(Image: Cookology Recreational Culinary School)
Most people tend to collect cookbooks rather than use them. Sometimes it can be because a chef gives shoddy directions or sometimes it’s because he or she constantly doles out over-complicated jargon or obscure kitchen tools that can be intimidating to the casual cook.
Chef Brad Spates hopes to change that habit. As Executive Chef at the Cookology Recreational Culinary School in Dulles Town Center, Spates leads all of the school’s adult cooking classes, up to 15 a week, which includes a relatively new course that’s part book club, part cooking class: the Cookology Cookbook Club.
“So many people buy cookbooks, they’ll look through the recipes, they’ll flip through and they’ll pick two or three recipes and then the rest of the book really goes unused,” Spates told Gut Check. “So the idea here is to show people how to really read a cookbook and how to be able to utilize all of the recipes in the book.”
The class is held every other month, and so far the school has held two sessions, both covering one of Alton Brown’s popular cookbooks. For August’s meeting, which will be held Tuesday, Aug. 30, the club will tackle Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, the French Laundry and Per Se chef’s most accessible cookbook.
“It’s one I wanted to do,” Spates explained, “Thomas Keller is more of a chef’s cookbook, Ad Hoc is, so I thought it would be fun, I know a lot of people have read this book and sometimes the recipes are slightly over people’s heads because they’re very in depth… The goal is to show that Ad Hoc reads complicated, but it’s really not that much harder, that much different.”
Spates explained that while Ad Hoc has its complicated moments, the book is far more accessible than its more advanced sisters. “There’s a huge leap in difference [between Keller's cookbooks]. Ad Hoc is by far his most simplified cookbook, The French Laundry one is decently complicated (except the gazpacho!), then he has Under Pressure which is all sous vide, and that one is just, you know, phenomenal book, but unless you’re serious about food, it’s very, very complicated.”
The session starts like any good class should, with hors d’oeuvres prepared by Spates and a glass of wine. Then Spates allows for attendees to go through the book, and share their input and experiences working with the text. Then after an hour or so, Spates leads the class through a few recipes in the Cookology kitchen, defining terms and showing the class tricks that can cut down on some of Keller’s notoriously long preparation times.
“Some of these recipes are six, seven hour recipes,” said Spates, “and I’ll put a different spin on it, and show how you can take the same concept and reduce it down to something much more simplified… The idea here is to show people how to really read a cookbook and how to be able to utilize all of the recipes in the book.”
As for what he’ll be preparing out of Keller’s tome? “I really don’t know,” he laughed. “I love so many of the recipes in there, I honestly haven’t even thought about it yet. Probably the morning of, I’ll flip through it and see what I want to do.”
Spates isn’t certain what book his Cookology book club will tackle next (Gut Check’s suggestion), as he largely leaves it up to participants to choose. One area he would like to explore is self-published cookbooks from local chefs. “We’re starting a program now for self-published cookbook authors, which is something that I really like. I just think it’s amazing how many people put the time and effort into publishing a cookbook and they put their heart and soul into it and even though the recipes might not be as fanciful as complicated as regular cookbooks.”
Anyone can come by to participate, and the class cost $15 per person, which covers the food, the booze and the knowledge.
Cookology
21100 Dulles Town Circle
Sterling, VA, 20166
703-433-1909
- Kris King