Are you finding that you reach for your “emergency” stash of Top Ramen a little too often? Do you find yourself at the farmers market, not knowing what to do with any of your shopping bag’s contents? If so, consider taking a cooking class through one of many cooking programs offered throughout Seattle.
Prices range from as low as $18 to as much as $95 and more per class, depending upon the quality of ingredients and materials provided by the program.
Basic cooking skills
For those on a tight budget, University of Washington’s Experimental College offers several hands-on cooking classes for a fairly low price. One option is “Healthy Eating on the Run,” a one-day, two-hour session in which you learn to eat locally and cook healthfully.
For a longer-term course, “Delightful Thai Cooking” is another option. In this two-week class, instructor Eng Tie Ang teaches her students to make a variety of Thai foods, including vegetarian Pad Thai and green curry.
“The new [younger] generation has a lot of work and harder times finding a job, so they think of cooking as a seven-headed monster,” Ang said. “I am here to tell them ‘no’ and teach them that it is not hard if they are willing to learn.”
Ang has been teaching international cooking through the Experimental College since 1980 and has published five cookbooks. She has seen students come in with all levels of cooking ability. Regardless of the skills they have, Ang’s goal is have her students step out of their culinary comfort zone while maintaining healthy eating habits through organic produce and reduced use of cooking oils.
“If I teach one person some cooking skills, it changes their life. That is what I am here for,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to teach the new generation basic cooking. I want them to not be intimidated by new spices and different types of food. If you don’t try, you don’t know.”
(For a cooking class schedule and more information about UW ExCo, visit depts.washington.edu/asuwxpcl).
‘Many ways to cook’
While it is more expensive than UW Experimental College, PCC Cooks offers a wider selection of hands-on classes in your neighborhood market. If you are interested in learning more gluten-free recipes or are curious about making homemade Greek dolmades, PCC Cooks has a class for you.
Courses are often themed based upon the dishes students will learn to make during the class or for special occasions, like the market’s popular “Date Night” series of classes or an introduction to preparing Indian cuisine.
“Most of the people [who] come in typically do cook, but are not as experienced as they’d like to be,” said Karista Bennett, a PCC Cooks instructor who focuses on the preparation of seafood, meat and poultry. “They might have the dishes mom or grandma made [in their repertoire], but that is about it.”
Bennett began her own journey in cooking school 12 years ago, when she moved out of from her family home and realized she did not really know how to cook. Now, she has been a PCC Cooks instructor for the last three years, teaching students that “chicken does not just have to be chicken.
“There are many ways to cook one thing. There is pan-searing, steaming, poaching,” she said. “I want my students to leave with new techniques for cooking meat, poultry and fish.”
PCC Cooks courses are available at PCC’s Green Lake, West Seattle, Edmonds, Issaquah and Redmond locations. (For a full list of PCC Cooks’ classes, visit pccnaturalmarkets.com.
‘Demystifying’ food
City-dwelling Seattleites or those looking for a new way to spend a night out on the town can schedule a class at Hipcooks, where every class ends in a dinner party.
There, according to the program website, instructors will “’demystify’ food and make it approachable” while instilling students with a sense of confidence. The downtown kitchen provides its students with all the materials they will need —except measuring cups.
“I want my students to have a great time in the kitchen, no matter what tools they have available,” said Bonny Giardina, owner and sole instructor at Hipcooks Seattle. “You should never be beholden to someone else’s version of dinner. At the end of the day, the food should taste good to you.”
Giardina ventured into the cooking world after leaving her job in a Los Angeles production company to go to cooking school. There, she studied patisserie and baking and began working as a pastry chef. Soon after, her friend had established Hipcooks and asked Giardina to join.
Now at Hipcooks’ sixth location, Giardina is still enjoying teaching newcomers the essentials of creating a meal and flavor profiling while maintaining the excitement of food that drew her in more than 10 years ago.
“When you are happy, your food turns out better, too,” she said.
Hipcooks offers themed classes ranging from “Romantic Dinners for Two” and “The Hot Soup Focus Group” to “The Surprise Guest,” a class that gives suggestions as to what foods you should whip up when you have unexpected company. Each class includes a wine tasting. (To learn more about Hipcooks’ variety of classes, check out seattle.hipcooks.com.)
Sharing the passion
Are you one of the more seasoned chefs in your friend group? Not to worry, you still have options.
Sur la Table (French for “on the table”) serves as Seattle’s go-to gourmet-cooking tools retailer. In 1972, the first store made a home for itself in Pike Place Market, where it remains today. Although the store is a Market staple, it was not large enough for the company to hold in-store cooking classes. As a result, Sur la Table’s hands-on classes are now being hosted at the store’s Kirkland location.
John Neumart, one of the Kirkland store’s instructors, has worked in the restaurant business for 25 years and has cooked and worked as a general manager of Seattle favorites Café Juanita and Serafina.
“I really like the teaching aspect of the restaurant industry — from teaching my staff to educating customers about food and wine,” he said. “What we do is really hands-on. [Students] get to prepare and cook the food and eat it at the end of class. It is infinitely rewarding for the students and for me. I get to share my passion, interest and knowledge without getting home at midnight [as a full-time chef].”
Neumart said the people who sign up for Sur la Table’s cooking classes include “20-somethings to housewives.” The former chef characterizes the program as something for intermediately skilled cooks, as the program offers cheese-making courses and guides to baking macaroons, which are a delicate, meringue-like French confectionery.
While the store offers more advanced courses for novice cooks, the program also includes basic cooking and knife skills classes.
“The culinary program really brands the store as a place for people who are really into cooking and as a community resource,” Neumart explained. “Food is one of the most basic and nurturing opportunities there is. It is one of the most elemental expressions of love that exists [to] show someone that you care about them.”
Sur la Table Kirkland offers several cooking classes nearly seven days per week. (For a calendar of cooking courses and class registration, visit the Kirkland store’s website at surlatable.com.)