What a day! I just finished my first class at the “Serious Foodie” cooking course at the NorthWest Culinary Academy of Vancouver. Although I started with a few first day jitters I was over those pretty quickly thanks to our instructor, Tony, who made things very light and friendly. We eased into the class with a basic introduction to the tools of the kitchen, specifically knives.
Tonight we learned the basics of how to use a knife, how to make a basic chicken stock, and then we made a Gypsy Soup, which was similar to tortilla soup and made from the chicken broth that we had cooked earlier. I must admit, I always throw my chicken bones away when I make roast chicken but seeing how easy it was to make a stock (or in this case a broth), I will be putting that little chicken carcass to good use next time!
Helpful tips that I learnt tonight:
- Smaller/medium sized carrots and zucchini are more flavourful than bigger ones. (No, I’m not talking about those cute baby carrots!).
- Tomatoes and limes should be kept at room temperature. This was news to me – I always keep my tomatoes in the fridge. No more!
- The difference between stock and broth is that stock is made with the bones, and broth is made with the meat still on the bones. I have always used the two interchangeably. Again, no more!
- Use a pastry scraper to transfer your vegetables from the chopping board to the pot or pan. I always just balanced them on the back of the knife. Oops.
- When cooking pasta, use cold water from the tap (or filtered cold water). Don’t use hot water from the tap.
- A mirepoix is basically the supporting cast of vegetables which help make a good stock. How awesome is that name? Mirepoix. It’s almost as good as bouquet garni.
I learned other things too and one, in particular, shocked me. Did you know that each glug of olive oil contains 125 calories?! I. Did. Not. Know. That. I am normally fairly generous with my olive oil (which explains a few things) but now, having learnt this, I will be stepping away from the oil!
If the food we ate tonight is any indication, I will have to make Wednesday trips to the gym mandatory. We started off by nibbling delicious canapés, moved on to homemade soup and a glass of wine, and finished with freshly made pastries (we didn’t make those). Overall, I enjoyed the first class. It was fun and I’m excited that, in just one class, I’ve already expanded my knowledge in the kitchen. I can’t wait to see what the next seven classes bring.
Tags: cooking, cooking techniques, Food, foodie
hi hi…so about the pasta thing. is there any particular reason why cold water is better for pasta than hot? very curious about that! thanks! interesting post!
Hi! Well our instructor made the point that all hot water from the tap sits in a hot water tank until it’s ready to be used. So I guess the theory is that the water isn’t as clean as flowing cold tap water. He actually said using cold filtered water is the best. I tried this yesterday (using cold tap water) and I personally couldn’t taste any difference so I guess it is a personal thing. Thanks for reading!