5 Hot Culinary Classes
Learn to cook like a pro with these 5 hot culinary classes.
By Leslie T. Snadowsky
If you’re simmering to become a consummate culinarian, you don’t have to enroll in Le Cordon Bleu. Learn how to prepare a steaming bowl of hand-made pasta, spice up your stuffing, pepper your fish, sauté some shrimp, boil your grits and fire up a zesty margarita at an incendiary cooking class. Whether it’s hands-on, demonstration, private or virtual, enjoy five-star instruction from celebrated chefs who are baked into the Lowcountry and willing to share a dash of gastronomic gusto we can all season to taste.
A taste of Italy
Michael Anthony’s Cucina Italiana
Ever dream of whipping up an Italian feast in your own cucina with Osso Buco Milanese, hand-made ravioli with butternut squash and mouth-watering tiramisu? Learn how at Michael Anthony’s Tuscan-inspired Cooking School located upstairs at the premier Hilton Head restaurant that serves up fresh ingredients and artistic preparation. Chef Trey Place presides over weekly demonstration classes (includes a welcome glass of Prosecco, tastings of all that’s prepared, a glass of wine and a recipe booklet, $60) hands-on classes (prepare three recipes with the chef and enjoy a family-style lunch with wine, $100) and private hands-on classes where you select your own menu (for six to 10 people on Tuesdays or Saturdays, $100). You’ll also learn basic knife skills and insider tips to make your dishes taste magnifico! All classes begin at 11:30 a.m., and reservations are required.
Home cooking
Chef Lynn Michelle, The East Coast Chef
Chef Lynn will chop, dice, mince and slice the freshest ingredients in your kitchen and transform it into your favorite restaurant. Formally trained in culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University, Chef Lynn was a private chef in Belgium and an executive chef at two bed & breakfasts in Beaufort County. Her personalized cooking classes for individuals, couples and small groups will teach you to prepare a perfectly crafted multi-course gourmet meal for any occasion. From fall harvest salads with pumpkin goddess dressing to baked lemon pepper fish with blueberry ginger sauce to cranberry apple crisps, Chef Lynn excels at producing East Coast flavors with fervent flair, plus she does all the shopping and cleans up all the hot mess. Custom costs vary.
The right stuff
Alexander’s Restaurant & Wine Bar
This month at Alexander’s Restaurant & Wine Bar, be thankful for the 2-3 p.m. cooking demonstration on Sunday, November 7. Learn how to make spicy sausage cornbread stuffing just in time for Thanksgiving. Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort Executive Chef Charles Pejeau conducts the monthly classes and will herald his handiwork again on Sunday, December 5, to showcase herb-crusted prime rib, a Christmas favorite. Demonstrations are $25 per person. All money collected is donated to the Deep Well Project.
Cook between the lines
This month at Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table in Savannah, hands-on cooking classes for ages 12 and up will focus on French comfort food, the delicacies of Northern Italy and Lowcountry cuisine including how to perfect your shrimp and grits. Classes range from $80-$110, and Chef Darin Sehnert says you’ll learn to “cook between the lines” when he demystifies cooking techniques and talks about the historical, cultural and culinary influences that have helped shape our regional cuisine. Private lessons are offered for groups of up to 50, and don’t miss the seasonal gingerbread house workshop on November 28 for $10.
Learn more online
If you don’t want to leave the house, or even get into the kitchen, cozy up in front of your computer and enjoy virtual webinars and cooking classes with Lowcountry Nutrition, a concierge nutrition counseling business that provides culinary education. Caitlin Lewis, MS, RD, a registered dietitian and culinary nutritionist, opened Lowcountry Nutrition in 2019 and invites groups from all over to get together on Zoom to interact with her and learn how to make healthy dishes. Prices start at $250 for up to 10 participants.
