Michael Gerard's Wildwood Ovens Cooking Classes

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Michael Hepworth

WILDWOOD OVENS COOKING CLASSES

OVEN MAKER MAKING A STATEMENT IN EAGLE ROCK

Eagle Rock(Perfect Meal Today)7/24/16/–Wildwood Ovens is an oven manufacturer in Eagle Rock and every few weeks they host a cooking demonstration/tasting that is a real fun event hosted by owner/chef Michael Gerard.. The event I attended was a roasting of a whole Hog which ended many hours later with Pork sandwiches. The event was also hosted by Master Butcher Jered Standing, former head butcher at Belcampo Meat Company. There are two kitchens at the location, one indoors and a wood fired oven in the outside patio area where all the evening events are held. One thing is for sure, you may have to wait a little bit for the good stuff to come out, but you will not go away hungry at any of these Wildwood Ovens events. On this particular evening, aside from the pork there were roasted vegetables, wood fired pizza, roasted beets and a whole lot more to keep you going until the long awaited pork arrived.

The reason that the events are so much fun is the personality of Gerard himself. A very outgoing individual, you almost leave the event determined to come back to maybe purchase one of his ovens, so that you too can become the perfect party host.

Other events that have either recently taken place or that will e happening in the near future include a Brazilian BBQ Class and a Yakitori Workshop. This makes sense since Wildwood has een making wood fire ovens, Brazilian BBQ’s and Japanese yakitori Grills. In 2015 Wildwood launched the Dual Fuel Yakitori BBQ, and these ovens can Be found in restaurants all over including two in New York at Cesar Ramirez’s Michelin Star Restaurant in New York. At the cooking class lucky and hungry guests will be shown how to carve up organic free range chickens, separate the parts and Make authentic Japanese Izakaya that are cooked over “Kishu Binchotan Komaru Charcoal Kushiyaki.”

Guests at the Brazilian BBQ also learned the art of selecting the proper cuts, trimming, seasoning, skewering, carving and most importantly, temperature control. Some of the cuts prepared were the Alcatra (top sirloin), Lombo (pork loin), Costella (beef rib) and Frango (chicken breast wrapped in bacon). Brazilian cheese bread and beans and rice were also on the menu. These are the kind of cuts you will find at the popular Brazilian style barbecue restaurants in Los Angeles and elsewhere.