Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, 1st Period

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal eyed the students as they sat down. Class was meeting in the Danger Shop today, which he’d been thrilled to learn of, since it meant being able to supply enough adequate cookware and appliances for everyone. (He had no intention of trusting it to supply food, but still.) “I see some familiar faces,” he nodded to the ones he knew, “and some unfamiliar ones. I am Doctor Hannibal Lecter, and this is Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques, so if you are here for anything else, you are in the wrong place.” He paused to let anyone leave who needed to.

“This semester, we will be learning a number of things about cooking that I hope you will all find useful." He passed out a syllabus. "We do have a lesson for today, but first, introductions, please. For those of you who haven’t taken a class with me already, this consists not only of your name and class, but also any allergies you may have — food or not — and any objections or restrictions to eating or working with any foods.”

Once those were over, he continued. “Our first lesson will be something simple, but more complicated than it sounds. Today we learn to boil water.” He turned to the main setup. “If you will gather around?” He gestured for them to come closer. “First, you should always begin with cold water. It will take longer, but it will taste less like pipes and water heater. Filtered is best, if you can get it. Now, the difference between a simmer, a slow boil, and a rolling boil, and the best way to achieve each, which will depend upon your tools and what you are using them for.”

He explained the differences, plus the relative sizes of pot that should be used, how to adequately work a gas stove (and how to make do with electric if necessary), and the benefits of boiling before simmering versus not.

“To apply this lesson, we will be making pasta today. It’s a simple food that can be made much more complex depending upon what you do with it. And how you boil it does make a difference.” He showed them overcooked, doughy pasta; undercooked, crunchy pasta; pasta that had been stuck together from not enough room in the pot; and pasta cooked correctly. “I prefer fresh myself, but you will most likely be cooking from dried, so that is what you’ll find at your stations. When you’re done, we’ll discuss what you've learned, and eat what I’ve made from mine.” He smiled and waved them toward the individual stove set-ups.

"If you have questions, please ask me or have one of my assistants do so." He pointed them out.

Comments

Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Well or badly, just try not to set the shop on fire.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Zhahar was going to add some salt to her water. It added just a bit of flavor to the noodles and, she believed wrongly, helped make the water boil hotter (http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookingchemistry/f/Why-Do-You-Add-Salt-To-Boiling-Water.htm). Well, okay, it would, but not the pinch she'd tossed in to help.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

After preparing his dish, Hannibal walked around, looking at everyone's pasta. "You're getting ahead of us," he noted to Zhari, not unkindly. "We'll be working on spices later."

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"I thought that salt makes it boil faster, too?" Zhari said, her brow wrinkling in confusion. "Or more evenly or something. It was what my mothers always said."

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[shippedtomaine]

Emma had at least managed to figure out how to boil water by now, but cooking things in it turned out to be a lot easier when someone had explained thing first, fancy that.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"Welcome back, Emma." He nodded at the pasta. "Good."

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[shippedtomaine]

Emma smiled because she was still unused to any kind of validation. "It's good to be back." In the class with all the delicious food.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla had gotten to be pretty handy at cooking noodles (Jims could live on macaroni if Rilla would let him), but she'd not added quite enough water to the pot (on the theory that less water would boil faster and when you're cooking for a two year old, faster is better than, well, better) and so the pasta was a little stuck together.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"A little more water, Rilla." Hannibal eyed her pasta. "A larger pot might help as well. If you're not sure how much, err on the side of more." Hannibal had never had children.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Will that take much longer?" Rilla asked, biting her lower lip.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[flickofthewrist]

Well, at least this class wasn't about coping with his grief? Flick couldn't cook a lick but he'd sometimes watched his mother during quieter times in Connecticut.

So, he managed to get the water boiling and then he just dumped a bunch of noodles in there to make them soft.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[myownface]

Sparkle was, like, the Lewis Chance Home For Wayward blah blah blah reigning Kraft Dinner champion, so, while he wasn't so sure about his prowess at anything else, he did at least have boiling pasta down to something of a science.

Not an artform yet, no. But definitely a science.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal nodded and clapped Sparkle on the shoulder. "Well done."

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[myownface]

Sparkle glanced over his shoulder and gave Hannibal a grin and a thumbs-up.

"This, I can do," he replied, maybe letting the encouragement go to his head at least a little. "Getting noodles from crunchy to edible is a talent I've spent years perfecting, you know."

... ish.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[not_a_moonie]

Alana's family wasn't exactly big on homecooked meals, but she'd picked up boiling water. The stove seemed primitive next to what she was used to, but after a little fiddling with the knob she had the concept down.

At least, she thought she did. She never realized how long water took to boil.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"They say a watched pot never boils," Hannibal leaned close to murmur.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[not_a_moonie]

Alana hadn't realized he was coming up behind her, so she jumped a bit and then tried to look like she hadn't. "They must have been using this stove," she said unhappily.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[beautifulsenshi.livejournal.com]

Minako was totally singing to herself as she first rinsed the inside of her pot with cold water, then refilled it and set the stove up to boil. That's what her mom did when making tea, so it made sense you should do it for any boiling water!

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"It's good to hear happy cooks," Hannibal remarked, smiling at her.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle didn't set anything on fire!

But she did manage to get her pasta stuck to the bottom of the pot. Of course. And it wasn't even that she'd initially had too little water in there or anything.

Just... don't ask.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal stared at the pot. He was almost impressed at the level of incompetence. "I'd suggest you try again. More water, don't let it boil so fast, and wait for the boil before adding the pasta." He hoped that would help. How on earth had she managed this?

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[dressedinblood]

It had been a long time since Anna had tried to cook anything, but at least this wasn't a wood-burning stove. Her pasta didn't come out overcooked or stuck together or anything...she thought. She couldn't taste-test it to be sure, but it looked okay.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

Hannibal nodded at Anna's attempt. "You won't know about the taste," he still couldn't quite suppress the sympathetic horror at that, "but you can check the texture of it."

He picked up a noodle and pinched it between his fingers. "It should hold its shape fairly well, but not crunch." He eyed her and the other students, unsure if this next bit was something he should encourage. "Alternately, you can toss it at the wall." He demonstrated. "It should stick for just a moment, then fall. If it bounces, it's undercooked. If it sticks and stays, it's overcooked." Well, at least he wouldn't have to clean these walls. "And yours looks fine." He patted her on the shoulder.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[selfhelphero]

Billy didn't have a ton of experience cooking, but he'd made pasta before.

Okay, so it had been more macaroni for macaroni and cheese, but hey, that was still a type of pasta, right? Billy's current pasta looked okay, and he was trying not to poke at it too much, to let it do its thing.

Re: Cook your pasta on your own

[never-dull.livejournal.com]

"A good start." Hannibal nodded. "You shouldn't need to poke it if you have enough water," he pointed out. "If you're bored, feel free to talk or work on something else, so long as you keep an eye on your cooking."

It might not have exactly been good cooking technique, but these were teenagers.