The chemistry of carbohydrates
A brunch extravaganza at the Ojai Culinary School
By D.K. Crawford 10/25/2007
I entered the side door of the historic Ojai bed and breakfast the Lavender Inn and was warmly welcomed by owner Kathy Hartley. She ushered me into the kitchen, saying, “Your paperwork is on the chair, and grab an apron from the basket.”
The aroma of hot cinnamon rolls saturated the bright, sunny kitchen. A chef, dressed in black, chopped scallions in silence. Behind him on the stove, sausage links sizzled. The other students and I donned our pristine white aprons and waited.
“If you go on into the dining room,” Hartley said, “Chef Ed has prepared French toast, sausage mushroom strata and scones. I hope you’re hungry, because he has outdone himself.” We wandered into the dining room and began serving ourselves from the colorful autumn-inspired buffet.
It took me about 10 minutes sitting outside in the serene courtyard and a couple sips of my fresh-squeezed mimosa to realize I still had on my apron. As I started to take it off, classmate Lynn Williamson, of St. Mary City, Md., quipped, “I have a feeling this is going to be more luxury than labor.” She and her son-in-law from Santa Barbara were spending the day cooking together. Just as we were becoming overly relaxed eating the cheesy, savory strata, we were summoned back to the kitchen.
Our teacher, chef Ed Babic, is a Culinary Institute of America (CIA)-trained pastry chef who teaches, consults and runs his own catering company. With a slow cadence and desert-dry wit, he began delivering tips for hosting a successful brunch. His secret? “Do as much ahead of time as possible.”
He covered everything, from what dishes can be prepared in advance and how to set a gorgeous table (“brunch is in presentation and the details”) to creating a “flow pattern” for guests to progress from the buffet to the table. With these tools in place, Babic says a host can be part of the event. “You don’t want to be a slave to the kitchen.”
We quickly moved on to what I call the “pancake primer,” which was everything you ever hoped to know about hotcakes. We were each given recipes for Babic’s four primary techniques: basic, basic buttermilk, lemon poppy seed and blueberry. “With these you should be able to make anything,” he said.
He then talked about the order in which to mix ingredients, how to cook them and the secrets. Hint: His blueberry pancake technique actually suspends the blueberries in batter. We also went over recipes for two syrups, eggs ratatouille, hash brown potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.
We divided up into teams and each worked on a recipe. My partner and I made the blueberry pancakes. Some students had little culinary training while others were more advanced. The atmosphere was very comfortable and everyone asked questions.
Babic delighted in diagnosing complex problems students had encountered with recipes at home. He explained what he thought the issue was and gave the students solutions. He was decidedly scientific in his explanations, but he also gave permission for students to explore and cook with passion.
When a student inquired about adding more maple syrup to a recipe, he told them to follow their tastes, saying, “I’m gonna get you in the neighborhood, then you’ve gotta find your own house.” He gave students the backbone of the cooking process but also encouraged them to experiment. “Just do things. That’s where great recipes come from.”
The class at the Lavender Inn was more than I had expected. I thought I would spend the day at a beautiful bed-and-breakfast mostly watching food be prepared and not so much learning the science behind it. But this class was a real learning experience — half like a chemistry lab and half like being in your grandmother’s kitchen because of the seasoned tips we were given. I sauntered out four hours later with a full belly and a head brimming with science.
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