You learn a little, you cook a little, you eat. What could be bad about that?
You can be by yourself or in the company of friends. You can focus on bread, bread, bread or you can prepare a three-course Tuscan meal. And did we mention? You eat.
Where can you have all this fun? At a cooking class.
They are offered all over metro Atlanta. Brian Jaynes of Chamblee took a class at the Buford Highway Farmers Market after hearing about it through friends. “I don’t cook that much, but I’ve always been curious about some things that seem so difficult to make,” Jaynes said. With a few cooking classes under his belt, he’s finding cooking is not as hard as he thought and it’s really satisfying to put dinner on the table.
One of the great things about a cooking class is that you don’t have to like to cook to enjoy attending. Maybe you want to learn more about a particular cuisine so you’ll know what to order the next time you visit an ethnic restaurant. Maybe you want some help in perfecting a fail-safe menu for entertaining. Or maybe you’re just looking for a fun evening out.
You can also go to a class because you’re serious about picking up new skills. East Lake resident John Molinaro enrolled last January in an artisan sausage-making class offered by Pine Street Market and The Cook’s Warehouse. He had a grinder attachment for his stand mixer and an interest in the subject, but he needed a little hands-on to get comfortable.
“Making sausage can seem daunting when you’re reading a cookbook. We learned how to work with seasonings and to stuff the sausage into casings. My custom-made sausage was awesome,” he said. Inspired by the class, he’s ordered sausage-making supplies and made his first batch of chorizo at home.
Molinaro is a self-described “pretty decent home cook.” That’s typical of students in cooking classes like those offered at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Tucker. Chef instructor Cristian Adasme says the once-a-month classes were created so students could learn from professional chefs and work on professional equipment.
Other venues like Publix, Whole Foods Market and Viking Cooking School present classes almost every day of the week. Their offerings range from how to cook shellfish to a complete menu for a Greek Easter feast, and they have classes morning, noon and night.
Chef Donna Brousseau will be teaching classes on macarons and whoopee pies for Brookhaven’s Viking Cooking School in March. In the three-hour class, her students will learn to make both a classic French pastry and an all-American favorite. “They’ll get great tips and they’ll take home tons of food, but most of all, I think our students love meeting people who are like-minded. Coming to a cooking class is a very social thing to do,” she said.
The Buford Highway Farmers Market in Doraville has carved its niche in the world of cooking schools offering inexpensive classes primarily in ethnic cuisines. The classroom is a corner carved out of the busy market, so if the instructor needs an extra can of coconut milk or students want to see what tamarinds look like, the market staff can pull what’s needed right off the shelves.
As shoppers peer around the fringes of the class, the instructors coax their students to come closer and see the changes going on in the cooking pots. Students then fan out to practice their dumpling-making skills or roll out atta, an Indian flatbread.
“Fresh cooked food prepared right before your eyes.” That’s how Gulshan Singh describes the appeal of the several classes she offers each month at the market. “I think of the students as my friends and want them to learn how to cook Indian food the way I would do for myself and my family,” said Singh, known to her students as Shan.
Her classes attract newcomers and groupies alike. “I had a whole yoga class that would come here to learn how to make healthy dishes like lentils and rice,” she said.
Nancy Hamman and her husband Mike live in Doraville and have taken cooking classes all over the city. “Shan taught us to make paneer and we were totally amazed that we could make a cheese in half an hour. We had to go right home and experiment with it,” Hamman said.
Chamblee resident Mark Caridi-Scheible has taken nine cooking classes there in the past four months. He frequently attends with a group of friends, and offers this advice: “Don’t worry that it’s going to be too technical. You’ll be surprised. Have fun and enjoy the food.”
Classes for kids
It’s never too early to learn your way around the kitchen. Classes for families and children from 6 to teens are offered at many cooking schools.
The Cooking School at Irwin Street in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood will offer a hands-on class for kids ages 8 to 12 on March 26. The monthly children’s classes teach kids the basics of cooking as they prepare their favorite foods like nachos, pizza and chocolate chip cookies.
