Playing With Knives

     When you think of a Boot camp, you think of a hot and sweaty physical session. Maybe with lots of squats like the ones I am doing in this photo. Well, the boot camp that I went to was not that kind but a culinary Boot camp. It was held by Liason College in Kitchener, Ontario. It was 10 weeks,  from January to March, four hours a week of cooking instruction by professional chefs.

Here I am doing a set of squats holding a 15 lb. kettle bell

     I missed the first week, due to our vacation in Florida, but I quickly caught up. I learned a lot about cooking styles, knife skills and preparing food. It was so much fun. The other participants were wonderful people and each one had a different reason for being there from being a line cook in a restaurant and wanting to improve cooking skills to men who like to cook just wanting to improve their cooking.

     We received an apron to keep and all the recipes of the dishes we made. We were well equipped to hone and repeat the recipes for ourselves and family. The evening consisted of:

• Instruction
• Demonstrations
• Preparing ingredients (mise en place)
• Cooking
• And finally test tasting our finished products (any leftover dishes we could take home for the next day's meal)

     The four hours went quickly. We got right into it because some of the recipes had various stages and/or took a while to prepare or cook. Here are the topics we covered:

• Appetizers and plate decoration
• Making and baking of breads
• Pasta making
• Stocks, soups and sauces
• Poultry: fabrication of cuts and various cooking methods
• Red Meats: fabrication of cuts and various cooking methods
• Fish: clean and dress fish and various cooking methods
• Pastry and desserts: various doughs and confections
• Vegetables and various preparations
• Starches and various preparations
• Side dishes
• Salads and dressings
• International cuisine

     The staff was great. Chef Darryl was the lead for most of the instruction. Chef Elaina, the Director of Liaison College Kitchener Campus, demonstrated several dishes for us. Chef Rhonda took care of the timing for the night, keeping track of cooking times and making sure the evening went smoothly. Chef Dave had the worst job -- cleaning the dishes, making sure that we had the proper pots, pans, knives, etc. There were always student chefs assisting as part of their program -- Amy and Jay were there for most of the weeks. From their knowledge and skills you just know they will be successful in their culinary careers after graduating. Overall, the whole staff was a great team working in harmony with the class.

Chef Darryl showing us how to bone a chicken.
Once you know how to do it, it is so easy.
I would just buy a whole chicken and cut it up myself.

We each got a whole chicken to cut up

Here I am cutting up my chicken

All the pieces ready for a variety of dishes and stock.

Here I am cooking the chicken in a pan on a gas stove. I was always afraid 
of gas stoves but I got used to it and I wouldn't mind working on them.

The finished chicken dish

Chef Elaina is demonstrating how to make a risotto. The secret is that you 
have to stay with it the whole time and stir while adding stock into it 
until properly cooked.

Umm! Spiced Pork Chop

Pork Chop with Sweet Potato Mash

Mise en place is a French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or 
"everything in its place."  It refers to the setup required before cooking and is 
often used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the 
ingredients. I am all ready for the next dish.

Chef Rhonda making sure ingredients are ready for the next demo. I 
remember such demo stations with the mirror above while taking home economics 
in high school. Yes, way back when we had classes in home economics.
A subject that not many schools have now.

Oops! The heat was too high.The sauce was a failure 
but the chicken was saved. It was delicious, anyway! 
Learning to work with a gas stove.

Braised Lamb shank with Butterbeans and Garlic 
Sausage ready to come out of the oven

Cooked lamb. I don't like lamb so Al enjoyed it. Notice the herbs at the top of the photo.
That is a bouquet garni which is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and mainly
 used to prepare soup, stock, casseroles and various stews. The bouquet is cooked with the other
ingredients, but is removed prior to consumption. Previously, if I came across this phrase in a recipe
I would just skip it but now I know how to make one appropriate for the recipe.

Working with smoked salmon to create appetizers

Kneading the dough for the Herb and Cheese Roll

Knead the dough...Let it rise...Knead it again

The finished roll. Delicious!
During the whole time I was making these I was thinking of the maritime sandwich
of  Lobster Rolls. The first time I had a Lobster roll I was so disappointed. Basically, it
is just cold lobster with mayo and a few other ingredients on a hot dog bun. No, thank you!
While making these rolls I kept thinking how it would be lovely to have a lobster mixture
in this hot roll. Umm...one day I will have to try it.

French Almond Cake and cupcakes
Too much batter in the muffin tin but otherwise
it tasted great

Sabayon is an Italian custard sauce. I have made a few sauces in the 
past, especially cheese or plain white sauces. They did not always turn out 
as well as I expected. During the boot camp we made several different types of 
sauces and all of them that I made were a success -- not separating eggs or lumps. 
I was very pleased

At home I put together broken up cupcakes with sabayon and fruit

The making of Kofte (meaning to pound or grind). Here we have made
them into sausage shapes but they can be made into any shape and
can be made with a variety of meats depending on the country of origin
for the recipe.

Chef Amy is grilling the Kofte

The kofte is served with yogurt-garlic sauce and pita

Learning about choosing, cleaning and cooking mussels.
The best mussels I have had was in Prince Edward Island.

Shrimp and mussel curry.

I am distributing bowls of trout.

Here is my trout.

A closer look. Smile!

Filleting the fish

Removing the skin

You use tweezers to remove the small bones. It can take a while

Done! Ready for the batter and cooking

Pieces of battered fish in the deep fryer

Drained and salted. Almost ready to eat.

Took some home to share. Delicious!

A nice piece of salmon

Salmon cut into pieces and ...

seared

Easy. Ready to eat.

     On pasta night, I brought a friend, Judy, to the class. I always thought that making pasta was complicated. Not so. It is basically, flour, eggs, salt and oil.

Pour flour on counter, make a well, put in eggs and stir

Here the chef has added in spinach

Once all ingredients are mixed you will then knead the dough until smooth and silken.
Let the wrapped-in-plastic dough rest and roll it out. Now the fun part....

Here Judy is rolling the flattened dough through the pasta machine

My turn!

The pasta that I made

Spinach pasta with Tomato Sauce

My pasta with tomato ready to take home

Lasagna made by a guest chef who trained in Italy. Noodles are very thin and
there are many thin layers (up to 11 layers) using bechamel sauce

Amy demonstrating how to make a beet terrine

     At the end of the 10 weeks we all received a certificate of completion.

Me with Chefs Elaina and Darryl

     As a thank you gift for a wonderful boot camp, I embroidered tea towels with a chef on them for the six chefs who were an integral part of the boot camp.

Display of tea towels I made for each chef.

     I had a wonderful experience cooking during this boot camp and met some interesting people who love food. If you have a chance to learn, no matter the topic, and if it interests you, learn it. Liaison College is a well organized place of education and I am glad that I was able to attend one of their programs.

     In today's fast-paced world there are not many who know how to cook well. Fast food and processed meals are the main fare for a lot of families. It is a pity that so many are missing out on the pleasures of eating healthy food.

Click here to see how 50 people make out with performing basic culinary skills. It is sad to see.