Pot Bruschetta? Take a cannabis cooking class

Don’t get him wrong. Chef Ricky Flickenger of Bourgeoisie Brunches loves brownies. They’re on the menu of his new cannabis cooking classes, which take place Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and have sold out since their inception last week at his personal chef headquarters in Capitol Hill.

But, now that marijuana is legal in Washington, the former Trophy Cupcakes pastry chef is trying to teach people myriad of ways to bring cannabis into the kitchen in a safe and responsible way without intimidating budding (pun intended) home chefs.

“I want to educate people on the various uses and reasons to cook with pot,” said Flickenger via phone on June 10 from his apartment, aka Bourgeoisie HQ. “Instead of just throwing it into brownies, it’s about being able to have good sweet and savory recipes and the information you need to get the best flavors and medicinal or recreational benefits out of it.”

Flickenger spends the first 30 minutes of class distributing recipes and information on the science behind cooking with cannabis. He teaches students about decarbing, the act of heating cannabis to a certain temperature to activate the THC. He also explains how THC binds to fats so the best way to cook with it is to dissolve it into your favorite oil – from olive oil to coconut oil or butter – and use that in your cooking, he explains. Scroll down for Chef Ricky Fleckenger’s THC Olive Oil recipe.

“One of the reasons sweets and chocolate recipes were popular for so long was to cover up the the smell and flavor of the cannabis,” he explains. “But now that there are so many products to choose from that don’t have those strong notes, you can pair the cannabis with things that are acidic, like lemon, or grassy, like fresh herbs, and yield some really lovely flavors.”

Because Flickenger cannot legally distribute cannabis to students, he gives suggestions for where to purchase it (he likes Ike’s Pot Shop at 23rd & Union) and in what form (for efficiency and ease of use, hash oil or keif, the plant’s resin, are preferred). The cost per class is $60 plus an additional $40 to purchase cannabis on your own. No sharing, though. A lesser known part of the 502 law is that purchased cannabis is for personal use only. 

Classes are small – just six people – and run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday classes focus on an Italian dinner that includes caprese salad, fresh pasta in herbed cream sauce, and lemon crostata. Saturday classes are all about tapas. Flickinger teaches students how to make four: a savory hand pie, a bruschetta, a phyllo lemon tart, and, yes, a dark chocolate brownie, because “everyone loves brownies,” he says.

Rick Flickenger’s THC Olive Oil

1 cup olive oil

1 gram keif from legal Washington retailer

small saucepan

small, oven safe dish

aluminum foil

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees fahreheit.

2. Add kief in a fine layer to the bottom of your oven safe dish. Cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool with the foil on (this helps to retain vaporized terpenes which add flavor to a dish). Shorter times will mean less of sensation when ingesting. Longer times will result in more of a relaxed/sleepy feeling and less of the traditional “stoned” feeling. 

3. Once kief is cool, get your olive oil into the saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm. Stir in the kief until dissolved, there is no reason to continue cooking – you just want the kief to dissolve. Less cooking time means a better retention of olive oil flavor. 
Your oil is now ready to be used as a topping, in a vinaigrette, or in any low heat (below 250 degrees fahrenheit) preparation. 

Note from chef: Making edibles at home is all about experimenting. Start with baking for 10 minutes and eating a low dose when you prepare a treat. For a stronger oil, use 1/2 cup when preparing. Wait 90 minutes before consuming anymore. Write down what you did and keep notes on how you felt, adjust up or down on dosing for your comfort levels.