Day 2: Hot Stove Society Dumpling Throwdown

After a chilly morning at the rooftop Urban Garden at Pike’s Place, we were spoiled with the warmth of the Hot Stove Society where we spent most of our day. The Hot Stove Society is a cooking school that is owned and operated by Tom Douglas Restaurants. Located in the cozy back corner of Hotel Andra, Hot Stove Society is a fantastic space for learning to cook or mastering the culinary arts. The classroom is comprised of six large woodblock islands, each appointed with all the utensils, tools, and equipment you would ever need in the kitchen. Chef Chris and Chef Janet assisted us in a Dumpling Throwdown class. The menu included green onion pancakes, fried rice, soba noodle salad with peanut sauce, and of course, dumplings three ways—veggies, beef, and chicken. Each of us made our own custom dipping sauce using a variety of oils, vinegars, soy sauces, and spice elements. Perhaps the most time-consuming dish, but also the most fun, were the dumplings. We practiced folding techniques including pleated crescents, triangles, and purses. The scallion pancakes reminded me of fry bread or naan, and they would be so easy to replicate as a side dish for a weeknight dinner, so I’ve included the recipe below. At the end of the class, we all sat around the table and enjoyed the fruits, err dumplings, of our efforts.

Scallion Pancakes

Ingredients:

·       2 cups flour

·       ½ to ¾ cups warm water

·       1 bunch scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

·       Kosher salt

·       Vegetable oil

Directions:

1.     Place the flour in a medium bowl.  Gradually add the water, stirring the flour to form a dough. Gently knead and form a ball.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 20 minutes.

2.     Knead dough for 1-2 minutes until smooth. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Roll out each ball into a round disc until it’s the thickness of a flour tortilla. Add about 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil on the dough. Use a pastry brush or your hand to spread the oil evenly on the dough. Sprinkle with salt to taste; this can handle more salt than you think. Add about 3 tablespoons of chopped scallions.

3.     Starting at the edge closest to you, roll the dough as if you were rolling up a wrapping paper into a tube. Then, take one edge of the tube and coil it like a cinnamon roll.  Once you have the coil, tuck the end of the coil underneath. Now, roll out the coil until it is as flat as a tortilla. You will see the scallions spread out within the pancake. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.

4.     In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat. Gently place the pancake in the pan and brown on both sides (about 2 minutes per side). Keep an eye on the pancakes. If the pan is too hot, the pancake will brown too quickly. Adjust the heat as necessary.  Cut into triangles to serve. Eat plain or serve with spicy soy dipping sauce. Recipe courtesy Hot Stove Society:  https://www.hotstovesociety.com/ 

 Chef Janet welcomes us to Hot Stove Society cooking school in Hotel Andra.

 Warming by the fireplace in Hotel Andra to shake off the chill from touring Pike's Place.

 Ingredients for the Peanut Dressing.

 Soba noodles up close, 45 degree angle shot.

 More ingredients for the soba noodle salad.

 Hot Stove welcomes Overlake!

 Fine scallion chopping skills, thanks to our knife skills class at Whisk yesterday.

 Julia is pressing parchment paper down on a large bowl of red cabbage that we chopped and then pickled.

 Oli, Sam, Chef Chris, Nelson, and Tanya working on chopping the ingredients for fried rice.

 Fresh ingredients for dipping sauces.

 Dipping sauce tasting spoons.

 Dipping sauce ingredients.

 Chopped carrots, ready to be roasted.

 Oli is hard at work!

 Beautiful leeks.

 Ingredients for the dumplings three ways. From left: tofu and veggies, beef, and chicken.

 Tofu and veggie dumpling filling up close.

 My dipping sauce creation: 2 parts smoked soy sauce, 1 part rice vinegar, a healthy helping of chili flakes, chopped radish, and scallions.

 My new favorite sauce.

 Carrots on the roasting pan.

 Dipping sauce bar.

 More work at the dipping sauce bar.

 The perfect little radish.

 Rolling out a scallion pancake.

 Scallion pancake in the frying pan.

 Series of three scallion pancakes.

 Julia kneads the scallion pancake dough.

 Frying up some scallion pancakes.

 Jenny rolls out a scallion pancake to the thickness of a tortilla.

 Dayanne's scallion pancakes.

 Rebecca and Dayanne frying up scallion pancakes at the demo table.

 Finished scallion pancakes up close.

 Alex and Lauren whisking egg wash for the dumplings.

 Chef Janet demonstrates a dumpling fold.

 Chef Janet demonstrates dumpling folds for the group.

 Jenni loves the triangle purse fold--and if you've ever seen her closet, you'd know why.

 Jenni's vegan dumplings, ready for cooking.

 Jenni and Mollie's dumpling creations.

 All the folds, ready for frying.

 Step one of the purse fold, connect the top and bottom corners.

 Finished and cut scallion pancakes.

 Alex was our #1 dumpling fryer today.

 Chicken dumplings, freshly fried.

 Beef dumplings, hot off the stove.

 Soba noodle salad with cilantro, sesame seeds, scallions, and pickled red cabbage.

 Kellen, Abby, Lauren, and Jenny S. show off their finished dumplings.

 Cooked rice, ready for the fried rice dish. Focus on texture.

 The table is set.

 Veggie dumplings ready for serving.

 Beef dumplings ready for serving.

 My vegan lunch.

 Alex, Abby, Jenny S., Kellen, Maya, and Oli at the lunch table.

 Fried rice, overhead shot.

Done for the day and boarding the bus, complete with a to-go bag of dumplings for our bus driver, Victor!