We had a chef lecture first thing this morning from Executive Chef Instructor, Pete Ryan: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains and Legumes. Interesting, the care and cooking of fruits and veggies is serious stuff! They are living, breathing things and as such need to be stored properly. I did learn today that strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are triple washed before they go to the market and so do not need to be washed when you get them home. These fruits also do not need the added water washing them again would give them. Also-use beautiful fruit for eating and putting on top of whatever it is you are topping, use the not so good looking fruit for inside (baking, pureeing, etc). And DON'T WASH THE MUSHROOMS!!!!!!!!!!! Chef Pete brought over (remember we are in the wine cellar two doors down from the actual cooking school) little cups filled with various rice, grains (quinoa, amaranth, etc), oats-three kinds! And also 10 different legumes. On our test next Monday, we will be shown a number (they were not specific) of different grains/legumes and must correctly identify them. (And don't forget all the wines of Italy and Spain, fortified wines and two more guest chef lectures-one on oils/salt/vinegar and one lecture on herbs and spices).
After a short break, we lauched into a review of Italy from the last two days, then started learning about Spain. We will not be covering Portugal due to time contraints, but the important thing to remember about Portugal is that they make "MARVELOUS" ports!
Most of Spain is hilly and mountainous and there are many "ancient" vines. The pictures we saw of different areas of Spain, were for the most part, beautiful. Spain is the third largest producer in the world of wines, but apparently soon surpassing Italy in this regard. Spain also has a quality classification system similar to France and Italy only for their pyramid they use DOCa or DO instead of DOC or AOC. They have the same Country Wine and Table wine at the bottom of the pyramid that Italy has.
There are 13 wine regions in Spain. Only two of them are DOCa's: Rioja, the very first DOCa in the country and Priorat, added relatively recently to the DOCa list. Spain is mostly a red wine country but they do make white wines and a sparkling wine called Cava. Cava differs from Champagne in that it is made using only white grapes (Champagne is made from one white and two red grapes), comes from a cooler climate which changes the flavor of each grape and yeast is used in their fermentation process.
Spain also is the world's main source for Sherry. Sherry comes from the Jerez region in southwestern Spain.
The main grapes in Spain are Albarino, Torrontes, Macabeo,Verdejo, Garnacha (Grenache), Carinena and Tempranillo. The Spanish are famous for LONG aging in oak, sometimes for 20 years. This is changing as they are trying to have a more "international" appeal. Lesser aging results in a more fruity wine.
Lunch at school today was a Spanish-style meal: roasted pork, garbanzo beans with spinach, marinated eggplant and snow peas (don't think snow peas are Spanish, but you never know, lol). We tried two of the Spanish wines with lunch, both good pairings. I think I will add a list of the wines we've tried over the last several weeks in case anyone is interested and would like to try some new wines.
After getting out of school, I made a trip to Barnes and Noble bookstore. I bought "Wine for Dummies" to see if I could make a little more sense of Italy and Spain. I'll let you know, lol.
Tonight I made a Cherry Coffeecake. We'll see how guests like it. Apparently Carl has been telling his guests about his new "pastry chef", April. He calls them "April's Culinary Creations". There is also a Chocolatier/Chef staying at the B&B, who is a friend of Carl's. I have enjoyed talking to and learning from Will. A B&B really can be a great place to meet people of all kinds!
"When they think a wine is extraordinary, Spaniards say: "Beber este vino es como hablar con Dios"-tasting this wine is like talking with God."
-from "The Wine Bible" by Karen MacNeil
No comments:
Post a Comment