Cooking Class

Recently, I attended a cooking class at The Dirty Apron. I took the "Meat Eaters Unite: The Meat Class." We cooked Olive Tapenade-crusted Lamb Chop, followed by a Pork Wellington with Black Pepper & Apple Slaw and Grainy Mustard Sauce, and finally a Rib-eye Steak. They also made us a creme-brulee and I got to burn my sugar.

The cooking area was great. The stations were large and there were two people to a station. Everyone had their own ingredients and just shared the oven and stove top.

The cooking classroom

The class was well-planned. Most of the grunt work (measuring, blending, some of the sauces) were done for us. The first dish, the lamb, was really easy to prepare (season, sear, spread with tapenade, sprinkle crust, and bake), and I think it was a great confidence booster that made the remaining dishes less daunting.

The lamb chops were piled high with greens

The pork Wellington was more complicated, but a lot of fun to make. Fortunately, the puff pastry was made for us.

Pork Wellington with lots of grainy mustard sauce, some apple chutney, and little puff pastry buttons

We actually started the rib-eye at the beginning by creating our maple-syrup-based marinade and then they were taken away to refrigerate until we were ready for them.

Rib-eye steak served over mashed potatoes, roasted mushrooms, and blanched green beans

Our teacher mentioned a few tidbits that I hadn't heard before:

• Don't marinate with salt. It will dry out your meat. Season with salt right before cooking.
• Let your meat rest after cooking. This will help to keep your meat juicy when you eat it instead of all the juices running out when you cut it.
• Blanche green vegetables in salted water and then shock them in an ice bath.This helps keep them keep their green colour. Reheat them in hot water and saute in butter before serving.

Aerial view of the rib-eye

Overall, it was a great experience. We cooked with top quality ingredients (we used kurobuta pork in the Wellington) and got to eat everything we ate (more than enough for one meal). I had fun and learned something too.