Facilitating Cooking Workshops and Classes

[Chris Amirault]

I've charted my experiences with cocktail workshops in this topic, and I feel like I've got a good handle on those. However, I'm starting to do some facilitation around cooking, not cocktail-making.

If you've taught cooking workshops before, what advice do you have? If you've taken cooking classes, what works? What doesn't?

[Genkinaonna]

I'd say a really big part of teaching should be ascertaining what level your students are at...I've taken classes where half of the time is devoted to basics, like cutting an onion, what temperature chicken should be cooked to, etc...rather than focusing on the actual topic of the class, for example "Turkish Cooking" or "Chinese Appetizers." Being clear in descriptions of classes about what skills the students should already possess would be helpful in not wasting time for the student that are not beginners. Even a "skill rating" level of beginner, intermediate, or advanced with a short description about what each one of those descriptors entails would be helpful in my book.

[Darienne]

Interesting topic in light of the fact that tomorrow I am teaching a friend how to make ice cream and that I have just finished 4 'Round the World' classes from a local caterer and chef.

I've taught folks how to make certain confections, but always very casually and tomorrow's class is casual also, so I have really nothing to report there. The main thing about ice cream is the time element and so I am making sure I have that part covered.

However, the classes I took were another thing. Each class presented a full course menu from a country: India, Italy, Thailand and Greece were the ones I took. They were fun and I did eat delicious dishes and learned quite a lot that was useful in that I could use the knowledge elsewhere.

The menus were too ambitious and IMO led to real problems. The workload had to be apportioned..."students A&B made the sauce, while students C&D prepared the meat, etc." So, unless I was really quick, I didn't get to learn much about other task, nor the others about mine. The dishes all had to be fairly quick cooking of course, and so they used mostly cut up chicken as a basis.

Also the teacher in two cases ended up making the dessert by herself with no one watching while we scurried around doing this and that.

She worked way too hard setting up these classes so that the overly ambitious menu could work and did not earn enough firstly to cut down the scope of each class and also to establish as part of the plan that she would simply demonstrate certain dishes.

Please understand that I am not complaining at all, simply pointing out the pitfalls of her choices.

I also attended free weekly one-hour demonstrations in one of our local grocery stores weekly for quite a while. It was simply demos with tasting at the end, but was very professionally done and I did learn a lot. Questions were allowed and you can bet I asked a lot. The problem here was that many of the ingredients were those sold by the chain (duh!) and yup! I bought quite a number. Short cuts: you can't make chicken stock in one hour and the store doesn't earn much money. Buy their chicken stock tetra paks.) I don't go any more...there was a limit to the scope of the classes.

I've taken classes with Kerry Beal and as you can imagine, they were excellent. I suspect Kerry is somehow super-human!

This topic is huge and fascinating. Ed and I taught craft classes, together and singly, of all kinds with hardshell gourds...thus my avatar...and what a learning process it all was. Much of teaching is the same whatever you are teaching.....

[Chris Amirault]

Can you describe what an "overly ambitious menu" looks like?

[EllenC]

For the last couple of years I have been a volunteer cooking instructor for a women's group at my church. Knowing the abilities of your students is crucial. I am adament that the class should take about an hour and never more than an hour and a half. Because most of the women who have been coming are relatively ... uhm ... shall we say "tentative" in the kitchen, I focused on teaching skills and basic knowledge. I also try to introduce them to new tastes and products. We did an entire class on condiments and sauces. They tried ponzu, sirracha, etc. but the one they liked best was equal parts mustard and grape jelly. You never know. I try to make sure there are two to three things on the "menu" that demonstrate related techniques or flavors. And I practice to make sure they fit the equipment and time I have.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

Ellen

[Darienne]

Can you describe what an "overly ambitious menu" looks like?

Classes were 10 - 1pm in her wonderful kitchen which is set up for cooking classes.

Here's the Indian menu: Tandoori Chicken Sticks, Raita, Aloo Gobi, Cardamom & Cumin Infused Basmati Rice, Silky Butter Chicken served with Naan (merely heated up Naan)and Sweet Lassi for desert.

Teacher ended up making the dessert in the kitchen while we ate the other dishes in the dining room. On the printed sheets, she provided recipes for Tandoori paste and Garam Masala but we used commercial products.

No one was an inexperienced cook.

