Feast Magazine has a great article about a wonderful couple, Bob and Barb Mepham of Bob’s Seafood. Kitchen Conservatory purchases all of its fish and seafood from Bob’s Seafood. One of our most popular classes is A Day in the Kitchen: Fish and Seafood, which starts at the fish counter at Bob’s Seafood. This cooking [...]

Shrimp, which used to be a delicacy, is now ubiquitous. Frozen shrimp, already peeled and deveined, but with the tail left on, is readily available and used by home cooks and restaurant chefs alike. “P-and-D” shrimp is super-easy to use and requires virtually no prep work other than defrosting and cooking. It is a rare [...]

The season of eating fish is here and Kitchen Conservatory is offering some brand-new cooking classes featuring exciting and delicious fish recipes. No more fish sticks or fish cakes! Two very talented chefs will be cooking from the freshest catch of the day. These all-fish cooking classes will excite your tastebuds as you watch the [...]

Luxurious foods are always on Valentine menus: lobster, crab, scallops, oysters, and other fish and shellfish, which inspired the fishmonger to comment, “Nothing says true love like dead fish.” Nor is killing the live lobster a prelude to a kiss. Be kind to your sweetheart and shell the seafood before serving. Lobster meat is easily [...]

Unfortunately, no one in St. Louis sells real grits, only instant grits. Our town is not southern enough to market grits! To get true grits, one must drive down south and load up the trunk or order online. If you are used to instant grits, the coarse texture and flavor of long-cooking grits is a [...]

Felicia writes, “How do you make sauce Newburg?” This delicious cream sauce for shellfish is flavored with sherry. I like to add fresh artichoke hearts and mushrooms and serve the sauce over rice, pasta, or potatoes. Lobster-Crab Newburg 3 lobsters 1 onion, chopped 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced 4 tablespoons butter 4 tablespoons flour 1/2 teaspoon paprika [...]

French foods are back in style, finally! Our historically-French city now has several French restaurants: Brasserie and Chez Leon (their chefs teach cooking classes at Kitchen Conservatory), plus Atlas, Cafe Provencal, Franco, and Pomme. Julia Child would be so happy that we are rediscovering her favorite foods (only two spots are available for our Julia class [...]

Say what? Banh xeo! These irresistable Vietnamese crepes, pronounced bunn SAY-oh, are a crispy thin pancake filled with flavor. Although no one in the cooking class had ever heard of them, banh xeo was the favorite recipe in our recent crepe class. This crepe is made without the traditional ingredients of eggs, milk, or flour, but tastes [...]

“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 [...]

Mardi Gras is a great excuse to indulge in favorite New Orleans dishes. Load up on fresh oysters and prepare a sumptuous dish, Oysters Rockefeller, which was named after the richest man because the dish is so rich. The fresh oysters in the shell are twice sauced: spinach-pernod and creamy cheese sauces. The best knives [...]