In Moscow, new culinary schools or courses for non-professionals are opened every few months, almost every restaurant on weekends teaches how to cook something correctly, and new cafes and restaurants are building open kitchens: today everyone wants to cook. The Village continues a series of reports from different culinary schools to understand who wants to learn how to cook and why today.
CULINARY STUDIO OF YULIA VYSOTSKAYA
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In every country there is an image of a sort of ideal housewife - a woman in whom all the virtues come together to amaze and at the same time infuriate those around her. America is dominated by Martha Stewart, an energetic blonde in her late 50s who is a master at cooking, arranging a home, folding origami, running a business, and evading taxes. In Russia, this set is not enough; you also need to be an actress, with children and a cult husband-director. In the field of gastronomy, Yulia Vysotskaya has gone from culinary programs to her own restaurant and the post of editor-in-chief in the KhlebSol magazine. A logical continuation of this series of achievements was the opening of the culinary studio Julia Vysotskaya on Pravdy Street. The studio is located in the right wing of the former cultural center, classes are held several times a week under the guidance of brand chefs, the chef of “Yornik” or Yulia herself, solo or in pairs with her daughter Marusya. The latter, they say, require a large recording, so everything has to be done in two stages.
« In every country there is an image of an ideal housewife - a woman in whom all the virtues come together to amaze
and at the same time piss off those around you»
I chose a master class dedicated to Valentine’s Day; only two people had to come to it. Similar paired classes will be held in the studio regularly. To maintain the intrigue, I take with me my old friend Zhenya, with whom I’m not afraid to even go on reconnaissance missions. Besides us, two other well-dressed couples under 35 became interested in aphrodisiacs and teamwork: a local photographer with his favorite model and an older couple with at least 10 years of marriage behind them.
From the first minutes it becomes clear that the studio organizers took into account all the shortcomings of competing schools. Let's start with the fact that finally each participant (or pair) gets a separate workplace with their own dishes, stove and refrigerator. This allows you to cook each dish from start to finish. Chef-moderator Anton planned two hot courses, dessert and a surprise. They have to do it in three hours, so to keep the students from falling behind, two assistants run around the hall. You have to work so quickly that there is simply no time to comment or ask questions.
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Let's start with the most difficult thing - making the dough for ravioli: mix two types of flour (plain and durum) and add the yolk. My companion kneads the dough with concentration and quickly, and I get the role of catching up. Ideally, the process of kneading dough on Valentine's Day should be interspersed with kisses and role-playing games, instead - short dialogues with the hyperactive sous-chef Sergei, who sincerely worries about the result and tries to help. While the dough is in the refrigerator, we cut onions and apples for the next dish - quail stewed with fruit. Anton directs the process in a cheerful voice, but clearly overuses diminutive suffixes: “Put the frying pan on nine, and then on six, so that the quail doesn’t burn.” Everything he does is broadcast on a large plasma in the “view from above” format, which is definitely know-how for Moscow. |
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"Need to design future ravioli, that is, decide whether they will be rhombuses, triangles or hearts, which for some reason are mostly cut out by men»
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When the quail and onions are browned, you need to fill the carcasses halfway with water, add green apples, cranberries and prunes cut into slices and simmer for thirty to forty minutes. While the quails, which look like large sparrows, are simmering in a saucepan in good company, roll out the dough. And here the female half is clearly ready to win back in the competition to see who can roll out the dough thinner. Anton reminds us that we are cooking for each other, so we should not lay out the filling of goat cheese, lemon zest and chopped basil haphazardly, but by molding even rounds using two teaspoons and placing them at a distance of two centimeters from each other. The second half of the dough is placed on top, and with your fingers the two layers are pressed together so that only identical bulges remain on the surface. And creativity begins: using a wheel - a shaped dough cutter - you need to design future ravioli, that is, decide whether they will be rhombuses, triangles or hearts, which for some reason are mostly cut out by men. |
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An hour and a half has already passed since the beginning of the master class, and the couples still have not expressed their voice, except, perhaps, for the cheerful woman opposite, who has transferred all the initiative into the hands of her husband and is resting, eating the remaining apples from the fruit sauce. On the stove next to the quail, water is boiling in a large saucepan; soon you will need to pour olive oil into it (there are three types of sponsor bottles on the table) and put in ravioli. But it's not time to relax yet. Ahead are pears in wine.
