My skeptically raised eyebrow was by no means alone in the room as I watched vinegar, honey, ketchup, tabasco, worcester sauce, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper follow each other into the same pan. The result: a delectably delicious red sauce to cover a plate of fried potatoes commonly known around here as patatas bravas. Also on the menu were pinchos, tortilla de patatas, aioli, and champiñones al ajillo. Tapas, as you probably guessed already, were the theme of the evening last night as I and twelve others attended a tapas cooking workshop at Escola de Cuina Terra d' Escudella. That's cooking school in Catalan.
Before entering the kitchen we sat through a brief introduction and history of tapas by the head chef who's name I cannot remember for the life of me. According to el cocinero tapas were introduced by a king in the middle ages with an incessant upset stomach from the constant binge eating and drinking of those times. His very wise doctor advised him to eat several small meals a day to ease his pain and as a result the king introduced this diet to the rest of Spain. These meals adopted the name tapas, which means lid or cover, because the small plate on which they are served was often placed on top of the wine glass to prevent excessive drinking. I do not understand exactly how this prevented excessive drinking since simply removing the plate from the top of the glass does not appear to be all too difficult, but that's how the story goes. (I also find it funny that I have heard an extremely similar story as to how the famous Spanish lisp came to be however Wikipedia insists that it is an urban legend). Anyways I think we can conclude that however they may have come about, Spain would not be quite as yummy without tapas.
After the brief history lesson we followed suit of the chef by tying on our plastic white aprons. He of course was not in plastic, but in a professional chef's hat and white coat, over pajama pants and Crocs might I add. We followed him to the kitchen and each posted up in front of a cutting board and knife at one of several stations around the kitchen. Throughout the lesson we were each given ingredients to slice, dice, or peel at our station which were collected to be cooked, stirred, whipped, mixed, fried, or grilled at some point and place around the kitchen. The chef gave me the honor of making the champiñones de ajillo (musrooms and garlic). I won't lie in saying this wasn't the least complicated dish with hopes that he selected me randomly and didn't single me out for it. Nevertheless we all were able to observe and join in a bit on all the dishes making it a great learning experience.
The tapas were definitely the best I have had so far in Spain. This could be due to the satisfaction of knowing the personal effort put into each dish or maybe we are all just great chefs in the making. I'd like to think the latter.
Sounds delicious!!
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