Jenn C.
Yelp
I was lucky enough to get my friend's extra spot for the "Duck is the New Chicken" class with chef Jay Guerrero (so I didn't have to deal with the pains signing up). Previously I've done courses at Hot Stove Society and really enjoyed them, but never at the Pantry.
There's a long communal table that seats ~15 people. Each seat has a cutting board, apron, and glass of water ready for you (along with a name tag sticker). There are coat hooks, but no space at the table itself for storing extra items so try not to bring too much stuff (ie no place to set a camera). Usually 2-3 assistants that help out in each course, one of which will offer a glass of wine to start. In the back, next to the bathroom, there's a basket of bread and an assortment of oil, vinegar and jams.
Once everyone is settled, Jay briefly went over what we'd be learning, and asked us to wash our hands. We were broken into teams of about 2-5 people (3-4 teams total).
Jay started out by demonstrating how to break down a duck, make confit, and render fat. This was the only part that we did not physically do ourselves. Everything after that was hands on in preparing the various dishes. Jay would show us how to do a task, and then we would do it under his supervision. The final product would then be taken away for storing or cooking until the end of the class, when we would eat.
For things like duck confit and the smoked breast and anything that required hours or more of cooking/curing time, we would prepare the meat and then it would be saved for the next class. Then he'd hand us the "finished" ingredient (ie the duck breast after it had been smoked for 12 hours) and continued with the dish.
FOOD:
We finished off class with a communal dinner of everything that we made during the night, along with a 2nd glass of wine. I love duck and ALL the dishes we made were fabulous:
-duck tartare w/salt cured duck egg yolk
-duck rillettes w/cherry preserves & grilled bread
-smoked duck breast salad w/dandelion greens & duck fat vinaigrette
-duck eggs en cocotte with chanterelles, gruyere, and duck fat fried potatoes
There was no dessert course for this particular class, but I was 100% ok with that.
OVERALL:
I absolutely loved this class! At pretty much the same price point ($95/person) as Hot Stove Society, IMO you get a bit more bang for your buck here. There's way more hands on experience, 2 glasses of wine included, and the class is 3.5hours long (vs 2hrs). There are only ~10-15 people in this class, and the instructor is right in front of your face and watching everything you do and giving hands on assistance. HSS is a bit more high production & commercial - feels more like a classroom setting. This feels more like cooking in a friend's kitchen.
You don't, have the option of buying more wine to drink, unlike HSS. So the focus is definitely more on the cooking and technique here, while HSS is more focused on the overall experience. Both have their merits, and depending on who you are you might prefer one over the other. I still enjoy both.
TIP: if you are the type of person who takes lots of photos & documents everything, be aware that you will be asked to wash your hands a lot (don't want germy devices contaminating the food - understandable), and maybe get some funny looks. If I'd known ahead of time, I would have brought some alcohol wipes to sanitize my phone/camera and reduce the need for frequent hand washing, because I'm definitely the photo-documenter, and kind of held back because of this.
TIP 2: if you take a class involving raw meat, the plastic cutting boards (instead of wooden) are reserved for cutting raw meat. You don't have to stay at your cutting board 100% of the time, since team members will shift around to allow everyone a chance at the meat board, but if you already know you do not want to be handling raw meat I suggest you A) have a buddy, and B) don't sit at a plastic cutting board.
TIP 3: First couple hours of the class are spent prepping the food. At the end, the table gets cleaned up and set for dinner, and all the food you made during the class is brought out for a communal meal. This was fantastic, and I left feeling stuffed, but don't expect to be snacking along the way. I don't suggest coming hungry, and if you do - definitely take advantage of the bread in the beginning.
TIP 4: Knives are SHARP! Handle carefully. Use the back of the knife for scraping off cutting boards