SUR LA TABLE: COOKING EXPERIENCE

While Birmingham plays host to a delightful culinary school, Culinard, committing to a lengthy program isn't feasible for the working foodie but with a little digging I came across SUR LA TABLE’s cooking classes. With great instruction (some of the chefs are instructors at Culinard), location and a variety of classes, playing culinary student for a day was a must!  I’d toyed around with attending a class as a birthday gift to a friend and had to scrap the idea as classes start around the 69 dollar range and may not have been budget conscious for guests. I was in luck a few weeks ago as I noticed a promotional email advertising classes at a reduced rate! Of course I grabbed a foodie friend and signed up!

AMBIANCE: If you’ve never visited Sur la table you are definitely missing out on a cooking sensory overload. It's safe to describe it as the north side of kitchen heaven!  Products range from mid to high end. The  vast selection of gadgets and gizmos, quality service ware and cookware would satisfy any aspiring amateur or full-fledged chef. Sur la table didn't spare any of the glamour in their teaching kitchen either. It was well stocked with cutting edge gadgets and showcased some of Sur la table's own branded tools of the trade. The fully functional instructional kitchen was well planned out  and was conducive to teaching and learning. My only qualm was the mirror used to reflect the teaching demos, it was located in an area that only favored itself to one side of the audience. A video system to display the of the moment actions on the large flat screen, that ran continuous advertisement throughout class, would have been more conducive.

THE INSTRUCTOR: Well versed, educated and armed with quite a bit of patience, I found Chef Jared to be informative, personable and very helpful! As an instructor by day  at the local culinary school and with an extensive background, I'd list him as an admirable instructor. Chef Jared was assisted by two wonderful ladies (Taylor and Lilly ) who made sure our stations were stocked and dishes magically disappeared and reappeared clean!  All in all, my first instructional kitchen experience was far better than television depictions with popular screaming chefs! Plus who doesn’t like a chef that feeds you first, during and after!

INSTRUCTION: Croissants were the teaching topic of the day and while looking at the provided recipe packet may have been intimidating,  Chef  Jared’s hands on approach made the process much more graspable. 
Three stations were set up and our class of 10 was allowed to form groups of 3 and 4. Chef Jared demo’d the process and we made our attempt at croissants with his support. 
Working with dough calls for resting and proofing as our well prepared instructor anticipated and provided prepped dough to keep the class moving. We took about a twenty minute break which was great for browsing the store for the tools you'll fall in love with as you use them during the process!  Our class lasted around three hours and chef even provided samples of the finished product and a few varied usages of croissant dough (fried croissant dough taste similar to the beignets) as well as. 

VERDICT:
I give SUR LA TABLE's cooking class experience  four out of four whisk! It was tons of fun and very informative. I don't think I'm brave enough to tackle croissants at home just yet but I learned a lot about baking! Take a friend or significant other with you and of course you'll meet some new friends in the process! Sign up for the Sur la table emails and keep your eye for the perfect class for you or as a gift that will sure to win you brownie points.... hmmmm Sur la table brownies???