Starting off the new year with new visions!

Hi my fellow urban dwellers and foodies alike,

The new year is bringing new promises for upcoming cooking classes and demonstrations. California Table now has a kitchen space available for larger groups. Here are just some of the classes available:

• Cheese Class w/ Wine Option (Wine Expert Brian Havens)

While there are many ways to classify and categorize cheese, different cheeses are, at their core, intimately tied to their places of origin. One of the best ways to survey all of the different types of cheeses and learn about their similarities and differences is by looking to the great cheese making countries and regions of the world as a guidepost. These classes offer an opportunity to taste all the best in artisan cheese – from fresh to aged, cow to sheep to goat, light and grassy to pungent and earthy – covering Cheeses of California foremost, France, Italy, and Cheeses of Spain

• Food/Ingredient of the Month

Northern California explodes with new flavors and super-star ingredients multiple times per season. Join us in these classes to celebrate the changing of the season and the foods that accompany it. We will be utilizing the main ingredietn in 3-4 dishes.

• Sauces and Stocks Class

As any professional chef knows the key to an amazing sauce or dish is in the stock. You will learn how fast and easy it is to make pristine stocks and how to utilize them in almost any dish.

Sauces are the perfect finishers for any dish- vegetable or protein. Learn some of the classics in this class and how to create beautiful sauces from your homemade stocks.

• Holiday Foods

Everyone needs a helping hand when it comes to entertaining family and loved ones during the holidays. You'll benefit from our tips and techniques for creating an unforgettable feast. Discover timeless recipes and a practical approach to cooking while you prepare and sample traditional holiday flavors and fresh contemporary twists on old favorites.


• For our corporate clients, we offer 'Corporate Team Building' cooking classes and competitions:

• Your group will be divided into teams in a heated and timed challenge.
• This interactive cooking event offers a fun spirited competition, complete with judging and an award ceremony.
• The winning team wins a prize based on presentation, teamwork, and of course taste.

• Special diets:
We offer Gluten-free Cooking, Vegan/Vegetarian Cooking, Dairy-free cooking

• Introduction to Wine

There are many misconceptions and myths surrounding the subject of wine. Ultimately, though, it is nothing but a beverage enjoyed and celebrated around the world and has been for thousands of years. It only takes a handful of purchases from the corner liquor store to come to some conclusions about which wines you like and which are better left on the shelf.

The easy part is deciding if you like a wine or not. The difficult part is understanding why. What do you like about it, and how do you communicate your feelings? Is it light or full bodied? Tannic or smooth and supple? What are tannins anyway? Is it fruity, sweet, dry... ? Do fruity and sweet mean the same thing? You will conquer all of these techniques and overcome wine intimidation in our 2-hour class in either your own home or one of our locations.

Wine is most definitely a subject that the more you learn, the more you want to continue discovering. With this class, an entire new world will be yours for the taking.


Catering: Along with personal cooking, California Table offers our same core promise in utilizing local, organic foods for catering, as well. Whether you have a business holiday party or are hosting an event in your home, we have expert staff that can carry out any task. Name your theme and we have your party.

Of course while this is all going on we are still continuing one-on-one and small group cooking classes in your kitchens practicing California Table's core values utilizing locally fresh and sustainable organic agriculture.


Here's a cute youtube video, "Store Wars", about our fight on organic in supermarkets.

SF Chronicle Article, Chef Liz Bills

This article is from the San Francisco Chronicle on February 21, 2007. If you want to check out the whole piece online, go here.

SEDUCED BY SUGO / Long-cooked Italian sauces captivate chefs and diners

Liz Bills stirs a pot of her Nine-Hour Bolognese at Nopa restaurant in San Francisco. It's served over creamy polenta on Sundays. Chronicle photo by Craig Lee

Though the word "bolognese" also has become a generic term for meat sauce, it has a much stricter definition within Italy, where the quintessential ragu, or ragu alla bolognese, comes from Bologna and its surrounding region, Emilia-Romagna. But even there, recipes vary greatly. Most do not have much in the way of tomatoes -- usually only a little tomato paste or puree -- and include milk or cream.

Regional differences often come down to the availability of agricultural products. Northern Italy has more access to meat, while the less prosperous south relies more on vegetables. This partly explains why a Neapolitan ragu contains more tomatoes and less meat than a bolognese, says Chronicle contributor Joyce Goldstein, author of "Italian Slow and Savory" (Chronicle Books, 2004).

At Nopa restaurant in San Francisco, cook Liz Bills developed a recipe for Nine-Hour Bolognese as a way to use up high-quality scraps of meat, both cooked and raw. The restaurant serves the sauce over creamy polenta on Sundays.

"One day we may sell out of our beef entree, and the next day hardly sell any at all," she says. "So my solution to utilize most, if not all, of our meat products was to produce this dish and cut down on waste."

Lengthy process

Bills will use lamb, pork, beef and pancetta or all of the above in the sauce, and she recommends doing the same at home with whatever you have in the refrigerator, be it leftover pork chops or a little hamburger meat.

The reason the sauce takes so long to cook is that Bills first adds milk to the sauteed vegetables and meat, and allows it to evaporate very slowly, up to three hours. She then adds wine and repeats this lengthy evaporation process, before adding the tomatoes. At this point, she lowers the heat even more for an additional three hours of gentle simmering.

