Kitchen Conservatory

We have a beautiful Montmorency sour cherry tree that produced loads of fruit this year. I started picking cherries two weeks and made cherries jubilee. But the cherries were not quite ripe, so I waited for them to get better. Two days ago, I picked enough for a cherry pie. Yesterday I went out to finish picking the tree and there was not a single cherry left on the tree; the birds beat me to the ripe cherries! I waited a day too long and lost out on the cherries to the birds!

Chalk up another point to animals outwitting humans. My dog has a fetish for French pate, and no matter how careful I am at parties, the dog always figures out how to slurp up the pate when no one is looking. My cat has announced her retirement from mousing and now just lounges in front of the cat TV window (the view of the birds descending on the cherry tree).

Luckily, the chickens have not tried to one-up the humans — yet. Yesterday, our 20 chickens produced 20 fresh eggs. Today, I’m making deviled eggs and only one cherry pie. Happy Fourth of July!

Caramelized Onion Deviled Eggs

• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 20 eggs, hard boiled
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Heat the oil and saute the onion until caramelized, about 45 minutes. Add the balsamic and let the liquid boil away. Season very well with salt and pepper. Cut the hard-boiled eggs in half and separate the yolk. Place the raw yolk and lemon juice in a food processor. Turn on the processor and slowly add the oil to make mayonnaise. Add the onions and hard-cooked yolk and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Fill a pastry bag (fitted with a star tip) with the yolk mixture. Fill the egg white shells.

A huge thank you goes to the readers of Sauce Magazine who voted Kitchen Conservatory as their Favorite Place to Take a Cooking Class! We are very proud and honored to have won for the third year in a row.

Kitchen Conservatory offers 600 cooking classes each year, both demonstration and participation classes in two kitchens. Over 12,000 students attend each year. Nearly 200 different chef-instructors share their knowledge and skills and recipes with the class-takers at Kitchen Conservatory. We love offering a wide variety of classes, including ethnic foods, gourmet cuisine, basic skills, and just plain good eats. The kitchen is the most exciting room in the house!

Make dinner more exciting and take a cooking class!

Marla Scissors passed away this morning from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). We extend our deepest sympathy to Marla’s parents and family for their loss.

All of us at Kitchen Conservatory are so fortunate that we had the wonderful opportunity and pleasure of working with Marla. She started working during a December holiday rush and we wanted her to stay and work at Kitchen Conservatory forever. She taught scrumptious cooking classes.

She touched us with her tremendous skill and knowledge of baking and pastry. She was a pleasure to have in the kitchen and she was completely dedicated to the art and skill of pastry. No short-cuts were allowed and only the finest ingredients! We learned so much from working with Marla.

Marla’s best creation was her incredibly flaky croissants. No Parisian patisserie ever baked a better one. These croissants shattered when bit into and then floated in the mouth. It was easy to eat a dozen. In this photo of Marla, she is holding her freshly-baked, soon-to-be devoured croissants. We are attempting to make Marla’s croissants this afternoon at Kitchen Conservatory.

Marla loved the classics in food and her pastries were not overladen with bells and whistles. Why mess with the pure and beautiful flavors of vanilla and chocolate was her philosophy. Here is Marla’s vanilla cake recipe. Yes, she always weighed her ingredients. Making a recipe from a loved one is a wonderful way to honor and cherish the memory of a beautiful soul.

Yellow Cake

• 4 ounces egg yolks
• 1 cup (8.5 ounces) whole milk
• 2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups (10.5 ounces) sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups (10.5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 12 tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

Whisk together the egg yolks, milk, and vanilla. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the chunks of butter and about a third of the liquid. Mix until light and airy on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining liquid in three batches, beating for a minute and scraping down the bowl each time until the batter is smooth and well-emulsified. Divide the batter between two eight-inch cake pans that have been greased and lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees until the cake springs back in the middle, about 20 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Chocolate Icing

• 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped into pieces
• 1 cup (8.5 ounces) heavy cream
• 1 1/4 cups (8.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a stainless steel saucepan, stir the cream and sugar over medium heat until they come to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and add the chocolate and stir until smooth. Then stir in the butter and vanilla. Transfer the mixture to a stainless steel bowl and place in another bowl filled with ice water. Stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula until thick and has the consistency of mayonnaise. Then frost the cake.

Norman Drey passed away early this morning. He taught cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory for fifteen years and was a very popular instructor.

Norman will be sorely missed. He had grace and humor in the kitchen, plus his food was delicious. He loved teaching about food and we loved having him. His Friday night participation classes (frequently on the grill) were always sold out months in advance. His easy-going style simplified the art of cooking. His style ranged from high-end to comfort food; his two favorite classes to teach were “A Salute to Julia” and “Blue-Plate Specials.”

