Tag Archives: Cooking
An exquisite cooking experience in provincial France
Tastes of Burgundy is an experience set to delight the senses of cooking enthusiasts with a penchant for French cuisine and a drop of Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Commencing in May 2011,Tastes of Burgundy will be running cooking schools in the iconic gourmet region of eastern France, La Bourgogne (Burgundy).
Each Tastes of Burgundy experience will be individually led by the crème de la crème of the industry; Frenchman Manu Feildel from the one hat L’Etoile in Sydney and television co-host of My Kitchen Rules; Christine Manfield of the famed two hat, Universal in Darlinghurst, Sydney and Annie Smithers from her eponymous bistro in the regional Victorian town of Kyneton.
Each of the renowned foodies have signed up to teach two one-week schools in May, June and July 2011. Each week will include three “cooking days”, involving market visits (Dijon, Beaune and Chalon or Autun), menu design and afternoon cooking classes, culminating in an exquisite dinner each evening.
Fine food and wine aficionados will delight in eight days of sumptuous local food and wine in Burgundy with their chosen chef, whilst cooking and residing at a stunning 18th century chateau just outside the village of Meursault. The chateau is set in 6-hectare parklands, complimented by traditional antique décor, a sunny outside terrace and in-ground swimming pool.
Each week will incorporate three “cooking days”, involving market visits, (Dijon, Beaune and Chalon or Autun), menu design and an afternoon cooking class in the chateau kitchen, culminating in a delectable dinner each evening.
The non-cooking days will be packed full of trips and experiences including; barrel tastings in a stunning 14th century cellar; a visit to local artisan farm – one of France’s finest produces of cherve, and the must see Hospice of Beaune.
Participants will also dine in restaurants ranging from small bistros to the stunning Abbaye de la Bussiere, a former monastery, now Relais & Chateaux accommodation and Michelin-star gastronomic restaurant and bistro. A farewell degustation dinner created by the talented hands of Chef de Cuisine, Eric Pras, and his team at the famous three-star Michelin restaurant, Lameloise in Chagny, will conclude the week savoring the Tastes Of Burgundy.
The week is all-inclusive, from first arrival and pick-up in Le Creusot, seven nights accommodation in a beautiful chateau, cooking classes, cultural visits, transport for the week, all meals, wine, spirits, champagne and the return transfer to Le Creusot for onward travel.
Participants must make their own travel arrangements to and from Le Creusot (which is serviced from Paris by the TGV high speed train).
Tastes of Burgundy is an opportunity to travel with one of three of Australia’s acclaimed chefs to a region of the world that is eponymous for its produce, food and wine. A complete culinary experience from the beginning to the end.
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Wine and Cooking!
Cooking with wine and the type of wine being used for the cooking process is a question that is highly debatable, because the dish prepared clearly shows the wine that was used to make it. If the wine was a good quality one it’ll show and if it was a cheap low quality one, it’ll show!. Some people use drinking wines to cook while others use only cooking wines. Of course it must be remembered that a drinking wine can be used to cook, while keeping in mind that you are overspending where not required, but a cooking wine cannot be used to drink., Infact a cooking wine is salty and generally an inferior quality wine as compared to the drinking and is ok only for cooking and for nothing else.
Cooking with wine is as old as wine drinking itself. Infact it is assumed that originally fermented grape juices were used to prepare stews and casseroles and various other dishes. This fermented grape juice was accidently drunk by a member of a royal family, while he was in his kitchen and he liked it to the extent that a refined and better quality of the same juice was also created for drinking purposes from then on. That drinking juice later came to be known as drinking wine while the one that was used for cooking retained its name as a cooking wine.
As it was mentioned earlier, while purchasing a cooking wine keep in mind that whatever you buy will be reflected in the taste of the dish that is the end result. You can buy wine online. So a cheap quality cooking wine will give a bad tasting dish, and a connoisseur or a sommelier will easily be able to identify the type of wine that had gone into your dish! This does not mean that the higher priced a wine the better it is and the lower priced wine the cheaper It is. It only means that whenever you are purchasing wine for cooking, purchase the same from a reputed store or purchase wine online or go for the recommendations of someone who has bought and used a wine for cooking. Infact person to person recommendations are the best way to ensure that the wine you are purchasing is the best for cooking.
Another thing to remember is that older wines and vintages are usually not recommended for dishes that have a long cooking process. These wines somehow don’t hold up to the actual cooking process and long simmers. When using wines for cooking, especially at a time you are not buying a cooking wine and are using a drinking wine, shop around for bargains on young and powerful wines that have their own taste and mild aromas. These wines hold up well in the cooking process and easily intensify the taste of the dish by several folds! Also remember that a good quality leftover drinking wine can also be used in a recipient that calls for an option of a drinking red wine, white wine, champagne or rose!