cooking
by Diana Cercone
Come Christmas, along with the excitement and anticipation of getting together with family and friends, comes the anxiety of what to serve. I mean, Thanksgiving is all about tradition—with every family following its own. The menu you grew up with is the menu you better serve or be prepared to hear the complaints. Everything down from the turkey to pumpkin pie. And God help the cook who forgets Uncle Harry’s favorite.
With Christmas, however, you can be looser. Be more creative and au courant with the food scene. Fun, right? Not! With the explosion and exposure of diverse and delectable dishes, how are you to decide on a menu? In past years I’ve spent hours poring over recipes culled from cookbooks and food magazines—even Pinterest—to create a menu that is not only delicious but dazzling to my guests. And been exhausted in the process.
But not last year. Last year Shelley Wiseman became my gourmet savior. Shelley, along with Ian Knauer, run The Farm Cooking School in Titusville, NJ. Among the classes they offered last winter was Gourmet’s Best of the Holidays. Both Shelley and Ian worked at Gourmet Magazine. She as the magazine’s travel food editor and recipe developer, and he as a member of the magazine’s renowned test kitchen staff.
In addition, Shelley has taught cooking all over the world, including at her own cooking school in Mexico City where she taught French cuisine. She is also the author of two books; her latest is Just Tacos, as well as having hosted a radio cooking show. Ian has also written a cookbook, The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food, and had his own television show, The Farm, which airs on PBS and Amazon Prime.
A few years ago, Ian launched The Farm Cooking School. Before a few months had passed Shelley joined him. (She just couldn’t keep away from her love of teaching, she says.) Since then, not only have the two turned The Farm Cooking School into an East Coast destination, but they have also written their first cookbook together, The Farm Cooking School.
Once I saw the class posted on their website, I didn’t hesitate in signing up. Besides, I already knew how great they were from a previous class and dinner with them.
The Farm Cooking School is idyllically set in a large and airy converted barn on the property that is farmed by Roots to River, an organic farm that serves both Bucks and Hunterdon County customers at farmers markets as well as at their own market on the farm.
On this crisp December morning, class began at 10 a.m. with students dribbling in before then. It’s easy to spot the veteran students like Laurie Latner from Pt. Pleasant and Barbara Coe from Lambertville, for they knew to wash their hands and don one of the freshly laundered aprons hanging in the hallway in preparation for class. Together, we total 15, an exuberant mix of food lovers who enjoy learning about cooking, eating good food and sharing it with others.
As we gather around the well-equipped work table, Shelley says, “Welcome everybody,” her voice warm yet commanding. Laminated copies of the menu and recipes rest in front of us (See buckscountymag.com for menu and recipes). Shelley walks us through the menu, giving us descriptions and background information of each dish or ingredient. For example, lifting up a healthy-sized Russet potato from Roots to River, Shelley says, we will turn it into a Hasselback potato, a fan-sliced beauty bathed in butter and breadcrumbs. “Everyone has to do a potato and an orange.” (More on the oranges later.)
For the pork rib roast, she says, “We will be marinating it in a sugar, salt brine with rosemary and honey and roasting it in a 145°F. oven. Trichinosis is killed at 140°F.” With the exception of the Seven Layer Smoked Salmon Dip, all of the other dishes were culled from issues of Gourmet Magazine. “The dip,” she says unapologetically, “was adapted from Bon Appetit. It was just too good not to include in our menu.”
For our convenience, the large worktable has been set with the utensils and many of the ingredients we need today. Giving us a quick tour, including pointing out the tasting spoons, she says, “Good cooks always taste their way through cooking.” Explaining, she says, ingredients can differ from season to season or, if using a prepared ingredient like a stock or syrup, can vary in saltiness or sweetness. By tasting, you prevent over-seasoning or sweetening.
Our first lesson: the Hasselback potato. The trick here, Shelley says, is to use chopsticks. By laying the peeled potato between two chopsticks, you can cut down until hitting a chopstick, preventing cutting all the way through. Repeat until potato has fan-like slices. Slicing the oranges into segments requires more knife skills, she says. But be patient. It’s really easy once you get the hang of it, she says, as she demonstrates the right way to peel, pith and cut an orange into perfect segments. Plopping a stray segment into her mouth, Shelley says laughing as a few juicy dribbles escape from her mouth, “And you taste!”
“So how are we going to do all this [referring to the menu]?” Shelley asks. “We’re going to work like hell! Beginning with breaking up into work groups of three and take up a station.”
I volunteer to join Sandra Cook, from Landenberg, and Barbara Webb from Hopewell, at the pork rib roast station. Shelley looks at me, shaking her head admonishingly, and says, “Don’t you need to be taking notes?” “Er, right,” I mumble and step back to where my notepad is.
But I see her wisdom. For like a fly on the wall, I get to watch all the interaction, eavesdrop on the chatter and watch each step in producing our elegant holiday feast, beginning with the Hasselback potatoes. After cutting, they’re brushed with melted butter, fitted into a baking pan and sprinkled with salt before covering with foil and baking in a 375°F oven till tender for 40-45 minutes. And that’s just their first stage. But Laraine Mocenigo, from Center City Philadelphia, is on this. Using her iPhone as a timer, she calls out later, “I have eight minutes before I have to remove the tin foil and continue baking. Oh, no, now I have seven!”
