Chefs in Training

A sense of sadness filled the air when our captain announced the Sun was going at only half speed because of engine trouble and we would have to skip our visit to the city of Recife. Viking handled it well. How well? Besides a $250 refund along with any money spent on prepaid shore excursion, our phone was ringing the next morning....staff asking us if we would be interested in taking a complimentary cooking class that day. Carol hesitated, thinking there was a gimmick, but after a bit of persuasion, we were off to the Kitchen Table.
 

We joined seven others, including our favorite guest relation's person Brent from South Africa, who had been helping us with our Cape Town plans for an unforgettable experience. Under the guidance of Chef Wyan from Indonesia, we began making a gourmet three-course meal.

                       

First course was oxtail soup.

 The Freshest  Ingredients 

Once, probably originating from subsistence cultures, where nothing was wasted, oxtail soup has become a delicacy. (This reminds me of the shock Trevor Noah had when he went to a top end restaurant recently and had "bone marrow".  He remembered back when he was dirt poor in South Africa, when his mom would go to the store to get the only thing they could afford, dog bones of which they would suck out the marrow.)
Everything was made from scratch although many of the initial steps had been done in the bigger kitchen next door. Chicken broth from yesterday's poultry had already simmered into perfection. Measured portions of previously cubed cassava, sweet potatoes, and many other ingredients stood in waiting.

Learning the Art of Onion Dicing

Yet, as untrained chefs in a cooking class, we had to do something to earn our apron. Each of us was given a task, and Chef Wyan demonstrated the correct way each was to be done. Mark's was dicing the onions. Sure enough, there was a trick to doing this. Each onion was split in half and then horizontally cut multiple times holding it together with all five still whole fingers, thereby not releasing the sulfuric acid that could waft into the nostrils and cause the tears, so commonly seen by lesser trained cooks. After the horizontal slicing came the vertical slicing, again holding the whole half together until the chopping was done. As expected by Wyan, no tears.
Others were in charge of chopping olives, first flattening them to make it easier (such a simple trick that we had never done),  dicing the tomatoes, peppers, leeks, etc.

Oxtail

Then came the actual oxtails, not surprisingly cut in two lengths, that perfectly fit in the fry pan, to be seared just right before being whisked off to the other kitchen to be cooked further, the meat being removed from the bone, sinews and fat.

Flubbing the Flip

While this was going on, we learned the correct way of flipping the cubed vegetables while cooking them. When Wyan did this, all the cubes stayed in the pan. Mark was not so fortunate, or skilled. Betty, our helper, was in charge of cleaning up messes, which she did several times. Being a ship, the kitchen avoided open flames and we were using state of the art cooktop burners.
    
After the soup was done we tackled the dessert, a pumpkin cheesecake which had to be cooked, cooled and garnished.

Finally, we learned to marinate and then sear a swordfish steak. The searing itself only took about 2-4 minutes, just enough time for the edges of the steak to turn grey instead of pink, and the sides to get a slight seared brown look.  Then this also went into the back to that magical kitchen.

The Dragon Drink...Not for Pansies

While waiting to taste the final products, Wyan made a cocktail for us... The Dragon Cocktail.  Why the name? Well, if one drank even a sip, one could spit out fire...1/2 glass of water to 1/2 glass of sugar, vodka infused with lemongrass, a touch of lime juice... and then came the kicker, a super spicy red pepper the size of a peanut. Even though it was small, it had to be soaked to lessen its potency and the seeds removed, since it is the seeds in many peppers that really carry the spice. ( Not sure why they call it "spice" when no taste fibers are involved, only those sensing pain)

Waiting at the Kitchen Table, while the back kitchen
 puts the final touches on our meal.

So, a little wine, a little Dragon,
and much delightful conversation,
and voila..... it is UMAMI, meaning delicious in Japanese...the perfect blend of sweet, salty, and sour.

Oxtail Soup

Swordfish Steak

Glazed Pumpkin Cheesecake

Chef Wyan taught us many things that day, but his main rule was to cook with love.... and always blame the recipe and not the chef if things do not work out.

Class of January 15, 2019