Thai Cooking Class

Jeff and I signed up for a cooking class at The Foxfire Gallery in Greenville. I'd heard about the shop in the Living in South Carolina magazine we get from our electric coop. Fox Fire is a gourmet kitchen shop in a quaint section of Greenville. They have an outstanding selection of kitchenware, gadgets and small appliances. They converted a section of the basement into a full size kitchen that rivals Emeril's. Chefs from the Greenville area teach classes in the evenings and weekends. Sometimes a chef will come up from Atlanta or Charleston and other big cities across the US.

Our chef for the evening was Alyn Abrams of Greenville. He spent twenty years as the head chef in a few different restaurants in Greenville and attended culinary school in New York City. He now devotes all his time to managing the "cooking class" department of the Foxfire Gallery. The Thai Class menu was Coconut Milk Soup, Crispy Spring Rolls with Spicy Ginger Dipping Sauce (tom kah gai), Potstickers with a Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce, Spicy Thai Chicken with Peanut Sauce and Chai Cream Tea.

When we arrived we were graciously greeted by one of the four assistants and seated at a long bar that formed a half circle around the kitchen. There is seating for about 12 people at the bar and we were lucky to be directly infront of the "chopping" area. Alyn showed how to prepare each course of our dinner then the assistants served us as it was completed.

We had a great time! Alyn was entertaining outside of being the teacher for the evening. He had many stories to tell about working in the restaurant industry. We got copies of all his recipes and I had to laugh when he described the process of getting the ingredient list together as he normally doesn't measure for the type of cooking we did this evening. It reminded me of asking my mom for a recipe and her answer was something like, "a little of this and a little of that". But I cook the same way for the most part.

I can't wait to try everything at home. The soup was wonderful and Jeff and I already decided to make Potstickers next year for our annual get together with friends over Thanksgiving. They can be made ahead and frozen. The two dipping sauces will be perfect marinades for grilled chicken.

The best secret we learned: The Asian restaurants don't use cayenne pepper or tobasco to heat up their dishes. They use "rooster sauce" (there's a picture of a rooster on the bottle) the actual product is Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. It's become so popular now that you can find it in the international fool isle at the grocery store. It is hot! But, there is a smooth quality to the taste and a small amount adds another level of dimension to whatever you use it in.

Next month Foxfire has a Saturday trip to the La Bastide Country Inn. La Bastide is known for some of the finest dining in the Carolina's. The trip includes a tour of the Inn and gardens where they organically grow their own produce for the restaurant. The trip ends with the chef preparing a meal based on produce the class participants pick from the garden.

We had a wonderful evening and are looking forward to more classes at Foxfire.