flavour cooking school

A visit to Flavour is a fantastic experience the perfect place to go for great classes. It is a place where both experienced cooks and complete novices can attend a course to learn something and have fun. The shop itself is beautiful; large, bright and has beautiful architectural details. The kitchen classroom looks like something you might see on Food Network. I think I would sleep in my kitchen if it looked like that.They offer a few different kinds of classes here. Hands-on classes allow the students to roll up their sleeves and do the cooking themselves. The chef instructors are there to help provide technical guidance and expertise as necessary. These courses max out at about 12 people. Instructors provide ingredients to different people and you all got a chance to cook, try/learn a new technique and, finally, taste our creations. The demo courses are different in that the chef instructor does all the cooking and explains the recipes, techniques, and answers questions as they go. The demonstration courses are my favorite because I feel like I get a better understanding of the technique/chemistry/etc. involved in cooking, though others who learn better hands-on will really enjoy the hands on courses. They offer a cooking basics series of about 12 classes that take you through different cuisines and techniques (you're not required to take every one if you're not interested). Sometimes they have book nights with local authors, courses that feature a mixologist so you complement your meals with some nice drinks, bistro nights where the cooking is done for you (take a friend or a date!), vegetarian courses, gluten free, and others that I'm sure I'm forgetting.If you are interested in taking a course, I would suggest that you sign up for the knife basics class as one of your first courses. You will see an immediate difference in your kitchen skills. Another favorite of mine is the Elements of Flavor class; there's little cooking in this one, but you learn more about various flavor profiles, the importance of salt, and increase your confidence in creating a meal from scratch. Culinary Bootcamp, a 2-day, 12 hour (total over two days) intro class, is a good one too, with knife basics being incorporated into it as well; since it's such an in-depth and long course, it's considerably more expensive, so just be aware when you're signing up.Denise, the owner, is kind, friendly, and passionate about both cooking AND teaching. The other instructors and other staff were incredibly helpful and friendly as well, and the store has a wonderful selection of cookware, implements and high quality ingredients.When you attend the classes, you get a 15% discount on any purchases made that day - INCLUDING CLASSES. I've taken classes at different yarn shops, have had a friend take a class at another cooking place, and the highest discount offered was 10% at any of them, and I don't believe it ever applied for future class sessions.Another great thing? Parking. Forest Park has several municipal parking lots near the shop, as well as quite a few metered spaces along Madison. There are at least two cooking shops/schools much closer to me (as in, a few blocks rather than 15-20 miles) and I go here instead. I've been taking classes here since 2009, and when my friends or my mom visit me in Chicago I'll be signing us up for a class. I recommend Flavour to anyone who wants to sharpen their skills. Bon appétit!

I was looking for a birthday present for my wife (who loves to cook....I don't) and found Flavour Cooking School online. I picked a Saturday night in March, (Day before St Patrick's day) and signed up for "bistro nite - gastro pub" couples demo/dinner. BLUF: it was awesome.The cooking class is set in the back of a quaint kitchen shop in Forest Park, Il. Hint: park in the metered lot couple of blocks east of the store...an hour and a half for 25 cents. You sit at a large butcher block table around the instructor (in our case it was Helge(sp)). Our class was a demo, not hands on, and along with my wife and me, there was a birthday party of 5 couples to make a total of 12. Menu's of the entire dinner with explicit ingredients and preparation technique's are printed out for each individual to follow along and/or take notes. During the 90 minutes of prep time, Helge talked a lot about his background, why certain techniques work better than others, and little secrets to cooking easier/better (to include showing how to sear a steak...not part of the menu).After 90 minutes of demoing the dinner (Dubliner Cheese dip/Chicken mulligatawny soup/crisp apple and cabbage salad/Irish guinness stew/yorkshire pudding/and classic bread pudding with whiskey sauce) we sat down to eat what we watched Helge demo at a very nice table in the back of the shop. Truth time...even though I am Irish, other than bread pudding, I have never had any of the dishes just mentioned, and to be honest, I would never order them at a restaurant. Having said that, the overall meal was one of the best dinners I have ever had. Seriously. Everything was first class and delicious. Maybe the fact that you get to watch the preparation and better understand how the ingredients "intermingle" or the three beers I had during the demo (they serve Lakefront Brewery beer and multiple red/white wines) but the meal was fantastic. Soup was curry based and a little spicy but good. Stew was great, and the bread pudding was tremendous. The dinner itself lasted about an hour which made it around 3 hours from start to finish (they give you a 15% discount off future classes and everything in the store after dinner. We picked up a number of ingredients Helge had mentioned during the demo).For a fun couple's night out and a superb dinner, I highly recommend Flavour Cooking School classes. You won't be disappointed.

I can easily say this was the perfect experience for a wonderful girls weekend away. We did all our planning online or over the phone with the Owner, Denise. She was amazing to work with; efficient, super friendly and I felt like she was easily able to synch up with what we wanted/needed. We decided to do a private event since there was 8 of us. She had a lot of great ideas and you can customize the meals as much as you want/need. We started our class of with some tasty Edamame Hummas and fresh veggies. The Asian Vegetable Udon Soup was delicious with just the right amount of spices. With the Grilled Vegetable Quinoa salad, the wonderful Chef Ginna gave us all kinds of neat tricks and advice that will carry over in many dishes we create at home. The Peppered Beef with cucumbers had a yogurt sauce that I never would have thought to even attempt at home and now I see how easy it can be. We finished off with a mouth watering Raspberry Brownie Cobbler with a light whipped cream on top!! We had a big range of cooking experience in our class; from total novice who barely boils water, to someone very good at creating homecooked meals, and everyone had a fantastic time. We were able to help as much or as little as each person felt comfortable with. Chef Ginna has a great personality, able to go with the flow but still keep us chatty ladies on track and she had a great teaching style that everyone was able to learn from.At the end you are able to purchase (don't worry, there is no pressure to do so) any of the various kitchen utilities, spices, and neat gadgets they have in the attached store. I am still getting emails and calls from the girls thanking me for such a fun and amazing experience!!

Fantastic place to purchase kitchen supplies but they also can teach you how to cook. Take a cooking class, baking class, knife technique class. Great time