What’s Cooking?

John has been teaching cooking classes in the Chicago and Cincinnati areas for over 15 years. He has traveled extensively in Europe researching foods and has lived France and Greece. John is a regular guest chef at the Jungle Jim Cooking School teaching several classes each quarter.

Students not only learned how to prepare the dishes, but were also provided ethnic background on how food was prepared and served. An example of this would be that restaurants in Thailand do not have knives at the table because they have a belief that food should be prepared in bite sized portions for the guest. As each dish was prepared, John also provided interesting information and helpful hints about the ingredients. He talked about how to buy garlic – “it should be tight with no sprouts.” He prefers to use “the purple kind from Mexico.” “When using garlic, it’s better to chop or slice than to use a garlic press.” “Using a garlic press can change the flavor of garlic in dishes as the oils are extracted.” If students had questions about a particular ingredient, John is excellent on providing informative answers. He is extremely knowledgeable on the composition of the food item and provides suggestions on different ways to include the ingredient in other dishes.

After each dish was completed, a generous sample was provided to each student for sampling. Each one was flavorful and delicious. At the end of the evening, students were anxious to sign up for another class as it was truly an enjoyable experience.

Those interested in attending one of John’s classes should check out the Jungle Jim website (www.junglejims.com) under Cooking School. The Spring Quarter Class Brochure will be posted in the near future.