The best, most affordable cooking classes around the world
Cooking classes are popping up all around the world, and we've found the best, most affordable ones out there.
The Apple Farm Cooking School, Philo, California
What you'll learn: Seasonal cuisine is the focus at Karen and Tim Bates' biodynamic apple orchard. You'll prepare locally raised chicken with olives, and an apple galette. Sleep in one of three renovated cottages set in the orchard, and leave with a trove of recipes.
Class highlight: Waking up to Saturday's breakfast, featuring the farm's fresh apple juice and homemade jams.
Details:philoapplefarm.com; from $80 for a four-hour class or from $900 per person for two nights, including classes, lodging and meals
In your kitchen:
Try our Apple Galette with Cider Drizzle »
Chef Joe Randall's Cooking School, Savannah, Georgia
What you'll learn: Cooking legend Joe Randall has shared the gospel of Low Country cooking at his Savannah school for 10 years. He applies classic technique to soul favorites, like crab cakes with mustard aioli. Walk off your meal with a stroll along historic River Street.
Class highlight: Watching chef Randall stir an extra pinch of cayenne into his smothered shrimp and grits-"just enough to make it talk to ya!"
Details:chefjoerandall.com; $85 for a three-hour demonstration or $195 for a three-class weekend series
In your kitchen:
Try our Shrimp Jambalaya with Grits »
Salt Water Farm, Lincolnville, Maine
What you'll learn: There's a garden just outside the kitchen barn, so it makes sense that hyperlocal ingredients are at the center of chef Annemarie Ahearn's lesson plan. Prepare Penobscot Bay bouillabaisse and wild mushroom tart with goat cheese. Then sit down together, tuck in and toast the flavors of Maine.
Class highlight: Soaking up the 180-degree view of the Atlantic: You might even glimpse an osprey or an eagle as you chop and stir.
Details:saltwaterfarm.com; $75 for a three-hour class
In your kitchen:
Try our Potato Tart with Thyme »
Seasons of My Heart, Oaxaca, Mexico
What you'll learn: Chef Susana Trilling brings 30 years of experience to her classes. Try making chocolate-infused mole or toasting tortillas on a traditional clay comal.
Class highlight: Savoring Trilling's approach to cooking: "After making tamales from scratch, you never look at them the same way again."
Details:seasonsofmyheart.com; $50 for a half-day class, or $1,495 per person for six nights or $1,995 per person for eight nights, including all classes, meals and hotel accommodations
In your kitchen:
Try our Chicken Mole Chili »
Bake! at Zingerman's Bakehouse, Ann Arbor, Michigan
What you'll learn: In 2006, the Midwestern mainstay Zingerman's added a classroom to its deli and baked-goods empire. Now there are more than 40 hands-on courses and multiday "Bake-cations." Learn the recipes behind the company's most popular treats-its French baguette, ginger scones and sour cream coffee cake.
Class highlight: Piping vanilla bean cream into hot, freshly made donuts.
Details:bakewithzing.com; $100 to $125 for a four-hour class, $500 for a two-day series or $1,000 for a four-day series
In your kitchen:
Try our Middle Fork Coffee Cake »
Braise Culinary School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
What you'll learn: "Show, don't tell" is the mantra at chef David Swanson's traveling culinary school. Each class is held on-site at a farm, orchard or bakery, where students take a behind-the-scenes tour before settling in to learn how to make the location's best recipes-farm-focused treats like fresh sorrel pesto or semolina cake with poached local pears.
Class highlight: Foraging in the fields during the annual mushroom-and-morels class.
Details:braiselocalfood.com; $50 for a three-hour tour and demonstration
In your kitchen:
Try our Zucchini Linguine with Curried Cashew Pesto »
Red Bridge Cooking School, Hoi An, Vietnam
What you'll learn: Affiliated with the Red Bridge Restaurant, this school offers a taste of Vietnamese culture and cuisine. Work up an appetite with the morning market walk, riverboat ride and organic herb garden tour. Then gather in the open-air kitchen to prepare beef pho and grilled chicken over a green papaya-and-banana blossom salad.
Class highlight: Taking in the vibrant whirl of colorful produce and fragrant spices at the central market.
Details:visithoian.com/redbridge; $25 for a half-day class
In your kitchen:
Try our Phunky Pho »
Organic Tuscany, Tuscany, Italy
What you'll learn: Sink into la dolce vita while preparing fresh egg pasta and sighing over your homemade tiramisu. Guests stay in a 19th-century villa set on 340 acres of olive trees, and learn to cook upward of 60 dishes during the week.
Class highlight: Carrying the meals you cooked into the garden, where you can picnic in the shade of an ancient chestnut tree.
Details:organictuscany.org; $160 for a three-hour class or $1,725 per person for seven nights, including four cooking classes, lodging and most meals
In your kitchen:
Try our Tiramisu Pudding »
By the Every Day with Rachael Ray staff, with help from Joe David, David Loy and John Wilson
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