Cooking Classes

I am planning to take my wife to a couple's cooking class for the holidays and was wondering if anyone has experience or taken classes at any of the below schools (well not really schools, but you know what I mean):

The Wooden Spoon (Andersonville)
The Chopping Block (Lincoln Square)
Northshore Cookery (Highland Park)

I took at "date night" class at the Chopping Block over the summer of 2005. It was OK, if a bit rushed. Don't expect any real detailed instruction as it's all basically just a CB chef walking you through the recipe. No real intricate tips/tricks, etc...

The recipes were fine, I guess, but nothing spectacular. there was a cranberry salad, a fish en paupiette and a skillet upside-down cake.

I've taken classes at both the Wooden Spoon and the Chopping Block in Lincoln Square. When I was at the Wooden Spoon, we were divided into two different groups. The instructing chef helps out one group prepare part of the menu, and the sous chef helps the other group prepare another part of the menu. We all sat down to start tasting the first course while the chef demonstrated an item and then took a few volunteers to try it out themselves too. I gained a few good tips from the instructor.

At the Chopping Block, there are 4-5 stations for groups of 4-5 students. Each station is very involved w/preparing everything on the menu. There was one head chef and one sous chef with the head chef doing most of the talking and instructing.

They each had their respective pros and cons. I guess it depends on how involved you want to be. I've only been to each once, so I'm not sure if my experience is typical or atypical.

Another venue that I've been interested in attending is Sur La Table. Hope this helps.

I attended a "comfort food" cooking class at the Calphalon Culinary Center on Washington when my office was across the street. It was quite enjoyable. There was a main chef as instructor and two other sous chefs that went around to each workstation to assist. There were 2 students/workstation, each one fully equipped with 2 burner Viking stove and a full compliment of Calphalon pots, pans and accessories. I found this setup to be better than being put into a large group because you had much more of an opportunity for actual hands-on cooking.

Calphalon Culinary Center
1000 W. Washington
Chicago, IL
(312) 529-0100
http://www.calphalonculinarycenter.com

Thanks for the stories and advice. I really liked the offerings from Calphalon, but after December, they are discontinuing the individual classes. I was told they are going to focus more on "group outings" and private parties.

I decided to try a couple's class at the Wooden Spoon, as the main dish is Osso Bucco, something which I have always wanted to make myself, but never took the time to do so. Will definitely give me a chance to try something new, which I am hoping turns out to be a good experience. I will return to this post for a review after we attend the class in a couple of weeks.

The Chopping Block has both hands-on and demonstration classes, in which you watch the chef prepare the dish but don't actually cook yourself (much like attending a cooking show). The experiences would be considerably different, I imagine, although I've only been to one class there myself.

The wife and I attended our couple's cooking class at The Wooden Spoon this past Friday night. There were a total of 6 couples and one chef running the show. We were preparing a 3 course meal consisting of:

Clams Casino
Osso Bucco w/braised cabbage (cooked with bacon, onion and apples) and roasted potatoes, parsnips and pearl onions
Mango Souffle - made from polenta, which kept it extremely low in fat and calories, but still very sweet

Chef Brian was highly entertaining, and while I felt most people in the group had a pretty good understanding of how things worked in the kitchen, I was glad to see when there were questions, or concerns, he was very friendly and helpful.

Everyone had different tasks to prepare parts of the meal and eveything kind of came together at the end. In all, we spent about 2 hours preparing and another 20-30 minutes of enjoying a restaurant quality meal. All the preparation was a lot of fun as was the class itself and the best part being no cleanup.

Overall I enjoyed The Wooden Spoon. We ate some great food, and learned a few new tips, which will come in handy in our own kitchen. A nice store and large number of classes to choose from. I will definitely take another class there in the future.

I'm bumping this up -- my stepdaughter and her boyfriend are both celebrating birthdays this week and neither of them know how to cook anything more complicated than mac and cheese from a box. They have been living on frozen food and take-out for a while now, and I thought it would be fun for them to take a cooking class at The Chopping Block. Anyone have any new input on classes there? These two really don't cook at all, so I'm not sure it's worth spending the money if they won't get much out of it.

Suzy

sdritz -

You may want to consider the World Kitchen cooking classes at Gallery 37 sponsored by the city:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=16576

For only $30 a class, you get a lecture, hands on time, plus you get to eat what you make. You could also get tickets to the "series" classes for $100 which run you through an entire curriculum of cooking basics.

Not to say that the classes at Chopping Block or Wooden Spoon or any other school aren't good, but this is the cheapest you'll find without a drop in quality. Classes are small and the instructors are very hands on with you. I've taken classes there on many occasion and liked it so much that I now volunteer for them on a regular basis. Everyone I talk to after class is so glad they found this gem of a program and are eager to sign up for more.

And don't worry if some of the classes you find interesting have already happened or are full...there'll be a Spring season posted soon.

~ Judy

Hi,

You may want to find if there is something like meetup.com in Europe. There are a lot of informal gatherings to learn in a social environment. If you want to learn to cook, there is an informal gathering for that as well as just about any interest subset it feels like.

Just googled to find:
https://www.meetup.com/Antwerp-Expats/

My suggestion, if you don't find what you need, then try to make it happen by simply starting a group.

Let us know what happens.

Regards,
CAthy2

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I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct place. Rick Bayless is live-streaming cooking demos at 1 pm CT Tues.-Sat. on his Facebook page. I am not sure how long he is going to be hosting these cooking demos. The videos from past cooking demos are available on his Facebook page.

Milk Street cooking classes are free until May 31.

Has anybody taken any of Milk Streets classes? Cook's Illustrated also has them free for three weeks ,but you have to cancel before your three weeks is up, or they start charging you. Which one has the best cooking class?

I took 1 Milk Street class and it was extremely basic and a waste of my time. The class was on Instapot cooking.

lougord99 wrote:I took 1 Milk Street class and it was extremely basic and a waste of my time. The class was on Instapot cooking.

I'm not a fan of Milk Street or Kimball. As far as I'm concerned, he should sign up immediately to take cooking classes elsewhere. If they paid me to take their classes, the price would still be too high.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

lougord99 wrote:I took 1 Milk Street class and it was extremely basic and a waste of my time. The class was on Instapot cooking.

I'm not a fan of Milk Street or Kimball. As far as I'm concerned, he should sign up immediately to take cooking classes elsewhere. If they paid me to take their classes, the price would still be too high.

=R=

Any recommendations on better cooking class websites? I have not tried these Milk Street cooking classes.

shorty wrote:Any recommendations on better cooking class websites? I have not tried these Milk Street cooking classes.

Honestly, these days, if I want to learn how to cook something I don't already know how to cook, I just search for it at youtube. If a video starts out credibly, I'll see it through and probably try out the recipe/technique in question. If not, I'll just jump to another video. There are some great starting points posted on this thread > Post your Favorite YouTube Food Centric Channels.

=R=

ATK's cooking classes are supposed to be good.