What's Cooking

When I took a cruise last month, the ship had cooking classes

The first few pictures are from the cooking flyer they gave us each class, as I did not bring my phone to that class. It was a class on crepes.

First we made Saint-Malo

Then we made Savory Crepes A La Normande

I even got to make Crepe Suzette 

I found this class both yummy and informative. I found out that most of Europe feels that we American cook our eggs until they are rubbery. I Learned how to make clarified butter and that when you use butter in a pan at a higher heat it will burn if it is not clarified butter as the milk solids are what burns. In clarified butter the milk solids and extra water are removed, so it can be used in higher heats. Clarified bitter is also called Ghee.

From here on out these pictures are ones I took myself. This class was called Bistro by Candlelight. We made Steak Diane, Potatoes Dauphinoise, and Haricots Verts Almondine. 

And Tarte Tatin

In this class, as in all of them, the chef, Noel, stressed proper knife and cutting skills. It was fun as the classes were taught by a chef who had trained and taught at the Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park Campus.

The next class was called, Brunch. I learned to make one of my favorite  tea and brunch items English Cream Scones

Don't they look so good!

One of the Sou Chef and I got to be friends and he took this picture of me enjoying my scone. We at everything we cooked.

Next up was Poached Eggs on Polenta Cakes. I learned a cool trick for poaching eggs. We used baggies. You put a oil into the ziplock bag, gentle pour the egg into the bag, then placer the bag into simmering (not boiling) water tipping the mostly seal bag so the egg was in the corner. Make sure the egg is totally submerged in the water. It takes about 4 minutes for medium rare and 6 minutes fir well done.

We worked in teams and my partner for this and several other classes was a women named, Diane, from Texas. We had a good time together and worked well, which made the class more fun.

We also made a Puglia Frittata and ate it with a Grapefruit Rosemary Spritzer

I learned that typically eggs are cooked at too high of temperature. It is better to cook your eggs on a lower heat. When scrambling your eggs, keep the pan on medium, stir the eggs slowly and enjoy the creamy results.

The next class was called Roman Holiday. Our first dish this class Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Then we moved on toRosemary and Garlic Grilled Lamb chop. I have to admit that I do not believe that I have ever had lamb before!

Then we made Spaghetti Alla Carbonara. I learned that this was the chef all time favorite dish. I enjoyed it as well. We also learned about the type of pork that is used in these dishes, which can sometimes be hard to find in most of the US, so instead she said we use a think cut bacon.

Finally for dessert we made a Mousse Di Ricotta

Today I took a picture of the display the chef put together as she showed us how to make each dish, before we went back to our stations to actually make the dishes ourselves. 

In this class, I learned, among other things, that ricotta cheese should alway be drained (preferably overnight) before using it and it should be full fat. And also how to cook dried pasta.

The next class was called Essential Pepin.  We started the class by making Quiche Lorraine. Here is mine before it is cooked.

We also made a salad and learned how to put dressing on without drowning the salad. I also learned that quiche crust is not the same as pie crust, who knew, not me!

Then we did Jacques' Roasted chicken. And we learned the proper way to carve a bird to get most of the meat off.

Then we made another dessert, Pot De Creme, yes it was as good as it looks!

Here is the Chef's display for this class. As you can see Pepin is a fairly famous Chef and these were his recipes, that is the reason for this classes name.

This class taught us about emulsion and how to use this technique in making salad dressing. the trick goes like this; in your salad bowl, whisk 1 part vinegar vigorously, then slowly drizzle a steady stream of 2 parts extra virgin olive oil while still whisking vigorously to make it a creamy classic vinaigrette. You can season your dressing with such accents as shallots, herbs, blue cheese , cream, mustard nuts and seeds.

Our next class was just called, Fish.

I especially took this class because I have not done much fish cooking.

We started with pan searing our scallops 

Then we made a Celery 

Root Puree to set our scallops one and Lemon butter sauce for over them

then we made Baked Shrimp Scampi

Next we made an Oil-Poached Mediterranean Tuna Salad. After poaching the tuna by submersing  if in oil, I figured this would be heavy and oily, but I was really surprised as it was very light and not oily at all.

Marco, one of the sou chefs,  took my phone and snapped this picture as I was trying the salad

Then we did one called Fish in Crazy Water.

we did this by shallow poaching the fish under a parchment paper tent in fish stock, with olives and tomatoes and seasoning. 

This  what the finished product looked like

Here is what the chef's display looked like.

From this class, I came away with lots of ways to prepare fish and tips on how to pick fresh fish and frozen fish.

Now as our ship was in the baltic see at the time of this class, the chef did a call called, Nordic.

