Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Trip to Mecca.......The Culinary Institute of America




A year ago when I turned the young age of 40, I was given a gift from my Sister and Brother in law of a day at the CIA.  I had taken a class there a few years earlier and it was not the greatest experience.  The teacher I had for the class of Cocktail parties and finger foods was a bit drab and bland.  He encouraged us to take one dish and really concentrate on it and do that as your dish.  What kind of class is that?

So what class would I take?  I really wanted to take a class that I was going to be able to take something more than one dish away with me.  So what kind of cuisine has lots of small dishes?  Spanish tapas.  The class I took was Spain and world Cuisine.

The class started out as any classes start, in a classroom.  I was in a group of 16 people from all over the New York area who was either given the class as a present as I was or came with a sibling or significant other.  The teacher was Chef Carol Murphy Clyne who was there to teach with her husband.  Chef Carol had a real grip on Spain and how the people there eat.  We discussed the foods that were native to area there as well as sampled some Cheeses from the area like Manchego.  We also tried two different types of Olive oil.

After the brief discussion we got a look at the list of items we would be cooking for the day.  16 dishes total were going to be made that day.  The group was to be split up into four groups of 4 so there is a chance that some people wouldn't get to cook what they wanted to.  But as it turned out, the group split up perfectly with everyone getting to cook what they wanted to do.  My group consisted of a mother daughter team Monica and Virginia and a Robert from New Jersey.  We chose to cook the following:

Alaskan Scallops on Serrano Ham and Lentil Salad
Grilled Lamb Chops with Salsa de Pasitas Rojas and Fennel Salad
Manchego Croquetts with Quince Sauce

So we donned out aprons and our toques (that's the big silly hats they wear in the kitchen) and went into the kitchen where we were to be cooking.  All the ingredients were located at the stations that we picked.  The greatest thing about the group I was with is that we all wanted to do everything so that we could learn as much as we could.  Plus we all wanted to help each other.  So first started the prep work.   Chopping, dicing, slicing, mixing so that we can be ready.   To be honest, we had less than two hours to prepare the three dishes and we were all slightly overwhelmed.  But we all looked at the instructions and dove in.

I saw a cheese cloth being loaded with herbs and tossed into a pot with the lentils to cook while we did more prep work.   I cleaned up and sliced the fennel for the salad under the Lamb Chops.  Virginia prepared the potatoes and Monica cut the cheese.  For the potato and Manchego Croquettes of course.  what were you thinking?  (ok, I was thinking it too and I just couldn't help myself.  Monica I apologize).  Rob was cleaning up the Scallops and working on the Lentils.  I don't know why but I went to work on the Salsa which ended up being super cool.  First of all, take any idea that you currently have of salsa and throw it away.  This is called Salsa but not like you and I would know it.  It was more like a sauce made from cooking up some stuff and completely blending it till its smooth and silky.  It had Raisins, Almonds, Black Olives, anchovies, garlic, Chili's, Balsamic vinegar and some other stuff.  Does that sound like any salsa you've ever tasted?  Nope, but it is one you would want to.  The cool thing about the sauce is that you could put it on any protein.

So after a lot of the prep work was done, we started the cooking.  Rob prepared a pan of oil for the Scallops only to have another group steal it.  I was next to him with another pan of oil to fry up the croquettes.  Below is a photo of Rob and I at the stove.



While we were doing that, the girls were at the grill firing up the lamb chops.  I believe Monica came back to the stove area to fry up the Serrano ham for the Scallops.

In the end, we plated 3 amazing dishes.  Some of the other teams finished early and had a chance to work on the other additional dishes that were open to anyone.  One of them were Churros with Xocopili Hot Chocolate.  Now, I'm not one with a sweet tooth so I kind of steer away from dessert things.  When I heard Churros, I immediately think of Disney World and people walking around with the 2' long sticks of fried dough.  So I wasn't too excited about it when I heard they were being made.  The hot chocolate isn't really hot chocolate but more of a bowl of thick melted chocolate to dip the churros in to.  The batter was made and put into a pastry bag and it was then squeezed out into hot oil.   The batter cooked quickly on one side and flipped to the other to completely cook the churros in about 2-3 minutes.   After it was cooked, it is immediately tossed into a big bowl with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  You then took this Churros and dipped it into the Hot Chocolate.  Now for the person who has a sweet tooth, this dessert is heavenly.  I figured I would try a small bite just to try it.  I expected such a deep rich sweet heavy flavor but what I got was a soft, light and fluffy, sweet cinnamon-y cake that was so delicious, I wanted many more.  I was thinking this is going to taste so heavy but it was exactly the opposite.  Dipped into the Chocolate brings it to another level of delight.

After we were done, we all placed out dishes onto the long table for everyone to observe.  Below are our dishes that we made.



They are from right to left, Croquettes, Lamb Chops and Scallops.  We all got a chance to explain what each dish was so that we all knew what each dish looked like from the descriptions we read earlier.  After that, we all got in line and had a mega buffet lunch.  Everyone got to try everything that we made.  When we sat down, a few of us from different teams got to discuss the dishes that we made and how it was easy or challenging to make the dishes.

After were were done, we all got an opportunity to take home some leftovers.  Then we got back to the classroom to discuss how each of us made out dishes and how we would change it in the future to tweak it to our own palates.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience and one I will never forget.  Especially since I bought a Sweatshirt from there and it has become my favorite one to wear these days.  If you have an opportunity to take a class there, I suggest you do.  Yes, it could be hit or miss with the teacher you get, but with so many amazing cooks that have graduated from this school, odds are you have a better chance than not that you will have a good teacher.

If anyone wants the recipes for any of the dishes we made, I can send them to you.  Just send me a message.


2 comments:

Jeff said...

I just got a cert to take one of these classes. Did you consider any others? I thought that knife skills would be a great base, but sauces also interested me.

Alan Hariton said...

Jeff,
I have thought about knife skills as one to take in the future. The problem is that you don't have much time to learn a whole bunch in just that one class. I think the move might be to save some money up to take a long weekend or boot camp type class.
But as I mentioned, the teacher makes the whole thing. Let me know what you took and how you liked it.Enjoy.
Al