Just Foodies

Austin,Texas Cooking Classes

Cooking Classes in Austin

Austin’s foodie scene is vibrant.  Every year in April, Austin’s Food and Wine Festival provides cooking demonstrations and plenty of samples. This festival draws big name Food Network Chefs and some Austin local favorites such as Paul Qui and Jack Gilmore or Dallas based Tim Love.

Austin has outstanding foodie resources. There are farm stands for fresh produce and several grocery stores have professional kitchens for cooking classes. These cooking schools provide a variety of hands–on and demonstration cooking classes that anyone would enjoy.

Whole Foods Culinary Center
Whole Foods Lamar Culinary Center has an active cooking class schedule. Cooking classes are available on everything from basic cooking skills to a culinary adventure. Most classes require several hours to complete however Whole Foods Culinary Center also offer one hour “Lunch Express” courses. Private classes are also available.  I also enjoy spending time at this flagship Whole Foods Store.
 
Central Market Cooking School
HEB’s Central Market has two cooking schools in Austin (Westgate and North Lamar).  These hands on classes highlight Texas specialties or help you expand your foodie knowledge beyond Texas. The Grilling Spanish Style would provide insights into great tapas or the Alaskan Brewery Seafood & Spice Dinner might help you cool off.

Several Austin kitchen equipment stores also have cooking classes or cooking demonstrations:

Faraday’s Kitchen Store
This Austin based company has an amazing kitchen store and provides demonstration cooking classes with samples and a light meal. Class size is limited to 10-15 students.  There are a wide variety of culinary classes.

Williams Sonoma
Williams Sonoma as two Austin stores. The Barton Creek Stores holds their cooking classes most Sundays at 2:00pm and The Arboretum Store holds their classes most Saturdays at 2:00pm.  Sign up several days in advance to ensure your spot and plenty of food for tasting.  The classes are generally free demonstrations; recipes and samples are provided. Cooking class participants receive 10% discount on other purchases the day of the class.

My next post feature additional Austin cooking schools.

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Thai Cooking Class with Kasma

I've often dreamed of having a "Thai Mum" or "Italian Grandma" teach me about cooking and ingredients from a native cook's perspective. This summer I experienced five days of Thai cooking classes and Thai food eating nirvana in Oakland, CA.  The Thai Food and Travel Cooking School offers week long intensive classes or a series of cooking classes taught by Kasma Loha-unchit.  Kasma is a fantastic teacher. It is obvious she loves to share her gift for Thai cooking with her students. Under Kasma's gentle guidance and watchful eye, it really was like spending a week with your own "Thai Mum" learning her cooking secrets.

The week long intensive was a combination of demonstration and hands-on cooking.  Foodies from across the USA with a unique mix of personalities and cooking experiences were united to learn the best Thai ingredients, how to chop, use a mortar and pestle and, of course, how to use a  wok efficiently and effectively.  An excellent learning tool was the frequent "tastings", where everyone could sample the sauce as it was developed.  Kasma would guide the student cook to add more of an ingredient and voila, the whole sauce jumped alive with bold flavors. 

Friday morning's trip to Oakland's farmers market was shopping with an expert guiding you to the freshest produce and identifying critical characteristics that define ripe ingredients.  We also enjoyed touring local Asian specialty markets, buying fresh fish, wok utensils and other items we used in the class. 

Everyday we would feast on the Thai dishes we prepared, but Friday's menu was a true feast.  Many dishes were prepared on the grill.  We graduated from our Thai cooking experience after an amazing dinner in the garden.  Reflecting on the week, it was a total immersion in Thai ingredients, food and culture. Short of spending time in Thailand cooking with your "Thai Mum", I don't think you could find a better way to learn Thai cooking!