On Board Cooking Classes

[ladygbs]

I will definitely look into this. Working with a professional would be super. There is always some little trick that you can pick up vis a vis food prep. I noted the comment about making sure that it does not interfere with with port time. Sounds like fun!

[Sea42]

Yes you can book for both weeks at the same time:) Been there, done that before and doing it again in 2 weeks:)

 

Joanie

Thanks for the information Joanie, this sounds like it would be something I would really enjoy. Can you tell me about how long the classes last?

By the way, I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

[DeepWaterMariner]

Classes last about an hour.

[Sea42]

Classes last about an hour.

Thank you!

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks for the information Joanie, this sounds like it would be something I would really enjoy. Can you tell me about how long the classes last?

By the way, I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

 

No problem Carol. I will enjoy.

 

My hubby, Crew News will be answering in detail in just a few minutes. I've asked him to describe in detail.

 

Joanie

[Crew News]

As a veteran of at least 7 of these classes, I was encouraged to add my two cents.

 

Each class is limited to 12 and most ships have a class on each sea day. That said, when boarding the ship, make a quick turn and go straight to the Front Desk to pay for your spot for one or both days. I discovered that we were cooking menu items for the Main Dining Room for that day but with family-sized recipes.

 

Upon arrival at the class time, the Culinary Arts spokesperson presented us with chefs hats, aprons, and several recipe cards for each of the courses we were about to prepare. We organized ourselves into three teams (appetizer, entree, and dessert) or just rushed to the stage to stand beside the ingredients that we wished to prepare.

 

All of the recipes had enough tasks to occupy each persons talents, or in most cases an extreme lack of talent. In all cases, the spokesperson just tried to keep us all focused while the resident chef gave us lots of little hints.

 

If you have ever watched Jay Leno and a guest chef, the comments made by your fellow classmates and the lack of culinary skills filled the time with lots of laughter. In my case, I posed for pictures with a huge 22-inch chefs knife trying to split a 1/4-inch vanilla bean. At one class, we learned to flip crepes with a gentle toss. By a high percentage, more crepes missed the pan and landed on the floor, in the cooking soup, and on top of the other dishes in various stages of preparation. Visions of Lucille Ball and the Three Stooges swirled through my mind and we laughed until some of us cried. But we all learned to flip a crepe.

 

One class had eight members of the same family who all seemed to have chocolate smears on their exposed skin by the time the class was over. The expression of "trying to herd cats" does come to mind.

 

The chef always kept his cool and tirelessly gave us tips to improve our cooking skills. Some of the best tips included, slicing and removing the middle 1/4-inch of a lemon before squeezing it because that is where all of the seed reside; mixing powdered vanilla pudding in sweet roll batter to get perfect seasoning; not to worry about tempering eggs as long as you stir quickly; and how to finely shred cabbage with carrots to make beautiful garnish.

 

The class prepared all of the dishes up to the point of oven baking where the recipes didn't give any details about using the ship's convection ovens.

 

At that point, the chef finished the baking and expert plating while the class, on most cruises, moved to the Pinnacle Grill to sip wine and relive the cooking experience. Of course the conversation was tainted with smiling threats of getting even with your fellow classmates for the sticky knife handles, flour speckled shoes, splattered eggs, and that smearing chocolate.

 

Lest you get the idea that it was all chaos, we looked at the class as techniques for disaster recovery in the kitchen. We learned that the quality of the ingredients and a great recipe is not tarnished by less than perfect slicing, a bit too much of any spice, too much chocolate, or imperfectly whipped cream.

 

We also learned that some people should not be allowed near any sharp instruments and teens should not be allowed to prepare any chocolate dessert.

 

The portions that we cooked for ourselves were much larger than those served later in the Main Dining Room to our fellow cruisers.

 

Some class members took advantage of the extra servings and took them to their staterooms. As for me, riding the elevator up to my stateroom with a dinner plate nearly hidden by the large serving of warm apple strudel, covered with mixed berry compote, and a generous dollop of slowly dissolving chilled whipped cream, drew many questions and lots of stares. When asked where I found such a magnificent dessert aboard ship, I smiled and replied, "I just made this in a cooking class."

 

I enjoy the fun of the cooking class and as a "foodie," I love the techniques that I can add to my skill base.

 

My only request is that you don't get to the Front Desk before I get there to enroll.

[Sea42]

Thank you, Crew News, for a great idea of what to expect!

[ladygbs]

Crew News. I have only one response to your strudel and berry compote. YUM!

 

Sounds like a fun way to spend time with your fellow cruisers! And you might learn something:)