Building the Foundation of Japanese Cooking, with Ayako Iino

May 9, 16, and 23; 6:30 –9:30 pm
$195 for the series (individual classes may be available; please inquire)

Growing up eating her mom's home made miso soup and pickles with rice for breakfast, Ayako Iino's appreciation for good food was set at an early age. It was 10 years of semi self-sufficient life style that connected her life to food & cooking with passion. In a tiny ocean-side village on the edge of Boso Peninsula, Japan, she grew her own rice and vegetables, harvested edible plants from surrounding hills and coastline, cooked on a wood fire, and preserved each season's abundance. To pursue & broaden her passion for food and cooking, she came to California 6 years ago. For the last 4 years, she has cooked at Oliveto Restaurant in Oakland, finding similarities between Italian regional cuisine and her countryside food experience in their emphasis on seasonality and freshness of ingredients.

This series of hands on classes focuses on basic techniques and ingredients of Japanese cooking. Each class will finish with a fulfilling dinner that you have made yourselves. Ayako will be sharing a mix of traditional and contemporary approaches to Japanese home cooking. Her goal for each class is to give her students a taste of the way Japanese grandmothers used to cook for their family. The background of featured items will be discussed, as well. The details of the menu may change depending on availability of fresh ingredients.

1. Perfect Japanese Style Steamed Rice

Tuesday, May 9; 6:30–9:30 pm

A well made bowl of steamed rice is the center element of Japanese meals. We'll learn to make it in a pot, step by step, using particular techniques to get the Japanese favorite texture; which is to say "slightly sticky but not sticking". Mastering the art of making plain steamed rice opens the door to a variety of rice dishes and sushis.

Menu: Plain Steamed Rice, Spring Vegetable Miso Soup, Japanese Omelet with Grated Daikon, Quick Turnip Pickle.

2. Dashi, Japanese Stocks

Tuesday, May 16; 6:30–9:30 pm

Dashi is the word for stock in Japanese. Japanese stock making is very unique in process. It's main ingredients are dried and handy. Procedures are simple, with no hassle, and much quicker than western stock making. Two of the main ingredients of dashi are konbu (a wide black seaweed which contains umami substance) and bonito flake (the specially processed meat of the bonito tuna.) We will go over the characteristics of each ingredient as well as ways of choosing, using, and combining them.

Menu: Udon Noodle in Dashi Broth, Mixed Braise of Root Vegetables and Chicken, Blanched Spinach in Dashi Sauce

3. Japanese Seasonings and Aromas

Tuesday, May 23; 6:30–9:30 pm

This class will weave together two major threads of Japanese cuisine, seasoning and aroma. The main seasonings in Japanese homes are soy sauce, miso and mirin. We will discuss their characteristics and uses by sampling different kinds of each seasoning from different regions. Seasonality is the critical element in Japanese cooking and aroma plays an important role in its expression. The season's aroma from the garden, mountains, and ocean brighten up a dish's smell, taste, and looks. We will explore the experience of aroma by garnishing the dishes in this class with Japanese aromatic plants such as yuzu, mitsuba, sancho, and etc.

Menu: Assorted Vegetables and Meat with Miso Sauce, Blanched Mizuna with Miso-Mustard Dressing, Rice in Tea with Green Nori and Mitsuba Leaves

Cook Like a Pro! Fundamentals Series, with Jay Harlow

Chicken Basics: May 4; 6:30–9:30 pm; $65
Basic Seafood Skills: May 18; 6:30–9:30 pm; $75

Jay Harlow has spent more than twenty years cooking professionally, writing about food, and teaching cooking classes from coast to coast. A former restaurant cook and chef in San Francisco and Berkeley, he is author or co-author of twelve cookbooks, including West Coast Seafood, Beer Cuisine, Shrimp, The Grilling Book, The California Seafood Cookbook, and The Microbrew Lover's Cookbook. Jay's columns on seafood appeared for more than ten years as a regular feature in the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner food sections, and he has contributed articles to numerous food and beverage magazines including Food Arts and Fine Cooking as well as to the Los Angeles Times. He also writes and publishes The Seafood Monitor, an online newsletter on seafood issues.

Do you live for your next dinner party? Or are you simply trying to put good, nutritious meals on the table every day? Whether you live to cook or cook to live (more likely, you're somewhere in between), you probably want to get the most for your time, effort, and money. In this series of hands-on classes, Jay Harlow, veteran cooking teacher, cookbook author, and former restaurant chef, will teach you the fundamental skills, techniques, and tricks that professional cooks use to produce fabulous food efficiently and cost-effectively. Each class will focus on a category such as seafood, poultry, or meat, and will cover how to shop (including when to go for convenience and when to do it yourself); how to handle, prepare, and store foods (with lots of hands-on knife work); and how to cook them into delicious meals at any budget level. Bring an apron and a few favorite knives.

A Bird in the Hand: Chicken Basics

Thursday, May 4, 6:30–9:30 pm; $65

A whole chicken is by far the best bargain in the meat case. If you're buying chicken breasts, legs, or other parts, you're paying as much as you would for the whole chicken, so why not get it? In this hands-on class, you will learn how to quickly and efficiently break down a whole bird, and how to prepare separate dishes from the breasts, legs, and wings, while turning the backs and other bones into delicious homemade stock that can be the basis for soups and sauces. You will also learn what "organic," "natural," "free range," and other poultry marketing terms mean. Take this class and you may never buy chicken parts again.

Menu: Spicy Baked Chicken Wings, Perfect Roast Chicken with Roasted New Potatoes, Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Amontillado Mushroom Sauce, Cantonese Stir-Fried Chicken with Black Bean Sauce, Chicken Tagine with Olives and Moroccan Preserved Lemons over couscous, Basic Chicken Stock

Basic Seafood Skills

Thursday, May 18, 6:30–9:30 pm; $75

Starting with items available in most supermarkets, you will learn the basics of selecting and preparing fish and shellfish. Everyone in this hands-on class will fillet trout and bass, peel shrimp, clean calamari, and open oysters as we prepare an international assortment of delicious seafood appetizers and entrees. You will also learn a foolproof way to tell when any fish is done, and one of the most versatile techniques of fish cookery, baking individual portions in parchment.

Menu: Risotto “Frutti di Mare” (Venetian style, with assorted shellfish); Trout Fillets en Papillote with Cucumber and Almonds; Pecan-crusted Striped Bass Fillets with Beurre Blanc; Roasted “Catch of the Day” Fish with Salmoriglio (Italian-style herb vinagirette); Baked Oysters with assorted toppings