This year, the first series of Children’s House annual cooking classes are being billed as “a new way of cooking.”
But organizer Annie Sparks-Dempster says it is more a return to the traditional way of cooking and understanding food.
In the May series, three of the four classes will take one piece of protein and cut it up into sections as a butcher does to create five meals.
“It is a more economical way of preparing food and it fits in with the overall trend of people getting back to preparing their own food,” Sparks-Dempster said. “When people first immigrated here they got away from doing things the way their families always had. Food reformers taught them that canned food was healthier and that mass production was the American way. Now people are getting back to the basics. They don’t want to eat food that is packed with chemicals.”
She says the movement now is to know where your food is coming from, who the farmers are, how they raise the food and to have a consciousness about food and cooking. The trend is for people to get back to preparing their own food.
The classes will teach the attendees how to create meals from what’s readily available in the pantry, garden and farmers market.
On May 5, one chicken will be used to create five meals. On May 12, a nine- to 12-pound salmon will be used to create planked filet with herbed aioli and four other dishes. Then on May 19, a pork shoulder will be the main ingredient in dishes from roast pork with island fruit chutney to meat loaf.
The classes include a demonstration by Christina Orchid, discussion of technique, and will culminate with feasting on that day’s creations paired with wine.
The last class of the series on May 26 will be a Brown Bag Cook-off. Orchid will be handed a shopping bag of ingredients and must create a meal from what’s in the bag. She must use everything, and will have no prior knowledge of what she will be working with.
“It’s a way of teaching a cooks intuition and how they think on their feet,” Sparks-Dempster said. “The attendees will get a look into the chef’s creative process and learn how to develop their own creativity. Some of the items in the bag will be straightforward and some will throw her a little bit of a curveball.”
In June, the fundraiser continues with a Northwest celebrity guest chef series and in September, different chefs will lead a farmers’ market tour and then teach a hands-on cooking class to create gourmet lunches.
The May and June classes are from 4 to 7 p.m. and are limited to 36 people. All classes are $100 per person, will be taught at Orchid’s Red Rabbit Farm and attendees will receive the class recipes. More information about the classes are available at www.oich.org/cooking.html
“People are living a more holistic lifestyle,” Sparks-Dempster said. “We have an amazing movement of young organic farmers on the islands. The classes are right in line with what is happening with the food movement on the islands now.”
