F & B Cooking Lab - Distance Learning with a Gastronomical Twist

I'm a maths teacher and I love to look at numbers, data, statistics.  Example - internet usage.  According to DataReportal.com, 4.66 billion people around the world used the internet in January 2021, up by 316 million (7.3 percent) since this time last year.  And social media? There are now 4.20 billion social media users around the world. This figure has grown by 490 million over the past 12 months, delivering year-on-year growth of more than 13 percent. The number of social media users is now equivalent to more than 53 percent of the world’s total population.

One of the reasons for this increase in usage is due to the fact that access to the Internet is made much easier by less expensive mobile devices.   not to mention the worldwide pandemic that hit around 12 months ago. 

How does this affect the restaurant and food business?  If you are a cook or enthusiasts/foodie, the pandemic has not squelched your desire to learn.  On the contrary, it has opened a door -via social media - to travel the world and connect with professionals ‘face to face’.  

It is in this environment that the market for high end cooking classes on a professional level increased significantly, giving birth to schools such as  F & B Cooking Lab. F&B Cooking Lab is a totally online cooking school with an ever growing schedule of masterclasses and webinars.  Founders Daniele Bracuto and Tommaso Foglia's mission for the lab is to convey innovative techniques and processes shared by  experts in the industry who will prepare dishes and share recipes. The primary objective is the dissemination of skills in order to increase proficiency through debate and online dialogue. 

We are reaching out to the  new generation and to those who, despite having a solid theoretical and practical base, want to increase their skills. We are having considerable feedback from abroad, with Italian chefs and young people who are away for work reasons. We are pleased to make them feel a little at home!  - Daniele Bracuto

They offer all accredited students the opportunity to review the recorded lesson, as many times as possible, by connecting to a site with a personal password.

The first class is scheduled for April 12^th and will feature Chef Francesco Sodano, (Il Faro di Capo D’Orso, 1 Michelin star).   Info on the course and cost can be found here.

Topics covered in the future will include baking, pastry, and dining room, presented by some of the biggest names in the Italian gastronomic scene.  

Saturday a Scuola, Chef Marco C. Merola, I Cook You Food Academy (Ce)

Chef Marco C. Merola

Saturday afternoon, about a quarter to 3.  It was my first day of school and I didn't want to be late.  I didn't want to be late for my first cooking class with Chef Marco Merola of I Cook You Food Academy in Caserta.  The school is located in a quiet parco just minutes from the Caserta Royal Palace. I sent Chef Merola a message when I arrived (just a few minutes late) and he came out and opened the gate.  It was my first visit to Merola's school.  A visit that was long overdue, so Merola gave me a quick tour of his school that has been around since 2010.  The school offers professional and amateur courses-like the one I was about to participate in.  A class on pies and flans. 
My apron and recipe book was on the counter - I introduced myself to my classmates, and the three hour class began.  First up?  Merola patiently led us in making a very tasty anchovy pie. Here's his recipe for this amazing appetizer.

Anchovy pie, potatoes and tomatoes x4

For the potato cream

100 grams of mashed potatoes
125 gr of vegetable broth
  20 gr of extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste.
pepper as needed.

For parsley oil

40 gr of extra virgin olive oil
  5 grams of very fine garlic
  6 grams of parsley



500 gr of anchovies (8 anchovies per pie)
  40 grams of cherry tomatoes to concassé
  80 grams of mashed potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper
  30 gr of provola cheese
  80 grams of potato cream
    1 tablespoon of parsley oil
breadcrumbs as needed

Clean the anchovies well and deprive them of the central bone, the spine and the small spines at the height of the belly, taking care to leave the tail attached.

Oil the molds and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Lay the anchovy fillets, overlapping them so that they all converge with the belly at the center of the base of the molds.

Put 10 grams of mashed potatoes on the bottom of each pie, then the cherry tomatoes, provola, potato cream, aromatic oil and finally the remaining 10 grams of mashed potatoes.

Fold over the anchovy tails towards the center and sprinkle lightly with breadcrumbs.

Cook at 180 ° for 11 min.

I can't wait to try it at home!

