CULINARY TOURISM
Bring Food Know-How Home
to
Pair
with Wine
When you visit Wine Country,
focus on collecting a terrific set of wines— ones you plan to
enjoy and ponder at home. You
probably will have discovered and explored wines that clearly are
meant to compliment food, and aren’t necessarily great sips on their own. What
will you do with these wines once you return home? Will you be prepared
with perfect food and wine-pairings, like those you enjoyed
while dining during your visit?
You’ll surely want to be ready to serve compatible
foods, as you share the fruits of your vacation’s labor with friends and family. It so happens that the culinary wizards of Wine
Country have devised a diverse set of programs to help you achieve
these wonderful matches in your own kitchen. With their help,
you can accomplish touristic enjoyment and expand your culinary skills,
all at the same time!
In the end, you will walk away not only with
unique recipes and wine-pairings, but more importantly with insight
and the fine points of preparation that only experience can deliver. We searched
for the best casual culinary programs in Napa and Sonoma Wine Country
to share with you. Whether you choose a simple demonstration,
a more involved hands-on training, or an innovative demonstration-dining
event, you will enjoy as you learn.
The most casual option is to merely take a break from your Napa
area wine tasting to attend a demonstration class at the world’s
premiere culinary college, The Culinary Institute of America at
Greystone in St. Helena. Without embarking on a new career,
you too can enjoy training at one of the most renowned culinary training
facilities in the world. One-hour demonstrations, offered
Friday-Monday, are one of the best values in the area at only $12.50
per person, including recipes and a tasting.
Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary
School offers a wide variety of more in-depth choices at their
pleasant downtown location, just four blocks from Sonoma’s Historic
Plaza. The facility even houses six bed and breakfast rooms,
making Ramekins a complete food and wine visitation experience. Private
cooking classes for gift-giving, a birthday present or team-building
reward add to the interesting enjoyment opportunities
here.
Housed in a unique, modern rammed-earth building,
Ramekins features two teaching kitchens. One is a fully equipped,
36-seat demonstration kitchen-theater with mirrors and television
monitors for easy viewing; the other is a complete restaurant kitchen
used for full-participation, hands-on classes. Complimentary refreshments,
generous tasting samples (or a full meal after class), and copies of the recipes are included.
Use the Ramekins On-line
Custom Cooking Class Catalog to select which cooking class suits
you best. This wonderful online tool allows you to view the calendar by month, and click through to full class descriptions. You
can also search by food ingredients, styles, cultures and topics
 We heard good things from friends about The Relish
Culinary School in Healdsburg, so we decided to take a class. Relish
offers perhaps the ultimate experience, combining stunning
Wine Country settings with fascinating menus including food and
wine pairings. A stylish presentation of the delectable meal
is served upon completion of your demonstration. Chefs who
are passionate about exploring the foods and wines that define
Sonoma County started Relish. Founder Donna del Rey and her
staff offer one-of-a-kind events, reflecting the best of everything
this culinary region has to offer.
Our wonderful evening of Contemporary Mexican Cuisine, led
by AugustÃn Gaytán, was packed full of revelations in a food area
that we understand fairly well. An authentic practitioner and true master
of cultural integration, AugustÃn dished up secrets learned from his mother and honed by his
experience refining the recipes while working at several fine restaurants. A
true master of cultural integration, We walked away from Augustin's class empowered, not
intimidated. If his talent is an indicator of the quality and
originality of presentation, then Relish truly belongs on your next
itinerary.
We were presented with a complete menu folio, along with useful
information including details on how to shop, present, find workarounds
for items we might not obtain readily, and how to stage our own preparations
so we might be social with our guests and present everything a
tiempo. The Mariscos en Pipian (Seafood in a Serrano Chile-Pumpkin
Seed Sauce) was sensational…making us think that Pipian could be
the next Mole sauce (currently a resounding favorite in Healdsburg
culinary circles), again for both its food and wine pairing potential.
While we observed and learned, Donna and her friendly crew were
busy preparing the same meal, which was graciously served to us upon
completion of the demonstration.
The staff and picturesque facility of Lambert
Bridge Winery in the Dry Creek Valley hosted the evening. The
integration of their wines with the meal, and the participation
of winery staff that knew them deeply, was at once instructive
and enjoyable.
Donna explained to us after the class that
the trend in such classes is towards hands-on cooking, also offered
by Relish in the expanded summer schedule. Relish offers
a kid’s series too.
We were happy with our choice to observe,
relax, take copious notes in the lovely folio of recipes, and then
finally enjoy a meal like no other in Wine Country. This was a meal whose mechanics we
understood, and to whose soul we had bonded by the finish. All
for an ultimate experience, dinner! |
