Cooking Class

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The cooking class comes a bit earlier in our trip than normal, but finding one here was very difficult. I am always looking for hands on, not stand and watch and they are becoming more difficult to find. Perhaps part of the problem is that people just don’t cook anymore, especially those under 40. By cooking I mean, doing more than opening up a delivered box and heating up, I mean actually cook, from scratch, with spices and herbs and real food. Ok, I will stop the rant of the destruction of society before I go down the rabbit hole to far.

Before the cooking class was of course breakfast. The selection was not much different, except we did learn that they will not only make omelets for you but cook your eggs anyway you would like, so you don’t just have to have the scrambled eggs, which sometimes are a bit cold. We didn’t’ do that today, but I will at some point. We also had a bit of a coffee lesson from the host, who was much nicer than the hostess from the day before. First, Argentina does not grow coffee, so there are no coffee beans here. They do roast beans that are purchased rom Brazil, or other South American countries. The reason the coffee tastes very different is that they roast them with sugar, evidently because they are buying inferior beans and not the beans that are exported around the world. With this knowledge, I can now just accept that the coffee here will not be as good as what I make at home, unless I go to a coffee house and pay to much for a cup of coffee.

The cooking class and market tour are the main event for the day, but we also had a couple of other sights planned, which did not come to pass as we didn’t leave the cooking class until 5. I had several e-mail conversations with our host and chef for the day about what we would like to make and that we like to participate in the actual preparation of the meal. She had a very set plan of what the class offered, but she did change for us. We are taking a specific empanada making class later on in our trip so requested that not be part of today’s class. Instead, we were going to make Milanese. She, however, had very different thoughts and interpretations of our conversation.

We met at a small restaurant across the street from the San Telmo Market. This has always been the central market, but today it has gone the way of many markets around the world and is more about eating venues as opposed to food stalls where you can buy fresh produce, meats, etc. from the reginal growers. There was some of that but not a lot, and what was there was 3 times the price you would pay in an actual market. The exact opposite of any market in Europe.

The walk to the meeting point was just under a mile, so my ankle and feet hurt before we ever got to the main event. We had to wait a bit for the markets to actually open, it is Latin America, so time does not mean the same thing, not quite Mexican time, but very close. I had a good cup of café con leche and we talked about Argentinian History and Politics. She is not exactly a fervent supporter of the new president but is very forceful in her opinion that change must take place or Argentina will not survive. We avoided the orange man discussion as much as possible.

The market was disappointing, mostly restaurants and antiques, very little food, no fish stall that I saw and only one butcher. The produce was overpriced and really was no comparison to a market in France, Italy or Spain. This seems to be directly related to the long history of corruption in the government and bribes etc., paid by certain industries so they get preferential treatment, including access to water for crops.

After the market we walked back to her house for the class. It was not a short walk. The house is very nice, she bought it when it had been empty and abandoned and then basically gutted it and turned it into what it is now. The kitchen is pretty nice, but not really set up for a hands-on cooking class. This turned out not to be an issue, because the class was in no way hands-on. It was a sit or stand and watch her do everything. This was very disappointing to me, because I really like to get in there and do the cooking, I learn much better that way. It was still a good experience, and I did learn about making a couple of the classic Argentine dishes: Milanese and Carbonada.

We started with some nice Argentine cheese, (the blue cheese was very mild, so France wins there) some salami, provelata and some of the best focaccia we have ever had. With that we had a nice Malbec. While we ate, she explained what she was cooking, first was the chicken empanada’s. She had precooked the stuffing, so she just then used pre-made empanada wrappers to assemble them. She lost track of the cooking time and almost burned them. They were very tasty, but the empanada’s we had earlier at the wine tasting were more to my liking.

Next, she started the Carbonada, this is a slow cook dish, 6 – 8 hours so it was unlikely we would get to taste it, but we did learn the technique. The traditional serving dish is a carved out pumpkin or squash. The stew starts with a beef cut of your choice, she used New York, I would use a less expensive cut that would benefit from the long slow cooking. The rest of the ingredients are sweet potatoes, and other potatoes from the same family, carrot, onion and red pepper. I would like use leeks, yams, possibly yucca root. There is no oil or butter in this dish. The pan is creased with the cooking of any fat on the meat you choose. You cut off the fat and take a fork and rub it around the pan as it renders. Next is the searing of the beef, then the sauté of the onions (without the beef in the pot.) After the onions are cooked down you add back the beef and the rest of the vegetables. At this point she added water, I would use beef stock (more flavor.) The key ingredient is the inside of the pumpkin or squash that your using for the serving vessel. Cumin, Thyme and garlic are added, bring to boil, then turn down and just let it cook. She used a cast iron stock pot, so she did not cover it. I would be using a Dutch oven so I would cover and put it in an oven at 275 for several hours.

While that was cooking, she moved to the sweet potato fries (thin sliced more lick chips) and the Milanese. Milanese is like a schnitzel but breaded more like a veal parmesan without the cheese. Yes, this comes from the very large Italian influence in the country. She fried this in the same oil (vegetable) as the frites.

It was time to eat. Everything tasted wonderful and a new bottle, a Cabernet Franc blend, of wine was opened. The Milanese was perfectly cooked and seasoned and clearly the dish of the day. It was 1000 time of the hockey puck I had yesterday. The big surprise that we did get to taste the Carbonada, it was very tasty after only a little over an hour, so I can only imagine after 6 more hours of cooking and some spice adjustment, how fantastic it will turn out.

By the time we were done, it was 5 and we were stuffed. We said our goodbyes, including to the five dogs. We headed to the Subte stop and were home in about 20 minutes. We cancelled our dinner reservation for the night, could not possibly eat any more. This allowed me to catch up on the blogs and for us to just relax. Well, I relaxed, that is just not in Jerry’s makeup he must always be doing something.

Tomorrow is museum day.

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Photos

Milaneses
Dish of the Day
(You can Cry Evita)

Comments

[Sharon L Hughson]

So sorry
I’m sorry you didn’t get a hands on cooking experience. I don’t think I would have wanted to eat from a kitchen where five dogs were hanging out. I hope your next class is hands on, and I’m glad you got this blog sorted out.