Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: FAT
A hands-on cooking class culminating in dinner served with wine and beer.
We you invite into the kitchen for this unique and empowering series of classes, taught by one of the most talented and passionate teachers we know, Samin Nosrat. You're welcome to take as many or few as you like, but the series is designed as an immersion and elements of each class will interplay with the others to help give students a comprehensive understanding of cooking.
In each class, Samin will describe and demonstrate for each element its roles and functions, basic science, and effects on taste in a dish. We'll taste and discuss thoughtfully in an effort to give our palates a bit of contextual understanding. And of course, because we believe so strongly in the power of experience (and muscle memory) you'll get a chance to put your new skills to use as we all cook a lovely meal together with the concepts of the day in mind.
You'll leave empowered and inspired to return to the kitchen, ready to refine your knowledge, and to look at food with a whole new perspective; with practice, you will become a more intuitive cook. Links to the full series: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
FAT
Fat--simultaneously reviled and beloved--is the key to all of the textures that make our food interesting and exciting to eat. The rules of fat determine whether foods will be crisp, creamy, airy, or flaky rather than soggy, greasy, or tough. You'll learn that rather than being something to fear, fat is something to celebrate, and you'll come to understand that using fat properly can actually make your food less greasy and more healthful.
FAT will cover the following:
- Types of fat
- Emulsions and suspensions (i.e. mayonnaise and vinaigrette)
- The three functions fat performs in a dish
- Sautéing vs. shallow frying vs. deep-frying
- How much fat to use
- How fat relates to salt and acid in a dish
- The importance of temperature when using fats
Together, we'll prepare a variety of dishes for dinner using different cooking techniques to demonstrate the principles of oil, butter, and fat.
MENU (subject to change based on market offerings):
Salade Niçoise with Tuna Confit, Tender Spring Vegetables, and Aïoli
Fresh Bread from our friends at Tartine
Deep-fried Asparagus
Rhubarb and Frangipane Tart
Samin Nosrat creates community around food as a cook, writer and teacher in the Bay Area. From Chez Panisse to Tuscany, Piemonte to the northern coast of Iran, she has spent the past fifteen years immersed in a life of cooking and learning beside groundbreaking chefs, home cooks, farmers, writers and artists. Drawing on this broad spectrum of experience, she brings to her classes a sense of humor and joy as well as a deep desire to empower and encourage her students to find their own comfortable place in the kitchen. Her first book, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: The Four Elements of Good Cooking, will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2016.
