Cooking in Morocco 2: Teaching the Teachers

As anyone who's ever stood in front of a classroom can tell you, you learn a lot as a teacher. Our cooking class was no exception.

We started out with some general prep. Three of us washed chicken pieces by using lots of salt under the skin to remove the connective tissue and mucous.

Nico managed to get out of this job (there was only so much space at the small sinks), so they jokingly decided to "punish" him by assigning him a tedious job next: peeling all the garlic cloves. Instead of being dismayed, he started grinning and asked for a metal bowl with a metal lid. After a few questioning looks, they dug in the cupboards, dubiously handed him what he asked for, and then gathered around.

Nico put all the garlic in the dish, covered it with the metal lid, and shook like mad! He took the lid off to a pile of peeled garlic and a round of applause. For people who peel a ton of garlic cloves on a daily basis, this was a wonderful discovery! They delightedly proceeded to try it out for themselves. Nico certainly earned his honorary title they used for the rest of the day: 'Chef'.

Round of applause for 'The Chef'

They found more garlic cloves so everyone could join in on the garlic-peeling fun

Normally, fun things have disclaimers like "Don't try this at home" but we're willing to make an exception in this case. Here's the YouTube video where Nico first saw this trick so you can absolutely try this at home!