NEW Class At Cook Street

Convenient-Cooking

Among the best skills to develop in cooking is knowing when, and how, to streamline recipes and techniques for speed and simplicity. 

Let’s face it, we lead busy lives. The time crunch to get dinner on the table on weeknights can be a real struggle. But that doesn’t mean you need to rely on highly processed frozen dinners to get the job done. 

In our Convenient Cooking class, we focus on creating healthy, delicious meals that can be prepared in ways that save time, effort, and even cleanup by focusing on ease and efficiency using pantry staples. And it’s all based on learning solid culinary techniques you can use over and over again. 

What Is Convenient Cooking?

Convenient Cooking focused on shared ingredients, and an easy from-scratch process. Hallmarks of this style of cooking include: 

• Minimal prep time
• Quick cooking time
• Simple tools
• Easy-to-find ingredients
• Flexible and adaptable recipes
• Easy cleanup

At Cook Street School of Culinary Arts, our Convenient Cooking classes focus on a few critical skills that will make anyone a better cook almost immediately. 

First, we’ll highlight how you can modify existing recipes to use alternative ingredients if necessary (or just desired). After all, not all of us store black garlic at the ready, or have mushroom powder just laying round waiting for an Instagram influencer to put it to use. 

After all, flexibility is the key to making things easy. There’s no reason to have to leave home just to buy one missing ingredient when the odds are you have a just-as-good substitute in your kitchen already. 

Next, we look at common techniques and components that make up a dish. Too many recipes just spam out ingredients and actions without explaining the purpose behind them. In our Convenient Cooking class, we’ll help you refocus your recipe reading so you can tell for instance when you’re making a sauce and what role it plays in building your dish. 

Here’s an example of the kind of dish you can make in our Convenient Cooking class, inspired by a popular recipe in NYT Cooking. The sauce we use here is called a gastrique, which once learned can be applied to over and over again to any number of other recipes. 

Gochujang Noodles

Ingredients

● 1# Spaghetti or other dry pasta

● 75g Butter, Unsalted

● 50g Garlic, Minced

● 50g Gochujang

● 50g Honey

● 50g Rice Wine Vinegar

● 1 bunch Scallion, Thinly Sliced

● 5g Sesame Seeds, Preferably Black Sesame

Method

• Melt about half your butter, along with the shallots and garlic. Be careful not to brown either, sweat until translucent. 
• Once tender, add in the gochujang, vinegar, and honey; bring to a simmer. Simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes, gently.
• Separately, blanch the noodles until al dente. Drain, reserving the water to thin out your sauce if necessary. Place the noodles into the sauce and cook together until it clings to the pasta well. 
• Place in a bowl, and garnish with toasted sesame and scallions.
• If the sauce is too acidic, add more butter. If the sauce becomes greasy, add a little more water until the sauce comes back together.

Customizations

This is a very easy dish to add a protein to. Grilled chicken or fish, or even a fried egg or tofu, will bring a lot of substance to the dish.

Cook Street’s Convenient Cooking Classes

Remember that as a cook, you’re in control! Recipes are merely a place to start, not ironclad rules you can’t bend. The trick is just to know where to bend them. 

That’s why we created our Convenient Cooking series. In this class, you will learn: 

• Traditional Techniques from skilled chefs.
• Tips on how to substitute or add ingredients based on availability and preference
• Fun, Interactive Atmosphere perfect for all skill levels.

Spots are filling fast! Don’t miss your chance to elevate your ramen game.

[Sign Up for our Convenient Cooking Class Today!]