Monthly Ferris Booth cooking classes to redefine Easy-Bake

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but students can now take advantage of a free dinner prepared for them by professional chefs.

Ferris Booth Commons has begun offering free monthly cooking classes. The first class, held on Tuesday, featured a tutorial on making gourmet macaroni and cheese. Chefs from J. Kings Food Service Professionals, Inc., a Long Island company that is Columbia’s local food purveyor, lead the classes. The February class was led by chefs Tom Mulzoff and Sean Coleman.

According to Christopher Neary, corporate executive chef at J. Kings, the classes arose as an attempt to “put some excitement into your [Columbia’s] dining system” by “providing a different type of a culinary service.”

John King, president of J. Kings, emphasized the local aspect of his company’s products and their role in the dishes at the classes—”local,” for King, means anything grown within 100 miles of Columbus Circle or within New York state. For instance, the pasta used at the class was manufactured in New Jersey, the milk was from New York state, and the butter from Vermont.

Macaroni and cheese was chosen for the first class because J. Kings “really just wanted to make it fun” and felt that it was important to “start off really basic,” as King said. Inspired in part by the popularity of such restaurants as S’MAC with college students, J. Kings believed the dish would have universal appeal on Columbia’s campus and be easily adaptable to dorm kitchens. “The idea of mac and cheese is that you can’t make it wrong,” King said.

Mulzoff led students through the demonstration on how to create the basic béchamel sauce step by step, which can be used for all versions of macaroni and cheese. Though recipes were distributed to participants, the demonstration helped clarify the steps for students. “Cooking is go by feel, go by your heart,” Mulzoff said while stirring the sauce.

While the chefs were finishing up the sauce, students were allowed the opportunity to sample the three different kinds of macaroni and cheese that the chefs had previously prepared for the class: four cheese, buffalo chicken, and bacon cheeseburger, all topped with bread crumbs and baked in the oven. Mulzoff pointed out that the bread crumbs not only add texture to the dish, but they also help absorb the excess oil and prevent grease from collecting at the top.

The freshly prepared sauce was then used to create versions of macaroni and cheese requested by participants with the various ingredients J. Kings provided. For instance, additional versions included one with mushrooms, Gruyère, and chicken, and one with green apples and pecans.

Students in attendance seemed enthusiastic about the these cooking classes and inspired by the dishes. “It [the class] just gave me a whole new spin on macaroni and cheese,” Norita Mengu, CC ’13, said. “I never thought I’d put apples in my mac and cheese but I loved it.”