The grand total is more like 10 hours, if you include all the chopping and sauteing that goes on in the beginning. But home cooks making smaller batches will find it takes less time to evaporate the milk and wine than it does in Nopa's industrial-size pots.

How to Choose a Knife Best For You:

(Check out the bottom to see a chart of knives and their details)

There are so many knives out there!! I mean, butcher knives, Japanese knives, chef’s knives (French knife), paring, slicing, filet, boning, bread, utility, steak… And not only for every purpose, but each knife also gives you the options of material, size, and composition. How is the everyday person with no culinary training supposed to know what to have in their kitchen? Easy. One of everything. Kidding, but if we all could, wouldn’t it be amazing? A tool for every purpose! Knives have been in our “kitchens” since Stone Age. My, how they’ve come a long way. At least now they have handles. But then what kind of handle to get?!

Let us start this discussion with the most common styles of knives out there, their purposes, and which one (two, three…) you should have in your kitchen. Below we will talk about the importance of different materials.

• Boning knife: This knife used to remove bones from the flesh of meat like poultry, fish, and ham. It is a shorter knife with a somewhat flexible, curved blade.

• Bread knife: No, this knife is not the all-purpose knife that I know many people like to think. I’ve seen it used for cutting tomatoes, cheese, vegetables, etc. I’m sure the reason for this is because they never appear to go dull, but this is because they rip and tear food. This is a longer knife, about ten inches long, which is good for sawing through bread crusts without dulling the blade, and cutting the bread without crushing it.

• Paring knife: This knife has a short, sharp blade, used for peeling fruits, or making decorative garnishes out of fruits and vegetables.
  

• Filet knife: A filet knife has a flexible, longer curved blade, and it is used for cutting meats and fish into thin filets.

• Utility knife: A utility knife is somewhat smaller than a chef knife, about five to eight inches long. It’s used for cutting meats and cheeses.

• Steak knife: These will usually come in a set. They’re perfect for cutting tough foods into manageable bites. They have short, often serrated, blades, and should only be used on the table.

• Chef’s knife (French knife): This is the most common knife found in all kitchens. Not only because it’s been around the longest, but also because of its versatility and use for everyday tasks like slicing, chopping, and mincing many different kinds of foods. Santoku knives, which are a style of chef’s knives, feature scalloped edges, which are perfect for slicing foods that are softer, such as tomatoes, bread, and cakes.

A knife is your single most important and utilized kitchen tool. A sharp, well-kept, personally fitted knife, will keep you and your food safe. You’ll be slicing and carving, rather than smashing and tearing.
Next time you’re in a kitchen supply store, or online, you’ll know what the purpose of every knife is, but now to discuss what materials and composition you should be aware of.

The knife is composed of a blade, handle, and a tang:

• Blades to consider are the conventional v-shaped blade that is sharpened from both angles, and the Japanese style blade that is only sharpened from one angle. V-shaped blades are more of a world standard because it was originally used in more countries and the realigning of the blade is an easier way to manage a constant sharpness. The Japanese style blade is very sharp, as well, but will stay sharp longer. This is ideal for cooks who do not want to regularly re-center the blade. This blade will need to be sharpened more to maintain ideal sharpness as a result.

• The handle can be composed out of the same material as the blade, wood, or a hard, durable plastic. It’s important when shopping for knives that you pick one up and think about how it feels in your hand. The only difference in your options is your own opinion. Where the blade thickens to meet the handle is the shoulder. This keeps the knife from jamming into the bone of a chicken while cutting.
  

• The tang is known as a blade's extension into the handle. It’s important to choose a knife that has a full tang, meaning the steel of the blade runs all the way through the handle of the knife. A full tang ensures strength, weight and balance. Most knives that have a full tang make it visible by fastening the handle on either side of the steel, leaving the steel visible on the top and bottom of the handle. Without a tang, the knife’s blade is only fasted on to the handle, keeping the majority of the weight in the front of the knife, and can potentially come unfastened.

Now, lets look at three basic materials used for making kitchen knives: steel, titanium, and ceramic.

• Carbon Steel has been used for many years. These guys are tough and take less effort to acquire a better edge. However, these blades discolor when they come in contact with foods that are high in acid, such as tomatoes and citrus fruit. They must be given special care to avoid discoloration and rusting. You should wash and dry them thoroughly after use.

• Unlike carbon steel, Stainless Steel blades do not discolor or rust. However, they are such a hard material, that even though they keep their edge longer, they don’t take sharpening well once they do go dull.

• High Carbon Stainless Steel knives offer a combination of the best attributes of carbon steel and stainless steel blades. They have the toughness and ability to hold an edge and, like stainless steel blades, they do not discolor when coming in contact with acidic foods.

• Titanium blades are made from a mold of titanium and carbides. When compared to steel, titanium is lighter, more wear resistant, and holds its edge longer. The titanium blade is more flexible working best for tasks like boning and filleting.

• Ceramic blades are made of zirconium and aluminum oxide. Although they are much more delicate than steel knives, they tend to hold their edge up to 10 times longer! However, once the blades have dulled, they have to be sharpened by a professional sharpener.

So now that we know knives much more intimately, below is a chart I found on knives and what they’re made of from Kitchen Knife Buying Guide. These are the most common knife manufacturers you will find at your local kitchen supply store. This will make it easier for you to be prepared before your knife shopping and hopefully will help clear up any confusion I’ve created with my purge of information!