Photo courtesy of The Culinary Institute of America
The ubiquitous fantasy of becoming a chef is like catnip to millions of foodies. We find films like “Julie and Julia” and Kathleen Flinn’s memoir “The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry” so irresistible only because we desperately wish to be their protagonists. To our chagrin, culinary schools tend to be just that: places for future chefs to study. Yet, The Culinary Institute of America has crafted several new programs that bring the common enthusiast closer than ever to the dream.
If you are on a short trip to wine country, a half-day visit to the CIA campus in St. Helena can find you well-fed, and excellently schooled. For these brief jaunts, a meal in the wonderful Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant paired with any of several appetizing options will do:
Cooking Demonstrations
A state-of-the-art learning theater gives every student a front row seat as a chef-instructor walks through the preparation of a well-known dish. My own recent visit taught the classic preparation of Beef Consomme with Royal Custard. Highlights included the skill of an instructor who easily engaged non-pros, the rich aromas of simmering foods, and the joy of tasting at the end. With its 60-minute duration and an affordable $15 fee, CIA cooking demonstrations are both feasible and worthwhile.
Wine Explorations
CIA wine education courses run the gamut to include everything from basic tasting skills, to region-specific appreciation, to wine making. While the sheer variety of their offering may mean that your first choice class does not coincide with your visit, it also means you are unlikely to exhaust your options early (as is the case with many venues that repeat the same wine appreciation class over and over). Classes are priced at $95 and run for two hours.
Cooking Classes: CIA Samplings and Taste of CIA Cookbooks
For hands-on cooking classes, CIA Samplings utilize a two-hour allocation to focus on the preparation of one dish while Taste of CIA Cookbooks courses utilize a five-hour allocation to focus on the preparation of a small handful of items from a CIA Cookbook. The former course follows a well-established trend of featuring an eclectic variety of recipes (indeed, it is not uncommon to see the full menu of cooking and wine classes focus on regions throughout the world). The latter chooses a singularly themed CIA cookbook and focuses on recipes within. Prices are $95 and $250.
But if you are a serious foodie with time and money at your disposal, two extended classes will further your art:
Cooking Class: Sophisticated Palate
These one- and two-day specialty courses gather intimate groups to cook and enjoy cuisine that is chosen for its intriguing theme (e.g., Live Fire Cooking, Foods and Flavors from the California Harvest). The lengthy time frame, maximum class size of 12, and utilization of master chef instructors makes for a meaningful experience, both in terms of learning and building camaraderie with your classmates. Two-day courses also include afternoon field trips to area food and wine producers that are not usually open to the public. Pricing is $500 and $2,000, respectively, and includes some extras that some other CIA courses may not (aprons and a starter knife set for the one day class; a CIA chef coat for the two-day class; and meals and beverages for both classes).
Culinary Boot Camp
If you’ve ever flirted with the idea of going to culinary school (or, just wondered whether the profession is as intense as it looks on TV), Culinary Boot Camp will treat you like an aspiring pro. From the official uniforms you’ll wear, to the professional knives you’ll use, to the serious concoctions you’ll prepare, boot camp will immerse you in the restaurant kitchen. The aptly named “Basic Training” is geared toward students wishing to develop or enhance their grasp on knife skills, kitchen terminology, and basic dry and wet cooking methods. Yet, beyond the basics is a surprisingly vast menu of specialty boot camps (e.g., Hors d’oeuvres, Barbecue, French Cuisine, Pastries) that allow you to follow a specific passion or cultivate a new skill. At a hefty $2,100 for basic tuition, the full experience is likely to run between $3,500 and $4,000, by the time you book a 5-night hotel stay, pay for some dinners (the course includes one dinner event at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant), and purchase $400-$600 in optional cooking tools. Yet, the cost remains lower, and the experience richer, than that of a typical five-day luxury vacation.
Aforementioned programs are offered at each of The Culinary Institutes of America’s three campuses (St. Helena, CA, Hyde Park, NY, and San Antonio, TX). Comprehensive information can be found at http://www.ciachef.edu/
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