The knife and the Holy Trinity
Highly recommended as your introductory session to cooking skills. This is the first of two classes that focus on basic equipment and food preparation. The purpose of this class is to establish a structure for essential knife skills as well as an understanding of building flavour.
Who should take this class? Anyone who:
- Who has never received instruction on how to use a kitchen knife.
- Wants to develop confidence in the kitchen or is just starting to cook.
- Seeks the foundation to correct knife use and kitchen cutting styles.
- Wants to understand the base components for building flavour in any cuisine
The idea of a “Holy Trinity” in cooking is that most dishes are formed from a core group of vegetables / aromatics. Whether three or more, these ingredients are also referred to as the “humble beginnings”. Understandably, they differ across the various international cuisines, but whatever you are cooking, there is likely to be a Holy Trinity that form the base for the flavours that will be layered into the dish.
During the class you will be cutting a range of vegetables. These ingredients will be used to create a dish of fried rice, which is a great meal to share or as a side dish accompaniment.
Skill Level: Basic
Knife Techniques: Slice, Rock Chop & Chop
Cutting Styles: Slicing, Dicing & Julienne:
Cutting Materials: Onion, Carrot, Ginger, Spring Onions / Scallion, Garlic, Celery
Whisking: Egg
Cooking Rice: Alternate methods demonstrated as preparation
Frying: Vegetables, Egg, Chicken, Bacon, Prawns/Shrimp & Rice in butter
Recipe: Fried Rice
Background: International base combinations of aromatics
Types of Knife Cuts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_culinary_knife_cuts
Equipment Needed:
8” Chef’s Knife or bigger. If you don’t have one borrow one for this class.
28cm+ Fry Pan or Wok or large flat grill plate
Egg flip / spatula
Wooden wok spoon
Pot to cook rice / Microwave rice cooker or alternate
Examples of the Holy Trinity for different cuisines
Almost every cuisine in the world starts with a common simple, balanced, vegetable base.
France: Mirepoix – the classic French base consists of finely diced onions, carrots, and celery.
Germany: Suppengrün – carrot, celeriac, leek
Italy: Soffritto, also called “battuto” before it’s cooked, Italian soffritto is usually made with diced onions, carrots, and celery, but often contains additional ingredients, including garlic, parsley, fennel, and scraps of cured meat.
Poland: Włoszczyzna – celery root, parsley root, carrots, and leeks
Cajun and Creolu: The Cajun Holy Trinity consists of onion, celery, and green bell pepper.
Spain: Spanish sofrito is made by cooking garlic, onion, tomatoes, and sometimes paprika in olive oil.
Central and South America: Sofrito refers to a wide variety of mixtures; one common type includes lard coloured with annatto seeds and mixed with ingredients like chiles, bell peppers, onion, cilantro, oregano, and ham.
Puerto Rico: Recaíto – in, many meals start with recaíto, a mixture of culanto, ajices dulces (a type of chile), onions, cubanelle peppers, and garlic.
Portugal: Refogado – this Portuguese base is made from onions and olive oil, and can also contain minced garlic and a bay leaf or two.
Canton: This form of Chinese cooking uses a base of scallions, ginger, and garlic.
Sichuan: – You’ll often find a mixture of chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and white pepper.
India: A masala consists of a base of varied flavors and spices which can differ from even one neighbourhood to the next. However, many of these dishes begin with a mixture of garlic, ginger, and onion.
West Africa: Again, there is a huge amount of variety in this region, but if you could pin down one common flavor base, it would be a trio of tomatoes, onions, and spicy chiles.
SCHEDULED GROUP SESSIONS:
The Knife and the Holy Trinity sessions are scheduled on the highlighted days.
Select a date to see the session time.