Summer School - Don Alfonso 1890, Sant'Agata Sui Due Golfi (Na)

After eating numerous times at a restaurant, visiting the kitchen and watching closely as the chef and his brigade prepare top class dishes the next step is obvious.  Sign up for a cooking class!  That's just what I did recently, I signed up and attended a lezione di cucina at the the 2 star Michelin restaurant Don Alfonso 1890. Their Mediterranean cuisine classes are held 5 days a week -Wednesday through Sunday.   Each day has a different theme focusing on topics such as vegetables, pasta, desserts, meats, and fish; which is what I chose.

I was filled with nervous excitement as I browsed through my cooking school packet which not only included the three recipes that we'd be preparing that day, but information on the Mediterranean diet and food hygiene.

The class was just the right size; two young American couples on vacation from the US, my 16 year old son, and I.  Don Alfonso's Silvana Amato helped us with our aprons, poured us a glass of Greco di Tufo and then took her place alongside Chef Nicola Pignatelli, the restaurants sous chef.

Chef Nicola Pignatelli

Silvana Amato and Pignatelli

Ciao, Karen!  Oggi ti faccio lavorare! Today, I'll make you work! Pignatelli said with a smile.
Great!  

So over the next three hours or so, I along with my classmates worked alongside Pignatelli to prepare three fabulous fish dishes. Together we cleaned and filleted the fish, we sliced and diced the fresh vegetables and herbs that came straight from the restaurant's organic farm located 15 minutes away. Together we spent three hours of learning, laughing, and lovin' every minute of it!

• Tasty morsels of ricotta cheese and nettles with a gurnard fish consomme'...

• Dentex in bread crust and spring vegetables...

• Reef fish 'acqua pazza' style...

Of course after all of our hard work, we sat down with a glass or two of wine and were able to enjoy our creations.  Our 2 Michelin starred lunch prepared with Sous chef Nicola Pignatelli who patiently showed us tips and gave us valuable advice on how we could duplicate the dishes at home.

Ciao, Karen!  Oggi ti faccio lavorare! 
Yes, Chef!

Amazing Appetizers - Foglia di "Grano" - Chef Roy Caceres - Metamorfosi Ristorante, Rome

I have many   memories of a cooking class I attended a couple of weeks ago with Michelin star Chef Roy Caceres.  One tasty one includes this amazing appetizer with simple but flavorful ingredients, detailed step by step instructions, and time.  It's called Foglia di "Grano" ( leaf of wheat) with red tuna and herbs.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients for 5 people:  10 leaves of chard (previously blanched in boiling water), 400 grams of Mediterranean red tuna, 5 grams of coriander, 1 spring onion, 10 grams of lemon peel which have been marinated fin  its juice for at least 1 month (peel the lemon peel without the white portion of the  peel and cut into strips,   vacuum  seal with filtered lemon juice and sugar  -50% of the  weight of the juice), salt, soy sauce, 1 lime

For the herb mixture: Make a salad with herbs and aromatic seasonal salads varying the flavor and mixing them according to their intensity

For the Foglia di grano pasta dough: 5 gr Manitoba flour, 85 grams of flour 00, 25 g of egg yolk, 25 g of water, 20 grams of milk, 1 g of yeast, 3 grams of salt, powdered anise and fennel.

For the chickpea purée: 100 grams of cooked chickpeas, 80 grams of cooking water from the chickpeas, salt, extra virgin olive oil, Calabrese red chili pepper powder, aromatic extra virgin olive oil with garlic

For the lemon gel: 100 grams of lemon juice, 50 g water, 15 g sugar, 25 g  marinade juice, lemon peel with its juice, 2.6 g agar agar

Instructions:

For the Foglia di grano pasta dough: Mix the ingredients and create a smooth and homogeneous mixture, let stand in refrigerator for at least 6 hours. Roll out the dough thinly and attach the chard leaves with the help of a very watery batter of flour and water.  Cut the leaves keeping their characteristic shape.

For chickpea purée: Use a Thermomix to blend the chickpeas with their cooking water.  Add  a little extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil flavored with garlic, pepper and salt. settaccio move everything to the end and store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

For the lemon gel: Hydrate the agar agar with water, mix with the other ingredients bring to a boil, allow to cool until it becomes gel.   Then  blend it  with an immersion mixer  until it is creamy, smooth and homogeneous.

Plating and serving:
Cut the red tuna in large cubes and season with strips of spring onion, chopped coriander, candied lemon peel, salt, black pepper, and a little soy sauce.

