For many Americans, spending more time at home during quarantine has been an opportunity to learn new practical skills. Recent DIY trends on social media include anything from gardening to rug making to applying liquid eyeliner, but perhaps the most popular quarantine activity is cooking.
Photograph courtesy of Tablespoon Cooking Co
Cincinnati’s Tablespoon Cooking Co. is trying to make it easier for people to learn the joys of cooking while remaining healthy and safe. Tablespoon now offers a new slate of virtual workshops in addition to in-person classes. Each workshop, both online and in-person, centers on one or two autumnal dishes. Last week’s theme was soup. This week, it’s jalapeño cornbread and chili.
Photograph courtesy of Tablespoon Cooking Co
Tablespoon’s founder Jordan Hamons hopes that these virtual workshops will allow people to connect over food more easily than ever before, by helping people learn to cook restaurant-caliber food from within their personal kitchens. “Our classes are taught by professional chefs who use their industry experience and knowledge from working in restaurant kitchens and going to culinary school [to] show home cooks how they can cook better food at home,” she says.
Hamons and her chef instructors also have to be considerate about the limitations of students’ personal kitchens and supplies. If you don’t want to shop for the workshop ingredients yourself, Tablespoon can provide a pre-measured ingredient kit.
November’s schedule includes Tablespoon’s traditional piemaking classes, both in-person and digitally. “We’ll make a double-crust apple pie with an all-butter crust from start to finish—mixing the dough, making the filling, rolling, shaping, crimping, and baking,” Hamons says. “An insider tip is to freeze the pie you make during class and you’ll have your pie ready for Thanksgiving.”
Hamons says that Tablespoon will continue offering these virtual classes even post-pandemic, including virtual classes for children. Later this month, Course, a 5-week culinary series for the at-home cook, begins. Team member Daniel Jones, in partnership with the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati, will continue to offer virtual baking classes. Look out, too, for offerings from guest chefs and a monthly virtual masterclass with a focus on a single dish such as chicken or chocolate chip cookies.
Tickets for November classes go on sale Friday, October 9 at noon. Join the e-mail list for more immediate notifications about ticket availability.
Hamons promises that the virtual classes will help you gain kitchen confidence. “There’s no ‘TV magic’ involved as there is in our in-person classes where we sometimes prep things in advance and do the clean-up for you,” Hamons says. “If you can do it with us virtually, you’ll certainly be able to repeat it.”
Tablespoon Cooking Co., 1719 Elm St., (513) 818-2975
Facebook Comments