OK. Just found the Tuscan menu also: Italian Hummus (White & Black Bean Dips) with Toasted Pita Chips, Tomato & Basil Bruschetta, Basil and Balsamic Glazed Chicken, Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta with Lemon Caper Sauce and Tiramisu.

[xxchef]

We do a number of 3-day dairy/cheese-making workshops here at the Ranch every year (have one starting today, as a matter of fact) and I've taught a couple of 1-day basic candy-making ones here too.

I'll second Genkinaonna in that determining the skill level of your participants is vital and further, knowing exactly what it is they want to take away when they leave.

Our 3-day workshops are full-immersion with the participants having the opportunity to work along side us and do and experience every aspect of our small goat cheese dairy. They live and eat on-site and put in the same 14 hours days as we do. It's more of a mini-internship in that regard but, believe it or not, there are still many more things to do than we can cover in 3 days. My wife could easily fill all three days with just the herd management aspects of the operation.

The way we decide what to cover, which cheeses to make and how intensely we teach the different areas is by pre-screening the participants. Each one of the 2 to 6 people gets a pre-workshop questionnaire to complete. It asks about their interest in and experience with in the various parts of the business and their goals with the information they get from us. This determines how and what we teach them. Our workshop for first-time goat owners looking to make cheese at home is very different than the one we teach to experienced herdsmen looking to add a value-added component to their operation.

We've taught a group of executive chefs from a major hotel corporation who wanted to learn about artisan cheese-making so as to better understand in in their cooking. We've taught a group of lawyers from Tennessee who were really just foodies out for a 3-day party (they spent most of the time out on hikes with the goats and eating). We taught a couple of 3-generation fluid-milk cow dairymen how to adjust their business model to goats and commercial cheese-making (they now have a very successful operation and already undertaking a major expansion).

Each of these workshops were unique and custom tailored to the participants and for that I think they got the most out of it and we got to focus on key areas and not try to cram too much unnecessary material into the time we had to teach.

[Jenni]

Here's the Indian menu: Tandoori Chicken Sticks, Raita, Aloo Gobi, Cardamom & Cumin Infused Basmati Rice, Silky Butter Chicken served with Naan (merely heated up Naan)and Sweet Lassi for desert.

Teacher ended up making the dessert in the kitchen while we ate the other dishes in the dining room. On the printed sheets, she provided recipes for Tandoori paste and Garam Masala but we used commercial products.

No one was an inexperienced cook.

OK. Just found the Tuscan menu also: Italian Hummus (White & Black Bean Dips) with Toasted Pita Chips, Tomato & Basil Bruschetta, Basil and Balsamic Glazed Chicken, Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta with Lemon Caper Sauce and Tiramisu.

Hmm, I'm surprised either of these menus took very long to make, even with the teaching aspect. I guess that's the trick: realise that things take longer than you think when you've got a class of people.

[HungryC]

Don't forget to relax....if you're wired, the experience won't be fun for your students. They're not going to a leisure class to absorb someone else's stress. If it's a demo class, be sure to use precise, descriptive language. Since the students aren't hands-on, you'll have to tell them how to recognize when the meat needs turning, or when the dough feels smooth & supple. Cue cards/index cards are helpful; key words/phrases along with the outline of steps, with reminders about anecdotes/trucs/jokes, etc.

Edited March 18, 2011 by HungryC (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for all the information, everyone. Here's the skinny on what's happening this weekend.

I'm hosting nine members of the Brown Epicurean Society at my house for a multiregional Southeast Asian meal. Here's the menu, which "maybes" in parentheses:

Brown Epicurean Society SE Asian Dinner March 2011

Khmer shrimp fritters

Khmer shrimp with black pepper & cilantro

Thai chicken geng gari

Khmer eggplant with ground pork

Thai mushroom salad

Khmer pomelo salad with smoked fish

Thai rice noodles with greens, green peppercorns, and thai basil

sticky rice

Based on the "scale back" advice here, I've cut out a few things: a soup (canh chua, the lone Vietnamese dish), some pickles, an egg dish. We'll start by doing some shopping and then hit my house for about three hours of cooking, talking, and eating.

