De Gustibus Cooking Class with David Bouley and Brian Bistrong

Welcome foodies! Yesterday I was at David Bouley and Brian Bistrong's cooking class at De Gustibus. It was great!

David Bouley ran the first half of the class and demonstrated two out of the four dishes. David unfortunately had to leave with a half hour left in the class. Although it was sad to see David go, Brian was equally great and taught an interesting class. David Bouley made this De Gustibus class like no other. It was very different. David was teaching from the front of the class and the back. He was all over the place and super entertaining. He was a true teacher as well. I learned so many things in two  and a half hours of amazing food.

The amuse was a Kuzu bread with cheese sauce, oil and black pepper along with a meringue filled with caviar. They were both great. The Kuzu bread was crunchy and rich. The meringue just melted in your mouth followed by the salty pop from the caviar.
If you are wondering what Kuzu is, I am not surprised. David lives by Kuzu and had a lot to teach about it. Kuzu comes from a vine in and out of the ground. Kuzu is a natural thickener without any flavor. He said that dusting anything you are to saute with Kuzu powder will give it a crunchy crust.

The first dish made by David and Brian was a Mushroom Flan with Dashi. When you take your spoon through the dashi (made with Kuzu to thicken) and the wood ear mushrooms and then through the mushroom flan you have the perfect bite. It was flavorful and bold and had a very prominent mushroom flavor.
Within the dashi he made, David put in ginger juice which blooms flavor just like salt and pepper. David also used dried bonito flakes. He said you use pinker bonito flakes for stocks and use redder flakes for vegetables because the redder kind are richer and more flavorful.

The next dish David and Brian made was the Comte Cloud with Scrambled Eggs. These creamy, rich eggs and comte cheese foam along with a Parmesan stick, wrapped in rice paper made a wonderful dish. The eggs were cooked in a pot with a rubber spatula over very low heat. He constantly moved the egg around and it began to stick on the bottom and he could see the steam, which is what he was looking for. Then he added the shallots, parsley, salt and pepper, and Quark that is like farmers cheese.

The following dish made was started by David and finished by Brian. This was a Chicken "en cocotte" with a potato puree. The chicken is roasted in a pot that is filled with aromatic hay. The top is sealed with homemade dough or store bought pizza dough making it air tight. The chicken was delicious and the potato puree was incredibly rich and creamy. It was a great smooth texture as well.

For dessert, Brian made Austrian Cheesecake. It was amazingly light and airy. The cheese flavor was subtle and scrumptious. What really made the dish superb was the apricot sauce and the strawberry hibiscus sauce. Tthe cheesecake was actually more souffle like because of the meringue folded into it. There was a lot of sugar so when it came out of the oven it had a nice golden brown top. The cheeses used in the cheesecake were ricotta and quark, which is like a farmers cheese that was also in the egg dish.

We were also served some petit fores which were great. We had a coconut truffle, a chocolate cookie dipped in chocolate, and a tuile.

David Bouley and Brian Bistrong ran a great class. I hope to make my way over to Bouley restaurant and Brushstroke soon. De Gustibus classes have just begun so check out there calendar here. For many more pictures of this class check out Foodie Finders NYC Facebook page.

-Mike