fandomhigh | Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques

Hannibal nodded at the students as they settled as best they could. He was looking a bit more intense today, and it was probably a good thing the knives had been covered already. "Good morning. Today we'll be continuing our lesson in the tools of cooking. While a good knife is probably the most important, you also need a number of other tools. The next most important arepots and pans."

He nodded at the assortment at the station at the front of the room. "There are several basic types, and if you plan to cook regularly, you should plan to have at least one of each." He picked up the first two, turning them so everybody could see. "A sauté pan, and a skillet."

"These two are quite similar, but the sauté pan is deeper and has straight sides; it's best for searing meat and reducing sauces. It has more surface area at the bottom, and your food and liquids are less likely to escape." He tilted it to demonstrate.

"The skillet's sides are sloped, so you don't have as much room at the bottom, but if you're cooking something that involves a lot of movement, such as stir fry, or that requires serving from the pan, such as an omelette, this is easier to work with."

He picked up the next item.

"Saucepans come in many sizes; a regular cook will want several. The size of a pan can determine how quickly and evenly your food cooks.

"A double boiler is similar to them." He picked that one up.

"A shallow saucepan," he lifted off the top half, "paired with another pan, which has a ridge in which the first one sits." He demonstrated. "It's used for cooking things too delicate or fussy for direct heat. Water in the bottom steams the food in the top."

He tilted the largest pot forward. "Lastly, a dutch oven."

"Larger than a sauce pan, with thick walls. Very useful for soups or larger roasts."

He flicked the dutch oven, which made a fairly dull thud, and the double boiler, which rang at a higher pitch. "You may also note the various metals. Cast iron is traditional for the dutch oven and many saucepans, including this one. However, iron may react with strongly acidic or alkaline foods, so it's good to have something nonreactive as well. This is meant to be cooking, not poisoning. Stainless steel is nonreactive, so it solves that problem, but it doesn't conduct heat very well. This double boiler and skillet are what's known as all-clad; that means they have a copper core surrounded by stainless steel." And that they cost more than some people's paychecks. "It solves both problems.

"Be careful when deciding which type of metal to get. You want something that will last, and that preferably won't poison you." He really couldn't state that enough. "And take good care of them, whatever type you get; they'll last longer and your food will taste better."

He set the pans down. "Today, you will be making eggs." He tapped each pan or pot in turn. "Fried, scrambled, poached, and hard boiled. The same start, very different ending points, and different cookware for each. Please ask if you have any questions. And please help yourself to as much tea as you like." He waved at the very large carafe. "You may find it...calming."

It was a mild opiate. Those of you without an acceptable outlet were welcome.

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"Huh," Dante said, watching. "Cracking job."

He was pretty sure he could manage that.

Hannibal grinned in acknowledgement of the pun and spun the spatula to hand it to Dante. "It's harder than it looks." Then again, if anybody could manage it quickly, it would undoubtedly be one of the students here.

The student with an immediate, intuitive affinity for weapons might actually be able to take a crack at that, yes.

The only reason Dante didn't manage to split it completely neatly was that he went a little overeager and moved his spatula up, so the egg came apart an inch or so higher than intended.

Hannibal clapped him on the shoulder. "Well done. Keep trying." He smirked. "It impresses the ladies."

In case Dante cared about that kind of thing.

"Egg-ceptional," Dante said, because of course he said that, oh god. "Not that I get any complaints about that, period."

"If you're getting complaints, you're doing something wrong," Hannibal said. "But showing you're good with your hands can get them to come out of their shells."

Cough.

Dante snickered appreciatively. "And this is a lot classier than juggling eggs," he said. "Nice."

"And when you're done, you have a meal to show for it. Something else impressive," Hannibal pointed out.

"Eh," Dante said, "I don't wanna get a reputation for making breakfast in the morning."

"Make breakfast in the evening," Hannibal countered with a shrug. "If you don't want company until the morning, it's a classier way of saying so."

Dante shrugged. "Who cares about class?"

That was Vergil's department. Not that he remembered.

Hannibal was sighing at you now, Dante. That said, he knew a lost cause.

"It's my job as a teacher to care about class. Finish making your eggs."

Dante grinned sunnily at him. "Don't go all hard-boiled on me," he said, winking.

Dante did not, as a rule, believe in hitting on authority figures (ew). But he could troll with the best of them.

Edited 2016-02-17 22:10 (UTC)

Hannibal was absolutely not going to hit on anybody underage, but he always appreciated a good trolling.

"Someone has to be, when everybody else is so scrambled."

Beginning Gourmet Cooking Techniques | Tuesday, period 1

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