Thanks to Dave the Cook and JAZ, I got the idea of breaking the group of nine into three smaller work groups, and then divided up tasks in quarter-hour chunks:

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class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td colspan=3 class='s0'>BES SE Asian Meal March 2011<td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'><td class='s1'><td class='s1'></tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s2'><td class='s3'><td class='s3'><td class='s3'><td class='s3'></tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s4'><td class='s5'>Group 1<td class='s5'>Group 2<td class='s5'>Group 3<td class='s5'>CA</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>5:00:00<td class='s7'>Intro & recipe overview<td class='s7'>Intro & recipe overview<td class='s7'>Intro & recipe overview<td class='s7'>start Ultra Pride grinding rice and start sticky rice</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>5:15:00<td class='s7'>Clean produce<td class='s7'>Clean produce<td class='s7'>Clean shrimp<td class='s7'>Prep deep fryer</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>5:30:00<td class='s7'>Knife Skills Demo & Work<td class='s7'>Knife Skills Demo & Work<td class='s7'>Knife Skills Demo & Work<td class='s7'>Knife Skills Demo & Work and clean Ultra Pride</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>5:45:00<td class='s7'>Prep geng gari paste<td class='s7'>Prep fritter batter, mushrooms, & pomelo salad<td class='s7'>Prep shrimp, noodle, and eggplant<td class='s7'>Assist</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>6:00:00<td class='s7'>Deep fry overview and shrimp fritters<td class='s7'>Deep fry overview and shrimp fritters<td class='s7'>Deep fry overview and shrimp fritters<td class='s7'>Deep fry overview and shrimp fritters</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>6:15:00<td class='s7'>Eat fritters & discuss geng gari/curry<td class='s7'>Eat fritters & discuss geng gari/curry<td class='s7'>Eat fritters & discuss geng gari/curry<td class='s7'>Eat fritters & discuss geng gari/curry; start curry</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>6:30:00<td class='s7'>Taste, discuss, & prepare liquids<td class='s7'>Taste, discuss, & prepare liquids<td class='s7'>Taste, discuss, & prepare liquids<td class='s7'>geng gari</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>6:45:00<td class='s7'>Sauté, mise en place, & wok discussion<td class='s7'>Sauté, mise en place, & wok discussion<td class='s7'>Sauté, mise en place, & wok discussion<td class='s7'>Sauté, mise en place, & wok discussion</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>7:00:00<td class='s7'>Fire salads<td class='s7'>Fire eggplant & pork on stove <td class='s7'>Fire shrimp on stove<td class='s7'>Fire noodles in wok</tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>7:15:00<td colspan=4 class='s8'>Dinner!<td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'></tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>7:30:00<td colspan=4 class='s8'>Dinner!<td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'></tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>7:45:00<td colspan=4 class='s8'>Clean Up<td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'></tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>7:55:00<td colspan=4 class='s8'>Wrap Up<td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'></tr><tr><td class=hd><p style='height:42px;'>.</td><td class='s6'>8:00:00<td colspan=4 class='s8'>Head Back to Providence<td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'><td style='display:none;'></tr></table></table></body></html>

Feedback is welcome!

[heidih]

My first thought was that as a "student" I might feel left out of a prep I was interested in if they are divided into groups. Interested to hear how this plays out for instructors as I am starting some classes in the near future.

[djyee100]

Feedback is welcome!

This is only my impression, but that looks more like a dinner cooked by 15 or more people within a 2 hour time frame. Am I reading the chart right, and 15 mins of prep time are allotted at 5:45PM? Even if these people are great cooks with chef-level knife skills, there are delays because they are unfamiliar with your kitchen, don't know where things are, will talk to each other as they cook, and take pictures and video as souvenirs. In my mind's eye I can see them waiting to use the sink as dishes and pans pile up there too.

Years ago I assisted a wonderful Indian chef named Ruta Kahate when she gave classes in her home. Ruta gave the best hands-on cooking classes I have ever attended. This was her system:

- The ingredients were premeasured, in bowls, and set on a half-sheet tray. Knives, utensils and other tools that would be needed were set on the tray too.

- The pots and pans for cooking each recipe were set out on the counter for easy access. Question: do you have a system for dealing with the pots, pans, bowls, knives, etc as they get dirty? What if some of these pans and knives must be reused for another recipe?

- For complicated recipes, we often did most of the prep ahead of time and put it on the tray. We left token amts for people to do some "hands-on" like chop an onion or peel & devein shrimp. Ruta's priority was not the knife work or prep. So what if the chopped onion is a little scuzzy? If people keep up with cooking, their knife skills will improve.

