Culinary Boot Camp has forever been one of my favorite classes to teach. It has everything you need to become a self-sustaining home cook and to feel more comfortable and confident in your own kitchen.
I love that we have more time to focus on key cooking techniques so students have a better understanding of what to do at home. I am so proud of every Culinary Boot Camp graduate, and once you take the class, you are part of the TCB family for life, and you receive perks (like discounts).
We survey our graduates after each course about other ways we can help them become a better cook in their own home kitchen. Over the past few years, we've heard some of the same comments, like:
- Baking and pastry isn’t for me.
- Do you have a sous vide class?
- I am looking for more confidence cooking from my pantry.
- I want to get acquainted with different ethnic cuisines.
We listen to your feedback! I am so pleased to announce that we have revamped our Culinary Boot Camp 2 series starting next year based on some valuable insights our past graduates provided.
Culinary Boot Camp 2 has always been a step beyond Culinary Boot Camp 1 in offering more intricate techniques and more modern ideas. This new week will not disappoint! It is not only for Culinary Boot Camp 1 graduates but also ambitious home cooks ready to push further.
Culinary Boot Camp 2 is a five-day immersion designed to transform passion into mastery. Each day dives into a new discipline from sweet and savory baking, sauce foundations, butchery, plating techniques, pastry arts, to modern cooking methods and global flavors. All of that culminates in building a collaborative multi-course dinner by week’s end. Under the close mentorship of our chefs, you’ll refine advanced techniques, experiment with contemporary flavors, and gain the confidence to cook with creativity and precision, well beyond the recipe.
For most, this is the next step in their culinary journey at The Chopping Block so we want to keep building off the first camp but introduce new ideas on how to make more robust and complex dishes at home all the while maintaining our goal to make cooking approachable and not overwhelming. Here is the overview of what to expect from the new Culinary Boot Camp 2!
Day One: Sweet and Savory Doughs
Develop an understanding of ingredient functions and master techniques for preparing laminated, short, choux, yeast and pasta doughs.
What I love about this day is there is so much you can do with pantry staples like flour, sugar, and butter! Breads and doughs do not need to be complicated, and they are such a great technique to have in your home cook repertoire for week night meals or fancy dinner parties. I love choux dough, and I am excited to share that we will be using it two different ways throughout this camp, once on this day and again on day three.
Menu:
- Homemade Puff Pastry
- Buttery Dinner Rolls
- Neapolitan Pizza with Oven-Dried Tomato, Mozzarella and Arugula Pizza
- Chocolate Chip Scones
- Caramelized Onion, Bacon and Swiss Chard Tart with Homemade Pie Dough
- Ricotta Ravioli with Sauce Bolognese
- Potato Gnocchi with Three Cheese Sauce
- Gougères (Pâte à Choux Dough)
Day Two: Meat Cookery: Proteins, Sides and Sauces
Craft complete meals using advanced techniques such as sous vide, brining, smoking, searing and grilling, while balancing flavors and textures through thoughtful sauce and accompaniment pairings to elevate each dish.
In Culinary Boot Camp 1, we learn the basic protein cooking techniques, like roasting and grilling but to kick it up a notch in this camp we introduce sous vide cooking and smoking meats. We have a more rounded out complete plate approach to home cooked meals in order to inspire creativity.
Menu:
- Veal Scallopini Milanese with Mushroom-Marsala Cream Sauce and Toasted Farro Salad
- Beef Wellington with Homemade Puff Pastry and Bearnaise
- Brined and Smoked Pork Tenderloin with Pancetta Braised Kale and Rosemary-Garlic Cannellini Beans
- Sous Vide and Reversed Seared Duck Breast à l’orange with Ginger and Scallion Jasmine Fried Rice
- Spice-Grilled Lamb Chops with Harissa Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower-Chickpea Salad
Day Three: Plant-Based Cuisine from Around the World
A global immersion in plant-based cooking, highlighting legumes, grains, vegetables, plant-based proteins, herbs and spices, while exploring diverse techniques such as steaming, braising, pickling, roasting, frying and stewing.
More and more of my students are becoming interested in plant-based cuisine, and I always find these types of cooking techniques are the most interesting! If you can make veggies and grains flavorful then you are ahead of the curve. I am most excited for this day out of all the rest. Lots of home cooks think frying is a pain but wait until you try these samosas and tempura. Learning how to reuse and store the oil as well as leftovers throughout the week is very important information that we can’t wait to share.