At Salud! Cooking School at the Whole Foods Markets in Alpharetta and Johns Creek, hands-on classes for teens ages 13 to 15 teach the basics of making pizza dough and sauces. A Saturday morning sushi class for ages 10 to 12 will have kids rolling their own inside-out California rolls and making nigiri sushi.
The Viking Cooking School offers classes for families or for kids on their own. The “Pasta Party” class March 26 offers adults and kids a chance to make pasta dough and form their own ravioli. The “Teens Classic Steakhouse” will have students making bacon-wrapped filets and roasted asparagus.
Some cooking schools like the Young Chef’s Academy in Sandy Springs even offer classes for preschoolers, and summer day camps are available from several schools.
Here are just a few of the cooking classes available around town this March.
Cooking classes can be either hands-on or demonstration. Do you want to watch and take notes, or do you want to get your hands on a set of knives and into some dough? The classes listed here are all hands-on.
Tuesday, March 1, 7-9 p.m.
Buford Highway Farmers Market
5600 Buford Highway, Doraville
Class: Indian Cuisine with Gulshan Singh
Cost: $20, students receive $10 gift card
What you’ll eat: pork vindaloo curry, flatbread and kheer (Indian rice pudding)
What you’ll learn: Indian cooking and ingredients demystified; at the end of the class, Singh takes her students down the Indian aisles of this huge market
For reservations and class schedule: www.bufordhighwayfarmersmarket.com, 678-873-7447
Tuesday, March 1, 7-9 p.m.
Publix Apron’s Cooking School at Alpharetta Commons
4305 State Bridge Road, Alpharetta
Class: Basic Knife Skills
Cost: $50, students may bring their knives for sharpening
What you’ll eat: gazpacho, miso-glazed carrots, Szechuan ratatouille, tomato salsa, warm vichyssoise
What you’ll learn: good knife skills are the foundation for cooking, and the difference between chiffonade and brunoise
For reservations and class schedule: www.publix.com/aprons/schools; 770-751-8561
Wednesday, March 2, 6-9 p.m.
Salud! Cooking School at Whole Foods Market
5945 State Bridge Road, Duluth
Class: Sushi Workshop
Cost: $59
What you’ll eat: inside-out California rolls, nigiri sushi, spicy tuna rolls, cucumber rolls
What you’ll learn: the secrets of good sushi rice, and how to use a bamboo mat to form perfect, tight sushi rolls
For reservations and class schedule: http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/cooking-classes/; 678-514-2400
Monday, March 7, 6-9 p.m.; or Sunday, March 20, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Viking Cooking School
1745 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta
Class: Macarons and Whoopie Pies
Cost: $89
What you’ll eat: assorted macarons and the classic chocolate/cream filling whoopie pie
What you’ll learn: the secret to the crisp, perfectly risen macaron, and how to make marshmallow whoopie pie filling
For reservations and class schedule: www.vikingcookingschool.com/atlanta; 404-745-9064
Wednesdays, March 9 and 16, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Pine Street Market and The Cook’s Warehouse
4 Pine St.t, Avondale Estates; and 180 W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur
Class: Artisan Series with Pine Street Market
Cost: $100, students receive 10 percent discount on The Cook’s Warehouse purchases March 16
What you’ll eat: first night, students take home two pounds of their own custom-made sausage; second night, students learn to make sausage and leek-stuffed empanadas; goat cheese, fennel, and sausage tart, and sausage-stuffed shrimp
What you’ll learn: what really goes into those sausage casings, and what kind of music is best for curing sausage and bacon
For reservations and class schedule: http://classes.cookswarehouse.com; 404-377-4005
Saturday, March 12, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
1927 Lakeside Parkway, Tucker
Class: Artisan Breads
Cost: $90, includes a Le Cordon Bleu apron, certificate and 10 percent off dinner at the school’s fine dining restaurant
What you’ll eat: freshly-baked bread and spreads
What you’ll learn: what’s under those chef toques, and bread making from start to finish
For reservations and class schedule: www.chefs.edu/Programs/Chefs-Series; 770-938-4771
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