- Ruta's strength, which too few hands-on cooking teachers do consistently, was to stay by the stove and watch over people's shoulders while they cooked. In my experience, that's when people really learn to cook--they can see, smell, and hear what the food should be doing as it cooks. Ruta would stick by them and point out things to do and things to watch out for. Her presence by the stove also insured that the dish would be cooked right. I put in the emphasis because in many hands-on classes, the students are freelancing at the stove while the teacher is elsewhere, and that's where the mistakes are made. Then the students don't know how to cook the dish properly and don't know what it should taste like, either.

- During class, my job was to clean up the dirty dishes and make sure the workspaces were clear for the next recipe. I helped with prep if one group seemed a little swamped, and demo-ed prep or knife techniques to a group if necessary. My presence in the rest of the room freed up Ruta's time so she could teach by the stove. If you can find someone to assist you and do these tasks, you will probably be very grateful to that person.

- A reminder: safety tips to the students before they do anything. They're wearing closed shoes, right? They should be reminded to keep the knives pointed down by their sides when they walk around with knives (you'd be surprised how many adults forget that). If they're carrying a hot pan behind someone, they should warn people by saying, "hot behind!" and wiggle their asses a little.

If you have other questions, ask away.

[Jenni]

^^^

djyee, that sounds like an extremely well organised class. An assitant seems like an excellent idea, if one is available. I also think what you say about the instructor watching over to make sure the dishes come out "right" is an important point - you are completely right when you say that if mistakes are made, then students don't end up knowing what a dish was supposed to be like. And if they are learning to cook a cuisine that is very alien to them, then it's 10 times worse!

[Darienne]

This is only my impression, but that looks more like a dinner cooked by 15 or more people within a 2 hour time frame. Am I reading the chart right, and 15 mins of prep time are allotted at 5:45PM? Even if these people are great cooks with chef-level knife skills, there are delays because they are unfamiliar with your kitchen, don't know where things are, will talk to each other as they cook, and take pictures and video as souvenirs. In my mind's eye I can see them waiting to use the sink as dishes and pans pile up there too.

Years ago I assisted a wonderful Indian chef named Ruta Kahate when she gave classes in her home. Ruta gave the best hands-on cooking classes I have ever attended. This was her system:

- The ingredients were premeasured, in bowls, and set on a half-sheet tray. Knives, utensils and other tools that would be needed were set on the tray too.

- The pots and pans for cooking each recipe were set out on the counter for easy access. Question: do you have a system for dealing with the pots, pans, bowls, knives, etc as they get dirty? What if some of these pans and knives must be reused for another recipe?

- For complicated recipes, we often did most of the prep ahead of time and put it on the tray. We left token amts for people to do some "hands-on" like chop an onion or peel & devein shrimp. Ruta's priority was not the knife work or prep. So what if the chopped onion is a little scuzzy? If people keep up with cooking, their knife skills will improve.

- Ruta's strength, which too few hands-on cooking teachers do consistently, was to stay by the stove and watch over people's shoulders while they cooked. In my experience, that's when people really learn to cook--they can see, smell, and hear what the food should be doing as it cooks. Ruta would stick by them and point out things to do and things to watch out for. Her presence by the stove also insured that the dish would be cooked right. I put in the emphasis because in many hands-on classes, the students are freelancing at the stove while the teacher is elsewhere, and that's where the mistakes are made. Then the students don't know how to cook the dish properly and don't know what it should taste like, either.

- During class, my job was to clean up the dirty dishes and make sure the workspaces were clear for the next recipe. I helped with prep if one group seemed a little swamped, and demo-ed prep or knife techniques to a group if necessary. My presence in the rest of the room freed up Ruta's time so she could teach by the stove. If you can find someone to assist you and do these tasks, you will probably be very grateful to that person.

- A reminder: safety tips to the students before they do anything. They're wearing closed shoes, right? They should be reminded to keep the knives pointed down by their sides when they walk around with knives (you'd be surprised how many adults forget that). If they're carrying a hot pan behind someone, they should warn people by saying, "hot behind!" and wiggle their asses a little.

If you have other questions, ask away.

Talk about 'hitting the nail on the head'. Your post was so incredibly bang on and point by point you touched on everything which made the cooking course I took not what it could have been.

