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Category Archives: Class News

@foodsyoucaneat: An evening with Scott Schroeder of the South Philly Tap Room

“I’m not wearing a chef coat,” said Scott Schroeder of South Philly Tap Room, “I’m a cook, not a chef.”

In defense of our “ask” which prompted that response, we were filming the event, and many of our nights so far have had a clean, classy vibe that we have worked hard to maintain. We were (thanks to Scott’s bawdy tweets) a bit nervous that the Mifflin street meat marauder might let a comment or two slip that would, let’s say, go straight to the out-take reel.

A chef coat was our key to best behavior.

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Canning and Preserving: Tools of the Trade

Marisa McClellan of foodinjars.com taught a canning class at COOK last Sunday.  That day, she shared 2 recipes with us (see below) and also gave us the scoop on her favorite canning tools:  a lid wand, a jar lifter and a wide-mouth funnel.  This got us over at COOK thinking that perhaps a Canning Tools-101 post could be beneficial to our COOKies.

Summer might be coming to a close but with a few weeks left of warm weather there is still time to preserve fresh vegetables and sweet fruits for colder dreary months.  Canning may seem like your grandmother’s past time but with more CSAs and farmers markets popping up in the city; a younger generation is moving towards preserving.  Cucumbers are made into pickles, berries into jams and a fall harvest of apples into sauces and butters for winter consumption.  Lucky for you preserving is easier than ever.

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Here We Dough: Shane Solomon of Pizzeria Stella

On Monday, September 19, we had the pleasure of having Chef Shane Solomon of Pizzeria Stella in to teach a class on… what else? Pizza! One of the classes that sold out instantly, we had David Lipson, Jason Sheehan, Art Etchells and the rest of the crew from Philadelphia Magazine join us for this fun night!

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Michael Schulson’s Class Was One Heck of a Party

My friend, Philadelphia magazine chairman, David Lipson, his wife Susan, and about 15 of their nearest and dearest turned out for our other friend, Michael Schulson’s, class at COOK into quite the rager on Friday night.

The evening started off with some local foodie celebrities stopping by (ie Rob Wasserman from Rouge whose class on 9/30 is sold out and Georges Perrier who already brought the house down at our first class on 9/6). They helped kick off what was to be a great night of amazing food and good fun!

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Holler for Challah! Challah Making with Bonnie Eisner Wrap-Up

Challah. I’ve never met a single person who doesn’t like it. Ever. And even if I were to, I doubt they could turn their nose up at Bonnie Eisner’s delicious family recipe (which you can find below). Friday afternoon welcomed students keen to learn how to make the mildly yet perfectly sweet Jewish bread. Everyone left with new skills, great tips and a homemade loaf of his/her own.

Rittenhouse resident (and longtime baker and challah enthusiast), Bonnie Eisner, led the lunchtime class and treated students to her family’s recipe. Her niece, professional photographer Shira Yudkoff, was on hand to capture the fun and aromatic class. (All photos in this post are courtesy of Shira)

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Chocolate + Wine + Goat Cheese = HEAVEN

Monday night’s class with John & Kira’s Chocolates, Penns Woods Winery, and Shellbark Hollow Farm was a COOK-style salute to the artisans of the greater Philadelphia area.

John Doyle of John & Kira’s provided bite-by-bite analysis of the twenty-some chocolate varieties he brought with him, explaining each type’s unique characteristics and capacity to be paired with various wines.  John was quick to mention that pairing wine with chocolate (or any type of food) is always a hit-and-miss endeavor – and he took the time to explain why certain pairings work so well and why others, well, don’t.

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I KNEAD IT! BASIC COUNTRY LOAF WITH METROPOLITAN BAKERY

Wendy Smith Born and James Barrett of Metropolitan Bakery here in Philadelphia are a pair of rustic futurists who effortlessly blend traditional baking methods with new-world gadgets and aspirations. Their artisanal ingredients and methods are thoughtful and meticulous but their personalities exude a respect for and love of dynamism- the unpredictable and wild nature of bread and the world in which we bake it.

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Flying Solo at COOK

Third time’s a charm? Saturday night marked COOK’s third class and boy, what a class it was! Michael Solomonov of Zahav, Percy Street Barbecue and the upcoming Federal Donuts was in to teach a class on Modern Israeli Cuisine. And if that wasn’t enough, Michael Klein, from the Philadelphia Inquirer and most recently heading up the website Philly.com/food, was in to host the evening for us!

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Gin, Gin and More Gin!

Last night saw COOK’s second class go off without a hiccup. Funny too, since it was a class all about gin.

We had not only the mixologists with the mostest, Jillian and Resa from Twenty Manning Grill, demonstrating and concocting some of the tastiest cocktails using Bluecoat Gin, but we had Rob and Meredith from Philadelphia Distilling Co. on hand to talk about their product, the distilling process and what sets it apart form the competition (organic botanicals, for one). Rounding out our line-up of gin experts for the evening were Jason Sheehan, Food Editor at Philly mag, and Lou Boquilla, Chef de Cuisine at Audrey Claire and Executive Chef at COOK.  (See what Jason had to say about the night on Foobooz)

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Our First Class Ever… And it was with Georges Perrier!!!

Tuesday night marked the first official class at COOK, and it was, in a word, magnifique!

Chef Perrier, master of French cuisine and extraordinary teacher, took our 16 lucky guests step-by-step through the following four-course menu featuring wines paired by his sommelier at Le Bec-Fin, Cristine Bruno.

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