Last Night's Class

Me and a couple of friends took the "More Great New York Restaurants' Signature Dishes" cooking class at The Institute of Culinary Education last night. We recreated some of the tastiest dishes from several of New York’s most popular and highly-regarded venues.

The class was divided into 3 groups - each one responsible for 2 or 3 dishes. My group prepared the Glazed Salmon, Potato Pancakes and the Chicken Liver Crostini. Once everything was prepared, the entire class sat down to have a candle-lit dinner.





Trattoria Dell’Arte, Chicken Liver Crostini


Café Boulud, Sugar Cane Grilled Shrimp with Peanut Sauce


Aquavit, Glazed Salmon with Wasabi Sabayon


Les Halles, Mignons de Porc à l’Ail (garlic pork medallions)


Potato Pancakes were served with the Glazed Salmon


Jean Georges, Peppery Green Beans


Serendipity, Frozen Hot Chocolate & from Vong, Coconut Sorbet. This was my favorite of the night!

Would I recommend the class? If you're looking to have fun with a group of friends and looking for some new ideas, I say go for it. If you're looking to actually learn how to cook and need a bit of guidance in the kitchen, I probably wouldn't recommend it. I felt that there were too many people in the class (15 or so) and not enough "teaching" to learn actual cooking techniques. You're probably better off reading Jacques Pepin's "Complete Techniques". With that said, we had a really great time.