Cook the leaves of wheat on a hotplate (dough side down).

Put the salad mixture and seasoned tuna on a plate.

On top of the tuna add the  chickpea purée.   Finally, gently  lay  the cooked leaf of wheat on top with  a drop of lemon gel.

Chef Caceres advised us to go at it...free style!
We did!

#kitchentalk - Cooking Gourmet with Chef Roy Caceres, Metamorfosi Ristorante, Rome

 I was an hour ish late for Michelin star Chef Roy Caceres's (Rome's Metamorfosi Ristorante) two day cooking class at Dolce e Salato Scuola di Cucina e Pasticceria in Caserta.
I tried to enter without being noticed, but as I opened the door the room was silent, except for the whirr of the mixer that the chef was using to mix  pasta dough.

Buongiorno...scusa Chef...was all I could whisper as I headed to the back of the class.  Caceres nodded, watched me sit down and then picked up with his lesson.

I sat down in the back, but it wasn't long as I made my way to the front row so as not to miss a beat of the chef's lesson.  I was assai curious as to what made this Colombian born chef tick.

The  small recipe book in front of was like a scorecard.  Caceres skipped from one page to the next and then back again, checking off  recipe items as he went along. The chef was preparing six dishes at once.

Many required a Thermomix, like his anchovy mayonnaise, black olive oil, and turnip green sauce to name a few.

Many ingredients needed to be vacuum packed such as his beef fillets and  bananas.
All dishes required his  his attention, expertise, and patience.

Minutes turned to hours...my respect for Caceres turned to admiration, especially when he put aside the Thermomix for awhile and started rolling out the pasta he had prepared earlier.

This is gourmet cooking.  And gourmet cooking takes not only know how..but time.

And It was time to put these pieces together. Like his Foglia di 'grano', leaves of 'wheat' with red tuna and herbs and creamy chick peas....

Or his "Pomodori vestiti" 'dressed' tomatoes with anchovies, burrata and turnip greens...

Mozzarella and Spinach with olives and bread...

I looked at my watch.  Caceres hadn't finished, but it was time for me to leave.  I tried to leave without being noticed.
I tried...but as I got to the door, I caught the chef's attention , waved and  mouthed a ciao...
ciao and grazie...

Cool Recipes for a Hot Summer - Shrimp,Cantaloupe and Watermelon Pearls - Chef Giuseppe Daddio

A cooking class at Dolce & Salato  Scuola di Cucina is always a chance to learn new and exciting dishes.   Chef Giuseppe Daddio conducted a course last week full of recipes just in time for a hot summer.  This one includes some of my favorite ingredients... shrimp, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  Here is the recipe.


Ingredients for 6 :
(for pearl shrimp)
12 large prawns, 100 gr fennel, 100 gr celery, 100 gr corrots, radish, 1-- gr mixed salad lettuce, salt and

(For the pearls of fruit)
150 gr cantaloupe pulp, 150 gr watermelon

Procedure
(for shrimp)
Clean the prawns, remove the head and gut the intestine.
Cut  the shrimp down the middle, and beat on wax paper
Cut the vegetable brunoise style  (fennel, carrots, radishes, celery)
Season the vegetables with salt, pepper and oil.
Place the vegetables on the shrimp carpaccio and wrap  like a pearl,then place the pearl in a silicone mold . Place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Take them out  and serve with  pearls of fresh  cantaloupe and watermelon

Drizzle the  shrimp \with a slightly reduced bisque.

Cake Decorating Italian Style with Pastry Chef Antonio Capuano

Antonio Capuano

You could of heard a pin drop.  The silence was sweet and totally contrasted with the traffic on the SS 265 that leads to the Dolce & Salato Cooking School in Maddaloni (Ce).  When I entered the classroom, Pastry Chef Antonio Capuano and his students were in deep concentration.  They were finishing up a two day lesson on cake decorating and it required concentration, skill...and silence.

He demonstrated frosting techniques that would could be used on wedding cakes, 1st communions, baptisms, or any formal event.

I was enthralled with their attention to detail. How each curl had to be perfect, each rose a masterpiece...

Cake decorating has become the next big thing...but it was refreshing to watch a maestro with over 30 years of experience produce works of art that were (almost) too good to eat.