Pajo Bruich is busier than usual in the kitchen these days.

Bruich is the owner of Pajo’s Boutique Catering, which is a catering company with an office in Lincoln and a commercial kitchen in Newcastle.

The company is relatively new, opening last year. Before that, Bruich was a Lincoln private chef.

Bruich is working longer hours recently because he is preparing for a March 27 educational dinner in Sacramento.

The dinner will include discussion about some “difficult to access” and new food ingredients, new cooking techniques and equipment, and learning how to pair food and wine, according to Bruich.

Bruich has collaborated with Anani Lawson, a sommelier at a Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry.

Lawson said he will select the wines to pair with dishes Bruich will present to diners and he’ll also explain why each wine was selected.

“What I’m looking forward to is working with Pajo and working with people in this area,” Lawson said. “I want to make sure when (the diners) leave the event, they can walk away with a great understanding of how the wine they had was perfectly paired with dinner.”

Bruich said some of the recipes offered that night will be shared.

“I will bring the guests inside the mind of a chef and teach them how to do a successful dinner party,” Bruich said.

Calotte, one of the ingredients featured that night, is a cut of beef that will be specifically taken from a breed of cow called the wagyu, which produces Kobe beef.

“The calotte is a cut of meat (which) is the cap of the rib eye. It’s a very small piece of meat for the animal,” Bruich said. “It’s very, very tender, one of the most tender meats there is.”

He said the combination of the wagyu cow being grass-fed and its genetics creates a “luxurious marbling.”

“The temperature we cook it at, medium, will melt the fat, and when you take a bite, you get a tender piece of meat with a butter finish,” Bruich said.

Another example of a unique ingredient Bruich gave is tapioca maltodextrin, which he said absorbs fat.

Bruich said the tapioca maltodextrin can be added to melted butter, olive oil and melted chocolate, and the powder will absorb the fat and turn into a powdery substance, like snow.

“With chocolate, when you take a bite of the powder, it will melt in your mouth,” Bruich said, who has also added the tapioca maltodextrin to vanilla-bean-infused olive oil.

A piece of equipment called the anti-griddle will be used that night, which Bruich said is a “cooking surface that instead of heats, cools, and gets down to negative 35 degrees.”

“You can make an ice cream base turn into instant ice cream,” Bruich said.

The nine-to-12 course dinner will include a reception and hors d’oeuvres.

Bruich’s company, Pajo’s Boutique Catering, caters smaller events that focus on sharing the knowledge he has of food, according to Bruich.

“I love to teach people and to share all of the knowledge I have with food,” Bruich said.

His company also does classes on basic cooking skills, such as knife skills, how to cook chicken, make different sauces and fresh homemade pasta.