Monday, January 4, 2010
Good advice And If You're Not Careful, You May Just Learn Something
Posted by Chris Chamberlain on Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 7:44 AM
Was one of your New Year's resolutions to improve yourself? Specifically in the kitchen? Then opportunities abound. The Viking Cooking School in Franklin and the University School of Nashville have a bushel of fresh, fun classes to help your cooking skills bloom.
Viking offers its Viking University program starting this week. Six weeks of three-hour classes will focus on basic culinary techniques to help make you a whiz in the kitchen. You'll learn fish, meat and poultry cookery, knife skills, as well as essential cooking techniques from braising and boiling to searing and steaming. The curriculum is:
VIKING CLASSICS I: KNIFE SKILLS & KITCHEN ORIENTATION
Salsa Fresca; Chicken and Vegetable Fajitas; Simple Green Salad; Sample Recipe: Basic Vinaigrette
VIKING CLASSICS II: STOCKS, SOUPS & SAUCES
Chicken Noodle Soup; Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Pancetta and Fried Sage; Italian Macaroni and Cheese; Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Shallot Mushroom Pan Sauce. Sample Recipe: Chicken Stock
VIKING CLASSICS III: OVEN-ROASTING & BAKING
Roasted Vegetables; Classic Roasted Chicken with Herbed Pan Gravy; Potato Gratin; Roasted Prime Rib of Beef with Horseradish Cream Sauce; Baked Fish with Parmesan Crust
VIKING CLASSICS IV: SAUTÉING, FRYING & STIR-FRYING
Chicken Parmesan; Stir-Fried Shrimp and Vegetables; Veal Piccata; Sautéed Fish; Classic Beurre Blanc. Sample Recipe: Boiled Jasmine Rice
VIKING CLASSICS V: GRILLING & BROILING
Grilled New York Strips; Cabernet Butter (with Variations); Broiled Rosemary Chicken; Grilled Vegetables with Basil and Asiago Cheese; Miso-Glazed Salmon; Grilled Garlic Bread; Mixed Greens with Blue Cheese, Candied Pine Nuts and Lemon-Basil Vinaigrette
VIKING CLASSICS VI: BRAISING, BOILING, POACHING & STEAMING
Perfect Mashed Potatoes; Steamed Broccoli (or Asparagus) with Hollandaise Sauce; Pasta with Marinara Sauce and Shaved Pecorino Romano; Poached Pears; Crème Anglaise; Sample Recipe: Old Fashioned Pot Roast
Tuition for the entire program is $599, and it's almost sold out so act fast. Smack your spatula here for more information and to register for class.
If you're looking for something a little more exotic and want to help out a local school, University School of Nashville is about to start their popular annual evening classes. The list of Food, Wine and Entertainment classes looks intriguing as always. Local chefs and liquor store employees will be sharing their knowledge with an emphasis on entertainment. Classes are often held either in restaurant kitchens or in homes of USN parents, so the chance to get to visit these locales is often worth the price of admission.
Titles that caught our eye include:
Pairing Wine and Chocolate (Need We Say More?)
Making the Street Food of India
No Trouble with Truffles
Healthy Cooking the Macrobiotic Way
Pizzas From a Wood-burning Oven
Gourmet Gadgets in the Kitchen
Freshen Up Your Liquor Cabinet: Spirits for Springtime
Whiskey vs. Bourbon: Is There A Difference?
How to Start a Gourmet Club
A Salute to Julia--A Class of French Techniques
Two particularly interesting opportunities are the chance to be "Chef for a Day" with Jimmy Phillips of Miel and a "Wines for All Occasions" class taught by Deb Paquette. According to the course catalog, Chef Phillips will share a day "from farm to fine wine, live a day in the life of a successful chef. Join Chef JIMMY PHILLIPS at his Sylvan Park restaurant, Miel, for a hands-on experience of running a restaurant. Collect produce from farmers, check in orders, make wine selections for the menu, interact with wait staff, cook during dinner service, and finally, sit down to enjoy the fruits of your labors. For more than two decades Phillips has dedicated himself to creating a successful dining experience."
Chef Deb will "lead you through an evening of wine and food that covers all the bases. Whether you are hosting a wine tasting for 100, a dinner party for eight, or a romantic dinner for two, Steve Yocum and Deb will lead you a variety of options with wine and food tastings. The selections are sure to be delicious and generous, so please consider taxi transportation." I've taken one of her classes before, and the cab recommendation is wholly appropriate.
Online class registration opens on January 6, so get your calendar out and head to USN's website for more information.
Comments (7)
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You gotta be kidding me - how to *steam* vegetables? Using simple math I see that each class will set you back a very nice dinner at a few pennies shy of $100. And then if you break down class #6, you get to learn how to steam broccoli for $25 bux.
Of course the class is presented in a high-end (but terribly unreliable) stove showroom. You don't think there is any pressure to buy one of those overpriced steamers, is there?
More on Viking:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/373732
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/viking.html
You have to have a subscription to see the Consumer Reports take on this, but it sure is not a pretty one.
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I've enjoyed the classes I took at Viking and got to sit down to a pretty decent meal and wine at the end of it, so we considered them to be a bargain. I don't know if Viking U. is as casual as the menu-based classes, but I sure never felt pressured to buy any of their equipment.
Different strokes...
I can totally recommend the Viking experience in Greenwood Mississippi. Stay at the Alluvian and take classes across the street at Viking. Pretty wonderful trip for a lot less than a big city.
I've taken a few menu-based classes at Viking and thoroughly enjoyed them. I've also never felt any pressure to buy any of their equipment although after class you are given a coupon for a percentage off merchandise in the store. It's a fun way to delve into cuisine you might not be brave enough to attempt on your own.
Also, I'm not sure what the first poster means by 'unreliable showroom stove' as the classes I attended were in a dedicated kitchen with a vast array of appliances that all performed as one would expect.
The first poster is nuts. OR has had an experience at a Viking store other than the one in Franklin. I've taken 4 or 5 classes there, both hands-on intensive ones in the big kitchen, and demo ones in the "auditorium" space, and all were great. There was zero problem with any equipment, and there was zero pressure to buy products. The most the instructor might do is talk about items used in class in sort of a passing way, but the most expensive and the only Viking item discussed was the Viking FP/mixer, and that was only in one class. I'm an experienced cook and I learned a lot in most classes I attended, and the meal afterward -- complete with wine -- was great. Even for classes where I didn't learn a lot of new information/skills, the experience was still fun and the instructors knowledgeable and personable.
P.S. I've learned from several staff members that the Franklin location offers by far the most extensive schedule of classes of any Viking store, even the home store in MS. They are far and away the most successful cooking school of the lot, and it's easy to see why.
If you have a 2010 CitiPass coupon book, there is a Buy One, Get One Free coupon on the last page for an "Essentials" class at Viking. That will save you $49 at Viking (the book will set you back $15-$20)
After looking at the site, it appears those are the events in the Auditorium. Can someone who has attended one of these please elabortae on what goes on? Is there food afterwards, etc.?
