I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve and day!
Now that it’s January, signs of people acting out on their New Year’s resolutions are everywhere. Every gym I pass appears packed from the street, even at 2pm on a weekday. Friends are purging their cabinets of cookies and candy. Magazines on the newstand seem have recipes only for low-cal soups and salads. (My own resolution was going to be curbing my addiction to sour cream & onion potato chips. On careful consideration, I chose the less difficult option of making it to yoga class twice a week.)
Luckily, there are New Year’s resolutions that still celebrate food. I received an email a few weeks ago from a reader whose resolution for 2011 was to learn more about cooking, specifically Chinese cooking, and asked if I happened to be teaching any classes in New York in the coming months. So for this reader, and anyone else who is interested, here are the classes I’m teaching this winter. There’s still room available for the “Sichuan Spice” and “Cuisine of Macau” classes at the Institute of Culinary Education. My “Chinatown Classics” class at Whole Foods is sold out, but you can sign up for the waiting list. Register on the schools’ websites by clicking the links below.
Sichuan Spice - Jan 19, 2001, 6-10pm @ The Institute of Culinary Education
Many of Sichuan province’s signature dishes incorporate one key
ingredient: Sichuan peppercorn. Learn how to use this backbone of
Sichuan cooking in stir-fries, braises, salads, and even steamed dishes. Recipes
include Sichuan Wontons; Cucumber Salad; Dry-Fried Green Beans; Kung Pao
Chicken; Mapo Tofu; Pork and Spinach Dumplings; Braised Beef with
Daikon Radish; Fish-Fragrant Eggplant; and Twice-Cooked Pork.
Cuisine of Macau – Mar 3, 2011, 6-10pm @ The Institute of Culinary Education
Led by Chinese food expert Diana Kuan, who has taught cooking classes in Beijing
and written about food for numerous U.S. publications, you will explore the
techniques and ingredients behind a variety of East-West dishes, including
Tamarind Pork; Macanese Feijoada; Eggplant Sambal; Chili Prawns; Minchi (beef and
potato sauté); Stir-Fried Duck with Lychees; and Caldo Verde (potato and kale
soup).
Chinatown Classics – Feb 8, 2011, 6-9pm @ Bowery Culinary Center at Whole Foods (CLASS FULL, Waiting List Available)
Also check out the classes at ICE taught by friend and fellow blogger Kian Lam Kho, including The Complete Chinese Dinner and Stir-frying Demystified.
Oh how I wish i lived in New York right now!
Macanese cooking! I haven’t seen that anywhere else. I was in Macao about 5 years ago for a day trip and can’t stop thinking about the food. Wish I were visting New York around that time!
Wish I lived in NY too! Have been searching for classes in Dallas for months.
I’ll join the chorus of folks who wished they lived in New York, so I could take one of these great classes.
Diana, I need help. I love Sichuan cuisine, so obviously I love the backbone spice of the peppercorn, but I find harvesting them to be incredibly time-consuming and frustrating. By harvesting, I mean removing the black, round, seed-like core of the spice that makes the food taste gritty if it’s included.
Do you have any helpful hints in how to easily harvest the husks, while leaving the black seeds behind? Or do you have a suggested source for ones that come already cleaned?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Matt
I love chinese food.Now classes in New York…Awesome.
apparently missed the sichuan cooking class – do you have any idea when there will be another one in New York (or close by). We try it at home, but could definitely use some tips.