"Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I'll understand."

What a better way to kick of Cuisines of Asia than with a field trip to Chinatown? We ventured to the city on Tuesday to walk around China town, tour a sake factory, and of course – EAT! We stuffed ourselves with every possible kind of dim sum (Chinese tapas), and then chowed on Phô - delicious hot broth poured over meat, tendons, tripe, and rice noodles, and then garnished with bean sprouts, soy sauce, lime juice, and hot chili sauce. Somehow we managed to get our Chef Professor to take us to Berkeley Bowl, a HUGE marketplace with every imaginable type of produce, the freshest of seafood, and gourmet international foods. Basically we did what culinary students to best – we ate ALL day, and went home happy.

As Cuisines of America came to an end last Thursday, today began Asia with Chef Toni Sakaguchi. This is the one class I have been hesitant about simply because I have very little experience with Asian cuisine, other than a random but oh-so-Americanized sushi night or perhaps a little pad thai here and there. It will be great though, because there is so much to learn! Every day we start class with a tasting – every student has a tray with 20 different samples of Asian ingredients we might not be familiar with. Hoison sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce varieties (who knew there were so many kinds?), dehydrated lily roots, Szechuan peppercorns, etc. I can’t promise that I’ll be using these ingredients when I get my own place, but learning to understand them and appreciate them, and thus expand my knowledge of Asian cuisine, has endless value. Something I try to remind myself here every day – do not put up doors. Open yourself up to everything, get everything out of the whole experience, and walk away a better chef.

The course is divided by country: Days 2 and 3 are China, Days 4 and 5 are Korea, then Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Indian. Alas, a sample menu from day 6: Team One: Miso Soup
Arame Seaweed Salad with edamame
Teriyaki Beef
Tempura Vegetables
Seasoned broth with tofu dumplings
Savory Egg Custard

Team Two: Korean Green Onion Pancake with Shrimp
Braised Beef Short Ribs
Stir-fried sweet potato glass noodles
Kimbap
Kimchee Soup
Shredded Potato pancakes

Team Three: Buckwheat noodles with dipping sauce
Sake-simmered flounder
Grilled Shitake mushrooms with Ponzu sauce
Tonkatsu
Vegetable and shrimp clusters
Stuffed cabbage
Sushi Nigiri

Team Four: Spinach salad
Fried oyster hotpot
garlic pork and asparagus pancakes
Korean grilled beef in sesame leaves
Grilled eggplant rounds with sweet chili sauce
Korean roasted fish

Now it might not sound like it, but these menus are pretty light compared to the pace we are used to, but that just means we will have more time to walk around to other teams and get our hands in their preparations! Not to mention while we are preparing all this, Chef Toni is calling us over a couple times a class to do a demo on a certain technique – today she demoed the Wok station and proper stir-fry…so fun!
Hmm, most of my friends are getting up to go work in an office or cramming for law or med school. I’m getting up to work in a kitchen and I’m cramming food. Did I mention I love culinary school?
Eat well yall! <3 COCO

The perfect southern biscuit: NOT mission impossible

Chef Ken assigned us a project: a demo. As we go through the different cuisines of the Americas, we have been talking a lot about authenticity. Authenticity, just as cuisines, changes, so what makes a dish authentic? Therefore, each person in my class has to present a dish that is authentic to them - a traditional family dish. We have 5-10 minutes to introduce the dish and do a quick food network style demo on how to prepare it, and then have a sample of the final product for the whole class and the chef. It might come as a shock to you but I wanted to prepare something very southern, and something that we did not cover in the class section on the south. After much debate, I decided to make biscuits and gravy - the ultimate comfort meal.

Now everyone is very aware of where I come from, so if I present biscuits they better be DARN good biscuits. Thats why i have spent all of yesterday and today baking biscuits, tweaking recipes til I get the perfect southern biscuit. After baking a few dozen, I can now say with 100% confidence that I have mastered it! Because I love yall, i decided to share. Many people fear biscuit making - they are sensitive and delicate but man are homemade biscuits impressive, and if you follow all these steps, i guarantee you will put that Pillsbury can to shame!

The two most important things in making the perfect biscuit:
1 - the fats must be ICECOLD. If the fat, whether it be shortening or butter, is not cold when you work it in you will not have lite and fluffy biscuits. Little pieces of fat dispersed throughout your dough will melt in the oven, and the steam that the little pieces create assists with the rise.
2 - DO NOT OVERWORK YOUR DOUGH. Mix it until it is JUST combined, or it will be dense and chewy - a bunch of mixing will just activate the gluten in the flour and thats not a good thing.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup cold shortening (like crisco)
1 cup cold buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter

* Preheat oven to 450.
* Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
* Add the crisco and using your fingers, work it into the dry ingredients. Try to do this quickly as to not melt the shortening. Break up the shortening, rubbing it into the flour, til the pieces are about rice size, no bigger than a pea.
* Pour in the cold buttermilk, and gently combine. As soon as the dough comes together, STOP - literally just a few seconds of mixing or it will be overmixed.
* Plop the dough onto a floured surface and roll it or pat it to about 1 inch thick. Then fold the dough in half and even it up. (This fold will create an air pocket which will result in flaky layers!)
* Cut the dough into squares or circles - squares will have no scraps; circles will - you can reform the scraps to make more circular biscuits, but this dough will be overworked and result in tougher denser biscuits. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet so that they are just touching.
* Using a pastry brush, brush a little melted butter on each biscuit.
* Bake for 12-15 minutes at 450 - baking times can vary so keep an eye on the biscuits! Pull them when they are a little golden brown on top.

That's it yall! Now you have glorious buttermilk biscuits. Spread a little butter on em, smother em in gravy, sandwich them with country ham n eggs, whatever you do be proud and enjoy!