Now that it’s way too cold to eat outdoors, take your food cravings inside — and learn to cook dinner yourself at one of the city’s many cooking classes.
Scattered around Manhattan, these classes teach everything from the proper way to pick a salmon filet to toasting bruschetta for a dinner party. Metro tried out a few classes to tell you what’s cooking around Manhattan.
Rustico Cooking (www.rusticocooking.com), with a huge, restaurant-style kitchen in Midtown, brings a Tuscan specialty, with courses on Italian classics. At a Glorious Garlic class, chef Micol Negrin walked the class through making garlic mashed potatoes and bruschetta, letting each student take a turn at squeezing out garlic and stirring the garlic-tomato sauce. Unlike some classes, the dinner also includes three generous wine pairings.
Make new friends at The Social Table (www.thesocialtable.com) in Midtown. Chef Rebecca Goldfarb promises “easy, approachable” recipes and brings her Southern California background to courses like crispy chicken with artichoke hearts or pork cutlets with applesauce. The classes like Simple Supper or Tex-Mex Fiesta are BYOB, and expect to don an apron when you get there. Sip on wine while chef Rebecca offers a casual approach on gourmet food that feels like cooking with friends.
One of the most delightful was Karen Lee Cooking (www.karenleecooking.com). Lee, a spitfire with decades of experience, teaches in her Upper West Side apartment, a lesson itself in how to create gourmet meals in a city setup. Lee shares not only what she’s stirring, but also how she picked out fish at the market.
Some places cater to the professional chef as well as the amateur. The Institute of Culinary Education (www.iceculinary.com) hosts 26,000 New Yorkers a year with more than a thousand classes teaching everything from knife techniques to Japanese food. Work with an abundance of ingredients made available to you and learn everything from how to roll sushi to making miso soup. The De Gustibus Cooking School (www.degustibusnyc.com), in Macy’s, has classes like a Nov. 7 course on Moroccan food and a Nov. 15 lesson on meatballs.
If you’re tired of the basics, sign up for a specialized class. The Miette Culinary Studio (www.mietteculinarystudio.com) in Greenwich Village teaches French Classics, capped at 12 students, so you’ll get expert teaching in the quaint atmosphere of a 19th century townhouse.
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.
