Cook the Book: Istanbul and Beyond
$165 per person
Instructor
Our Cook the Book classes celebrate some of our favorite chefs and restaurants through their cookbooks. We select a signature dish from their cookbook, adapt it for the home kitchen, and build a menu around it to bring the book to life. These events are less instruction-based than our other cooking classes and make for an enjoyable night out.
What You'll Learn
By the end of the class, you will:
- Understand how to properly use tomato and pepper pastes in Turkish cuisine
- Master the Turkish method of ‘kneading’ ingredients and flavors into al dente bulgur
- Know how to strain your own yogurt and incorporate it into Turkish dishes
About This Class
When we think ‘Turkish food’ we often think kebabs, doner, stuffed grape leaves and baklava. Yet Turkey is a land of distinct regional cuisines influenced by topography, climate and history. In her cookbook ‘Istanbul and Beyond’ Robyn Eckhardt dives into the cuisines of Istanbul and Turkey’s eastern half, sharing little-known dishes from home and restaurant cooks, bakers, farmers and fishermen.
This class centers on exuberantly spiced dishes from Turkey’s southeastern and Mediterranean provinces. We’ll start by pounding lamb chops flat and slathering them in a zesty marinade for a dish from Sanliurfa province. While the chops marinate we’ll prepare two cool dishes: a Syrian-influenced bulgur salad with tomato and pepper pastes, herbs and pomegranate molasses, and a dip cum side dish of yogurt and wheat berries with browned onions served with roasted eggplant and chiles. We’ll finish on a sweet note with a simple dessert from the far eastern province of Van: buttery sautéed apricots with walnuts.
Menu
Pounded Marinated Lamb Chops, Bulgur and Herb Salad with Pomegranate Molasses, Wheat Berry and Yogurt Dip with Browned Onions, Butter-Sauteed Apricots with Walnuts
Details
- Wine included
- Full meal served in class
- Work in teams
- Ages 18+
FAQ
All students must show proof of vaccine before entering school and will be required to wear a mask unless eating/drinking.
We understand and respect that lifestyle decisions during Covid are an individual choice. If you test positive for Covid while the class is in session, you will be asked to send a friend in your place until you have a negative test. Classes will not be rescheduled, credited or cancelled. Once the class session starts the class is non-refundable. This was our policy pre-Covid and continues to be our policy today. We hope you find this policy acceptable and understand that this policy is required for a small school like SFCS to operate and open our kitchens for great food experiences.
The average duration of our current cooking classes is 4 hours, which is predominately hands-on work. You will be standing for the majority of class, cooking at your work station as your instructor demonstrates techniques and walks around providing individual feedback. Most of the time you’ll be working with a partner or small group on a few different recipes.
Doors will open 10 minutes prior to class starting and we will begin promptly on time. Students will be asked to queue up outside the door of the school to have their vaccine cards checked the first week of class (these will only need to be checked once).
Please arrive at the school with your own mask on. New, disposable masks are available should you need to replace yours while in class.
Wear comfortable clothes and close-toed shoes (remember, you’ll be on your feet cooking). The kitchens at SFCS are fully equipped with everything else you need, including clean aprons.
You will sit down with your classmates to eat what you’ve all prepared, along with some wine. We do suggest you have a small snack before class as dinner does happen towards the end of each session.
Wear casual clothing you can easily move around in, and comfortable close-toed shoes. Long hair must be pulled back and masks are required while in the building.
Cancellation Policy
Robyn Eckhardt