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To prepare four conference pears you will need about a liter of the most inexpensive red wine, which causes indignation among men: they are forced to work, but they cannot drink wine; the pears, you see, need it more. The wine, along with three glasses of sugar, three tablespoons of honey and the juice of half a lemon, is heated in a saucepan. Before this moment, you need to have time to peel the pears and trim them from the bottom so that they can stand upright in a pan with wine syrup. Since the ravioli and pears are cooked in parallel, the couples have to split up: the men are busy breathing in the wine fumes from the pears, and the girls are making sure that the ravioli don’t stick together. The “quails” have already reached this point, and all that remains is to add halves of grapes to the sauce. The ravioli is also almost ready, but Anton still won’t let up. In addition to wine syrup, the pears come with a companion - a ball of mascarpone cheese with mint. Zhenya, who has lived happily until now and believed that there is hard and soft cheese, and also processed cheese, is clearly starting to worry. For example, he is concerned that the pears are unevenly saturated with wine. The neighbor across the street says in a tired voice: “Anton, my pears are boiling!” |
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"U This causes indignation among men: They force you to work, but you can’t drink wine, the pears, you see, need it more»
And when two and a half hours have passed and, it would seem, it’s time to sit down and start getting acquainted, the chef announces that he has prepared heart-shaped cookies for everyone, which must first be poured with orange glaze (which is prepared on the spot), and then decorated with stars and edible inscriptions. Well, then take a photo with your works. This three-hour marathon showed that men, in principle, are more resilient, since they still have time to properly serve all the dishes when women have already lost their enthusiasm along with a manicure.
As a farewell, the presenter gives all the girls red roses and recipe books, and then helps them pack the remaining food into plastic containers (a nice detail that other culinary schools haven’t gotten around to).
"U men still have time to serve all the dishes correctly when women are already at a loss
enthusiasm with manicure»
The bottom line is a lot of delicious food that you can’t finish, and an old friend who is somewhat dumbfounded by the amount of information. At a common table decorated with candles, everyone eats in silence, but everyone will remember this Valentine's Day for a long time. Far-sighted women, of course, would hardly dare to cook such a number of dishes; they would rather prefer lace underwear and a bottle of champagne. But it’s also very useful to cook together at a marching pace for a change.
ANTON EREMINChef at Julia Vysotskaya studio |
« Valentine's Day is a special, magical and mysterious day. The task was to create the appropriate mood using culinary art. Two French dishes and one Italian, I hope, emphasized the romance of the moment. Ravioli with goat cheese and basil, quail stewed with grapes, prunes and cranberries, and for dessert, pear in wine with mascarpone. I tried to choose elegant, light dishes that suggested the further development of a romantic evening. Well, what would Valentine’s Day be without valentines and gifts! I decided to prepare a surprise for all the guests - gingerbread valentines. By the way, all the students turned out to be excellent. The conclusion suggests itself - cook with love, and everything will work out for you!» |
In her cozy studio, Yulia Vysotskaya will not only prepare breakfast, but also, together with invited experts and friends, will give practical advice and offer solutions to many family and everyday problems.
The program will become a kind of navigator for women, which will help them find a guide in the rapidly changing modern world.
