12 Week Basics of Cooking Series

Whether you’re an amateur in the kitchen looking to progress beyond boiling water or an advanced home cook wanting to take your cooking to the next level; Kitchen on Fire’s 12 Week Basics of Cooking Series is just right for you. Instead of only teaching you recipes, we go beyond them & explore the techniques that are the foundations for all recipes. By understanding what’s “under the hood” of a recipe (what makes it work) helps you pull it off to perfection every time. You’ll learn the basic science & proper cooking methods that will make all cooking a breeze, from quick weeknight family meals to entertaining for a crowd!

Week 1: Knife Skills & Mis En Place

This is the first of a twelve part series to teach what we like to call "cooking school light"; a fun & comprehensive training in all the essential savory techniques, without having to quit your job & spend thousands of dollars.

We start your training with the most quintessential skills in the kitchen with your most important tools, your knives. We’ll explore the physics of the knife & cutting techniques such as slice, julienne, mince & dice & chopping, demystify sharpening & honing, choosing the right equipment, & how to keep your fingers cut-free forever. Learn about cutting surfaces, setting up a work station, proper prep procedures, keeping food fresh & safe & the basics of kitchen safety & lingo. Get ready to become the best home chef you can be!

Week 2: Sauté & Stir Fry

It's time to take our newly honed knife skills & put them to use, cutting up ingredients for sautéing & stir frying. Bust out those woks (the carbon steel ones) & sauté pans for a night of stove top fun! While cooking up some exciting international dishes, we'll explore topics such as choosing the right pans & utensils, oil vs. butter, the inside scoop on non-stick, why to add oil only to a hot pan & the proper procedures so that both proteins & veggies are done to perfection. We’ll even explore how to set your cooking on fire, the safe way, with flambé. Learn to master the art of these everyday cooking techniques with delicious ease.

Week 3: Stocks, Soups & Poaching

Step three in your training; we move to the omnipresent stocks & a natural step beyond to soups & poaching. In stocks we'll explore raw vs. roasted bone, mire poix, how to get the best flavor & mouth feel, differences in simmers & boiling, sachets, & ingredients to make stocks from around the world (to name a few topics). Our soups will range from beautifully simple seasonal vegetable purees to delicately balanced Asian favorites, hearty chowders & creamy soups, & everything in between. We’ll also explore the art of poaching proteins to delicate perfection.

Week 3: Sauces & Condiments

Now we move on to the French mother sauces & all their international friends. We'll take our new found expertise with stocks to make these age old culinary master sauces. From these bases it is easy to split off to the more complex sauces we all know & love; & some new ones to add to the favorites list! From velvety demi-glace to & creamy cheese sauces, spicy bbqs & sweet chili sauces, coulis, pestos, chutneys, salsas, etc. Our palates will be coated with saucy goodness. Say goodbye to lumpy, soupy & tasteless sauces forever.

Week 4: Searing, Frying, & Confit

We now turn to the techniques of searing proteins to enhance their flavor & texture, & cooking either fully or partially submerged in fat. We'll check out our pan & tool options (from the best for frying to what metals help to attain the best sear), difference in oils, knowing the right temperature, proper breading procedures, seasoning methods, & even how to roll an egg roll. From classic fried chicken to tantalizing tortilla chips, it will be a frying frenzy. Learn some fantastic international dishes with a perfectly crisp crunch!

Week 5: Stewing, Braising, & Steaming

Just when you have had time to perfect your stock making, we progress to cooking in it; either totally or partially submerged in it or a range of other flavorful liquids (or sometimes even just water). Well there's a little more to it than that, but then this is what we'll explore in class. Learn to properly what pan to pick (& why), what are the best cuts of meats & seafood to use & how to cook them (& veggies too) to perfectly delicate tenderness, & the various methods & applications of steaming. We'll create delicious stews, braised, & steamed dishes from around the globe.

Week 6: Art of Sauces & Condiments

A great sauce or condiment can make an ordinary dish taste extraordinary. From the classic French mother sauces to all their international friends, we’ll demystify what makes them tick. Whether velvety demi-glace & creamy cheese sauces, spicy bbqs & sweet chili sauces, coulis, pestos, chutneys, salsas, etc.;our palates will be coated with saucy goodness. Say goodbye to lumpy, soupy & tasteless sauces forever, & hello to mastery of the art of sauces & condiments.

Week 7: Roasting & Broiling

Now we begin to utilize the oven as our heat source for cooking. This new medium means some fun new challenges to explore. We'll learn about flavor enchancing, trussing, brining, convection, picking the right tools for the job, determining doneness, & choosing the right oven temperatures. From tender & juicy roasted meats & perfectly broiled fish to deliciously perfect golden brown vegetables & gratins, there will be a whole lot of cooking going on!

Week 8: Grilling

One of the greatest tools we have for cooking our favorite foods is the grill. Nothing quite imparts such a wonderful flavor & such perfectly charred grill marks. We'll explore choosing proper tools, how to buy the right grill for you, the right way to oil a grill, how to keep meats & fish from sticking, gas vs. charcoal, the difference between direct & indirect grilling, marinades & rubs, wood & herb smoking, & how to get perfectly crossed grill marks. Get ready to grill everything from fish to fruit, while creating fantastic dishes with your newly learned techniques.

Week 9: Yeast Breads & Doughs

No meal is complete without good bread. Whether it’s for a sandwich or soaking up the last bits of a delicious sauce, bread has a place as a well loved staple in the human diet. We'll discover the real deal behind yeasts & bread flours, gluten development, relaxing, proofing, baking stones, kneading, flavor development, shaping doughs, mixers, steaming, convection, choosing the right tools, & how to get beautifully golden brown crusts on the outside & perfect textures on the inside. Nothing says lovin' like some bread right from oven!

Week 10: Quickbreads & Batters

In the second part of our bread extravaganza, we switch our leavening agent from yeast to good old sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda & its jazzed up cousin, baking powder). Quick doughs & batters are an indispensible asset for anyone's culinary repertoire. We'll explore topics such as weight vs. volume measurements, the difference between baking soda & powder, forming doughs, maintaining moistness, adding flakiness, pan & deep frying batters, picking out the right tools & pans, oven management, determining doneness, & how to store baked goods. Round out your bread baking skills in yet another evening of doughy deliciousness!

Week: 11 Pasta, Starches, & Grains

No proper culinary training would be comprehensive without an exploration of pasta, starches (such as beans, gnocchi, polenta, & many more) & grains. We'll go beyond just pasta & rice, & learn about new ingredients such as couscous, spelt, bulgur wheat, & quinoa. In this fun filled class will learn about properly salting water, making & rolling pasta dough, draining pasta (& keeping it from sticking), dumplings, potato preparations, the difference in rice grain size, types of stanches & how release them, toasting grains & what al dente really means. Whether rich & creamy, hearty & nutty, or light & fluffy, we'll create delicious recipes that make great sides or shine as entrees all their own.

Week 12: Iron Chef Mystery Basket

Well its time to prove your kitchen chops in the ultimate test of skills, the iron chef mystery basket challenge. Twelve weeks of your journey through the wonderful world of savory cooking techniques culminate in this exciting test of your now well crafted culinary arsenal. Along with a few team members, you will have 90 minutes to create a multicourse meal from a couple of secret ingredients along with whatever else you can find in the kitchen. Judging will include categories including taste, presentation, execution of cooking techniques, teamwork, cleanliness & organization. Get ready to graduate & show yourself what you've got. Be the best home chef you can be!

The 12 Week Basics of Cooking Series is Trademarked by Kitchen on Fire, LLC. - TM 2011.