=" /> The Mile High Eater: Feb 7, 2011

Monday, February 7, 2011

Duck Cooking class at Terroir

Hi all,


As you all probably know, Barb and I enjoy good food, no it does not need to be expensive food just plain old good food. That can be a great burger or it can be something incredible coming out a restaurant like Per Se or The Fat Duck. The one place it's not likely to come out of (unless it's my Gran’s chicken pot pie) is my kitchen. No, I am not a bad cook but its not often something I make really is a stand out. So, when I noticed Chef Tim Payne of Terroir (www.terroir-restaurant.com)in Longmont offered cooking classes I vowed to make it to one.


Chef Payne offers one or two classes a month on different items, class size is limited to three and they fill up fast. Barb, Elena, and I managed to get spots for a class on Duck. We all showed up around 9 am on Saturday morning at Terroir Restaurant not really knowing what to expect. We were greeted warmly and we all moved into the kitchen. Chef Payne explained that he was not going to teach us recipes (though he did send us home with a few) as there was already tons of cookbooks out there, but was more going to focus on techniques.



The first thing we did is watch him break down the duck, and then we each got our own and we did the same with his help when needed(so glad he seems to have no end of patience as I had to get a lot of help deboning the legs). From there, he showed us how to make a duck “sausage” which we stuffed into the leg meat and trussed up to cook.

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We also cooked the duck breast. He showed us the best way to cook it for it to come out well.(I have cooked duck before and it always seemed very greasy but this did not seem that way at all). And we made a duck “pate”. Over the next couple of hours we spent time talking and learning how to make all these things as well as how to render the fat for use and seemingly an endless amount of great information.

Chef Payne cutting some Black Truffle to add to our dishes yum

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After everything was said and done, we all sat down family style and shared the meal together and my, my what a wonderful lunch it was and we all took home leftovers.

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The cost of the class was $65.00 and came with a $10.00 gift certificate to the restaurant. I for one plan on going again as soon as we can find a open weekend and class I want to see.

We cooked the duck breast the next day at home, and it came out really good!


Thanks for stopping by, we haven’t made it to a restaurant in a bit as our last three attempts were thwarted by sickness or weather. We are planning on going out tomorrow night but once again snow threatens, so we will see. Once we make it out we will get a new review up as soon as we can. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or send them to us at jonathan or barb @milehigheater.com


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