Local: Mission Eatery wants to be much more than a restaurant. It’s a combination of a sandwich shop, bakery, cookbook library, pop-up restaurant, and cooking class space.  I’ve tried most of these iterations – the brioche at Knead is outstanding, the braised lamb sandwich is my favorite, the prix fixe dinner is an outstanding deal for what you get, and the cooking classes turn out to be fun too.  Not content with just making beer, Elianna and I have had a budding interest in cheese making. So we ventured over on a wedsday evening for a cheese making course taught by Jacob Des Voignes, the regular chef behind the sandwiches.  (Other classes are taught by outside experts.)

The classes smartly balance demoing with hands on practice, and lots of things to taste.  We started out with a cheese plate – to compare contrasting cheeses – served with a house made apricot mustardo.  Wine flowed freely, to celebrate that they had just been issued an ABC license.

Once the content got going, we covered a lot of ground in an hour and half.  We were treated to a tasting of creme fresh at various stages of fermentation.  The recipe was printed and handed out for making it at home. Why I don’t already do it strikes me as inexcusable.  It’s SO easy. Step one: mix cream and yogurt with live cultures.  Step Two: wait while it ferments.  Step Three: Eat.

Then jake demo’d how to extract vegetarian rennet from nettle leaves.

And ricotta, which Jake was making in the picture at the top of the post.  He put out both the curds and whey to taste.

Finally, we pulled mozzarella. My first attempt didn’t go so well.  I did better on another try.  This was the most interactive lesson we had, and the most fun.

All told, the classes are a fun way to spend an evening.  At $40s, they’re not too expensive, and are a great way to learn more about a particular culinary craft without committing to much more in equipment. We didn’t do anything I hadn’t tried at home before, but I got the idea we were the exception, not the rule – most of the crowd seemed to be seeing this for the first time – and was game to try everything. I learned more than I knew before, and had fun in the process. All that remains is answering the question, which lab to do next?

Tags: Cheese, local, making

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.