Universal College
of Paranaque
Last month was a memorable day to be a blogger. I was joined by a group of food enthusiasts for a two-part cooking class at the Universal College of Culinary Arts in Sucat, Paranaque. Head chef and director, Raymond Martin M. Reyes spearheaded this cool initiative.
Our early day kicked off with a short class on preparations. It was information all of us could use even on our very own kitchen at home. One of the vital things I will remember was the six different kinds of colored chopping boards to prevent cross contamination. Here they are- Green for Fruits & Vegetables, Yellow for Raw Poutry, Blue for Cooked Food, White for Dairy Products, Tan for Fish & Seafood and Red for Raw Meat.
So what did we cook? It was a teach and then do kind of set-up. The first dish was Malaysian staple, Char Kwey Tow. This was a relatively simple to put together. The main ingredients were freshly made, rice noodles, Chinese sausage, shrimps, chives, egg and a unique component for this recipe, Japanese kani.
Roasted Chicken, Seared Foie Gras over Roasted Garlic Polenta served with Strawberry Gastrique was complicated to do but very fulfilling. It was Chef Reyes very own innovation. My partner and I shifted multiple responsibilities to make this work, like I had to stir the polenta repeatedly to establish a creamy consistency.
Would you like to learn the cooking fundamentals like we did? It may be through a diploma course in Professional Culinary Arts and Kitchen Management (7 months) or just a day at their facility. It’s an alternative bonding session among friends and family. I enjoyed a lot, and I know you will too!
Universal Colleges of Paranaque, Inc. also offers non-culinary courses. They have Accountancy, Business & Management, Humanities & Social Science, Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics and General Academics. There also Technical Vocational Livelihood Home Economics. If you are interested please get in touch with them at 820-2222/ 0955-6090180/ 0908 8933669. They are at 8273 Dr. A. Santos Avenue, Sucat Main Road, Paranaque City.