fandomhigh | Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques

The Danger Shop was set up once more with individual cooking stations, and one for Hannibal at the front. Only this time there were fire extinguishers strategically placed by every setup.

"First class, we covered boiling water. It's a good start, but obviously not everything is cooked that way. This week, we will go over cooking with oil. There are numerous different types of oils and fats, both vegetable and animal, and each one has a different purpose." He passed around a handout. "We could take an entire semester or more to cover them all, so for now please note that some oils are better for cooking, and some are better for eating."

He made a moue of distaste "Most of what you're likely to find in stores in this time and place is refined oils. If you think that sounds as if they've been processed with solvents and machinery until they have more chemicals than character, you wouldn't be wrong. We will not be cooking with them here." He motioned them all to join him at the front, where he set out a number oils in front of him, of various colors and consistencies. "Unrefined oils have much more flavor. They take more skill to cook with, but they're well worth it. They work best at lower heats; for things that require very high heats, such as frying, animal fats are generally better."

He took out a basket of good homemade bread and gestured them towards the oils. "Please, try them." He went over the list of oils and fats on the handout as they did so. "And of course," he concluded, "butter is one of the most common fats. Very good for baking, and very easy to find."

He nodded to them all. "Today, you will be making two things. First, bruschetta." Yes, after teaching them how to boil water, he was teaching them to make toast. Gourmet toast. "We have olive oil for grilling the bread and for the pancetta, and walnut oil for cooking the mushrooms, so you can see what it's like to cook with something a little different. Then, potatoes in goose fat. Which should appeal to those of you who are fans of french fries, although I do hope you'll find this superior." If you didn't, he would despair of your palate, but you would probably be in good company. Jono.

"Mademoiselle," he told Cosette, "since you have done that already, please use your skills to find a recipe that uses at least three different oils or fats, and make it. Let me know if you need any help; I will be your sous chef for the day. The rest of you, since this may be a fairly large task, you may feel free to pair up with each other if you like. When you've finished, I'll be sharing my versions of each of these dishes, as well as late winter vegetables roasted in bacon fat and pickled fig, robiola, and pistachio oil crostini. Meanwhile, if you have questions, please ask. And please, try not to set anything on fire, yourselves included." Dante.

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"Okay..." Mabel squinted a little at the pan. "How do you know it's about to catch fire, then?"

Smoke was generally a good indication, Mabel.

"It usually starts to smoke first." Listen to your narration, Mabel! "It's actually called a 'smoke point'. Which does not mean the age at which it's legally allowed to buy a pack at the corner store, it turns out."

Lottie had had to overcome some strange and fantastic ideas about food terms in her day.

Hey, for what it was worth, Mabel would have wondered if Lottie hadn't explained it to her.

"Ooooh." She paused to let that idea process for a bit, and then nodded. "Okay, that makes sense!"

Granted, 'smoke equals fire' was pretty much the most basic sort of kitchen common sense, but for a girl who thought that troll dolls added much-needed personality to syrupy fruit juice...

Honestly, Mabel probably had a bright and promising future in the kitschy food industry.

"So I'm going to turn on the heat about thaaaaaat far," Lottie narrated, switching her burner back on and turning the flame up about halfway. "Do you wanna put the oil in?"

"Oh, that, I can handle," Mabel declared, making a reach for the oil and, by some miracle, actually measuring out two tablespoons of the stuff without spilling or deciding to add more just for good measure. "And in it goes!"

And... in it went. Go team!

Lottie was impressed. She was totally a "just for good measure" sort of cook.

"Excellent. Now we kinda stand around for a bit until it starts to look shimmery."

This was the boring part.

"Okay!"

And then Mabel stood there.

And stared.

At the pan.

"... How long does it take?"

"Coupla minutes," Lottie said. She sighed. "They're very long minutes."

"I guess that's where the 'watched pot' saying comes from," Mabel sighed. "But if you can't watch it or it'll never boil, how are you supposed to know when it's started shimmering?"

Cooking was so darn confusing.

"That's hyperbole," Lottie explained. "It totally boils eventually. It just seems to never happen. Ooo!" She pointed to where a couple of teeny tiny bubbles had started in the middle of the pool of oil. "It's starting!"

"Ooo!" Okay, now Mabel was invested in this, leaning forward with wide-eyes to get a better look. "Oh, this is exciting! Do we really have to stop it from being all shimmery by putting a piece of bread into it?"

She kind of just liked the glitter experience, here.

"I s'pose that depends on how much you want toast?" Lottie said. "Also, it'll start burning eventually. Shimmering is well transitory."

"Curses, shimmering! Why must you be so fickle?!" Please pardon Mabel for a moment while she shakes her hand toward the ceiling. Which was not where the shimmering was taking place, but it seemed like the thing to do at the time. "Okay, then I guess we should toast that bread!"

Rather than waste a perfectly good shimmer.

"Toasting commencing!" Lottie stretched her hand out holding the bread, then dropped it dramatically. From not quite high enough to spatter. "Tada!"

"Oooooo!"

Toast required an 'ooooo' when it was done up all fancy like this.

"I like the way it sizzles."

Little miss Toaster Strudel here clearly hadn't seen much in the way of pan-frying toast before.

Admittedly, Lottie usually used a toaster oven. "Isn't it lovely? Like . . . sound shimmers."

"Glitter for your ears," Mabel laughed, nodding her agreement. "I might have to make toast this way all the time!"

Once she got past that whole 'lighting it on fire' part.

"That is sure to make the common room kitchens a more excitin place," Lottie said.

They had fire extinguishers in the common rooms, too, right?

On an island like this, they'd be crazy not to, even without the possibility of bad cooks among the student body.

"That's the hope! Delicious ear-glitter for everyone!"

[OOC: And now I go to bed! G'night!]

Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, period 1

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