Cooking Schools

Culinary Institute of America
External Link: http://ciachef.edu

The CIA is located in Hyde Park, about 2 hours north of NYC in the Hudson Valley, reachable by Metro-North. While most of their courses are for professionals, CIA also teaches amateurs -- who they call "enthusiasts" -- both curious and serious. Classes are either hands-on or demonstration, one or two days long, in cooking and the pastry arts, including some specifically designed for kids and families. The CIA also offers what they call "Boot Camp," intensive two-to-five day courses that make you work 12+ hour days. These classes start at 6:00 a.m., making it a tough commute from New York City, but there's a choice of nearby accomodations.

De Gustibus Cooking School at Macy's
External Link: http://www.degustibusnyc.com

De Gustibus has been teaching and encouraging home cooking for nearly 30 years. Classes are held in a beautifully equipped classroom/demo kitchen on the 8th floor of Macy's. Most of the classes are demonstration-only, but you'll get to watch up-close, and learn from, some of the greatest chefs working today. And tastings (with paired wines) are always included. Subjects are as diverse as eating and cooking are today.

The program is now under the direction of Salvatore Rizzo who recently purchased De Gustibus from Arlene Feltman Sailhac who continues as the host and a consultant to the Fall '08 season.

French Culinary Institute
External Link: http://www.frenchculinary.com/

Located in SoHo, FCI offers a growing number of cooking, pastry, bread, and wine courses for the "serious amateur." New York Magazine named them 2007's Best Amateur Cooking Course. Classes include their 110-hour LaTechnique I, Essentials of Italian Cooking (40 hours), and 15-hours spent on knife skills. There are also shorter classes in subjects like tapas, charcuterie and patés, chocolate truffles, seafood, wine, and much more. The classes are small and serious, all are hands-on, all are taught by chef-teachers, and you wear chef's whites while working in FCI's professional kitchens. There's an admitted bias here: the editor of TheCityCook.com is an FCI graduate and enthusiastic fan of its exceptional faculty (who don't treat you as a second-class citizen just because you're an amateur student) and of the high quality and integrity of everything they do.

The Institute of Culinary Education
External Link: http://www.iceculinary.com

ICE's Recreation Division holds about 1700 different amateur culinary courses a year, ranging from 3-hour evening classes to master classes that need a bigger commitment. All classes are held at ICE's West 23rd Street professional facility, with choices any day of the week, both during the day and evenings. New schedules are published every December, April and August and you'll find courses in technique (from basic to advanced), cooking, baking, and wine. There are single classes in the "essentials" of many ethnic cuisines including Mexican, Greek, Sicilian, Cantonese, and others. ICE is a great place to take a fun class, to fill in some special skills, or to test your culinary interest before taking on more serious amateur training.

The New School - Culinary Studies
External Link: http://www.generalstudies.newschool.edu/culinary/

The New School offers more than 100 cooking classes, most of which are held at The Inn on 23rd Street (between 6th/7th Avenues). Many are in the evening or on the weekend, with a few daytime classes. It's a great place for the beginner ("How to Boil Water" is always popular), for kids, and for home cooks at all levels of skill with special interests, e.g., how to make suckling pig or tagines. Subjects cover cooking, pastry arts, technique, and wine. There are also longer master classes as well as fun culinary walking tours of the city and kitchen tastings in some of New York's best restaurants. Reasonably priced and excellent teachers. Bring your own apron.