Workshops at Soul Food Farm

Chicken stock From time to time we offer cooking workshops in the Soul Food kitchen, taught by chefs we know and love. These are small, intimate occasions with lots of hands-on practice and individual attention. Afterward, you'll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor outside in the garden or under the Soul Food trees.

Reservations and pre-payment are required to hold your place via Brown Paper Tickets. Soul Food Farm CSA members get $10 off one ticket. We'll post the link to Brown Paper Tickets when the next workshop is scheduled, and on our Facebook page.

Home Ec: A Four-Part Series of Cooking Fundamentals at Soul Food Farm

A professional cook and freelance writer, Samin Nosrat looks to tradition, culture and history for inspiration. Trained in the Chez Panisse kitchen, she cooked there for several years before moving to Italy, where she worked closely with the Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini and chef Benedetta Vitali for nearly two years. She spent five years as the sous chef and "farmwife" at Eccolo restaurant, butchering, brining, and preserving nearly everything in an effort to make the restaurant as self-sustaining as possible.

Samin writes:

I’m thrilled to introduce a series of classes on what I consider to be the four most important elements of cooking.

I learned how to cook by watching the cooks in the Chez Panisse kitchen, by carefully tasting and training my palate, and eventually by apprenticing and working in that kitchen. That experience blew my mind open, and after several months in the kitchen I started to recognize patterns and rules common to every dish,... no matter what the ingredients or particular methods of preparation.

I eventually came to realize that with a careful understanding of how to apply four basic elements, I could make anything taste delicious. Over the past eleven years, everything I’ve continued to learn in the kitchen has essentially been a refinement of my understanding of the application of salt, acid, fat and heat.

As a teacher of both professional and home cooks, it’s my ultimate goal to give people the tools to become intuitive cooks and free them from the reigns of cookbooks, recipes, and measuring implements by helping them refine their palates, sensitivity in the kitchen, and understanding of basic kitchen science. The most important lessons I share with my students are those that impart a fundamental understanding of universal tenets.

I’d like to invite you into the beautiful Soul Food Farm kitchen with me for this unique, empowering series of classes. You’re welcome to take as many or few as you like, but the series is designed as an immersion and elements of each class will interplay with the other three to help give students a comprehensive understanding of cooking. In each class, I will describe and demonstrate for each element its roles and functions, basic science, and effects on taste in a dish. We’ll taste and discuss thoughtfully in an effort to give our palates a bit of contextual understanding. And of course, because I believe so strongly in the power of experience (and muscle memory) you’ll get a chance to put your new skills to use as we all cook a lovely lunch together with the concepts of the day in mind.

In the afternoon, we’ll retire to a table set in the shade of the farm, eat our lunch, drink some wine, and I’ll answer any further questions that may have arisen while we cooked. You’ll leave empowered and inspired to return to the kitchen, ready to practice your skills, refine your knowledge, and looking at food with a whole new perspective.

Class size will be limited to 15 people in order to ensure that all students have a hands-on experience. To reserve a spot, please use the following links:

Understanding Salt: April 9, 2011 Reserve your place

Understanding Oil, Butter, and Fat: May 14, 2011 Reserve your place

Understanding Acid: June 18, 2011 Reserve your place

Understanding Heat: July 23, 2011 Reserve your place

Questions? Email alexis@soulfoodfarm.com