A TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO COOKING SCHOOLS On a quest to
learn to cook like an Italian... Ask our Culinary Specialists to help you arrange your travel to these delightful cooking schools! Bali Brittany
England India
Mexico Morocco
New Orleans Peru 1 LA FORESTERIA SEREGO ALIGHIERI, an elegant location, is owned and run by Count Serego Alighieri, a direct descendant of Dante. The family has owned the property since 1353, and has carefully converted the lodge into eight luxurious apartments with open fireplaces and beamed ceilings. From the avenue of ancient cypress trees, the estate's vineyards stretch out across the surrounding hillsides. Classes take place in the large, professionally appointed kitchen and make use of the farm's own produce such as olive oil, preserves, balsamic vinegar, grappa and wine. On one day, you'll explore the unforgettable sights of Venice including a trip to the fabulous Rialto fish and fresh produce markets and visit the beautiful medieval city of Verona, home of Romeo's love, Juliet. There is also access to the golf club Ca'degli Ulivi, only twenty minutes away. 2 Devotees of authentic melazane a cotoletta (breaded eggplant) and involtini di pesce spa (swordfish rolls) can learn the ropes from cookbook author Anna Tasca Lanza at CASA VECCHIE, her family's winery outside Palermo. Guests stay in converted farm houses and take trips to observe shepherds hand-pressing cheese (ricotta originated in Sicily), to shop at a market in the village of Vallelunga and to lunch at a mountain trattoria. Lanza prepares an elaborate final feast of Sicilian specialties. 3 Seafood is the focus of a "Liaisons Delicieuses" apprenticeship in the kitchens at LA VILLE BLANCHE, restaurant on the Granite Coast near the Gulf of St.-Malo. Star chefs Daniel and Jean Yves Jaguin share regional cooking secrets (pollack and green asparagus, brill with pickled radish, roasted local lobster). Expect a trip to an oyster farm for briny betons or shopping for globe artichokes at the Lannion marche in the evenings, head "home" to the 18th-century Chauteau de Kerivon de carcaradec, doesn't skimp on the champagne cocktails. 4 LA MIRANDE lures top local chefs for star turns at Le Marmiton, a cooking atelier set in the hotel's rustic 19th-century kitchen. Cuisine de grand-mere expert Frederique Feraud-Esperandieu goes earthy with eggplant tarte Tatin, while Mas des Herbes Blanches's Eric Sapet prefers ris de veau (sweetbreads). Luckily, you won't have far to travel after a three-course homage to tomatoes or foie gras with crepes rotis by Jean-Andre Charial - the hotel's toile-filled guest rooms are only steps away. La Mirande's own Jerome Verriere will introduce you to his secret sources for local honey, olive oil and herbes de Provence. 5 Anglophiles with a clotted-cream fixation can lord it up at SWINTON PARK. The 30-room castle-hotel is the new home of TV chef Rosemary Shrager, a cheery advocate of modern British cookery who still loves "fat rascals" (currant-studded tea cakes). Classes revolve around a massive Aga stove (an oil-heated, cast-iron marvel) and a newly restored four-acre-walled kitchen garden. The four-day course kicks off with a classic English tea. Whether your sessions focus on game or fish, you can spend afternoons tooling around the 20,000-acre estate and trout farm in a Land Rover, or else head to nearby Masham for a pint of Old Peculierale from Theakston's Brewery. 6 Despite Catalonia's current flirtation with seaweed foam and liquid ravioli, Jonathan Peret and Alicia Juanpere remain preservationists at heart. At CAN MIQUELET DEL MANO, a restored stone house in the Priorat, the couple imparts valuable history lessons along with epicurean ones. Morning outings to vineyards, olive groves and castles of Knights Templars are paired with afternoon instruction exploring early Roman and Moorish influences on Catlan fish stew, esqueixada (salt and cod salad) and quail with black sausage sautéed in rancid wine. 7 Come with gastronome Peggy Markel (a native Alabaman) to the casbah. During the FEAST FROM THE SENSES tour in Marrakesh, ethnobotanist Gary Martin shares the history of North Africa's herb and spice trades. Chef Baiji, of the 10-room JNANE TAMSNA guesthouse in Marrakesh's La Palmeraie oasis will hold daily lessons on couscous, tagine kefta (meatballs), hand-ground ras al hanout spice mix and bread baking in a Berber clay oven. (After hours, lounge by the villa's torchlit pool.) Students also go for wild-caper hunts in the Ouirgane Valley and hikes among walnut groves in the Atlas Mountains. And don't miss the chance to sip mint tea while browsing for mosaic tableware at Meryanne Loun-Martin's Ryad Tamsna gallery. 8 Let the good times roll during a jambalaya session with Creole expert Frank Brigsen, a James Beard Aware winner and disciple of Paul Prudhomme. The NEW ORLEANS COOKING EXPERIENCE concentrates on Big Easy standards crawfish etouffee, file gumbo, trout meuniere. Five course meals are served in the formal dining room, wine cellar or garden. On Saturdays, the class hits the Crescent City farmers' market or plays Bubba Gump on a local shrimp trawler. NOCE;s Judy Jurisch, a New Orleans native, will also steer you to the French Quarter's best B&B's and jazz joints. 