The Humble Gourmand

My formal training — if you could call it that, since I opted not to attend culinary school full-time — started with a French cooking class at L’Academie de Cuisine.

I was hooked after the chef’s opening instructions. Some may not take pleasure in learning culinary techniques, I guess, but for me, it’s part history lesson, part sensual indulgence, and part science experiment, all rolled into one. I love absorbing techniques and tricks that make cooking easier, sometimes quicker (but not always), and certainly more fun. There was a point in the chef’s lecture on butter, for instance, where the proverbial light bulb turned on in my head: “Ah! That’s why my vegetables taste greasy sometimes!”

(You can’t let butter clarify when serving on vegetables or pasta – it separates. Slip it in right before serving so it doesn’t have the chance.)

Another good one: don’t store your flour in a cabinet anywhere near your oven. It needs to stay in a cool, dry place.

For those who like to drool over menus, here is what we made: Belgian Endive and French Ham Tart, Grilled Whole Chicken with Mustard Crust, Potato Anna, Green Beans with Shallots (see our take here), and Hazelnut Meringues with Chocolate Ganache. It was revelatory, and delicious.

My next venture was a knife skills class at Sur La Table. Prior to that, my “skills” could more appropriately be called “dangerous behaviors that yield jagged bits of produce and occasionally result in Band-Aid situations.” (Lauren has already described this level of expertise to a T). One merely had to glance around my kitchen (and the hallway, and potentially the living room) after an attempt to julienne carrots to see that I needed a few pointers.

Now, after hours of practice with my chef’s knife, I’m an exponentially more efficient cook. I’m no pro, but it’s incredible how much more quickly a meal comes together when one doesn’t spend half an hour preparing ingredients. Onion? Diced in 20 seconds. A bunch of those misbehaving carrots? Chopped in 30.

Currently, I’m enrolled in a 20-week program at L’Academie that gives home cooks a taste of the professional kitchen. We started with the basics (stocks, knife skills, sanitation) and have since covered soups, greens, mushrooms, potatoes, and eggs.… This week is sauces, and I can’t wait.

The course, called Culinary 101, is best-suited for people with at least some experience in the kitchen because the chef moves fast, we don’t work from recipes, and we’re expected to make 4-5 dishes in about an hour and a half after demonstrations are finished. Working with a partner helps, but it’s still a race each time.

Each Thursday night, as I return home encrusted in anything from olive oil to custard to fish guts – to the delight of my dog and the dismay of my significant other, in the case of the fish guts – I walk on air, elated at the amount of knowledge I’ve soaked up in a few short hours, and excited to try the dishes on my loved ones. It’s a high I haven’t found in many other walks of life.

Share your moments of learned cooking or drinking glory in the comments!

1. Andrew

   March 12 5:41 p.m. 1

   "encrusted in ... fish guts – to the delight of my dog"

   Ha!

2. Anderson

   March 20 11:44 a.m. 2

   I thought I was good with a knife, but whoa- a diced onion in 20 seconds? I think I need a class. Sadly, my dog does not seem to delight in little pieces of diced veggies that have fallen to the floor in my efforts. He's more of a meat and fish guts kind of guy.

3. Alison

   March 20 12:23 p.m. 3

   You'll want to keep the onions away from him anyway! You'll be amazed at how fast you'll get with a little instruction and practice. If I can do it, anyone can.

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