Cooking with Chef Alarcon

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Chef Pedro Alarcon

Photo: Chef Alarcon at Northeastern University, taken by Olivia Hesslein

There’s no better way to break up a stressful day of classes then by going to a cooking demonstration!

Here at Northeastern we are lucky  to have an on campus kitchen, Exhibition Kitchen – used to host cooking classes, demonstrations and other food related events for students. This past week the university brought in local chef, Pedro Alarcon owner and executive chef of  La Casa de Pedro in Watertown, Mass.

Chef Alarcon is a native of Venezuela and has brought his love for his country and knowledge of local cuisine right here to Boston. Watching Chef Alarcon cook you could see his passion come through, talking about how when “I came to this country I didn’t even know how to fry an egg.” and how far he has come. Chef Alarcon decided to make a classic Venezuelan dish and favorite from his restaurant’s menu: Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice) with fried plantains.

Here is a link to Food Gawker, a website I personally use to find recipes. I like it because other foodies from all over can post their much-loved recipes here to share.   There are a myriad of different Arroz con Pollo recipes to suit your fancy!

Alarcon described this dish as one that is a classic favorite for large families and one that is relatively inexpensive to make. Which was a perfect dish for the crowd of college students he was cooking for – that they could easily replicate on their own.

While watching Chef Alarcon, I was live tweeting the event. – linking to photos and the event homepage through Northeastern’s website. The only thing that could have made live-tweeting this better is if Twitter was able to come up with a way to tweet smells- because the food smelled heavenly… Live-tweeting an event is a beneficial form of ‘reporting’ because you are broadcasting details in real time. From cooking events  such as this to something like the Presidential Inauguration, readers and tweeters alike appreciate the immediacy of learning about something while it is still in the midst of unfolding.

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