Editor's note: CL food critic Jon Palmer Claridge is in Vancouver doing "research." This is part four of an ongoing series sharing his culinary adventures.
If you happen to be traveling with a crowd, a cooking class at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts is an eye-opening window into the world of professional food prep.
Under the guidance of master chef Scot Cunningham we don our logo-embroidered blue aprons, preparing for a three-course menu in assigned stations. However, when our work is done, the full-time students take over, and we get to eat the fruits of our labors.
The institute's students have roasted garlic, ground pork, reduced veal stock, prepared ring molds and the like. We hone our knife skills, and chef shows us how to score the fat on a duck breast, searing the skin so that the staff may finish it in the oven. We also make filling for pork gyoza, adjust the seasoning and fry up a few tiny patties in cast-iron for final tweaks prior to stuffing and pleating four dozen yummy dumplings.
One team also peels and boils carrots for a date in the industrial Vitamix blender with orange and ginger for use in plating the duck. There's also barley risotto, soft and buttery sautéed leeks, and tiny blanched zucchini to be cut into fans for final garnish.
Dessert is individual lemon cheesecakes with a graham cracker base topped with fruit compote. One member of our team presses the sweetened crumbs and melted butter into the prepared molds so they're ready to accept the thick cream cheese and eggs batter.
With our laborious prep complete, we're ushered into an elegant dining room, and we let chef and the students finish and serve our meals accompanied by British Columbia wines.
First, we have a delicious bread service highlighted by tremendous mini baguettes. Our gyoza are lightly browned, then steamed and served with wilted greens and a soy-dipping sauce. The rosy duck breast is sliced and fanned out atop risotto with the aforementioned garnishes and sprinkled with diminutive garlic blossoms that add a tiny bite to the other veggies.
My group of mostly novice cooks hangs on Cunningham's every word. The prep is successful, and, frankly, I'm impressed by the results. A good time is had by all. We exit full, happy and swinging our souvenir blue aprons in the air.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2016.