Word: kitchen
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Bayard and Canal Streets (964-0540): The name means big prosperity, though that's the last thing you'd expect this Chinatown eatery to be called. Almost everything on the menu costs under $5, and patrons eat cafeteria-style in a dense, tantalizing cloud of odors from the bustling kitchen. The soy sauce chicken ($5) and the barbecued spare ribs ($3) are as good as any in Chinatown...
Which is why I jumped at the chance to enroll in Executive Chef Michael Miller's cooking class for graduating seniors, "Cooking for the Culinarily Challenged." Taught in five two-hour sessions scattered over two weeks, the class starts with the utter basics-meet the appliances in your kitchen-and ends with an afternoon cooking with a guest chef...
Miller is an excellent teacher; he explains kitchen basics in just the right amount of detail without making us feel that we're being talked down to. (The only slow lesson was the second one, on going shopping, which was at times reminiscent of an elementary school nutrition class.) The course answers all the questions you never bothered to ask, and then some. How long will those chicken breasts last in the fridge? Use the four-day rule for all protein-based foods. What's the best way to peel ginger? With a spoon. Don't know the difference between...
...emphasis in the kitchen is on experimentation, and indeed Mike discourages you from shackling yourself to the recipe. (Perhaps this explains why the Friday clam chowder seems so inconsistent from House to House.) Yes, some of our attempts at stir-fry ended up as clumps of carbon stuck to the skillet, and most of our "omelets" looked more like bad scrambled eggs. But most of learned something, if only how to cut a wide variety of vegetables...
...percent of us out there planning to get by on Pop Tarts and mac-and-cheese after graduation, it's a step towards survival. At $25, the course is a bargain. You get a tote bag of promo goodies, including a comprehensive beginner's cookbook (Lora Brody's The Kitchen Survival Guide), a meat thermometer, a can opener and an apron (no chef is complete without an apron). Unfortunately for current seniors, the remaining sessions are full...