We spent a full day last week at a cooking school here in Cuenca.  Unfortunately, I got rather sick shortly afterwards (sore throat, etc — not related to the school) and my brain went offline for most of the past week.  I am only now getting around to writing about the experience.

The class was at the San Isidro institute, a local cooking college where many of the best chefs in Cuenca restaurants learned their trade.  It was organized by the Cuenca Expat Magazine, a relatively new magazine that has organized  trips for expats to experience unique places around Ecuador.

We opened with a tour of the facilities, where we came across a class of children learning to make pastries (bottom row), as well as college students preparing our lunch (middle right).  We then spent about an hour in the classroom (upper right and middle left) where we learned something about the different cuisines of Ecuador’s four regions (coastal, Andes, Amazon and Galapagos), and then some initial directions relating to the meal we would make that afternoon.

After classroom time, we went out for school Final Exam.  That is, the students had prepared lunch for us, and our grade of their taste, presentation, texture, and service was part of the student’s final grade for the semester.  Each student was required to create his own personal dish, based upon the lessons of their most recent semester of training.  As such, every table had a different meal, and there was no menu to choose from.

We ate outside, where it was a bit cool (this was late July in Cuenca after all, close into August, which is out coldest month).  The meals were pieces of art (middle and lower left are examples from our table) that were almost a shame to eat.  The taste and presentation of each course would feel right at home in an expensive 5-star restaurant.  My only regret was that these were not courses we could return to have again in the future.

After lunch, and just before we entered the kitchen for our own cooking lesson, we got together for a group shot (lower right).

We then entered into the teaching kitchen to prepare our own meals.  We learned to make plantain and cheese empanadas.  We then made “seco de chivo” (a goat stew).  Goat tends to be a rather tough meat, but the recipe and directions we were given resulted in a very tasty and tender meal — one that will find its way into my home cookbook.

With every class, we learn something new, like how to chop onions without crying (by freezing them 15 minutes prior), as well as why knives are shaped a certain way. This was the first experience with San Isidro cooking school. Though there were a few rough edges, it is pretty clear this is something we will attend again next month, for the second session.