Michael Horowitz <
[email protected]> writes:
> Anyone had any experiences with subject cooking school? I'm looking for an occassional day course
> for a 'food enthusiast' - Mike
Yes. I've taken a few of the daytime and evening "demonstration" classes and they were fun. Plus
you get to eat and drink so if you think of it as a meal, with educational stuff thrown in, it's
a bargain.
What I really like, however, is the hands-on courses. I took a weekend-long Primary Skills class. I
thought I was a pretty decent cook, but had to unlearn a lot of bad habits. Taught me basics
(dissecting chicken, making stock, reducing stock for sauces) -- the the classic french techniques.
They had a Primary Skills 2 weekend which was also quite good. My S.O. took a cheese-making hands-on
class and really enjoyed it; we now get home-made mozarella for our pizza. I'm signed up for
participation courses in Thai this season, which is a full day, and looking forward to it.
They've got lots of courses. Brian Patterson's BBQ & Smoking class is a hoot. Others are more
serious. I had a bit of a disappointing class in doing pizza, because it didn't stress the crust and
variations thereof. Then again, I'm using Reinhart's "Pain a la Ancienne" wet wet retarded ferment,
and Thorn's beat-it-up dough from _Pot on the Fire_ so maybe I'm looking for more nerdy stuff.
(They have a weekend retreat thing in Mercersburg PA which we went to last year: real good time,
lots of hands on, lots of getting yelled at by the maestro himself -- "more salt, more salt! didn't
you taste it??". It was a bit intense but I learned a lot and had a good time. And of course the
food didn't suck at all