And I could add a few more points, such as having the students do everything by hand instead of using electrical appliances of some sort to get through the job quickly. And each class. I know how to chop an onion. I may not do it well, but I do know how. And I am there to learn another cuisine. At home I don't whisk eggs by hands. I don't mix some sauces by hand. I do use silicone scrapers to clean out pots...not wooden spoons. Yes, authenticity is all very well in cooking from another culture, but time is of the essence in some cases. And on and on...

The teacher never watched us cook at all. She WAS too busy. She had help only one day. We did bump into each other constantly at the sink...whose taps I still couldn't master. I had one set of measuring spoons. Then I had to wash it...and my one knife...and the cutting board. And etc. And not enough pot holders.

Conversely, parts of the prep meant that the teacher stayed up very late the night before doing it. She could not possibly have earned a decent wage from these classes. At all.

I'll quit. Thank you for explaining my frustrations to me. When I said yesterday that teaching our own craft was an incredible learning experience, I was correct. Having mastered WHAT you are teaching is only the beginning. Teaching it to others is a whole different thing. Thanks.

Edited March 19, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for the feedback!

My first thought was that as a "student" I might feel left out of a prep I was interested in if they are divided into groups.

They're all college students with some experience with and interest in cooking. My thinking is that people can switch between groups at the 15 minute breaks depending on what they want to do, and that we can all crowd around to see stuff that's worth watching because the schedule's pretty leisurely. (I've made this entire meal in an afternoon alone, and the bulk of the time is prep.)

This is only my impression, but that looks more like a dinner cooked by 15 or more people within a 2 hour time frame. Am I reading the chart right, and 15 mins of prep time are allotted at 5:45PM? Even if these people are great cooks with chef-level knife skills, there are delays because they are unfamiliar with your kitchen, don't know where things are, will talk to each other as they cook, and take pictures and video as souvenirs. In my mind's eye I can see them waiting to use the sink as dishes and pans pile up there too.

I should have explained more clearly. The class is intended as a very hands-on experience, not as a credit-bearing lecture. That's how I teach and how I think people best learn. If this were a day at CIA on SEA cooking, the goals and methods would likely be very different.

My job today is going to be to develop a shopping list, sharpen knives, create workstations, and get out all of the ingredients and equipment that they'll need to do the work. In addition, dinner's going to be cooked at the last minute and nothing needs to be served immediately except the snack fritters, so if we're a bit behind here or there we should be ok.

Having said that, if you see places in the schedule where things seem too cramped, I'd be very interested to know where those crowds are.

Question: do you have a system for dealing with the pots, pans, bowls, knives, etc as they get dirty? What if some of these pans and knives must be reused for another recipe?

Yes: we'll use everything once and pile it in the sink to be cleaned later. We need a small number of cooking vessels, all of which will be single use, and I am a fetishistic collector of stainless bowls of a variety of sizes. I"ll handwash knives as needed.

- Ruta's strength, which too few hands-on cooking teachers do consistently, was to stay by the stove and watch over people's shoulders while they cooked. In my experience, that's when people really learn to cook--they can see, smell, and hear what the food should be doing as it cooks. Ruta would stick by them and point out things to do and things to watch out for. Her presence by the stove also insured that the dish would be cooked right. I put in the emphasis because in many hands-on classes, the students are freelancing at the stove while the teacher is elsewhere, and that's where the mistakes are made. Then the students don't know how to cook the dish properly and don't know what it should taste like, either.

I agree completely. The salads we'll prepare together so that we can taste and discuss balance, and brave souls will do actual cooking of the dishes at the stove so that people can see the caramel darken, the coconut cream crack, etc. (I'll be cooking the last dish, the noodles, at the wok station.)

If you can find someone to assist you and do these tasks, you will probably be very grateful to that person.

That's a really good point. I had assumed that the president of the Brown Epicurean Society would do this but haven't said so explicitly. I was hoping I could bribe my 13 year old daughter into this role, but she's in Arizona!

A reminder: safety tips to the students before they do anything. They're wearing closed shoes, right? They should be reminded to keep the knives pointed down by their sides when they walk around with knives (you'd be surprised how many adults forget that). If they're carrying a hot pan behind someone, they should warn people by saying, "hot behind!" and wiggle their asses a little.

That's a great point. I'll get that out today.