Julia Vysotskaya
Born on August 16, 1973 in Novocherkassk. She graduated from the acting department of the Belarusian Academy of Arts and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She worked at the Belarusian National Theater named after. Yanka Kupala. She was awarded an award for her leading role in the play “Look Back in Anger” based on John Osborne. Julia played leading roles in “Nameless Star”, “The Bald Singer” and other performances. She starred in the films: “To Go and Never Return”, “A Game of Imagination”, “House of Fools”, “The Lion in Winter”, “Max”. Wife of film director Andrei Konchalovsky. Julia loves to cook. Julia prepared her first dish at the age of six: she mixed all the ingredients listed in the recipe at once and baked a cake for her mother. It turned out to be an inedible brick, but Yulia’s mother assured that the cake was a success. Yulia is very grateful to her parents for not scolding her daughter for spoiled food, because then she would have lost all desire to cook.
Since September 2003, Yulia Vysotskaya has been the host of the entertaining culinary program “
From metro station "Savelovskaya"
- The first carriage from the center. Coming out at the "Savelovskaya" station, through the glass doors to the right, exit to the Savelovsky station, exiting the metro it will be right in front of you.
- Turn right 180 degrees (with your back to the Savelovsky station), you will see a bridge and an overpass ahead. On your left hand there will be railway tracks. Go to the overpass along the tracks, go under the bridge.
- After passing under the bridge, ahead will be the building of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, and the road will smoothly turn to the right. Pass the first intersection (Paper Passage) and move further along the street to the next intersection. Ahead, in a five-story residential building, you will see a Pharmacy, a grocery store and a coffee shop, this is the beginning of the street. Truth.
- Having reached the street. True, cross the road along the pedestrian zebra crossing to the pharmacy and turn left. Ahead you will see a large blue Northern Lights office center. The street will turn smoothly to the right, walk along it.
- You will pass the Northern Lights office center, behind it is a tall, long gray building and the street will begin to go down a little. When you reach the building st. Pravdy, 21, you will notice a wooden door in the shape of a barrel. Walk a little further and look to the right. You will see a courtyard and a building built in the letter P. There are bas-reliefs above the main entrance, the entrance is under columns. This is the building where the Culinary Studio is located. The entrance is located in the right wing of the building under the sign “Yulia Vysotskaya’s Culinary Studio”. Go up to the second floor, and you are with us.
From the Belorusskaya metro station (ring)
- Exit the metro towards the street. Lesnaya, you go up to the square with glass office buildings.
- Turn left, cross the road and go straight to the railway bridge, passing the construction site. You go up to the bridge, cross it and go down on the other side of the railway.
- Next, follow directly parallel to Leningradsky Prospekt (along its alternate) from the center 600 m until the turn with Pravdy Street (you will pass by the Papa John's pizzeria, the Coffee House and Shokoladnitsa coffee shops, and the Icraft Optics salon). Turn 90% degrees onto Pravdy Street, at the intersection in front of the Moscafe restaurant.
- Walk straight along Pravdy Street for about 600 meters to the intersection with 5th Street Yamskoye Pole. At the crossroads, as you go, you will see the Porto Maltese restaurant. Walk straight 20 meters past the restaurant, on the left there will be a gray Soviet building, built in the letter P, with an internal park. There are bas-reliefs above the main entrance, the entrance is under the columns. This is the building where the Culinary Studio is located. The entrance is located in the right wing of the building under the sign “Yulia Vysotskaya’s Culinary Studio”. Go up to the second floor, and you are with us.
Yulia Vysotskaya's Culinary Studio is a unique and only platform of its kind in Moscow. The studio has all the necessary equipment for conducting various formats of culinary classes, master classes, corporate events and celebrations. The European analogue of the studio is the Jamie Oliver schools in the UK. The culinary studio is very popular; most classes and master classes are fully booked a week in advance.
The main difference between the Yulia Vysotskaya Studio is that each guest prepares a dish from start to finish independently under the guidance of a chef. The studio has 42 fully equipped workstations in two classrooms. Each guest has his own set of dishes, equipment, accessories, and products. The chef's table is located in the center of the studio, all workstations are installed in such a way that guests can clearly see everything that the chef is doing. The studio also has video cameras with plasma video output, audio equipment, and studio lighting.