At the sound of her iPhone buzzing, Laraine pulls out the Hasselbacks and shows them to Shelley. “Brush them with more butter,” Shelley says. “And more butter. It’s the French way!”
Meanwhile Helene Goldberg, from Yardley; Lynne Koenig, from Wrightstown; and Kathy Summerall, from Upper Makefield; are manning the Seven Layer Smoked Salmon Dip station while Kate Denby, from Skillman, NJ, Barbara Webb and Barbara Coe head the Seeded Crisps team. Already at work on the Spinach Salad with Oranges and Warm Goat Cheese are Christine and Tom Motamed from Solebury and Laraine.
Completing the teams are Sarah Fisk, from Chatham, NJ, and Noelle Benton, from Madison, NJ, (another frequent student) who take charge of the Ginger Doughnuts and Brandied Hot Chocolate. (I told you this was a feast.)
A conference is called by the salad team of how best to cut the log of goat cheese. The decision is made to cut it into 10 sections. “Then cut it length-wise in the middle so we have 20 equal pieces,” says Christine. Brilliant! Over at the Seven Layer Smoked Salmon Dip, the team tells me they’ll definitely be making it at home for family and friends as they taste their way through the different layers. Helen adds that she’ll make the dip in individual spring form pans for her guests (adding to the dip’s wow-power).
Throughout the morning, Shelley fields questions, dispenses tips and helps where needed, such as when an S.O.S. call is sent out by the Seeded Crisp team. Shelley easily explains to them how best to work with the won ton wrappers. Another teaching lesson comes when Shelley is asked to demonstrate the difference between a measuring cup for dry ingredients like flour and sugar to that of a liquid, such as stock or cream. “Did you know that?” asks Kate, turning to her friend Barbara Coe, an accomplished cook and a frequent student at The Farm Cooking School. Acknowledging that she didn’t, Kate says laughing, “I don’t like to cook. I just like to eat good food.”
With the pork rib roast in the oven, Susan and Barbara Webb start on its accompanying sauce: an apple, prune and mustard cream. As the two sauté the apples and prunes with the mustard and white wine, Barbara says, “Oh, wait, it’s going to get a lot sexier,” as she adds heavy cream to the mix. (These two are having way too much fun!)
As the cooking continues and the dinner starts coming together, the aromas become intoxicating, titillating my taste buds. Satisfied with the way things are going, Shelley calls out, “Okay. Doughnut Team, it’s time to start!”
Finally, Shelley calls us to the beautifully set dining table. Most of us have brought bottles of wine to share. As I had arranged beforehand with Shelley, The Farm Cooking School’s sommelier, Carol Berman, wine expert at the Wonderful World of Wine in Lambertville, had chosen two wines to compliment the menu for me: Vengazzu Prosecco Brut and La Togata Barengo Montalcino. They were perfect matches and much enjoyed. And more than one at our table jotted down their names or snapped iPhone photos for later purchase.
Our wine glasses filled, we raise them in toast to Shelley, a consummate teacher, who imparts a love of cooking and an understanding and enjoyment of food to her students. Another toast is offered to her cooking/wait staff, who have been most helpful, including Jodie Schad, of J. Scones fame in Doylestown and who now teaches pastry classes at The Farm Cooking School.
Over dinner Laurie tells me, “Classes fill up fast, so you have to plan far in advance. I cook at home, but they really inspire me to cook.” She lived in California and was familiar with Alice Waters, Chez Panisse and the farm-to-table movement. “I was looking for something like that when I moved here,” she says. “I found it with Ian and Shelley.”
To this Laraine adds that The Farm Cooking School is her husband’s and her favorite place for dinner, often bringing friends. “Shelley and Ian are so adventuresome in their menus, like venison pâté; and the dishes they create make sense, often using unusual vegetables.”
As we tuck into the pork rib roast from Goat Hill Farm in Lambertville, Sandra tells us that she was here for a pig roast at the farm last summer. Actually, she says, there were two pigs, both from Goat Hill. One, she says, was used for the pig roast, while the other was used in the butchering class.
Confirming this, Shelley says, that the rib roast is from the butchered pig. Which to Susan’s mind made it all the tastier. To me, it couldn’t be any better. Totally lip-smacking!
At a later date, Shelley says to me, “Cooking is about giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To have fun and enjoy cooking.” Of course, she says, you need an understanding of the basics. To find new confidence in cooking. That’s what The Farm Cooking School is really all about.
“You can pitch in and take pride in stuffing a pork roast and sitting down with classmates. And when you do, you find the commonality because you have worked in creating a meal together. That says a lot.”
This year The Farm Cooking School has another great line-up of holiday cooking classes, including on Dec. 6 Easy & Elegant Entertaining, Holiday Cookies on Dec. 7, The Best of Gourmet on Dec. 13 and on Dec. 14, Holiday Hors Oeuvres. The Farm Cooking School is located at 67 Pleasant Valley Road, Titusville, NJ; thefarmcookingschool.com; 646-236-0605.
Diana Cercone is an area freelance writer who specializes in food, art and travel.