Norman Drey was a practicing attorney during the day, but his passion was cooking and dining. Norman was a self-taught cook, but his food was on par (or better!) with trained restaurant chefs. When he traveled, he was always on the outlook for exciting new recipes. We all enjoyed his chicken liver crostini that he discovered in Tuscany (anchovies were the secret ingredient). 

Each and every one of us at Kitchen Conservatory extends our deepest sympathy to his widow and son. We all have lost a truly wonderful and kind man.

In honor of Norman, here is one of his best recipes, which is delicious with grilled meats.

Caramelized Onion Confit

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 cups thinly sliced onions, about 3 to 3 ½ pounds
• ½ teaspoon dried red pepper
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup dry sherry

Place the oil and onions in sauté pan, and cook until onions are reduced and caramelized, about 30 minutes. Add the pepper, sugar, vinegar, and sherry and cook for another 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

…so much that we’ve added another class. Join us on Monday, June 30 from 6 to 8:30 pm for our most popular hand-on class. Don’t miss shrimp scampi, rosemary-garlic beef steaks, baked polenta with spinach and cheese, balsamic-roasted vegetables, and blackberry gelato in homemade pizzelle cones. Wow, no wonder everyone loves this menu!

Also due to popular demand, we have added another session of All-American Pies on Wednesday, July 2 from 6 to 8:30 pm. Learn how to bake the flakiest crusts in this participation class. Pies will be filled with fresh fruit, including blackberry, peach, blueberry, and lemon meringue.

Register Now.

Today, I clipped off the garlic scapes, which are the seed pods of the garlic plant. The scapes appeared about 2 to 3 weeks later than usual, because of our chilly, wet spring. Some people enjoy cooking and eating the garlic scapes, but I find them stringy. I’d rather eat string beans flavored with garlic cloves.

I’m worried about our garlic crop, since 10 percent did not sprout and the rest are submerged in a quicksand of mud. The plants look like dwarves, so maybe I should investigate the market for miniature garlic! We just polished off eating the remains of our garlic crop from last year (which was a banner year), so I plan to start using what we can of this year’s garlic and pretend they are giant garlic chives. Right now, the plant looks like an overgrown leek. In another month, the root should separate into cloves.

And it just started to rain again!

Spain’s Top Chefs Clash Over Ingredients and Culinary Innovations reads a headline in Sunday’s New York Times. Some Spanish chefs, particularly Ferran Adria, have been on the forefront of molecular gastronomy — the current food trend of changing the textures of food to create new food sensations. Molecular gastronomy applies the food science used in packaged foods to haute cuisine. Sometimes the results are delicious, other times it’s just weird. To eat in a restaurant using such techniques means studying the food intellectually as opposed to emotionally relishing it. Some chefs have prided themselves on removing the stoves from their kitchens, so that the meal preparation is in a laboratory.

Browned food tastes better than food that has not been browned. I love the taste and smell of caramelized, crispy food — be it meat, vegetables, or meringue. Roasting touches the soul, which these avant-garde chefs are missing in their efforts to make fried anchovy ice cream or an edible paper menu. To create these foods, the chefs often use the unpronounceable ingredients listed in packaged foods.

I always encourage cooks to create delicious food. But are these new menu items as satisfying as a piece of fresh blueberry pie with homemade vanilla ice cream?

Artichokes are now available in the markets at $1 apiece, so it is time to indulge in a totally delicious vegetable. As much as I love artichokes, what does one drink with them? Like the African fruit synsepalum dulcificum (though not as strong a reaction), artichokes leaves a lingering buzz in the mouth that makes liquids taste sweet. Eat a bite of artichoke, then drink water and the water tastes sweet. So crisp chardonnays are destroyed by pairing with artichokes. What to do? Champagne, Italian prosecco, or other sparkling wines are the answer. Bubbles go with anything, especially sweet food. After all, birthday cake and sparkling wine are really good together. Other foods that I think taste better with champagne than with still wine are asparagus (because of the grassy taste) and oysters (because of the salty briny taste). Use the artichokes as an excuse to pop open a bottle!

Artichoke-Potato-Shallot Ragout

• 2 fresh artichokes
• 6 shallots, peeled
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 12 new potatoes, quartered
• 1 cup chicken stock
• salt and pepper

Pare the artichokes by cutting off the top and stem. Use a sharp paring knife and carefully cut away the dark green leaves, leaving the pale green heart. Use a pitting spoon to scoop out the choke. Cut each heart into six wedges. Heat the olive oil and saute the shallots until light brown. Add the artichokes and potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken stock and bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

Well, yes, because I accidentally did the experiment today. I made chocolate sauce and didn’t have quite enough of my favorite Valrhona chocolate. So I added a bar of supermarket-quality chocolate that I found in the cupboard. The result? The inferior chocolate never melted! Since real chocolate melts at body temperature, I shudder to think what stabilizer was added to the chocolate bar that it did not melt at 200 degrees. So I strained the sauce to remove the offending particles.

