A Korean fried chicken & Kimchi class brought my partner and I to an unassuming storefront along Salt Lake City’s State Street corridor, the home of one of the best culinary institutes in Utah, the Park City Culinary Institute, whose three instructors — Lorenzo Bindrup, David Avery and Anthony Crossley — are all graduates of the Culinary Institute of America.
The boutique culinary school originally began in Deer Valley before moving full time to its Salt Lake City location during the pandemic. Here, the entrance opened into a vast and almost-colorless square room, as if from a Midas touch, each utensil and surface shown the silver of stainless steel. On the left, rows of shelves were stacked high with every cooking tool imaginable, mixers, pans, pots, bowls, whisks, ladils, …. At the center was a U-shaped kitchen with stations of stove burners, ovens, refrigerators and plenty of counter space.
Chef Lorenzo Bindrup, our instructor for the night and the chef who ran Deer Valley’s Stein Erikson lodge from 2017-20, greeted us at the door, inviting us to wash our hands and grab a seat at one of the prepared tables. Each place was set with a recipe card, embroidered apron, a mixing bowl, cutting board, water and silverware. Bindrup poured glasses of chilled Tsuki Super Moon sake and the seven of us students (plus a shockingly well-behaved, 3-month-old baby) sipped the lightly sweet rice wine while he introduced himself and the class.
“Japan is sort of my specialty, but a lot of Asian countries is where my focus is,” said Bindrup, who joined the Park City Culinary Institute six months ago. He gave an overview of the institute and explained his love of the recreational classes: “We have a lot of fun here, it’s a really good time. This is my favorite type of class to teach because I’ve found that everybody who comes to these classes wants to be (here).”
A towering white chef’s hat perched on Bindrup’s head as he launched into a short lesson on Asian cuisine, fielding questions as he went and offering examples on the fly. He explained some of the general elements of Asian food, like the “holy trinity” of scallions, garlic and ginger, as well as the five main sauces: sesame oil (fat), fish sauce (umami), soy sauce (salt), mirin (sweet) and rice vinegar (acid). We would use each of these in our meal.
We started with kimchi: “Kimchi is one of the greatest things that you can ever eat for your body and for your soul,” said Lorenzo. For our class, it functioned as a sort of souvenir — kimchi requires at least three-weeks of fermentation before it can be eaten, so we were given instructions on how to complete the process at home.
As the cabbage of the kimchi was left to marinate in a salt rub, we moved on to a cucumber salad, and were taught a unique method to cut our cylinder chunk of the fruit into an accordion-like spiral. It was left to soak in a spicy, ginger dressing and we got to work on the fried chicken.
Bindrup prepared chicken thighs and wings, preferring bone-in pieces for maximum flavor, and mixed a batter made with flour, cornstarch, baking powder and, surprisingly, vodka. We each took turns deep-frying the chicken, which was then tossed into the oven to finish cooking. Next, he showed us how to make fried rice with carrots, celery, bell peppers, scallions, garlic, ginger, egg and day-old rice.
After his demonstration, we each got to make our own serving of fried rice, seasoning the dish with the soy sauce, rice vinegar and fish sauce, aiming for the perfect balance. At first taste, mine was too salty, so Bindrup suggested adding more rice vinegar, which would trick my pallet into harmony — it worked!
Once the chicken was heated to the right temperature, it was coated in a sauce made of gochujang (for spice), soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil, added to our plate of fried rice along with our cucumber — and dinner was served! Recharging our glasses of sake, we dug in with the satisfaction of knowing we made this restaurant-level meal.
The first bite of chicken broke the fried outer layer and a wave of steam poured from the meat. Thanks to the vodka, the chicken breading was crispy with a tempura-like chewiness and complemented the juicy softness of the meat. The spice of the sauce arrived fashionably late, and as I ate, my mouth slowly filled with an even heat. The fried rice was flavorful and the ginger-forward cucumber added a refreshing shift in temperature.
As we finished eating, Bindrup packed up our kimchi, which would live on our kitchen countertop for three days before moving to the fridge for three weeks. Though the meal was brief and disappeared quickly into our stomachs, with the kimchi we would get to enjoy the fruits of our labor for much longer.
Bindrup and the institute’s team work hard to prepare approachable and creative classes for students of all backgrounds and ages — motivated by the goal of teaching people what they want to learn. At our class, Bindrup teased a couple class ideas they’ll have coming up, like India & IPA, Sourdough-making and Gingerbread Houses. Each class can hold up to 20 students, and they each offer some kind of wine or beer pairing. Classes are posted on their website here: https://parkcityculinaryinstitute.com/culinary-courses/recreational-cooking-classes/
Upcoming scheduled classes:
- Sept. 8, 6:30 p.m., Tacos & Tequila (starting at $75/person)
- Sept. 9, 11 a.m. Total Tiramisu (starting at $65/person)
- Sept. 28, 6:30 p.m., Izakaya & Sake (starting at $75/person)