Learning from top chefs at Harrah’s Resort's Viking Cooking School in Atlantic City is a dream come true
I was flipping out last night as an eager student at the Viking Cooking School at Harrah’s Resort, open since Memorial Day weekend. For years I’ve wished that I could flip food in a sauté pan and have it stay in the pan and not end up all over the stove. During one fantastic three-hour cooking class, the patient and helpful instructor/chef Steve Benzinger showed me the secret to this basic culinary move. In seconds I was browning up prosciutto and flipping it like a pro.
This was my favorite moment in an evening of tips, techniques and delicious food preparation at the Viking Cooking School under the guidance of chefs Benzinger, Ayanna Sims and Shawn Farr.
So how does the class work? After a lot of prep work by the chefs prior to the class, each student is given their own prep station with a chef’s knife, cutting boards, various utensils and bowls. From there we are talked through how to hold the knife, how to cut safely, and other tips and tricks that make cutting an onion, separating eggs and whisking up the ingredients for a crème brulee a breeze. Let me tell you, it takes a lot of wrist action to turn egg yokes and sugar to the proper color to make sure the custard will turn out right.
Sims is my kind of chef, personable, patient and hands-on when it comes to techniques, such as using gloved hands to mix crabcakes rather than a spoon.
For this class, “Date Night: A Dinner to Remember,” we made baby spinach salad with crispy prosciutto and sour cherry vinaigrette; jumbo lump breadless crabcakes with avocado salsa; breaded fantail shrimp with Champagne aioli and crème brulee for dessert. The chefs also created smoked salmon canapés and a tangerine martini to enjoy before we got down to work. And, once all the work was done, we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor with a glass of wine and some enjoyable conversation.
The soggy cliché, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach” does not apply at the Viking Cooking School. These chefs do both with equal skill. I learned a lot about simple techniques that I can’t wait to try out at home. The whole point of the classes is just that, to give you information you can take back to your home kitchen, even if your home kitchen isn’t filled with fabulous Viking cookware and kitchen gadgets. I used a lemon squeezer for the first time and intend to buy one immediately. I also want a propane torch to put the lovely caramelized crust on the crème brulee.
While I’m an experienced home chef, Sims explains that the classes so far have featured a wide range of home cooks, some with experience, others who admit they know nothing.
Sims has been with the Viking Cooking Schools since 2002, most recently at Viking Bryn Mawr before coming to Harrah’s. She told me she had one student a few years back who walked over to her with a toaster and said, “Now that I’ve toasted the nuts, how do I get them out of the toaster?”
The Viking Cooking School is a bold experiment for Harrah’s in the area of non-gaming attractions. As Jay Snowden, senior vice president and general manager of Harrah’s Resort noted in an interview last week with AC Weekly columnist David Spatz, “The Viking Cooking School brings a unique, fun, social entertainment option to the city that is unlike anything else here. We think there are so many cooking enthusiasts out there that we will have great success.”
There are literally dozens of classes to choose from, either in 90 minute or three-hour sessions with enticing titles like Girls Night Out, Thai Dinner Party, Sushi Workshop and Inspired by the Hit Movie Julie & Julia-Mastering French Cuisine. Classes range in price from $75 for the 90 minute classes to $99, $109 and $119 for the three-hour classes. For more information, call 1-800-242-7724 or visit the Harrah’s Viking Web site.
Despite the tight economy, Atlantic City has continued to expand its acclaimed dining options. Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City is in charge of the next wave of new restaurants headed to town by welcoming Stephen Hanson and B.R. Guest Restaurants into Harrah’s Resort and Caesars. The upcoming additions are Dos Caminos and Bill’s Bar & Burger at Harrah’s, and Atlantic Grill at Caesars.
Triple D fans in South Jersey, get ready to have your world rocked. Guy Fieri, who will be in town July 29-Aug. 1 as a participant in the Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival, is bringing his Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives film crew with him.
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1. cooking enthusiast said... on Jun 14, 2010 at 04:54PM
“what a great concept - congratulations Harrah's, this is a great idea. I just registered for the Sushi Workshop - can't wait and am looking forward to registering for many more classes.”