While I’d planned on learning some new things on this trip, I wasn’t quite sure what the curriculum would be. Turns out that I’ve been enjoying learning how to cook! We took our first cooking class in Lima, Peru where we learned to make Cerviche and Pisco Sours. The class was cool and it was fun learning how to make new things but I didn’t really learn that much about cooking.

While visiting Brazil, we discovered that Brazilian cuisine was really tasty so we signed up for another cooking class offered by Cook in Rio:  http://www.cookinrio.com but, this time, we learned a whole lot more about “cookin” than just how to make a dish.

First of all, the teacher (Simone) was super energetic and hilarious! She’s a native Brazilian full of carioca spirit who’d began her career in broadcasting and has lived in Germany, Cuba, the United States, and Brazil with about as many different husbands. When in Germany, she wasn’t able to work in broadcasting so she took a culinary class and discovered her real passion and vows that the main ingredient in any of her dishes is “love”.

During the 4-hour class, we made two types of Caipirinha’s (the national drink of Brazil) – one with passion fruit and the other with the traditional mix of lime, sugar, and rum. We also made a complete Brazilian meal including an appetizer of Caprese (a mix of sausage, onions, and hot pimiento peppers) and fried cassava sticks (a Brazilian cheese with flavor and texture similar to Wisconsin cheese curds). The main course was Brazilian Garlic Rice, Fish Moqueca, and Toasted Cassava Flour with Banana Forafa. Needless to say, we were quite full after eating the incredibly awesome food that we had prepared – the most unique and tasty was the Banana Forafa which was an unusual mix of a special kind of banana fried with onions, olive oil, and brown flour! Who would’ve thunk?

While Simone was entertaining and I’m glad to know how to cook a fine Brazilian meal, I most enjoyed learning some things about of the science behind cooking and nutrition. For example, I’d always thought “flambe” was just a fancy food service technique to impress people but I now know that it enhances and “seals in” the natural flavor of the ingredients and, now, I know how to do it without burning down the kitchen! I learned that you should always serve something spicy as an appetizer because the spice enhances the senses of taste and smell such that you have a greater appreciation for the food you’re eating and I also learned that you should serve something acidic to go with something that contains higher levels of fat as the acid counteracts the fat – I interpret that as: “I can eat all of the bacon and sausage I want to as long as I have an orange with it”!!!!