Celebrating Food with Les Dames d’Escoffier
The Restaurant School of Philadelphia hosted more than just a normal meal this past Saturday morning and afternoon. The Philadelphia Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International presented “Cuisine, Culture, and Community: A Global Celebration of Women and Food.” The day-long series of panels and workshops geared towards all things edible.
Les Dames d’Escoffier is a society of professional women involved in the food, wine, and hospitality industries. Membership is by invitation only and exclusive to women who have distinguished themselves in the respective fields. Les Dames organizes various food-related and often philanthropic activities throughout the year to promote the education and advancement of women in careers related to food industries. This event in particular raised funds for LDEI Educational, Scholarship and Green Tables initiatives, Of course, the goal was to have lots of fun savoring what the Dames enjoy most: thinking about food and highlighting many talented individuals working in the culinary, hospitality, farming, beverage and education fields.
Breakfast featured a vast selection of croissants with layers upon layers of buttery flakiness, muffins chockfull of plump berries, danishes in an assortment of flavors, and juicy fresh fruit.
The day began with keynote speaker Nathalie Dupree, who discussed stories of glory (and mishap) in her career. What most resonated with me from her talk was “The Pork Chop Theory.” Comparing pork chops to restaurants in a neighborhood, one pork chop in a pan is like one restaurant by itself in an area–failure is inevitable. However, add a couple more eateries to the area and the neighborhood will thrive. To foster such a prosperous environment, she urged attendees to continually share with one another, whether it was offering ideas, lending a helping hand, or simply supporting the successes of one’s peers.
During the first seminar session, I elected for Chef Amy Riolo (Dame from Washington DC)’s hands-on Middle Eastern desserts cooking class. Riolo shared her expertise in how to create authentic desserts including baklava and kataifi. After Riolo first demonstrated the steps, we got to get our hands dirty making the sweets ourselves and enjoying the fruits of our labor afterwards. I was surprised at how easy it was to create these popular flaky morsels, as well as how many diverse and equally delicious recipes you can concoct with some basic sheets of phyllo dough (definitely making phyllo-wrapped salmon next time I’m in the kitchen).
Lunch was a wonderful spread of appetizers (the vegetarian couscous from Fork and orzo pasta salad were particularly notable), main dishes (including roasted chicken thighs with black bean and quinoa salad courtesy of ShopRite and tamarind-glazed salmon with mango mint chutney from 12th Street Catering), and desserts (cakes, cookies, bars, and macaroons created by the Restaurant School and exotic fruits from Melissa’s Produce–the first time I tried fresh passionfruit, sweet with a pleasant tartness).
During the lunch hour, multiple Dames were positioned at tables upstairs signing copies of their award-winning cookbooks.
“The Olive: From Harvest Through Processing” was next on my seminar list. Grand tasting master Andrea Gradassi, part of one of Italy’s great oil producing families in Umbria, and representatives from A Taste of Olive, a specialty store sourcing extra virgin olive oils from around the world, hosted the event. The team guided attendees through a brief introduction of the olive oil making process, the ways to differentiate extra virgin olive oil from other wannabes on the market, and a tasting of the precious oil. After learning the proper way to consume olive oil by itself (observe the shimmering color, take long sniffs of the aroma, and noisily sip the liquid against your teeth so that it fills your entire mouth with its flavor), we went on to sample four different olive oils from Portugal and Italy.
Kathy Gold, president and program chair of Les Dames’ Philadelphia chapter, stepped up to the plate to conduct a hands-on Cuban cooking class. One of the dishes we learned how to create was sofrito, a staple in Cuban kitchens. The mix included garlic, onions, peppers, and other aromatic vegetables and spices sauteed in cooking oil; the base is excellent for legumes (chickpeas as in our case), stews, rices, and other dishes, including ropa vieja and picadillo.
Perhaps the most exciting workshop for me was the hands-on molecular gastronomy cooking class led by Chef Richard Pepino of The Restaurant School. He, along with some students and a special guest, shared the mysteries of new-age cooking and offered a unique interpretation on strawberry shortcake.
First step: the strawberries. Pickled in a mixture of liquids (some with an Asian influence), the brine drew out the strawberries’ sweetness and made their flavor more pronounced on the palate.
Pepino then introduced Jim Guare, a past Merck employee who currently works with the Restaurant School and Temple University (his alma mater), to help in the demonstrations. Guare showed how to conduct spherification (reverse spherification, to be specific) using a syringe to deftly inject balsamic vinegar into an alginate bath.
With that, it was back to Pepino, who whipped up batches of 40-second microwave chocolate cake. A basic chocolate cake batter got some help from nitrous oxide, poured into a whipped cream charger and dispensed into wax-coated Dixie cups. Popped in the microwave, these little cakes were done in less than a minute; aeration causes that paler-than-normal color, but the taste is just as rich as any other chocolate cake and lingers.
Pepino and Guare joined forces in making vanilla ice cream before the audience’s eyes. Liquid nitrogen did just the trick; using a basic ice cream base, the pair carefully ladled in liquid nitrogen into the mixer and ice cream froze on the spot.
Pepino added microgreens on top for a finishing touch, and presto: strawberry shortcake redefined.
The day ended with a wine and hors d’oeuvre reception sponsored by The Restaurant School and Wente Vineyards. Bites included caprese skewers with pesto, vegetable crudités, a warm potato medley, shrimp spoons, and chocolate truffles and brownies, the perfect complement to glasses of Chardonnay.
Les Dames truly outdid themselves with the day-long seminar; I highly enjoyed the day’s festivities. It was a pleasure meeting so many dedicated, innovative individuals in the food industry. I can only hope that some of their exquisite food talents rubbed off on me!
— Nicole Woon