Cooking competitions are all the rage these days. From baking to grilling, and from age 10 to 70, the passion is seen as the culinary contestants move rapidly through the chaos. As a professional chef, I too, have been on that side of the game more times than I can count. For the last 15 years, I have critiqued the food/dishes that my Master Chef and Master Baking students have…
As a chef, one of the fun things that I really enjoy about food is understanding the “why” behind the product. Certain things, like geography, trade, and culture all contribute to why certain foods, dishes, and even seasonings are used – or scorned – in a recipe. Given that fact that cereal grains form the backbone of agriculture in Asia and Europe, dishes that could be made with these could…
Many of our readers know how much I love to teach – I’ve been doing it for years – but my joy doesn’t come from simply showing others how to cook, it comes from opening doors to students on how much joy and health can come from understanding how to prepare and execute any meal. In reality, that education extends far past the kitchen and into the grocery store, the…
Okay, it’s confession time. I work a lot. As a chef, it’s not unusual to find me in the kitchen 6 or 7 nights a week, and truly rare is the day that goes by without me in the kitchen at all. So it was a pleasure to be able to sneak away one night a couple of months ago to join friends for dinner. Did you catch that? “A…
By now, grandmothers everywhere have been watching turkey prices fall and younger families have been kicking themselves for buying the same bird two weeks ago for another 50 cents per pound. Family recipes written down on all manner of lined paper, the backs of envelopes, and carefully trimmed from magazine pages during the Kennedy administration have been reviewed, shopping lists tweaked, and Black Friday plans laid. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day…
Register for our class now The next session starts on October 9th at 7pm and we have room for you! There comes a time in everyone’s life when they realize they don’t know how to cook. Whether the epiphany strikes in middle school or mid-midlife crisis varies from person to person, but the solution remains the same: It’s time to learn! And it’s not as impossible as it might seem –even…
Photo: Chef Eric judges the finals at the C-CAP competition When there’s good food involved, we like to think everyone’s winning. And this year at the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) Culinary Competition, young chefs Adrian Gonzalez and Matthew Sanchez won big! Adrian snagged a $2,700 Culinary Classroom scholarship, and C-CAP gifted Matthew with a $2,700 scholarship. Matthew will be taking the Master Baking Program. Since 1990, C-CAP has provided more…
For some reason, sushi is one of those foods that sports an invisible warning: “Don’t try this at home.” But you really can conquer this Japanese favorite! All you need is a little direction from Chef Eric Crowley – and it’s your lucky day, because you can follow along as he teaches Fuller House star Candace Cameron Bure how to chop, roll, and make perfect sushi rice on the Hallmark Channel’s…
At the Culinary Classroom, we want to teach you how to treat your tummy well. But we are also dedicated to giving back to our community outside the kitchen – that’s where our partnership with CoachArt comes in. CoachArt is a fantastic organization whose mission is to provide chronically ill kids and their siblings scholarships, specialized lessons, club memberships and opportunities to participate in fun activities at no cost to their…
Can you believe it’s already June? School’s out any day now, and you’re probably pondering how to keep your kid entertained till fall. A cooking camp may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but we believe it should be – and our cool classes can improve far more than your kid’s culinary prowess. Here’s how! Math Adjusting measurements, doubling recipes, and working with fractions are all integral…