The next Serious Foodie Culinary Basics class will start Tuesday May 12!

Let Chef Tony guide you from basic skills to preparing 3 course meals.  Empower yourself by taking these classes and become an excellent home chef or give as a gift to the chef in your life.

Learn proper knife handling skills, stocks & sauces, moist & dry heat cooking methods and more. All of our classes are hands-on, and you will prepare a 3-course meal each night.  For a detailed description of this delicious, enlightening & empowering course, please visit this webpage: http://www.nwcav.com/serious_culinary.php

Date: Tuesday May 12 – July 14, 2009 

Time: 6:15 – 9:45 pm evenings

Cost: $695 + GST.

Bring: Chef’s knife, paring knife, pastry scraper, 2 tea towels, closed-toe/flat-heeled shoes, hair elastic (for long hair).

These classes will sell out.  Please call 604.876.7653 to register early.

Get ready for a chocolate Easter.  Master the art of tempering chocolate.  In this 2-day series you will learn how to taste & work with chocolate.  Some of the techniques and items prepared will be:

- Pre-Crystalizing Chocolate (Tempering)
- Garnishing Techniques: Cigarettes, Curls…
- Ganache & fillings
- Chocolate Truffles
- Enrobed Chocolates
- Molded Chocolates

Time: April 4 & 5, 2009. From 9am to 2pm.

Cost: $320.00 + GST

Register: Call 604.876.7653.  Payment is due at registration and can be made by phone with VISA or MasterCard, or in person.

Bring: Chef’s knife, paring knife, pastry scraper, 2 tea towels, silpat (1/2 sheet size), small electric heating pad & a container to take home your goodies!

Note: menu is subject to change at Chef’s discretion.

Dishwashing, in my mind, is a profession.  I find the words “dishpig” and “dishpit” insulting.  Show me a chef that at one time dishwashed, did it well, and still gets his/her elbows in the sink, and I’ll show you a chef who takes good care of the house – the business, the budget, the food, and the people.  Even Fernand Point pointed demanded all his cooks treat the dishwasher with the same respect one naturally gives the chef.  I have worked for restaurant owners who protected their dishwasher above the chef.  In fact, it is very common for the (good) dishwasher to be the most senior employee of any fine kitchen.

At our Academy, we teach and enforce the skills and discipline of cleaning.  There are two types of students (or people, I figure):  those that respect the discipline of cleanliness as part of the art of cooking, and those that see it as a nuisance, would rather let it slide and be taken care of by others.  The latter, without exception (i figure), will eventually throw in the towel or one day be forced to do so.

Excellent cleaning skills requires excellent choreography, good hand skills, speed, hard workd, eyes and ears working at their highest efficiency, and respect.  In other words, the same skills and qualities to become an excellent cook.  A dishwasher is connected to the heart of a business like no other employee.  More than the head waiter, even the chef, the dishwasher can tell you what’s good to eat on the menu.  More than the owner, the front manager, or chef, the dishwasher can tell you which workers are worth their weight and which are not.  More than the owner, accountant, manager, or chef, the dishwasher can tell you from having to scrape all the physical evidence if the business if going down the tubes. 

I know many high profile chefs that when reading a resume will immediately give priority to ones that have dishwashing in their “work experience” list.  In fact, I can’t think of anything on a resume which should impress an employer more - of any field -than a stint at one time as a dishwasher. 

Tony Minichiello

Culinary Instructor (and cleans his own)

An Introductory class to get you started on the healthy macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. Discover a variety of health supporting spring foods including whole grains, beans, vegetables, sea vegetables, condiments, oils and natural sweeteners. Nadine Barner will discuss the ABC’s of spring cooking: which foods to have on hand, and how to plan nutritious meals.

Learn to cleanse and strengthen your vital organs, using lighter cooking methods, less salt, specific grains, beans and condiments, as you transition from one season to another without getting sick. In addition to fresh, spring ingredients, learn to use such signature macrobiotic ingredients as miso, hato mugi, shoyu, mirin, brown rice syrup, agar-agar, umeboshi, and kudzu. 

Specific foods, condiments and home remedies are powerful allies to cleanse and strengthen our physical and emotional health during time of stress or the change of seasons. Spring cooking is lighter, with emphasis on sour taste and lightly fermented foods such as tempeh, amazake, natto, sauerkraut and light pickles.  Those foods have traditionally been used to gently cleanse our system and increase the flow of energy through the liver-gallbladder as it releases stagnant winter energy. The addition of more fresh greens to your meals like kale, collards, sprouts, artichokes, and the occasional wild plant such as dandelion, brings upward energy to your cooking. 

