Gourmet Lessons

Chef Christopher Koetke during the master class in the city.

Can someone tell me why chefs wear white aprons?” questions Christopher Koetke as he meticulously chops bell peppers and tomatoes to be put in Chow chow — a dish prepared by farmers in North America. The answers thrown around ranged from — to keep your clothes clean to wipe your hands when dirty. “Aprons are worn to avoid hot liquid falling on our pants because if the pants stick to your skin, it may cause severe burns and white is worn because it helps reflect heat off your body,” he says.

Koetke, who heads the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago, was in the city for a masterclass that was unlike any other we had seen in the past. Bringing to the table his skills as a TV presenter, Koetke bundled up all lessons taught at culinary schools into one class as he prepared a few duck preparations for the students. For the class, he chose a complex dish of Duck breast, Chartreuse of braised duck, Chow chow topped with confit gizzards and Maple syrup sauce all plated together. “This dish combines basic culinary techniques such as using the right knife, chopping in equal sizes, braising a duck — taught usually in the first year of training at schools,” he says, as he begins to debone the bird. Choosing the meatiest parts of the duck, the chef cooked the meat in its own fat, a technique he learnt from the farmer he bought ducks from.

Multitasking is the key to success for professional chefs and Koetke exhibits this trait amply. While he cracks a few one-liners, he has his ears tuned on the searing duck in the pan and his eyes set on the maple syrup sauce simmering. At the same time, he is boiling wild rice — a local ingredient found in upper mid-west region of the US. “Wild rice is actually not a rice but an aquatic grass,” says Koetke. He adds walnuts to the cooked rice and sets it aside.

After tasting all the elements a few times over, a sense of satisfaction begins to show on Koetke’s face. He places the braised duck on a bed of wild rice, with a side of chow chow and a touch of maple syrup sauce. Reflexively he begins to wipe off the extra sauce. When we cut into the duck, we saw a beautiful shade of pink — cooked to a perfect medium rare. The maple syrup sauce tasted of many flavours with the crunchy wild rice acting as a great combination for the juicy duck. “And did you know, this duck came all the way from my backyard. I am going to send a picture to the farm back home saying ‘Hey, look what I found in India’,” he quips.

meenakshi.iyer@expressindia.com