Is one chocolate cake any better than another? Yes, this recipe is the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted — moist with a rich chocolate taste. The simple bundt cake is iced with chocolate ganache and was created by chef Brenda Vanden Bos. Chocolate Cake is Number 10 on our list of the Top […]

A “gratin” is a fancy name for a “casserole” and most gratins are layers of vegetables covered in cream. The sweet-and-spicy taste of this gratin, Sweet Potato-Chipotle, is irresistible. Originally created by Dawn Meyer for a cooking class featuring our favorite Emile Henry gratin bakeware, this easy recipe with five ingredients is always a crowd […]

Most chowders are thick, rich, hearty soups seasoned with bacon and potatoes. This exceptional chowder is elegant and sophisticated for serving at a special dinner party. The texture is voluptuous. This corn soup is even delicious cold on a hot summer night. The recipe includes many variations on garnishing the soup from seafood to fresh […]

First we discovered the lemon cream sauce, which is good, but seemed to call out for seafood. So we put seared sea scallops on top of the sauce. But such a beautiful sauce needs better treatment. So we used fresh lobster and shrimp, mixed with a little mascarpone cheese and seasonings, and stuffed into fresh […]

Yes, you can bake yeast rolls at home that are so much better than any commercially-produced bread. Hundreds and hundreds of people have learned how to bake bread from Margi Kahn, an accomplished baker who has taught bread classes at Kitchen Conservatory for twenty years. Her irresistible Cinnamon Rolls are a crowd favorite. To see […]

For 42 years, chef Jean-Pierre Augé has taught French cooking classes in St. Louis. Kitchen Conservatory is so fortunate that he has shared his expertise once a month, every month at Kitchen Conservatory for the last 30 years. Celebrate our anniversary by making one of our favorite recipes: Jean-Pierre’s upside-down Tomato Tarte Tatin, a scrumptious, […]

A good scampi is an excuse to eat lots of garlic butter and this recipe elevates the simple scampi by adding scallops, wine, and seasonings. Shrimp and Scallop Scampi is Number 17 on the list of Top Thirty Recipes celebrating the Thirtieth Anniversary of Kitchen Conservatory. Get the recipe here. Shrimp and Scallop Scampi is […]

A salad is not just a salad when it is chock-full of vegetables, cheese, herbs, olives, and bread. Kirk Warner, chef-owner of Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen, created this delicious salad, which trumps all other bread salads because he uses multiple herbs and multiple vegetables in a lemon-honey dressing. Get the recipe here. Spring Vegetable Fattoush is […]

Amateur bread-baker Margi Kahn has taught us so much about how to mix, knead, rise, form, and bake an incredible variety of breads over the twenty years that she has taught bread-baking classes at Kitchen Conservatory. Every staff-member has a different favorite “Margi bread,” but we all agree that her focaccia is exceptional. To experience […]

My favorite party dish is crispy chicken leg quarters. I turn on the heat when the doorbell rings, enjoy the cocktail hour, and magically, the chicken entree is perfectly cooked! Chef Mike Johnson taught this technique in a cooking class fifteen years ago and the whole staff has been cooking chicken this way ever since. […]