Menu:
- Tamales with Mole-Braised Jackfruit
- Portobello Mushrooms and Tomatillo Salsa
- Paella with Zucchini, Green Beans and Artichokes
- Oven Roasted Beet and Pickled Fennel Salad with Oranges and Toasted Pistachio Vinaigrette
- Curry-Spiced Lentil Stew with Potato Samosas and Fresh Herb Chutney
- Tempura Tempeh Bowl with Brown Rice, Cucumber Kimchi and Chili-Peanut Dressing
- Ratatouille with Parisian Gnocchi and Basil Pesto
Day Four: Fish and Shellfish: Diverse Cooking Techniques
Explore flatfish, crustaceans and mollusks while applying them across a range of preparations, from soups and appetizers to salads and entrées, while mastering flavor pairings to create innovative, well-executed dishes.
I feel that fish and shellfish can be daunting to the home cook, so we added recipes that sound really hard but in actuality come together quite easily. I think everyone should know how to properly sear a scallop and who doesn’t love a trout dip around the holidays! If you have never heard of a mousseline, don’t fret. It is a super delicious mousse made out of fish and shrimp then poached for a delicate melt in your mouth bite paired excellently with fried shallots for the perfect crunch.
Menu:
- Flat Fish Butchery and Fish Stock
- Fish and Shellfish Bouillabaisse with Roasted Red Pepper Rouille
- Sautéed Sole Meunière with Brown Butter Pan Sauce and Sautéed Sous Vide Brussels Sprouts
- Seared Scallops with Rice Noodle-Green Papaya Salad and Thai Coconut-Curry Sauce
- Cured and Hot Smoked Trout Crostini with Whole Grain Mustard and Capers
- Poached Fish and Shrimp Mousseline with Mixed Greens, Citrus Vinaigrette and Fried Shallots
- Oysters Rockefeller (Bacon, Spinach and Parmesan)
Day Five: Flavors Around the World, Plating Techniques and Mystery Basket Dinner Party
Utilizing your knowledge and proficiency from the week to creatively construct and execute a well-balanced and thoughtfully designed menu in collaboration with your teammates.
The day will start with a lecture of global flavors and end in a “Chopped” style cooking party. The intent behind this day is this - by now you have learned the majority of cooking techniques you will ever need to be a confident home cook, so let's put those skills to good use and learn how to cook a complete meal using whatever you have in front of you. There will be no recipes, just a pantry of ingredients! With the help of our chefs to organize and reassure; each group will create an entrée consisting of a protein, starch, vegetable and sauce and a starter.
This may seem scary but using all of the above menus and skills as inspiration, we want to prepare you to go home and have fun in your own kitchen. How many times have you opened up the fridge or cupboard and panicked thinking “What am I going to make?!” By the end of this day, I know you will be able to whip up just about anything with what you have on hand. What would you come up with if you were staring into this refrigerator and pantry?
Menu:
- Understanding ethnic flavor profiles and ingredients
- Building complex flavor profiles
- Preparing canapes
- Transforming an assortment of surprise ingredients into a multi-course, plated meal. Students will be paired in groups of four and work together as a team to execute the recipes.
Here is a sneak peek at one of my favorite recipes from the week: Ratatouile. This is a grilled version that I made at home which will be different than what we do in class. (Can’t give it all away now!) Plus, I was trying to clean out my fridge of end of season produce, something that you too will learn in this class.
Grilled Vegetable Ratatouille
Yield: 6 servings
Active time: 30 minutes
Start to finish: 30 minutes
1 small bulb fennel, sliced
2 red peppers, seeded and quartered
1 zucchini, ends removed and cut into 1/4-inch slices lengthwise
1 yellow squash, ends removed and cut into 1/4-inch slices lengthwise
1 bunch asparagus, stems removed
2 plum tomatoes, cored and halved
Extra virgin olive oil
Your favorite salt blend
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup basil, rough chopped
Parmesan cheese, optional
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Toss the vegetables with olive oil to coat and season with your favorite salt blend.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat, and grill the vegetables until they are just tender but not too soft. Each vegetable will have a different cooking time.
3. Cut the grilled vegetables into bite sized pieces..
4. Place them in a bowl and dress with the vinegar and basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with cheese.
Hopefully this recipe will tide you over until the next camp starts. Will I see you next March? I hope so - you can sign up here!
If you haven't yet taken, Culinary Boot Camp 1, that's the place to start!
