Category Archives: Cooking Classes

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Learn the Science of Cooking: ChefSteps

There are a lot of resources on the web for those of us who want to learn more about cooking without ponying up the time, cash and commitment it would take to go through a culinary program.  Maybe you just want to learn a couple of dishes, maybe you want to learn a particular skill, or maybe you’re really interested in the science behind how cooking processes work.  For those of you interested in the latter two, you might want to check out this site: ChefSteps.

ChefSteps is a FREE(!) site out of Pike Place Market in Seattle that has courses and mini-tutorials on why things work and how things work, as well as how to do something and some basic recipes.  You can get instruction on certain aspects of molecular gastronomy like how to centrifuge strawberry juice or the science of spherification.  It’s may not be something you’ll want to do as a beginner, but it’s definitely great knowledge to have stored away, and you can learn a lot of fun, advanced things to do in the kitchen.  I have no connection to this site at all, but I’ve been trying it out and it’s pretty fun.

Particularly awesome:

- They have a course on the Science of Poutine.  Seriously.
– They have text and image tutorials showing you how to do each step of a process.
– You can filter videos by recipe, technique or science, as well as beginner, intermediate or advanced.

Again, I wouldn’t really consider these “beginner courses.”  If you have never so much as boiled water, you might want to start with learning basic processes, patterns and ingredients for cooking, but once you’ve gotten all that down and you want a real challenge, this is an awesome resource.  Also free!

Check Out ChefsSteps