Menu:
- Barley salad with lemon-miso tahini dressing
- Sweet & sour tempeh with cauliflower & green beans
- Blanched spring vegetables with tangy blood orange dressing
- Dandelion leaf condiment
- Pressed salad with napa cabbage, cuccumber, radishes, green apple & shiso leaves
- Tart apple-lemon pudding topped with marinated strawberries

Date:       Saturday March 21   10am – 2:15pm

Cost:        $119 + gst

Register:  Please call 604.876.7653 to register. 

Bring:       Chefs knife, paring knife, 2 tea towels, pastry scraper, comfortable shoes, hair elastic (long hair)

Vegetarianism and macrobiotics have come to the forefront of healthy cuisine. New approaches to eating with little or no animal protein are proving beneficial to both men and women. Though women live longer, degenerative diseases are rising more rapidly for us and breast cancer incidence in North America has been declared epidemic. On the plus side, women are generally more aware of alternative approaches to health than men and are more likely to change their diet and try holistic therapies.

With this in mind, let’s take some responsibility for protecting our health and our well being. Develop a working knowledge of how easy it is to prepare delicious dishes that are health-supportive as well as restorative and discover how to easily incorporate them into our daily lifestyle. Since women today often have little time to balance cooking with their busy lifestyles; this class will include practical information and suggestions as well as handouts designed for all women. While cooking, Nadine will present an overview of the macrobiotic approach to women’s health problems and give you tips wherever you are in your lifecycle,  whether that is fertility, menopause, PMS or pregnancy.

Nadine’s website is http://www.nadinebarner.com/.

Menu:
- Short or medium grain brown rice with chestnuts
- Black soya beans dish with vegetables
- Spring Nishime
- Quick sauteed Napa cabbage & greens with wakame
_ Special daikon dishes

Drink Menu: (Special remedy drinks)
- Carrot daikon drink
- Sweet vegetable drink
- Ame kudzu tea
- Ume-sho kudzu (with or without ginger)
- Black soya bean tea

Date:        Sunday March 22   10am – 3:30pm

Cost:        $149 + gst

Register:  Please call 604.876.7653. 

Bring:       Chefs knife, paring knife, 2 tea towels, pastry scraper, comfortable shoes, hair elastic (long hair)

Each year the Quady Winery from California presents a Chef Competition where their dessert wines are paired with contestant desserts. The contestants range from post-secondary schools to hotels and restaurants all competiting for the grand prize of one week at the California Quady California ranch.  This year it was held at the Major Gourmet at Heather Street and Marine Way, Vancouver.

This year Kim Denis took the title of Top Student and is in the top 10 for the grand prize.  “The experience was very interesting.  You get to see the different ways of plating and comparing dessert wine with different desserts.”

Kim’s dessert consisted of a Chocolate Mousse with pink peppercorn flakes with a crunchy feuilletine base.  Inside you will find a vanilla flavoured sponge soaked in a simple orange syrup with a marinaded cherry hidden inside with a cherry bavaroise and a dragee sitting on top. Finished with two chocolate swirls, apricot jelly fanned on a plate and brushed apricot sauce and cherry coulis.

Congratulations Kim and good luck for the grand prize!

I have heard that some parents struggle to get their kids to eat a variety of things.  Many parents simply don’t have a strategy.  I used one I learned from my grandfather.

When I was four, I stayed many weeks with my grandparents.  My grandmother was an excellent cook, and my grandfather a very good gardener who dearly loved his food.  He especially loved eel.  In fact, I often shopped with my grandmother at the fishmonger and I was given the responsibility of choosing the live eel from the tank which would eventually end up on my grandfather’s plate.  He took educating his grandchildren very seriously, and on this occasion used eel as part of his strategy. He had invited an old army friend for lunch who was quite excited about these eels himself.  I had never tried them, and never wanted to, but suddenly all this anticipation of eels made me curious.  I was given a bowl of noodle soup, but all I remember wanting that afternoon was some of that eel stuff.  When the casserole of the eels came out of the old wood-fueled oven, the guest’s eyes lit up.  My goodness, I thought, these things must really be good.  My grandma basted them with the tomato based sauce, finished them with a few drizzles of olive oil, and brought them to the table.  They were shiny, piping hot, cut into chunks.  There was nothing else to accompany them.  They looked magnificent.  Was there enough for me?  I was shy, too afraid to ask my grandfather if I could have some.  These were made especially for him and his war buddy.  I ate my soup quietly but stared at the eels and mesmerized by the gestures of incredible pleasure made by the old guest.  His eyes, his nose, his brows, his chin, his hands, even his feet expressed a pleasure I had never seen before by someone eating food.  Can food do this?  My soup is good, but it’s not doing the same thing for me.  Soup is for babies.  I wanted what they were having. I absolutely had to know what those eels tasted like, but not courageous enough to intrude on their eel-tasting bliss. 

