My boyfriend and I took the Finger Food and Cocktails class a couple weeks ago with Manuel and Veronica. Since it is the slow season in Buenos Aires, we ended up being the only 2 students for the night! I love to cook - my boyfriend not so much, but we both enjoyed this class immensely.
The classes are held in Manuel and Veronica's home, and they have a great set up for participation and demonstration. Manuel is the chef and Veronica was in charge of cocktails and wine (I'm not sure of her official title), and they had a huge map of Argentina available to point out where the ingredients/drinks came from. Manuel puts a large emphasis on organic and local ingredients, which is something I value in my own cooking, so I really appreciated that.
We started out learning how to make 2 kinds of dough from Manuel- one for bread and one for empanadas. As we were working on our dough, Veronica gave us a cocktail to start the evening. We went on to make salsa criolla and chimichurri, before putting the empanadas together (and learning several folding techniques)! We then went on to make andean potatoes, a gaucho sandwich, and choripan. The class was about half participation, half demonstration, but Manuel walked us through each step to make sure we would be confident recreating the dishes at home, all while sipping on the cocktails and wines Veronica gave us (with explanation of the origin). We thoroughly enjoyed the conversation throughout the evening, and were able to ask our hosts questions about the Argentinian culture and things to do in Buenos Aires. When the food was ready to eat, Veronica and Manuel went into the kitchen and gave us a little privacy to enjoy our meal. The food was amazing (our favorites were the empanadas and choripan) and we stuffed ourselves. We were not able to finish everything, so Manuel gave us a to go container with our leftovers (which we finished after going to the bar that night).
After the class, Veronica and Manuel emailed us the recipes from the class, and also recommendations of their favorite spots in Buenos Aires. We hit up several of their recommendations throughout the week, and were not disappointed!
Our night with Tierra Negra was one of the highlights from our trip to Buenos Aires! It was such a unique experience that we will treasure for years to come (especially when we make the recipes we learned).
Thank you Tierra Negra Cooking! read more