When in Manila, why not take up a short culinary course and bring out the chef in you! Last week, I had the chance to experience school all over again at the Enderun Colleges. But the classroom wasn’t composed of a chalkboard and wooden desks, our classroom was a sleek and modern kitchen with a chef as our instructor.
The food/cooking demo was headed by Chef Marc Chapolin who has had 25 years of kitchen and teaching experience, has worked with some of the most exceptional and world acclaimed chefs, and has worked at the prestigious Eiffel Tower restaurant in Paris. Great huh? Hearing him speak made me feel that I was being transported to a classroom in Paris.
That day we were going to learn 2 simple recipes: The Shrimp Tartar burger and the Chocolat Liegeois.
The kitchen tools used to make these recipes didn’t come cheap, you had to have an oven, an ice cream maker, and a countertop mixer. Although most Filipinos don’t really have these stuff at home, I know that if there’s a will to cook, there is definitely a way to cook. So you could still make these dishes and use some sort of substitute.
So to start, Chef Marc started class by making the Chocolat Liegeois. This is a french dessert which combines all the good stuff: chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. First, Cheff Marc made the ice cream using the ice cream maker, from which I vowed to save up and buy. Imagine the wonders you could do with your very own ice cream maker at home? But if you want to save up on time, I guess you could just buy a tub of chocolate ice cream from the grocery, but there is just something special when you make food on your own. Next up was the Nougatine which looked like peanut brittle from baguio, (again if you don’t want to make it, you could probably use peanut brittle as a substitute). Next up was making chocolate sauce from scratch. It was easy and you could probably save more by making it from scratch, rather than buying those expensive imported stuff at the grocery. Then Chef made something which was called Granite, which was frozen sugared coffee and rum, once frozen you can break it up into tiny pieces. Last but not the least was the Chantilly Cream, which was simply whipped cream with vanilla seeds. Once everything was prepared, Chef Marc layered all the ingredients and added the Chantilly Cream last and topped t cocoa powder and Nougatine.
Right after that Chef Marc started the Shrimp tartar burgers. If you find shrimp to be a bit too expensive, you could still use other types of meat, but of course it won’t be called “Shrimp” tartar burgers anymore. Chef Marc started chopping those Shrimp into tiny tiny pieces, more like mashing them. He also started to chop the other ingredients and started heating the pan, and as he started to cook those shrimp patties, the smell just enveloped the whole room, and we all became hungry.
The burgers, were not the usual sized burgers we see at fast food chains, they were quite small, probably 1/4 of a Whopper Jr. But size does not matter when it comes to good food, even though you could eat it in two bites, the taste was fantastic and I would definitely trade it anyday with one of my other favorite fast food burgers.
Here is the complete guide on how to make these delish dishes:
Shrimp Tartar Burgers:
Chocolat Liegeois
So what are you waiting for? Head out to Enderun College, enroll now and be a chef! We might even be classmates 🙂
When in Manila, and looking for a school to bring out the chef in you, then head out to the Enderun Colleges. Take top cooking classes at Enderun College with some of the most well renowned chefs from all over the world!
Enderun Colleges
1100 Campus Avenue
McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio
Taguig City 1634 Philippines
Telephone: (632) 856 5000
Facsimile: (632) 856 4656
Discover Cuisine at Enderun College: Exclusive Cooking Class by Top Chef Marc Chapolin
