Sur La Table Cooking Class

We LOVE Sur La Table cooking classes, especially the sweet classes! We’ve taken quite a few and have never left disappointed. Everything from macaroons to croissants to caramels.
Paula is the absolute best instructor! Always answers our questions and explains why and how baking works so we understand and retain the knowledge.
They have cooking classes of all types, and the best part? You get to take plenty of treats with you! We had so many today we had to share with friends! It was great! Can’t wait for the next class ^.^

This review is for the cooking classes available at Sur La Table. We attended a class recently, titled the «Favorites of Northern France». The menu is below:
Winter Greens and Endive Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette and Toasted Walnuts — Mussels Poached in White Wine, Shallots and Leeks — Seared Duck Breast with Wild Mushroom-​Green Peppercorn Sauce — Camembert Mashed Potatoes — Caramelized Apple Tart Tatin with Calvados Cream
For those that don’t know, the cooking classes are more of a «group cooking class» rather than an individualized one. I’m not sure if this is how all the Sur La Table classes are as this is the only one I’ve been to. There were 3 tables of 6-​people each, and you split the prep work and cooking between all 6 people. You interact mainly with your table-​mates, during our session we were with another couple and a mother-​daughter couple. Fortunately we had a fun group, I guess the type of people that come to these things would tend to be more friendly and outgoing.
You learn some general techniques here and there, and the chef/​teacher would come around and look at things as we did them to ensure they were done correctly. The food portions at the end were decent, we were full after we left.
Overall a fun class, though at times the class seemed a little unorganized in terms of what we were going to do next. We did not actually do much cooking in terms of preparing the meal, since the tasks were split among the table and the Mussels and Mashed potato dish were basically made by the instructor. We had a good time, but are unlikely to come back.
If you already cook frequently at home, this class won’t teach you much in terms of techniques, but you’ll come away with some new recipes to try.