I also think what you say about the instructor watching over to make sure the dishes come out "right" is an important point - you are completely right when you say that if mistakes are made, then students don't end up knowing what a dish was supposed to be like. And if they are learning to cook a cuisine that is very alien to them, then it's 10 times worse!

Agreed!

[Chris Amirault]

When I said yesterday that teaching our own craft was an incredible learning experience, I was correct. Having mastered WHAT you are teaching is only the beginning. Teaching it to others is a whole different thing. Thanks

And agreed. You learn more when you teach than anytime else. This event is likely to involve a lot of learning for all of us, and I'm surely going to have many changes to make after the inevitable snafus.

[JAZ]

Chris, if this is something you plan to do again, sit down the day after and make notes about everything that didn't work with ideas for changing it. If you don't do it right away, you probably won't remember all those great ideas you had. That's something we learned the hard way.

Djyee, I worked with Ruta years ago, and I agree that she was an excellent instructor and very well prepared. A couple more points:

Have sets of all the recipes for the students to take home, and also have copies at the stove so that they don't have to use their own copies while they're cooking. What we do is put the recipe copies on the sheet pans with the ingredients and equipment.

We always give our students the opportunity to ask any questions they have along the way. The students learn more that way, but if you do that, make sure you don't get off track and too far behind your schedule. If our students ask something not quite on topic, we answer those questions at the end of the class or during break, and if they ask something we're going to cover later, we tell them that and move on. We love to answer questions and if we're not careful we can get way off schedule.

Buy tons of paper towels. You'll need them not only for all the hand washing that will go on, but also for anchoring cutting boards (depending on what kinds you use).

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks, Janet. I know you and Dave are old hands at this!

Chris, if this is something you plan to do again, sit down the day after and make notes about everything that didn't work with ideas for changing it. If you don't do it right away, you probably won't remember all those great ideas you had. That's something we learned the hard way.

That's the plan! I'll be adding those notes right here, in fact.

Have sets of all the recipes for the students to take home, and also have copies at the stove so that they don't have to use their own copies while they're cooking. What we do is put the recipe copies on the sheet pans with the ingredients and equipment.

I copied all the recipes (plus that schedule and the menu) for everyone to have for tomorrow save the noodle dish, which I think we're going to do together at wok as the dish cooked last before eating. But the sheet pan idea is genius! That's a great way for us to organize our mise as we prep, and those pans (and beer trays, and...) can be carried around from prep area to cooking area.

We always give our students the opportunity to ask any questions they have along the way. The students learn more that way, but if you do that, make sure you don't get off track and too far behind your schedule. If our students ask something not quite on topic, we answer those questions at the end of the class or during break, and if they ask something we're going to cover later, we tell them that and move on. We love to answer questions and if we're not careful we can get way off schedule.

Good point. I have been accused of liking the sound of my own voice in my teaching evaluations....

Buy tons of paper towels. You'll need them not only for all the hand washing that will go on, but also for anchoring cutting boards (depending on what kinds you use).

Just added that to the list. Thanks!

[Darienne]

One clever trick my teacher gave us was to use small squares of that open 'weave' rubbery matting stuff that folks use to line drawers and a thousand other things to keep cutting boards stationary.

I always put my printed recipes in plastic see-through jackets when I am working on them. These sheet protectors open on two sides...no awkward and difficult sliding stuff in and out. Still easy enough to open the sheet to write notes in the margins.

Excellent point about the paper towels. So basic...and yet often not done. In her chocolate class, Kerry Beal had us working on large sheets of parchment paper. What a godsend for cleaning up chocolate which sticks to everything like crazy.

[Dave the Cook]

We keep a spreadsheet very much like the one you've laid out, Chris. We repeat some of our classes on a quarterly (a 3-day beginner's class), semi-annually ("science of" classes, rotating through protein, starch, eggs, etc.) or annually (Valentine's Day, Cinco de Mayo, etc.), and we use Google Docs, so either of us can access the schedule for planning, review or revision. It sounds like you probably won't be repeating this particular class, but if you do others, you'll find that some tasks come up over and over. It's helpful, for example, to know that it takes a group 20 minutes to make lemon curd, or five to trim asparagus. Not having to rethink this sort of thing makes mapping out new classes much easier.