We started out by "sweating" our onions with herbs until the onions softened and the aroma "bloomed"

Then we added the potatoes, then the fish and here is what our Estonian fish Soup looked like

Then we made a sweet and sour cucumber salad to go with our Aquavit-Cured Salmon. We had started curing the Salmon in the fish class.

Then we made Swedish Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce. I had never made cranberry sauce from scratch before, but I sure want to do it often now, it was better than the canned stuff.

Then for dessert we made Gotland Saffron Crepes with Sweet Berries

Again here is the picture of the chefs stuff. If you have noticed drinks with a lot of the meals, yes we also did drink and wine oaring for some of the food. As I am not much of a drinker and definitely have no taste for wine, this part was pretty much wasted on me.

this class the thing that was stressed was how to "bloom" spices in oil. It is done to bring  forth the aroma of died spices.

The next class was called Paella. Up front I have to say that this is probably not a dish I will make very often, first  It has tone of seafood, lobster, scallops, mussels, shrimp. So it would be fairly expensive to make in Utah, where I live.   secondly it took pretty much the whole two hours of class to prepare which is more time than I( usually want to spend.

First we had to sear our scallops and lobster

While that was happening,  we mixed ip drink, Sangria Blanca, I think they knew we would need something to relax us through this project, (smile).

then took the next hour and a half working on the various stages of this dish. Of all the classes I took, I found this the hardest and least enjoyable for me. The dish was good, but not enough for me to make it often with the expense and work involved.

Now we are to the last class I took on the ship. It was a bit sad, because I enjoyed them so much. As far as I am concerned it was the only thing that made this ship better than other lines I have been on.

This last class was called Pasta.

Tiny, my mascot, came to this class with me. For our first dish we made Rigatoni Alla Porcini E Salsica. For this one we made the sauce, but used dry pasta, rigatoni, as the base

Then we made a dish called Crespelle Alla Florentina, which you will see in a couple of picture, as it had to bake.

Then we learned to made our own pasta. I had taken a pasta class where I live, but the pasta was crumbly and not that good, so I was hoping to figure out why.

This class was awesome. I learned that pasta has to rest at least an hour after you mix it (overnight is better) and when mixing it you only do it until it holds together, but is soft. I learned not to over knead it. Then when making it into pasta, I learned that you need to keep it floured as you roll it out. we used a Kitchen Aid mixer with the pasta attachments. It turned out great! (if you like to cook and don't have a Kitchen Aid mixer, I would recommend you get one, they are awesome, expensive, but last well)

Then I learned that fresh pasta only takes about a minute to cook.  We made Fettuccine  for our fresh pasta. I also learn that Fettuccine Alfredo does not have any cream or milk in it. Below is baked Crespelle.

Here is the Alfredo and Crespelle as Tiny got it ready for me to eat.

This is my friend Marco. He was one of the sou chefs and very nice to me. He knew I did not drink much, so he always made sure I had a bottle of water. Also he took pictures of me so I could prove I was actually there.

He is the chef's display for that last class

This is Chef Noel. She was a great teacher and a lot of fun. Tiny likes her too.

I learned a lot in these classes. Here are a few more cooking tips I came away with:

They used kosher salt in the classes as it is light, clean, and flakey. Sea Salt can be polluted and briny which changes the taste of the dish.

When baking, making pasta and crepes (or generally using flour in your recipes), the most consistent  results come from weighting dry ingredients, particularly the flour. For example 1 cup of flour generally weighs 120 grams on a digital scale. However, when simply using a measuring cup, you might be using as much as 148 grams, depending on the brand and density of the flour and your tendency to pack it when scraping.

"00" flour is the best to use when making pasta and pizza. Their preferred brand was Barilla.

It is best to have a good food safe thermometer to check meat for desired doneness. It is essential to rest meat after cooking, for an 8oz steak 5 to 7 minutes is preferred. For a 20 pound turkey 20 to 30 minutes is recommended. 

Mise En Place was a term I heard in every class it means everything in it place. When we took classes, we lined up everything we would need to make the dishes in the proper amount  and order of use so when cooking we could just concentrate on the dish, not finding ingredients. Also then you know that you have everything you need before you start.

I learned the difference between Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano cheese. The first is made from cow's milk, the second from sheep's milk.

I also learned that for thick cuts of individual portioned meats, such as beef tenderloin, bone-in ribeye or meaty chicken breast, they recommend searing the meat, then finishing it in the oven at 450 until it's internal is the doneness you want.

and one last tip for you all, traditionally, the lightest crepes are achieved with all-purpose white whole wheat flour. Buckwheat, which is technically not a grass nor wheat, is the preferred for French galettes from Brittany.

Hope these hit help some of you to take cooking a step further and have fun!