Wisconsin's Culinary Scene: Learning the Basics
Brush up on your cooking skills while watching and working alongside Wisconsin’s top professional chefs. The doors are open to a variety of classes, lessons and demonstrations – whether it’s in one of the state’s restaurants, culinary schools or fine retail stores and farmer’s markets. Here are some top picks to get a “culinary education” on your next vacation to Wisconsin. Spots fill up quickly and reservations are required for most of the schools and demonstration classes. Travelers are encouraged to call ahead.
Culinary and Cooking Schools
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The Marcel Biró Culinary School (920-451-6940) in Sheboygan is the gold standard for culinary schools with its own nationally syndicated PBS cooking series “The Kitchens of Biró.” It’s a full-immersion cooking school dedicated to teaching classic European techniques, however, Chef Biró prides himself on individualized attention for all his students and wants to teach skills that anyone can take home and use in their kitchen. For $350, those wanting to really immerse in restaurant cooking can sign up for “Chef for a Day” to be an apprentice at either Biró Restaurant or Ó. A sampling of classes from their extensive catalog includes intensives on sushi and advanced pastry to menus that feature light, healthy food to Rustic Italian. Travelers can make their experiences a getaway weekend at a variety of lodging properties in the area, which offer up to 25% off for class participants.
Terri Milligan, executive chef and owner of The Inn at Kristofer’s (920-854-9419) in Sister Bay, has been instructing everyone from professional chefs to cooking novices for 20 years. Featured on the Food Channel's "Best of Holiday Cooking,” Milligan offers cooking class and demonstration theme dinners plus demonstration and participation classes.
Another Door County educational sojourn is the Savory Spoon Cooking School (920-854-6600) in Ellison Bay. Located in a 160 year-old historic schoolhouse, the Savory Spoon caters to the home cook who wants to learn by experience. Chef and owner Janice Thomas, along with her many visiting guest chefs, host classes up to 16 students in her spacious farmhouse kitchen from June through October. Dip your spoon into global cuisine from India, Asia, or Argentina. Or stay closer to home with an exploration of Door County’s own unique flavors and ingredients. Classes are held in the evening and start at $50 per person.
Visitors to the historic Washington Island Hotel, Restaurant, & Culinary School (920-847-2169) can relax, hike, fish, boat – and cook. Executive Chef Leah Caplan oversees a variety of classes, from one-hour demonstrations that are perfect for sightseers touring the island, to more intensive two-day hands-on classes. The Washington Island Hotel, Restaurant & Culinary School offers custom classes for up to 10 people and their regular class puts special emphasis on ingredients found locally. Guest chefs are brought in to teach specialties such as bread baking, cooking with chocolate and more.
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Unique to Wisconsin’s cooking school scene is the Braise Culinary School (414-241-9577). Unlike most cooking classes located at restaurants or homes, this is a traveling school that goes right to the location where food is grown and produced, showcasing Wisconsin products in their native settings, often on farms around the state. Braise Culinary School classes compliment the seasons and help participants reconnect with the land. A tour of the farm or facility, recipes and ample samplings of the dishes are all part of the class format. Classes focus on maple syrup, cheese, wine and chocolate.
Wisconsin's Top Chefs and Restaurants
Milwaukee’s very own celebrity chef Sanford “Sandy” D’Amato is sharing his experience and recipes in a series of culinary classes at his Historic Third Ward District restaurant, Coquette Café (414-291-2655). The $59 price includes the 3-hour evening class and tasting of a four course meal that includes inspired dishes such as Fennel Seared Tuna on Vegetable Spaghetti with Fig Onion Relish or Marsala Poached Pear with Vin Santo Zabaglione.
Madison ’s L’Etoile Restaurant (608-251-0500) has been a venerable fixture in the fine dining scene since 1976, when Chef Odessa Piper launched the restaurant after being inspired by the diversity and quality of the area’s local ingredients. In a series of ongoing cooking classes, current owner and chef, Tory Miller, shares the inspiration and techniques behind L’Etoile’s seasonal menus, putting the spotlight on local farmers and producers. Dinner classes include a three-course meal with wine, instruction and recipes to take home and cost $85 per person. Sign up to receive email announcements about upcoming classes.
Fondue has made a huge comeback in recent years, as retailers from Williams Sonoma to Target sell pots, accessories and cookbooks dedicated to this Swiss art of communal dining and cooking. In the village of New Glarus, where large numbers of Swiss immigrants settled in the mid-19th century, travelers can get the authentic fondue experience. Local Swiss-trained Chef Mike Neval shares his secrets for an authentic fondue during demonstrations at both the Chalet Laundhaus Inn & Restaurant (608-527-5234) and the New Glarus Hotel (608-527-5244). A fondue demonstration for groups of 10 or more includes a lesson behind the history of fondue and an overview on the cheese and the proper dipping accoutrements. Afterwards, guests can purchase all of the ingredients needed to make fondue at home. Contact the Chalet Landhaus to make reservations.
At The Dining Room (608-938-2200) in Monticello, Chef Dave "Wave" Kasprzak and his wife Jane Sybers offer two formats of culinary education. Observation classes cover ethnic cuisine, dinner party planning and kitchen techniques in a 1 ½-2 hour class. Guest’s won’t leave hungry after a hearty sampling and wine tasting. In a more intensive “Chef for the Day” class, four students will prepare an entire five-course menu, under Chef Wave’s supervision, of course. During the 3 ½ hour class, students might cover any number of topics depending on the menu, such as knife techniques, sauce creation, butchering, seafood preparation and more. Each student can bring a friend to enjoy the fruits of their labor. E-mail or call The Dining Room to be placed on a mailing list for more information and an upcoming class schedule.
Shopping and Demonstration Classes
For an informal dip into the culinary waters of Wisconsin, a number of retail shops specializing in gourmet food and cooking equipment offer mini-cooking sessions and demonstrations.
The Demonstration Kitchen at The Shops at Woodlake (1-800-344-2838) is a very casual working kitchen that allows up to 40 people to watch and interact with chefs from the seven Destination Kohler restaurants as the prepare a featured dish. Demonstrations are Saturdays, January-April at 11a.m. and 2p.m. and cost $25 per person.
Purchase all of your cooking equipment and supplies to make your kitchen the envy of all others at the Truly Delicious Chef Shop (715-934-8179) in Hayward, then stick around for a class that will help even the novice chef cook like a professional. Classes range from full menu preparation to focus on specific ingredients like venison, stout ale or olive oil.
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The Milwaukee Public Market (414-336-1111), the urban farmer’s market and gourmet food mecca, is not only a place to purchase the choicest cuts of meat and the freshest organic produce, but a destination to learn how to help you turn your ingredients into something really special. Classes are held in the evenings in a demonstration format and include printed recipes and tastings of each recipe.
Take a day to learn how to bake sourdough bread like you find in San Francisco at Madison Sourdough (608-833-8009). Get your hands covered in flour in this intense Saturday class that covers the basics from mixing and kneading to shaping and baking. Fee for the class, which includes snacks and lunch, is $250.
(Source: Travel Wisconsin) |