Typically, our spreadsheet has a column that yours doesn't. It's easy, in the rush of a class, to forget even the most basic concepts. So for each class, we make a list of essential principles that we want the students to take away. Then we assign each principle to an appropriate task, as a reminder. So for example, Group 3 at 5:15 might get an explanation of what a shrimp "vein" is, and why you might or might not remove it. Or at 6:30, when you're tasting liquids, you might want to be sure to explain glutamates. We print out the schedule (which, with these notes is more like an agenda) and leave copies -- actually, we tape them down like a band's set list -- at various places in the kitchen so we never need to take more than a step or two to check our timing and information plan.

We also we run through the schedule with our assistants prior to class, and give them a heads-up on any potential issues: "we'll need you to wash the work bowl of the food processor right away and get it back to me for the next group," or "once we've done X, you can clear the cutting boards and knives, so we'll have room for Y."

On an unrelated note, unless you know everyone in the group, and everyone in the group knows everyone else, get name tags (I'm sure you've got a Sharpie!) It's surprising how this elevates not just the comfort level of the group, but makes your job easier. In a large class, it's much faster -- which is often important, like before Bob cuts off a fingertip -- to get an individual's attention if you can call out their name. (If you're using bib aprons, have them apply the tags after they've put them on; a tag that can't be seen through the bib is useless.)

Darienne, the place where we teach recently adopted the shelf-liner solution. Unfortunately, they cut the matting in squares of about four inches. I'm not sure what they were thinking: sure, the boards don't slide on the counter, but with that pad in the middle, they rock back and forth. So now you need a pad at each corner. If the point was to save setup time, I'm not sure they did themselves a favor.

[djyee100]

One last suggestion: have another sink available, like a bathroom sink, for people to wash their hands before and during cooking. Then they won't all crowd around the kitchen sink.

A small damp towel underneath a cutting board will also keep it from slipping on the counter.

Edited March 19, 2011 by djyee100 (log)

[Darienne]

Re cleaning hands, etc. Aprons that tie in the front with an accompanying small towel to hand over the front part of the tie are very useful.

Just finished teaching a friend how to make ice cream in a Cuisinart ICE-20 machine using my cornstarch base method. And how to substitute that method with the recipes which don't use it. Went well...but it was only one person and she was a friend. (Although we did have three dogs driving us slightly nuts during the 'class'.)

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks again, everyone. Following advice here, I did all the non-interesting shopping already and plan to do some prep shortly, probably including cleaning the shrimp since, increasingly, I think we have enough to do and I have no clue about the skill level of the folks coming. I'm also going to get all the stations set up and get the ingredients and tools out that I think we'll need.

One clever trick my teacher gave us was to use small squares of that open 'weave' rubbery matting stuff that folks use to line drawers and a thousand other things to keep cutting boards stationary.

I have a ton of those cut very large, so I'll get those out.

We keep a spreadsheet very much like the one you've laid out, Chris.

Yes, well, I stole it from you guys, more or less!

Typically, our spreadsheet has a column that yours doesn't. It's easy, in the rush of a class, to forget even the most basic concepts. So for each class, we make a list of essential principles that we want the students to take away. Then we assign each principle to an appropriate task, as a reminder.

That's really smart. I think I'm going to go through today and add those by hand....

On an unrelated note, unless you know everyone in the group, and everyone in the group knows everyone else, get name tags (I'm sure you've got a Sharpie!) It's surprising how this elevates not just the comfort level of the group, but makes your job easier.

Note to self: get name tags at office.

In a large class, it's much faster -- which is often important, like before Bob cuts off a fingertip -- to get an individual's attention if you can call out their name.

Note to self: get first aid kit at Target.

One last suggestion: have another sink available, like a bathroom sink, for people to wash their hands before and during cooking. Then they won't all crowd around the kitchen sink.

Excellent idea. Note to self: get more hand soap at Target.

[Jenni]

Chris, I really like your menu, I'm hoping you have time to take some pictures during all the madness! I also am after that rice noodles with greens, green peppercorns, and thai basil recipe...

[Chris Amirault]

I'm wiped.

Yep, I took photos during prep, which I'll show in a bit. But that six hours -- from pickup to drop-off -- went by in a blur. The additional three hours of dishwashing and cleaning was also exhausting.

By their accounts, the students had a great time. Me? I'm loaded with criticisms of what I did and how I did it. More a bit later when the caffeine kicks in.