she brought...
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