Luckily the old guest noticed that I coveted his eel.  He asked me if I had ever eaten eel before.  I simply replied “No”.  I could have pressed, but obviously not brave enough.  However, the kind old man then asked me if I’d like some.  But I ruined the opportunity by turning to my grandfather instead of jumping to the offer. 

“He’s not ready for something like eel yet,” my grandfather said.  My disappointment was almost unbearable, but I knew not to make any scene.  And then came the lesson: “Eel is an acquired taste.  First you acquire the taste for chicken.  Then you acquire the taste for rabbit.  Then you acquire the taste for carp.  And only then are you ready for eel.”  I knew exactly where he was going with this.  I often refused to eat rabbit, which my grandfather likes to eat at least once a week.  And I simply disliked the smell of fried fish, especially carp, which he also loved.  In order to eat the eel, I had to graduate to it.  And it worked .  I ate rabbit and carp to my grandfather’s delight – eventually to mine too.  I did eventually graduate to the eel.  I remember the day I chose the eel for my plate, a day as special as when I bought my first pair of hockey skates. The eel was delicious.  Today I describe it as a combination of rabbit and carp.

Tony Minichiello

Culinary Instructor

Since our Academy’s involvement with Rouxbe, my work as a culinary instructor has been taken to a new level.  Two things have instigated this push.  Firstly, being directly involved in scripting and filming techniques that are precise, concise, and empowering – in other words, intended to take the home cook to new levels – has made me re-think, dissect, and investigate techniques themselves.  In that process, my understanding of essential techniques has evolved;  as well, how I now explain it to my professional and foodie students in class live has matured.  So, not only have my techniques improved, but my teachings of the techniques themselves have advanced.

Another thing that has pushed have been my ongoing dialogues with the major players at Rouxbe, namely the owners as well as key staff members from writing to filming to editing.  I’ve noticed that what we always talk about is the technique of executing and teaching the techniques. What do we say?  What do we focus on?  What are the keys?  How do we say it?  How do we keep it succinct?  What’s more, we’re always evolving our approach, looking for better ways to get the home cook on the best path.  It takes hours of experimenting to come up with one AHHAH! moment, like the springs and drum in the gluten lesson, or the mercury-like water test in the pan frying lesson, or the keys in understanding quality pasta.  

Teaching cooking is tricky because there is already so much information out there, so many cookbooks, recipes, opinions, and lazy attempts to instruct.  The problem with this information is that it rarely takes into consideration the process of cooking;  it directs your attention to the end result, and in doing so, it does not closely look at the process it chose to show you how to get to the end result. The recipe-driven cook is motivated by the end result, the way the recipe sounds and looks (Q: How many attempt a recipe form a cookbook that does not have a picture compared to the ones that do?).  But a dish well done is the accumulation of many little things done well along the way.  An accomplished cook recognizes those little steps and the proper techniques inherent in each of those steps.  The recipe is, in essence, a destination.  The techniques inherent in the recipe are the vehicle that gets you there.  Visual, 21^st century on-line instruction, such as Rouxbe, serves a dual role:  first it shows you how to drive yourself properly to your destination;  then it provides a path along with the necessary road signs that help you steer to where you want to go:  a successful, yummy dish.  

However, as a teacher, I’ve learned that the main purpose of instruction is not simply showing you a path to where you want to go, but motivating you to learn the best practices to get there from start to finish.  Like everything else in life, recognition and mastery of anything comes with practice.  When we are learning to cook, we are involved in the practicing of new and more foundational skills.  Though we strive for excellent end results, what we should strive for is how we get there, all the little steps leading towards the end; in other words, the process.  Rouxbe illustrates the process for the 21^st century home cook amidst in a jungle of over-saturated information out there.  Everyone is vying for your attention to cook their recipes.  Rouxbe is vying for your attention to learn the essential techniques.  It’s dedicated to get you on a path to good practice habits and discipline, without which your potential tendency to quit and stay at the level you are at right now, may be greater than your potential to move forward. 

When I see a culinary student, whether professional or foodie, focus on their skills with the right mindset, it’s easy to recognize that they’ve understood the mindset of a chef.  They got it!  They’re driving themselves to their next level.  They’re in control, with hands and mind, of where they want to go.  Free at last!  Going mobile! 

Tony Minichiello

Culinary Instructor