The Culinary Institute of America

For Beth's birthday, George gave her a cooking class at the CIA, in Hyde Park, NY, on the Hudson River. On June 6th, Beth took the CIA's class on Sauces from Chef David Bruno, along with 26 other "food enthusiasts".

The class began with knife cuts, basic culinary preparations (mirepoix, oignon pique and brulé, bouquet garni and tomato concassé), and thickening agents.  Next, Chef Bruno discussed Grand and small sauces and emulsion sauces - and lots of history!  Then each team of 4 had our production assignments (my team made Poivrade Sauce, Chasseur Sauce, Roasted Pepper Coulis and Béchamel Sauce).  Lunch was provided in one of the advanced classrooms (Mmmm good).  After lunch, we sampled each others sauces with different proteins and then had a class discussion about technique, variations, etc.  At the end of the day, Chef Bruno demonstrated 5 different Hollandaise sauces and discussed base mixtures and stocks - various applications, components and a stock production flow chart.

It was a lot of information to "digest" in one day.