“I was pleased to sample the bouillabaisse last night when I was at a cake decorating class– I would love the recipe if at all possible. It was simply delicious!!!!” Chef-instructor Katy Colson taught an international soup class that included Vietnamese bouillabaisse. Traditionally, bouillabaisse is a French fish soup flavored with saffron, tomato, parsley, and garnished with a spicy mayonaisse [...]

Christine writes, “I’m looking for the recipe for the Amazing Peanut Butter Pie that Marla used in her peanut butter class. I have lost mine.” On a snow day, this dessert can be made with pantry items. Pastry chef Marla Scissors (who passed away from ALS in 2008) demonstrated many wonderful dessert recipes in her [...]

What temperature do you like your meat? Rare, medium-rare, medium, or well-done? And just what do those words mean? One person’s rare can be another person’s medium. In cooking classes, I have seen students react on both sides of the spectrum even in the same class; the meat considered both overcooked and undercooked. Nothing else in the [...]

Dear Chef, Should lace tuile cookies be really crispy and can they be frozen? Thanks!!! Tracy, St. Louis The thin, crisp crunch is the whole point of lace cookies. The name “tuile” means tile, and frequently the flat cookies are shaped (while hot) around a rolling pin so that they have a slight curve (like [...]

I need to take a sweet potato dish to a Thanksgiving party, but I don’t want to take my mother’s super-sweet syrupy sweet potatoes. Do you have a suggestion? Yes! Sweet potatoes are already sweet, so why do we add more sugar? How about this creamy gratin: Sweet Potato-Corn Gratin 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled [...]

Food scientist Harold McGee confessed yesterday in the New York Times that he does not brine his turkey. Neither do I. His complaint with brining is that the turkey drippings are too salty and tasteless for making a delicious pan sauce – and the gravy is the crucial component. I do not brine turkey because I find it an [...]

Chef Bruce Piatek II is the executive chef of Eleven Eleven Mississippi. His wife, Anne Piatek, is also a chef. She works as a personal chef to families creating nutritious and healthy meals. Together, Bruce and Anne teach really wonderful cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory because their different styles compliment each other so well. At their last [...]

In a participation cooking class the other night, the chef-instructor (Cary McDowell of Revival) repeatedly asked the student to “aggressively season” the meat. What a great phrase! Don’t just sprinkle on a little salt, but aggressively season — meaning, coat the meat with flavor. Seasoning — especially salt — may be the biggest difference between [...]

“I’d like to get my grand-daughter a sushi-making kit. Do you have one?” a customer called to ask. Yes, we have the sushi mat and rice paddle available. “I want a kit that has everything in it,” the grandmother said. To make sushi, all you really need is the wooden mat for rolling up the ingredients. [...]

It’s apple pie season! Since we answer more questions on pie than any other cooking dilemma, here are the most common pie pitfalls: 1. Dough is too warm. Flaky pastry is the result of a cold dough hitting a hot oven. Plus, warm dough absorbs more flour. Flour does not add flavor! Be sure that [...]