Tag parties that cook

The Ultimate Team Building Activity: Hands On Cooking Parties

“Cage matches? Yeah, they work, how could they not work? If they didn’t work, everybody would still be in the cage.” Unless your idea of team building is as new and fresh as Michael Scott’s in The Office, it probably needs an upgrade.  Many people dread extracurricular office activities, especially team building. Team building activities have become a cliché and have even disappeared off of the agenda because there seems no way around ropes courses and long, tedious lectures. Well, here is the perfect opportunity to revamp those overdone ideas. Hands-on cooking parties are the perfect way to build camaraderie and strength among a team. These unique events teach time management, trust, respect and teamwork as groups meet recipe deadlines and see real time results.  Parties That Cook offers six fun culinary team building events that can be tailored to meet anyone’s needs.

The Sumptuous Small Plates event gets everybody cooking with fresh, seasonal international tapas recipes. Being able to work in smaller teams with a common goal reinforces the importance of teamwork. Everyone loves to surprise their coworkers and show off the delicious dishes they’ve created at this fun and social team building event.

The Chef’s Table is a four course meal with formal dining service. The group works together under the supervision of our top chefs to create an impressive spread that our staff will plate and serve to the group.  Instead of just making dinner reservations for your team, this is a creative spin that gets people working together, and bonding over the delectable fruits of their labor.

The Kitchen Challenge is perhaps the most effective cooking team building experience that I’ve ever witnessed. It is styled after the cooking show Iron Chef and teams go knife to knife in this heated kitchen competition. Each team is given an hour to create a meal with the same base ingredients, and access to a colorful pantry of exotic spices, sauces and fresh produce and cheeses. This culinary team building extravaganza is guaranteed to be water cooler talk for months.

The Ultimate Kitchen Challenge is a facilitated team building workshop and competition. In this extended version of the Kitchen Challenge, teams work with a business coach to learn about how to build a strong team and master essential communication skills in a workshop setting. Teams are able to put their new skills to the test when they fire up the kitchen challenge competition.

A Feast of Chocolate and Cheese is a decadent cooking class that pairs chocolate with cheese. No one can deny the allure of either of these foods. Small groups will explore new ways to pair these popular ingredients as they team up to prepare an array of small plates featuring chocolate and cheese.

Food engages everybody – it is the universal language that breaks down barriers and inspires camaraderie. Skeptics often ask at the start of the event if we’ve ordered a pizza for when they burn the kitchen down, but one hour later, they’re leading their teams to culinary victory! Guests are always surprised by what they are able to create together in a short amount of time. Nothing matches that sense of newfound confidence in the kitchen and sense of accomplishment as guests enjoy their finished meals. So, get your team cooking and spice up your next event with Parties That Cook!

Contributed by Leigh Hermansen

Cookbook Club with Fat by Jennifer McLagan

Aside from warm summer days, another thing to look forward to was this month’s cookbook club. We chose Jennifer McLagan’s cookbook Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, a drastic contrast from last month’s selection of Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking. McLagan’s book just recently won two James Beard awards for “Cookbook of the Year” and “Best Book: Single Subject.” The author says our society has become increasingly opposed to fat, but her cookbook helps educate us in appreciating fat when cooking with it as well as eating it. Different fats are used in each recipe from butter to pork, duck, poultry, and beef fat.

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There was a range of international cuisines represented at lunch from Indian butter chicken, and French cassoulet, to Mexican pork carnitas. All three of these recipes followed common preparation with ample amounts of marinating/soaking, browning, and simmering. Everyone agreed upon the wonderful flavors and tenderness these slow cooked meat dishes developed.

Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) served with Spinach Chapati
Similar to Indian butter chicken and made with spices, tomatoes, whipping cream and butter. Served with Indian flat bread made with spinach, whole wheat flour, and ghee (or lamb fat if preferred).

Carnitas served with Fresh Tomato Salsa
Pork shoulder simmered with ground cumin, oranges, chipotle chile in adobo sauce, brandy, garlic, and pork fat. Served with tomato salsa made of Roma tomaotes, serrano chiles, poblano chile, garlic, salt, and cilantro (no fat included!)

Cassoulet
Traditional slow-cooked white bean casserole from southern France with pork, pork sausages, lamb, and duck.

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Vegetarians need not be alarmed, because dishes using butter and not animal fat, were equally as impressive and enjoyable. Most salad dressings use oil, but the Double Butter Salad cleverly uses browned butter with some chives, salt, and pepper mixed in. With duck fat not as easy to find, the Fat Fat-Cooked Fries can be made using butter and still a winning side dish at the table. This also goes for the Spinach Chapati which can be made with lamb fat or butter. The vegetable cake would be a great addition to any meat or vegetarian Thanksgiving meal.

Double Butter Salad
Salad using butter lettuce and browned butter.

Fat Fat-Cooked Fries
Large, soft potato wedges cooked in duck fat and garlic.

Vegetable Cake
Thinly sliced layers of potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and apple baked with duck fat or butter.

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The desserts at the end of our meal were truly sinful and rich. The salted butter tart and butter cake sweetened our meal, and the spicy buttered popcorn grew addicting from the heat of the chipotle peppers. These recipes showcase how butter and sugar can alone unite so well in desserts.

Kouign Amann (Breton Butter Cake)
Flaky butter cake with caramelized bottom and top.

Salted Butter Tart
Pastry tart with salted butter filling similar to butterscotch or caramel.

Spicy Buttered Popcorn
Snack made sweet from butter, corn syrup and brown sugar, plus made savory with a kick from pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

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Surprisingly, our spread of dishes didn’t leave us too heavy after lunch. We learned a little bit of fat in moderation can go a long way! For the month of July, we will be cooking like Egyptians with the cookbook Dining on the Nile: Exploring Egyptian Cooking by Sally Elias Hanna. Stay tuned for tales of our culinary adventure!

Contributed by guest blogger Sandra Vu