Food For Thought

With Tim Tibbitts

One of the biggest jobs associated with being the head chef of a restaurant is that you have to be a good teacher. Every person in your kitchen becomes your student and looks to you for answers to their questions. Every day the barrage of questions come: What temperature is the sous vide bath set at for lobster? How much soy lecithin do I put in the lemon foam? How do I keep this sauce from breaking? What do I add to this to make it taste less bitter? All day long I answer questions.

Many everyday home cooks also ask me questions. And one of those is why don't you teach a class?

Well, we've decided to take one of our quieter nights and create an event series. Every Sunday, starting on January 13, we'll be doing different themed evenings.

Our first evening is a cooking class/dinner event called: Classic Combinations. Then the following week we are doing a wine class with a similar theme, the basics of pairing food and wine. Every Sunday will be a different theme.

Here is a list of the upcoming events to look forward to:

Sunday, Jan 13

Cooking Class - Classic combinations and why they work. With demos and discussion on some classic combinations of flavors including tomatoes and basil, fennel and orange, beef and blue cheese and chocolate and coffee. Includes four courses of food.

Sunday, Jan 20

Wine Class - An introduction to wine pairing with Sommelier Rebecca Tibbitts. An explanation of and tasting of wines, and their relationships with different styles of food. Includes wine and food

Sunday, Jan 27

Flying Fish Supper Club Presents: An evening of small plates. Chef Tim and the kitchen crew plan an evening of small dishes along with cocktails in a wandering dinner format. A very informal evening of friends and food.

Sunday, Feb 3

Cooking Class - Mother Sauces and their children. Demos and discussion on the five mother sauces and the sauces that came from them. Included are five dishes using versions of the different sauces.

Sunday, Feb 10

Cooking Class - Seafood secrets. Demos and discussion about different seafood and the various cooking techniques we use every day at Flying Fish. Included are four courses with seafood focus.

Sunday, Feb 17

Wine Class - Old World versus New World, styles and varietals. Sommelier Rebecca Tibbitts hosts. A comparison of Old World wine styles versus New World wine styles including the varietals used and how they differ from region to region. Wine and food is included.

Sunday, Feb 24

Flying Fish Supper Club Presents: A Night In Paris. Chef Tim and the kitchen crew revive French classics for an elegant evening of haute cuisine.

Sunday, March 3

Cooking Class - The Secrets of Sous Vide, dinner in a vacuum. Demos and discussion on one of Chef Tim's favorite cooking techniques and the backbone of the food at Flying Fish. Includes four courses of food.

Sunday, March 10

Cooking Class - Japanese food, Soup to Sushi. A look at one of Chef Tim's favorite cuisines including a tour of Japanese flavors. Four courses included.

Sunday, March 17

Wine Class - Lesser known whites, not another chardonnay. Sommelier Rebecca Tibbitts hosts. A tasting tour of some of Rebecca's favorite grape varietals that you may not be very familiar with. Includes wine and food.

Sunday, March 24

Flying Fish Supper Club Presents: An Italian Feast. Chef Tim and the kitchen crew visit the simplicity and elegance of true Italian food. From Antipasti to Dolce it will be a fun filled evening.

Sunday, March 31

Cooking Class - Spring Has Sprung, A guide to seasonal cooking. Demos and discussion about how to cook with seasonality and locality. Using local and seasonal vegetables and products to eat healthy and cost effectively. Four courses included.

Sunday, April 7

Cooking Class - Modern Tricks. A guided tutorial through some of the modernist techniques and ingredients used to make the futuristic food here at Flying Fish. Four courses included.

Sunday, April 14

Flying Fish Supper Club Presents: An Indian Extravaganza. Chef Tim and the kitchen crew try their hand at Indian cuisine. Not your every day meal, that's for sure.

Sunday, April 21

Wine Class - Reds, The Varietals – Sommelier Rebecca Tibbitts hosts. Rebecca takes you through a guided tasting of red varietals from around the world including classics and some lesser-known reds. Wine and food included.

Sunday, April 28

Cooking Class - Chocolate, Both Savory & Sweet. Chef Tim walks you through historical uses of chocolate in both desserts as well as savory dishes.

Sunday, May 5

Flying Fish Supper Club Presents: Cinco de mayo. Chef Tim and the kitchen crew celebrate with a Mexican feast. No Taco Bell here!

So over the next five months you could expand your knowledge of food and wine exponentially.

Through learning about the things I talk about weekly in both these articles and in the classes we'll be giving, you will start to have a better grasp on both the simplicity and the complexity of food and wine, along with a lot of the science that makes all these things happen.

These will be very informative classes with demonstrations and good meals to go with it based on that evening's theme. I'm very excited to start these classes. There seems to be a fairly large group of people here in Freeport who are interested in learning more about food and wine, and we love to talk about it!

You will also notice the Flying Fish Supper Club events listed. Once a month we will be gathering a group of like-minded food lovers for a special evening of food and drink. Our first supper club evening was a great success. We are very excited about these supper club events. It is the backbone of the food culture we are trying to create here in Grand Bahama and are thrilled with the response so far. Mostly, we're just excited about spreading the good word about good food. Hopefully I'll see my readers in the classes. I'm certainly looking forward to it!

Until next time, here's to Good Eating!