Intelligence Online
NEWS
STORY
Grooms with Spoons
'A lot of men want to
cook,' says chef Patricia Corsini. And once they're married, they want to be
involved in the kitchen. That's where she comes in
In the cozy kitchen of a home in Mississauga, Ont., an
idyllic domestic scene is unfolding. Candles have been lit, jazz is playing in
the background and at the stove Lonnie Duchesne is cooking the filling for
stuffed, marinated portobello mushrooms. Beside him, brothers Garry and Toby
Gardiner are taking turns stirring a creamy asparagus risotto. Jason Buck is
hanging back waiting to stuff the mushrooms and Lance Oliver is finishing up
the arugula salad with Parmesan. They are all wearing white aprons and taking
swigs from bottles of Blue or Canadian.
Sitting watching the action is Melissa Lehman, Garry's fiancée
and her friend Cathy Hergott. The two are sipping white wine and snacking on a
baked-garlic-with-Roquefort-and-rosemary appetizer, as the guys prepare
dinner. When the preparations are complete, Garry will present each dish to
his bride-to-be.
The truth is, this is a rare event for Garry: At home
Melissa does almost all the cooking. But if this evening's cooking class for
Garry and his groomsmen goes according to plan, the sight of Garry in an apron
could become commonplace.
The group are gathered in the home of executive chef
Patricia Corsini, whose cooking school and catering company, Cook Gourmet,
runs, among other kinds of cooking courses, classes for grooms.
Corsini had long held cooking nights for both sides of the
wedding party and it stuck with her how surprised and pleased many of the guys
were after they learned to cook a fancy dish. So she came up with the idea of
a class just for them.
"They think it's really difficult so they're surprised.
Once you put a spoon in their hands and get them stirring and they make one
dish, they feel empowered," Corsini says.
"A lot of men want to learn to cook. It isn't so much
the wife wanting the guy to learn, but a lot of grooms come on their own. They
think 'I'm getting married, I want to be involved in the whole experience, I
want to be involved with my wife,' " she explains.
Corsini says her aim is to teach the guys one or two main
cooking concepts they can start with. "If they can get one full meal
going, then they can go off from there and build on it."
After chatting with this group in advance of their class,
Corsini thought it wise to keep things simple and do recipes such as the
stuffed mushrooms and the arugula salad because those would complement the
things they already knew how to cook -- barbecued meat.
As the guys stand at the stove stirring their dishes, they
discuss their day.
"Did you know they made machine guns in Kitchener?"
Lonnie says. "That's where I was today. I was standing there beside this
guy testing machine guns."
"No way," says Toby.
"That's cool," says Garry.
"And you wouldn't believe the sound a machine gun
makes. And the guy beside me was testing grenades," says Lonnie.
As they gab, their attention to the task at hand becomes,
well, less attentive, so Corsini periodically slides in to check on their
progress, give things a stir or adjust the heat.
Lonnie has taken a shine to Corsini and has begun referring
to her as his wife, or, in one instance, as his little waffle iron. He aims to
impress by telling her the onions are caramelizing nicely. Lonnie cooks a
chicken omelette every morning.
At the beginning of the class the guys broke into teams and
Garry and Toby chose the risotto, which is ironic because risotto is famously
time-consuming and time is what Garry dislikes most about cooking. At the
moment, according to Melissa, Garry can make Kraft Dinner, steak, chicken and
potato packages on the barbecue as well as a "mean egg over easy."
"I'm hoping this class will get him interested in
cooking," she says. "He doesn't see the value in spending an hour in
the kitchen for a meal we might eat in 15 minutes. That's what he always tells
me."
"She spends a lot of time in the kitchen and I'm truly
thankful for it," says Garry. "We eat pretty healthy -- our carbs
are measured out, we eat protein three times a day and we eat every two or
three hours. I do want to help her as much as I can, especially since starting
in September she'll be going to university to get her MBA. There are days when
I feel bad, when I come home and if I'm not doing anything I go downstairs and
hang out and she's up there for an hour and a half preparing my lunch. On a
Sunday afternoon I'm relaxing and she's cooking. She enjoys it, but I'd like
to help," he says while he stirs and stirs and stirs the risotto.
"Patricia, what's that green stuff called again?"
Jason asks Corsini.
"Arugula," she says.
Lance has finished making the salad and dishes out servings
for everyone. Garry formally presents a plate to Melissa. Corsini tells him to
let her know it's an arugula salad with Parmesan made for her by his buddy.
Garry says, "Yes, Lance will be by every two weeks to
make this for you," and then laughs.
When the risotto is ready Garry presents the pièce de résistance.
"To my love, will you try the risotto asparagus." He pronounces it
roosootoo while everyone else just keeps calling it rice.
All are impressed with how well it turned out and Melissa
says she is going to want to see this scene repeated. "I'm going to take
this recipe home and one night I'm going to say, 'Hey, Garry, how 'bout making
me some risotto."
- Samantha Grice Financial
Post
1 April 2003
