Dishes like fish provencal and chicken breast roulade may sound intimidating to the novice cook, but FRENLANG 60E: “French Cooking” makes fine food accessible to students looking to develop their culinary skills.
Students gather on Friday afternoons in the kitchen of Maison Française, Stanford’s French-themed house, focusing each week on a new type of food such as eggs, chicken or custards. Students learn a variety of French recipes for each category — from herb omelets to crème brûlée.
Course instructor Nathaniel Gruver ’18 said he hopes the one-unit class will give students a basic confidence in their ability to cook.
“Last spring quarter, someone said after my fish course, ‘Oh, I’ve always been so scared of cooking fish, and now I feel like I can cook fish,’” Gruver said. “Having people make crepes and so on – these are simple things that people feel scared of but really are not very hard.”
Gruver also wants students to gain exposure to French techniques and recipes that have been highly influential in the culinary world.
“Most of the modern restaurant practices you see today are based on French culinary practices, stemming as far back as after the French Revolution,” said Andrew Stadnyk ’17, Gruver’s assistant instructor or “sous chef.”
Last week’s class centered on crepes, which many students described as their favorite dish they have made so far. Although students gathered around Gruver for a quick demonstration of crepe-flipping at the beginning of class, they quickly dispersed to their own tasks – chopping, frying and talking alongside Gruver and Stadnyk.
“A lot of cooking is just doing it over and over again,” Gruver said. “So they’re only going to learn so much from me showing them how to do it.”
About an hour into class, after the Julia Child-style crepe cake emerged from the oven, students finally got to enjoy the fruits of their work as they shifted from cooking to eating.
Gruver admitted that it is unusual for a sophomore to be leading a course, but said that FRENLANG 60E was student-taught when he arrived at Stanford. Gruver took over as instructor last winter quarter, after an Ultimate Frisbee teammate who lived in Maison Française encouraged him to inquire about the job.
Gruver has significant culinary experience, both from learning to cook on his own and from working in restaurants. Members of the class were impressed with their fellow student’s knowledge and command of the kitchen.
“It’s cool that there are people in my year that I can learn so much from,” said Adison Chang ’18.
Gruver described the fact that the course is student-taught as a “double-edged sword.”
“In some ways it’s really nice because it turns into this fun environment where we’re cooking, but we’re also just hanging out,” he said. “But also, when I came in last year, last winter… it was the jankiest course ever.”
Maison Française’s kitchen was not consistently available for class use, which sometimes forced Gruver to cancel class on short notice. Additionally, Gruver said, there were not enough stovetops for many students to cook at once.
Gruver ended up solving the latter issue by buying a number of small, portable griddles. Members of the course each pay a $100 fee to cover food and equipment costs.
“In some ways I’d rather this be a club, because I don’t get any funding from Stanford,” Gruver said. “But… [the class] creates a more systematic way for people to organize an activity that might otherwise be a club.”
Most FRENLANG 60E students said they joined class seeking practical knowledge.
Christine Tran ’16 recalled her mother’s homemade dinners, saying she grew up spending time in the kitchen but wants to grow her abilities. Kyle Labiana ’18 wants to learn how to cook better because his house does not serve food on the weekends and because he is interested in working as a chef. Chang said he wants recipes to use on his own.
“We never really go into how to make some of the sauces, but every week there’s at least one thing I can remember and learn to make when Nate’s not there,” Chang said, after summing up his previous cooking experience as “pancakes and ramen.”
Beyond practical applications, students appreciated FRENLANG 60E’s fun atmosphere and repeatedly described it as a relaxing way to end the week and spend time with others.
Tran spoke of one-unit classes like FRENLANG 60E as a valuable way to try new things.
“As a senior, I’m trying to make sure that I take advantage of all the opportunities here, especially taking one-unit fun classes,” Tran said. “It’s important obviously that you work hard and focus on your academics, but a huge part of Stanford is exploring what’s out there.”
Contact Hannah Knowles at hknowles ‘at’ stanford.edu.