Here is my ultimate chocolate sauce recipe, which is perfect on vanilla ice cream…or just licked from the spoon. This sauce has the advantage of never tasting grainy, because the base is a silky-smooth caramel sauce.

Chocolate Sauce

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (Valrhona or Callebaut)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saute pan, combine the sugar and water on high heat. Cook — without stirring — until golden brown and caramelized. Turn the heat off. Slowly add the heavy cream (the mixture will bubble up), then cook the caramel until smooth. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate and vanilla and stir until the chocolate melts. This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for weeks….that is, if it is not consumed!

I realized if I didn’t have France on my résumé, nobody would ever take me seriously.

Did you have letters of reference?

When you travel abroad, you meet people who lead you to other people. I was very fortunate. Paris was my base. I worked the hot line on and off at a little place called Le Grenadin. I followed food. I wanted to learn as much as possible about how to make delicious food.

What did you learn?

I learned more at the restaurants that were trying hard, when they had all the energy and excitement, than at the restaurant that had made it and was coasting.

Do you speak French?

Kitchen French, which is not suitable for polite company.

Have you read George Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London” about working in kitchens? Did he get it right?

Maybe he had it right for the kitchens in France in the ’20s, but the kitchens in France in the ’90s were the cleanest I’ve ever seen. You could eat off the floor.

Is France still the leader in food?

One of the things about France is cooking is a career choice you make at age 14. This is a career you’re going to stay with your whole life. In the United States, people flit in and out of restaurant jobs.

How did you get started in Kitchen Conservatory?

It started in Belleville in 1984 and moved to this location in 1991. I had taught classes here in 1991. I was an irregular instructor here. The owner, Carol Hess, called me on Oct. 1, 1997, and asked me if I wanted to buy it. We closed the deal on Oct. 15. There’s a certain spontaneous quality to my life.

You must have good resources or really good credit.

I didn’t tell my family. They read about it in the paper. I put my house up as collateral.

How much did you pay?

Uh, it was five digits. Less than a hundred (thousand dollars).

That was a pretty good deal, wasn’t it?

It was a much smaller business.

What accounts for your following?

Food is a lot of fun. People are interested in food. After all, we have to do it three times a day.

Unless you are on a diet.

I have a theory about that, too. If you cook all the food you eat, then you’ll eat in moderation. You can always tell a chef who’s on the line compared to a chef who’s graduated to an executive position. The chef on the line is rail thin, and the executive chef is plumped out.

What is it that people like about food?

First, does it taste delicious?

Why do people come to your classes?

They come to my classes for two reasons: One, we are in the second generation of people who have not grown up in a household where they have seen somebody cook on a regular basis. Food is as mysterious to them as plumbing is to me. They need to learn the basics, and they need to learn how to cook. They’re interested in what’s in the food they’re cooking and the food they love.

The second is the excitement of the restaurant chefs. This pre-dates the TV food network. If you eat out in your local corner restaurant, you are still excited about what the guy’s doing.

I’m skeptical about some of the people I’ve seen in these classes. I doubt they cook at home.

How many actually go home and cook the class? Less than 25 percent. Even if you’ve never actually made the food that you saw prepared in class, you get a better understanding of what’s involved in it. It’s de-mystifying food and explaining why food is priced the way it is. How it’s made. What goes into it.

It seems we have a contradiction here. We have unhealthy, prepared food, and we have healthier, more costly, so-called natural food.

The choice and variety we have now make it such an exciting time to be a cook. I remember growing up and having asparagus maybe twice in a year. The variety we had then is nothing like what we have today. It does make being a cook very exciting.

What about the carbon footprint of foods?

People are not going to embrace the locavore (locally grown food) movement seriously because they will not stop eating coffee, chocolate, or citrus. Are we going to give up those things? What makes locally produced food so wonderful is that you’re eating it soon after it was picked ripe.

How do you keep up with the market in kitchen items?

We have 6,000 items here. I try to stock things I would use in the kitchen — not the gimmicky or one-season wonders, but tools cooks will enjoy using and will make your life easier.

What’s the most popular item you sell?

The All-Clad cookware, the stainless line. It’s an aluminum core and stainless exterior. It’s dishwasher safe. Home cooks like to be able to put things in the dishwasher.

How many people come for classes a year?

Twelve thousand. We do 600 cooking classes a year with two kitchens.

Is that your mainstay?

No, the cookware is.

Do the chain stores make life hard for you?

Each has its niche. We are in the kitchen. We are not a cute or fluffy store.