5 Day Experiences

Have much more confidence in the kitchen  —    spend a week really learning how to cook.  This class is not “recipe” driven, rather it’s guided by culinary techniques (you will, however, get the recipes!).  Each day, we’ll cover both sweet & savory dishes, setting you up to start creating your own successes at home.  Starting with a full knife skills session, we’ll prepare creations each day that will be perfect additions to your culinary “toolbox”. 

Take your cooking to the next level!

Ever wonder how chefs cook without recipes? This class explores the engineering behind building dishes & how to cook using general culinary principles. Each day, we’ll discuss & create dishes using the basic tenets, then we’ll make one dish as a group without a recipe. Think: soups, salads, grains, seared meat with a sauce, braising etc.

The French are renowned for their remarkable food – we’re sure it’s a reason you want to come here!   Spend the week learning the most famous of French dishes.  We cover multiple regional specialties, using a variety of different cooking techniques.  Each day, we’ll cook up favorites, including desserts.  Dishes will be tailored for seasonality.

Superfoods have a very high nutritional density & they also include important health benefits.  This week-long course will delve into cooking with these remarkable & beneficial ingredients.  Each day, we’ll create a full meal with a plethora of superfoods to show you how easy it is to cook nutritionally (including desserts!).  Dishes will be tailored for seasonality & availability of ingredients. 

In this course, you’ll learn to how to make things from scratch that you normally would buy at the grocery store or only eat in a restaurant.  The satisfaction of making mouthwatering dishes from fresh ingredients is the best reward!  Think homemade: sushi, pasta, sausage, pizza, gnocchi, wontons, macarons, souffles, pie dough, yeast bread & more. 

Take the deep dive into the world of Escoffier & the 5 classic mother sauces, forever associated with French cuisine. We’ll also cover “modern day” sauces to round out your training.  Guests will prepare different sweet & savory sauces each session along with the dishes that will be served during the meals.

Do you have a sweet disposition?  This class series showcases 5 mouthwatering sessions discovering the fundamentals of baking.  Each day we’ll produce at least 2 scrumptious sweets to amuse your taste buds while covering the basic principles of the pastry shop: cake basics, pies & tarts, breakfast pastries, custards, cookies & bars (including macarons!), & soufflés.

This class is an absolute culinary adventure!  Over the week, we will cover 5 distinct countries exploring their unique ingredients & dishes:  France (of course!), Italy, Mexico, India & Japan.  Create memorable dishes & learn what makes the cuisine of each country so special!

Adapted from one of Chef Denise’s most popular class series, this course provides an in-depth view of meats (chicken, beef, & pork), seafood (fish & shellfish) & vegetables.  Included is an extensive discussion of culinary techniques properly adapted to different cuts of meat, seafood & vegetables.

Learn to create innovative meals with multiple courses which will definitely inspire you to entertain more & leave your guests in awe.  We kick off the course with 2 hours of knife skills instruction. Then, each day there will be two sessions, a prep session in the morning & a cooking session just before (& perhaps during) dinner.  Discover secrets of the trade: the art of plating, advance prep & creating beautiful tablescapes.  Dishes will modified for seasonality, but will include seafood, local meats & produce, as well as dessert.