In this post my friend took me to a meat masterclass at Dirty Apron cooking school, for my birthday. She was gifted a couple of class passes and suggested that we use it to celebrate my occasion. Being a lover of meats and always wanting to try new things and learn new skills I was down.
The class was The Farmer’s Cut promising that we would learn to cook “tender and juicy meat perfection”, that we would then get to eat. This was a one night only affair.
We would learn how to choose the right cut of meat as well as the ins and outs of seasoning and preparation. The website invites carnivores, but was able to make substitutions for the lone vegan who attended the class and learned how to cook her vegetable sides like she would meat. I unknowingly commented that no vegan would sign up for the class reading what it promised, only to learn I was wrong and she was working at the station next to mine.
For those who have never attended the city’s most professional cooking class it begins by gathering all the “students” in seats facing the teacher’s station. This is set up with mirrors so that if you can’t see what is going on face forward, you can make it out from over head; witnessing the chef’s hands at work from the top down.
We would progress course by course. Watching what is basically a live cooking show, before being sent off to do what we just learned, ourselves. This includes any chopping, seasoning, cooking or baking, then plating. The only thing we won’t have to do is prep all the necessary portions, which was placed into individual containers for sanitary separation.
Our courses were as follows: Sun-dried Tomato and Olive Tapenade-crusted Lamb Chop, Pork Wellington with Grainy Mustard Sauce; and Ribeye Steak with grilled Mediterranean Vegetables and Calamansi Vinaigrette.
Given the quality of food promised and the level of skill of our chef-instructor, tickets for this was $210 per person, with the class pretty much selling out.
I won’t go into how to prepare each, you will just have to take the class for yourself. For the first course we went through the basics like how to peel an onion back, general knife skills, and then how to get even caramelized onions.
My biggest takeaway from the lamb course was these onions. Cold pan and cold onions to cook, you don’t want to shock them. You want to build the heat, to bring out the moisture, then turn it down when the sizzling gets loud. Nonetheless I still burnt my onions, but just as well as I do like my food extra crispy.
The lamb we got to try was worth the class alone. This was a speciality that comes out of New Zealand called Lumina, which our Chef Instructor coined the “Wagyu of lamb”. It has a higher fat content, which adds to its flavour. Like with Wagyu, it is all in how the lamb is raised, what it is fed, and how it is bred. The whole process is highly regulated with what they should be eating and when.
This was spring lamb, younger lamb chops at 9 months, where they have not yet hit puberty and undergo that physiological change. Like veal this younger cut doesn’t taste the same as an adult version. The older the meat, the cheaper the quality. Our chef promised that this would ruin all other lamb for us, and he was right. This was the best lamb I have ever had. This is available at Dirty Apron at 14 chops for $75, otherwise it is more for restaurant use.
To prepared it, we grilled our lamb to char, which added a smokey flavour to the meat, but it is ultimately cooked and finished in the oven. Blue or rare is not ideal, you want to look for a medium or medium rare when it comes to Lumina lamb, otherwise medium for other types of lamb meat.
After plating and taking photos, we were invited to take said plates to their communal dining table to enjoy the efforts of our labour hot and fresh out of the oven. This was served with our choice of beverage between colour of wine, cider, or nonalcoholic options. For those who didn’t want to or couldn’t finish, we were able to box up our leftovers to go. Admittedly this was a lot of food spread across three courses and four hours.
When we started the pork course our chef joked that many of us were traumatized by over cooked pork chop. He wasn’t wrong, he promised that we would be healed by learning how to cook it properly, ourselves.
Pork tenderloin is not a prime cut and benefits from salt, which enhances flavour and makes us want to eat it more. Throughout the lesson he would try to debunk the thought that salt is this big bad ingredient to be avoided at all costs.
His hot tips here was to turn garlic into paste and add more salt to best draw out its flavour. To add white wine in before the cream and stock to cook off the alcohol. And if your sauce gets over reduced, you can add more water to fix the consistency. And it is recommended that you allow your pork chop to cool down 3-4 minutes before sawing through it.
And lastly for steak we learned that Parmesan is like MSG is to food, but natural and not chemically induced. You want to use less oil and have less moisture to avoid smoke and flame, in order to avoid soot covered steak. Even though your steak had a marinade, you still want to season it, doing this with a generous sprinkle of salt. And don’t judge done-ness by colour, this is a structure of meat protein, it is tighter when cooked more, so you want to use a meat thermometer.
The big take away here was how to use a meat thermometer and it was highly recommend that we get one and use it in our own homes. However, knowing me, I would be too lazy for this extra steps. We were looking for 126 at the lowest for medium rare. After you get this the meat needs to rest, and despite popular belief, after the meat is removed from the stove top it doesn’t have enough heat to be cooked further.
In closing, this was a great way to enjoy a delicious meal, learning new skills and making memories in this unique setting. I highly recommend any of their classes for your next celebration, date night, or just to hone your cooking skills.
The Dirty Apron Cooking School, Delicatessen & Catering.
540 Beatty St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2L3
(604) 879-8588
dirtyapron.com
