{"id":156,"date":"2010-11-06T08:44:37","date_gmt":"2010-11-06T13:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/?p=156"},"modified":"2010-11-06T08:44:37","modified_gmt":"2010-11-06T13:44:37","slug":"viking-culinary-basics-day-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/06\/viking-culinary-basics-day-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Viking Culinary Basics – Day One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chef<\/p>\n

Chef Jamie Watson, Viking Cooking Class<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like stuff. Any time I gain interest in a new hobby or sport I\u2019m always fascinated by all the \u201cstuff\u201d that goes along with it. I\u2019ve had an interest in learning real cooking skills for several years and would occasionally wander into a store and purchase kitchen utensils or gadgets in an attempt to make my limited recipes taste better \u2013 but who am I kidding \u2013 I like to play with the \u201cstuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

On a visit to the Viking store a few weeks ago I noticed a list of their cooking classes and decided to sign up. The helpful lady working out front suggested I start with \u201cBasic Knife Skills\u201d and then find other classes of interest. I have to say, learning how to effectively slice, mince and dice are fundamental to preparing food in a timely manner. I make really good chili but it takes me thirty to forty minutes to dice the onions and bell peppers and mince the garlic. But now – now I have some elementary knife skills that will allow to reduce that time by sixty or seventy percent. Oh, and by the way, I used some really nice and very sharp knives. Those of you are already good cooks know the importance of sharp knives and how a balanced knife feels in your hand. I considered my initial knife instruction a success \u2013 no nicks, cuts or abrasions and I came home with all ten digits \u2013 my first evening\u2019s objective.<\/p>\n

The three-day basics class at Viking begins with a Friday evening class. There are six of us in this class, which is a great good number since working in three\u2019s is ideal in the kitchen. Chef Jamie Watson, an extremely accomplished chef who is relaxed and has a talent for explaining in simple terms what he\u2019s attempting to teach a group of novice cooks, is our Executive Chef. His Sous Chef, Brooke Bridge, assists Chef Jamie and taught us important sanitary techniques before and while preparing our food.\u00a0 Chef Jamie is formally trained in French cooking and explained at the beginning of class that the French were the first to \u201ccodify\u201d cooking. As he was inundating us with information (kind of like drinking water from a fire hydrant), there were three basics he said every good cook should know.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 Understand seasoning (Yes, bland food should be outlawed)<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 Taste, taste, taste (Yum)<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget the first two things<\/p>\n

Now that I get \u2013 I learned to love well seasoned food growing up in a household with really good southern food and I always want to taste whatever I\u2019m preparing in the kitchen. For example, \u201csalt balances everything\u201d. I learned to use kosher salt several years ago and Chef Jamie told us in no uncertain terms not to waste our taste or whatever cooking talents we might possess on iodized table salt, which I did not know is primarily produced in Ohio and a couple of other states. Hmm, learn something everyday.<\/p>\n

We began by preparing the bread for our fresh fruit shortcake that would complete the evening\u2019s menu of Asian-Marinated Grilled Fish, Crispy Lemon Chicken, Basmati Rice Pilaf and Stir-Fried Vegetables.<\/p>\n

Chef Jamie informed us there were seventeen (17) essential techniques to cooking. \u201cAnyone can follow a written recipe, but if you know and learn technique, you can cook most anything.\u201d he emphasized. There\u2019s a lot to learn and attending a first session isn\u2019t going to make you an excellent cook \u2013 that comes with mastering technique and most importantly, having a passion for food and the process of cooking. In fact, I may have been the least accomplished cook in the room because at least three others knew quite a bit about cooking and it was more than obvious they were well read and watched the Food Network on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

After completing all our \u201cprep\u201d tasks and actually cooking our meal, it was delicious if I must say so myself. I grilled the Salmon in our group tonight but hope to get more hands on experience in saut\u00e9 techniques on day two. Stay-tuned, a five hour shift awaits and I\u2019m sure our meal today will be as good as the first days. Oh, and thanks for our classmate Dan for the great bottle of Layer Cake to compliment our dinner.<\/p>\n

\"Food<\/a><\/p>\n

Food prepared in the Viking cooking class November 5, 2010\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chef Jamie Watson, Viking Cooking Class I like stuff. Any time I gain interest in a new hobby or sport I\u2019m always fascinated by all the \u201cstuff\u201d that goes along with it. I\u2019ve had an interest in learning real cooking skills for several years and would occasionally wander into a store and purchase kitchen utensils or gadgets in an attempt to make my limited recipes taste better \u2013 but who am I kidding \u2013 I like to play with the \u201cstuff\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[88,327,443],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-paul","tag-cooking-class","tag-paul-stanley","tag-viking-cooking-class"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nViking Culinary Basics - Day One - Paul Stanley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.paulstanley.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/06\/viking-culinary-basics-day-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viking Culinary Basics - Day One - Paul Stanley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chef Jamie Watson, Viking Cooking Class I like stuff. 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