French cooking classes??? Any recommendations for learning & fun?
 

While in Paris, we thought it may be interesting to take a short (1 day) cooking class. Has anyone from this forum ever participated in one or know someone that has? I love to cook, but coming from Pennsylvania, my knowledge is alot of "comfort food" type cooking, cakes, pies, etc. All homemade of course! I would love to learn more! Would appreciate any suggestions!

I took a market & cooking class through Cook'n with Class ( http://www.cooknwithclass.com ). I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely go back during my next trip to Paris!

We also took a class with Cookin With Class this summer. We did the half day macaron class and it was a lot of fun, and of course very good. Our instructor was Pino, and he was very nice and personal. We took the class on our last day, but we enjoyed it so much that we wished we had time for at least another.

Thank you so much! Just checked out their website and saw the video as well on you tube. This might be the place! :)

Do we need a reservation or can we decide once we get there? We don't have a set in stone itinerary. We like to just wonder at leisure, but don't want to miss out. We travel Feb 12-20. 12th & 20th being the travel days :(

This is one of the least expensive one's I have read about:

http://www.doitinparis.com/weekend-g...ass-paris-3266

Thank you cigalechanta. I just checked out that link as well. Just can't find the info in English on that site to look at making reservations or to get more info??

We did the class in June, so definitely needed a reservation. I would make a reservation now and then just plan the rest of the day around that. We did the morning, so had the entire afternoon/evening free so it really didn't intrude on any other plans we had.

Here's a link to a list of some of the better known (and fun) pastry/cooking classes available to visitors to France:


http://www.chocoparis.com/pastry-and...late-training/

Tammy--My daughter and I took a class from Erik when he was starting out with Cooking With Class. I agree with MMS: I'd hurry up and schedule a class if you can.

I'm no gourmet, but I'd say I'm pretty comfy in a kitchen and mistakenly thought I was rather knowledgeable about choosing a ripe fruit or vegetable before the class. Well, I learned SO much from the shopping in the market with Erik, and in just a few hours, learned a few small knife skills, like the proper way to segment a blood orange, that have actually come in rather handy.

My daughter was in heaven--she enjoyed the other people in the class just as much as the food prep (most were people who had dreamed of coming to France and were just soaking up everything Paris had to offer).

So I hope you get to do this. Enjoy!

Thank you all! AlessandraZoe I did request a reservation for 3 of the days we're there. Like I mentioned, we don't have a set itinerary so I gave them 3 days to see if there's availability. I'm no gourmet either, but I sure love to cook. I think I have more knowledge than some, but not as much as many... and would thoroughly enjoy this. I even have my husband talked into trying it and he doesn't like to boil water! I think it will be fun! C'mon Feb 12th.. get here. I can't wait to visit PARIS! I'm soooooo excited!

Also... is it ok to wear tennis shoes during the day in paris for walking? I read in one book that tennis shoes are only for sports. I want to be comfortable walking!

You can wear ANYTHING in Paris. There are enough tourists from all over the world that no one really cares. Tennies or not, they'll know you're American in five seconds anyway.

Thank you Alessandra! I figured that, but I didn't want to look terribly out of place. You've been most helpful with all your replies. And, by the way, we're booked at Cookin with Class! Have the morning at the market reserved! I can't wait. They got many, many good reviews on Trip Advisor too!

I did a cooking class with Cookn with Class last Saturday, and it was awesome! Eric didn't teach our class, however. But it was fun to have a native Californian at the helm (Bernadette). And our class ended up being more like 5 hours long when all was said and done. It was a great way to meet people as a solo traveler, and in fact, I met up with some of my classmates on Monday night at Hotel de Crillon. They got engaged Saturday night after our class :)

I also took a 2nd cooking class yesterday at Ecole Ritz Escoffier. It was also fantastic, and a great value at €45. It was more demonstration-based, but also hands-on, and while most of the class was conducted in French, they had another chef translate so we didn't get too lost. We ate what we cooked after with wine, and it was a wonderful afternoon. It lasted about 1.5 hours. http://www.ritzparis.com

I would check-out both as options. Great times!

Kyliebaby3... Just got around to reading your response. Thanks for the helpful info. We did book w/ cookn w/ class and have Bernadette as our instructor. Hope this is a good thing since she's not truely french? A native Californian? I thought it was going to be a genuine FRENCH cooking class! lol
Thanks for the tips!
Tammy

We met the owner of this business on one trip but never took the class - she combines a visit to the market with the cooking class - http://www.promenadesgourmandes.com/

You'll love her, Tammy! I thought the same thing and was put off briefly. However, she knows her stuff and has been living in France for awhile, so she was knowledgeable. It was particularly helpful at the market because we could ask her questions about the relations to things back home, and she knew what we were talking about. Have so much fun!

has anyone gone to le cordon blu to do a class?