Cooking with Class
Photography: John McCarthy
Forget the Food Network. If you really want to learn the basics of good cooking or proficient baking, why not turn off the TV and sign up for a live, interactive, aroma-filled cooking class this winter? Whether the format is demonstrative or hands-on, there’s nothing like learning directly from a pro who can answer your questions on the spot, regale you with stories, and, in most cases, feed you. (Quite well!)
At No Place Like Home, a cozy cookware shop on Bonanza Drive, the fun usually begins around 6:30 p.m., when students begin to arrive, many with bottles of wine in hand. Store employees stand at the ready with whatever appetizers the chef has put together before class so that participants won’t go crazy with hunger before the first dish is ready. Then, as attendees gather around the kitchen counter or just relax at one of several tables, the evening’s guest chef engages a rapt audience for more than two hours. One of the shop’s most notoriously fun series of classes is taught by Salt Lake City-based cookbook author/teacher Marguerite Henderson. “I teach through demonstration,” she says. “At night, most people want to just watch and be entertained. If an opportunity comes up for someone to pound a chicken breast or stuff manicotti, then I ask for volunteers, but generally, I cook, and students ask questions. And, they eat everything I make — usually four or five dishes. They come hungry, but they definitely leave sated, recipes in hand.” Though Henderson has taught classes for 28 years, she’s known for keeping her repertoire trendy and fresh with ideas and combinations she brings back from her frequent travels to food-centric locales such as San Francisco and Portland.
No Place Like Home also offers classes by Cordon Bleu-trained chef Susan Odell, Billie Ann Devine of Queen Bee Events Catering, and Mexican cooking by San Diego chef, Sergio Friderici. Visit www.parkcitycookingclasses.com for full schedules and prices, or call the store at 435.649.9700. 1685 Bonanza Drive.
At the Park City Cooking School in Kimball Junction, owner Jaxon Stallard puts her credentials as a certified chef and seasoned pastry chef to work in intensive hands-on classes with no more than six or seven students at a time. “I like to take professional techniques and teach them to home cooks,” she says. “I will have a winter class schedule laid out, but I also encourage clients to tell me what techniques or cuisines they want to learn. I’m happy to do all kinds of custom classes.” Stallard’s training includes classic French, Italian, Moroccan, Indian, Mexican, South American, Thai and Asian cooking, so the possibilities are endless. And, she excels at teaching kids’ classes. Though she loves cooking of all kinds, as a former bakery owner, Stallard does confess to “loving baking most of all.” For intrepid bakers, she might even be convinced to teach puff pastry. Visit www.parkcitycookingschool.com or call 435.575.0187. 6042 Fox Pointe Circle #81.
Skiers and non-skiers alike will want to consider checking into the historic Washington School Inn in Old Town Park City this winter. Settle in for a weekday afternoon cooking class (check schedule for days, January through March) with chef Steve Vierk, a former upstate New York restaurant owner and all-around nice guy. Vierk specializes in fresh seasonal cooking, and his classes are sure to melt the heart of winter. He’ll teach hands-on artisan style bread baking and cold-weather soups and stews such as Boeuf Bourguignon, among other soul-satisfying favorites. Half the fun is cooking with him; the other half is sitting down in the intimate dining room to enjoy the results of an afternoon in the kitchen. The classes — a combination of hands-on and demonstration — are reviving the Inn’s roots as one of Park City’s oldest centers of learning: Once a bona-fide schoolhouse, Washington School Inn is now a deluxe little bed and breakfast offering delicacies such as fresh, homemade yogurt and sometimes, dreamy, creamy quiche in a perfectly buttery crust. Visit www.washingtonschoolinn.com or call 435.649.3800. 543 Park Avenue.
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