9 The Puget Sound is ringed with small organic farms, so spend a day at PERSEPHONE FARM with Northwest Essentials Cookbook author Greg Atkinson. You'll gather the freshest vegetables and berries for a four course meal (corn pudding, fresh pea soup, a goat cheese sampler, berry tartlets) in a converted barn at Farm Kitchen, west of downtown Seattle. Or join Atkinson for the annual Winter Oyster Bash (January, when you wade in the waters at TAYLOR SHELLFISH FARM to gather native Olympias and eat them alfresco with chilled Northwest Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. Atkinson will show you how to shuck, steam and grill your own bivalves over an open flame. 10 In the colonial city of Puebla, noted chef-historian Ricardo Munoz and author Marilyn Tausend explores Latin America's original fusion cuisine. The CULINARY ADVENTURES trip pays homage to 15th-century Spanish nuns who first made mole pobiano in the Santa Rosa convent. It then ventures to Huaquechula to honor eccentric Day of the Dead rituals. Stuff chilies en nogada (pork and fruit with walnut sauce; see photo above) in a private kitchen, visit the Cacaxla ruins and tipple fermented puique (a tequila predecessor once brewed by thirsty Aztecs) at a barbecoa feast. Since you'll be staying in a converted convent (Hotel Camino Real Puebla), do your best to avoid immodest renditions of "La Cucaracha" in the hallways. 11 We say "potato." Peruvians say "papa." Of course, the former Incan empire has culinary cred beyond its native tuber. Let's not forget Nobu Matsuhisa, Lima's best-known export, as well as pisco sour cocktails and ceviche. Start your Andean expedition with Peruvian classics - lomo saltado, arroz con pato and causa limena - at Lima's LA CORDON BLEU, and finish with Nobu's mentor, chef Humberto Sato, at his Japanese-Latin restaurant COSTANERA 700. For something to show the folks back home, learn how to layer a pachamanca. This ancient Andean barbecue is made by roasting meat over hot stones and banana leaves in a covered pit. 12 If you don't know your biryani from your vindaloos, culinary guru Saurav Banerjas will point the way to enlightenment. At VANYAVILAS, a luxury tent camp in northern India's Ranthambora Game Reserve, he presides over a professional kitchen where a piquant mix of Rajasthani, Hyderabadi and Avadhi cuisines reflect the region's Spice Route influences. Help prepare nali goshi (lamb shank simmered in onion-tomato gravy), and akha palak (spinach with cumin and garlic). One morning is devoted to bread-baking and home cooking with the women of Sawai Madhopur village. 13 As AMANDARI in Ubud, chef Michael Goodman opens the door to Balinese life with an early morning trip across the Ayung River Gorge to the locals-only Blahkiuh market. Her you haggle for prized black rice, green papayas and galingale, which will find their way into spicy curies made at an 18th-century family compound in the Borgkasa village. Guests sip sweet Kopi Bali (coffee) before learning to grind spicy sambai pastes and preparing gulai ayam (chicken curry) or babi guling (roast suckling pig in an open charcoal stove. After a house temple offering (the Balinese equivalent of saying grace), lunch is served in an open-air bale above the jungle gorge. 14 FOUR SEASONS CHIANG MAI chef Pitak Srichan turns up the heat in a teak kitchen pavilion above northern Thailand's Mae Rim valley. Red chilies, fermented fish sauce and curry paste - key ingredients of 16th-century royal Thai cuisine - spark Srichan's practical lessons on pork spare rib soup and banana blossom shrimp salad. Ice-cold Singha beer helps extinguish flames during tastings, but you'll want to keep a steady hand for the fruit and vegetable carving session that follows. Pick up etiquette tips during a finger-only Khantoke dinner of sticky rice and minced meats. On a foray to the bustling Tanin market, don't miss the region's famous sausages and fiery bird's eye chiles - one packet will last a lifetime. 15
In a country that has dozens of words for rice, food writer Elizabeth Andol's TASTE OF CULTURE is ideal for visitors. A frequent lecturer on both sides of the Pacific, she conducts market tours that include depachika, or department store food halls, to deconstruct Tokyo's more puzzling snacks. Head to Tokyo Food Show in the Shibuya train station for osouzai (deli takeout) such as sautéed hijiki (a calcium-rich sea vegetable) and broiled kabuto (fish heads) or enter the miso boutique at Takashimaya (Futako Tamagawa branch), which has more than 70 varieties of artisanal fermented soy paste. Andoh will introduce you to such savory treats as kombu ame (kelp candy) and pressed rice omusubi, Japan's answer to PB&J. Thanks
for searching the Web with us! Gourmet
World's Best Home |
Page