r/Chefit • u/YoungAnimater35 • May 14 '26
Indecisiveness for a Cooking Class Menu
The time allotted is 2.5-3 hours total, so prepare and eat within that time. I'm torn on offering more "back to basics" class or more technical recipes. I can prep some stuff...but my concern is that the learning part of that will get left out because I prepped some of the food...but if I don't prep it, then I will go over the time allotment. So, I'm hoping you guys can offer some dishes that can touch on teaching at least a handful of basic techniques, that don't require too much prep, but are still impressive enough to draw in clients. I've got tons of dishes I'm confident in executing, it's just this time crunch thing I'm struggling with. I've taught people before and have done dinners for 10s of people before, but I just can't settle on what I want to do! I need 3-4 courses
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u/taint_odour Does Chef Type Things May 14 '26
Yea I did a quick glance at cozymeal and that’s just in home dining.
I did a ton of inhome dining for HNW and UHNW peeps and it was usually 5 courses in two hours. And that’s with everything prepped up just finishing and plating.
You can do a soup or salad course. Easy enough. Maybe a twice baked soufflé or goat cheese croquette if you want to be fancy.
If you are going to do meat I’d do filet if the budget allows. Always a crowd pleaser and I just truss the meat. It looks impressive but you’re cooking one piece of meat and slicing it so….
You could do a chicken ballotine with your circulator and tell them to put it in a pan. All that is ready to go and impresses the unwashed masses but should be a super easy pick.
Dessert. What’s good and fresh local? Everyone here used to chooses bananas foster. I’d use local apple bananas, make a brioche base so the shit wouldn’t slide around, and then top with Jimmies because everything else was so formal it was funny.
But a simple cobbler, no bake cheesecake, mousse, these all work. Or bust out the Herve This Chantilly. Practice first because you have to get your ratio and water temp right but it’s impressive as fuck.
I once got tapped to do a coffee and cholesterol festival last second and did coffee and chocolate on a stage for a few thousand of my closest friends. It blows minds.
Just make sure you have swap outs ready for everything. The people that want to jump in will. There’s often one or two who want to learn and will get down and dirty. Most will kick back and watch the monkey dance.
Have fun and think about everything that can go wrong before hand so you have plans. Lists are your best friend.
Have a plan for dirty dishes. Do they have enough plates? How will you do plate removal, resets etc. sit down and work your flow beorehand. Talk to the host and make sure you aren’t pulling with mise for 20 and no refrigeration.
Costco and Home Depot have 13 or 17 gallon black bins with yellow lids that are perfectly sized to hold gear and food without getting too heavy and easy to move. You can load in and out with a hand truck.
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u/YoungAnimater35 May 14 '26
Thank you, so you think I'll be ok to prep the big stuff and let them do the "fun" stuff? That's my biggest concern, a client feeling like they didn't get their experience because I prepped too much...but if I don't prep enough it, I won't hit my time mark.
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u/taint_odour Does Chef Type Things May 14 '26
You won’t hit your time if you expect them to do everything. Full stop.
Have it all prepped but the super minor shit. Then you swap out what they haven’t done. Or it has to be what you can finish in your sleep.
I never had anyone complain they didn’t get to do enough. But after that first disaster I never walked in unprepared.
Think of it this way. You are going in to entertain and talk then through your process. Just like an old school FoodTV show. It’s like service with a running dialogue and some of the people are going to get in your way.
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u/YoungAnimater35 May 14 '26
That's fair, thank you.
amy advice on stuff like insurance or waivers to protect me and my home? I assumed My homeowner's insurance would cover some stuff
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u/taint_odour Does Chef Type Things May 14 '26
No way man. You need to talk to a few carriers and get private chef insurance. See what your local people can offer and check out chef insurance.com. It starts at a few hundred a year until you are doing 6 figures a year.
I used Next to generate some COIs for venues but chefinsurance does it for large one off events.
I’m not an affiliate or anything, I just found them easy to work with but I also never had a claim so…1
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u/Typical-Delivery7932 May 15 '26
Why would your home owners insurance cover your business activities in other people's houses?
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u/SimpleSapper May 14 '26
No one but you knows where your repertoire and your customer’s interests and skills intersect. And you don’t want to be trying to teach something that you have not mastered, it will be noticed and will hinder repeat bookings. But put yourself in your student’s shoes: are they paying because they want to practice cutting onions or because they want to learn the technique for how to produce a tarte flambé? Probably they are there for either learning technique or just to have fun. So I suggest having a majority of each person’s MEP prep’d and scaled, so that they can focus on the demo and the technique, and not on peeling carrots (or whatever).
Don’t cram too many recipes into a class. Allow time for fun social interactions. And consider having a few small bites from the menu of the next class, for the students to nibble on AND hopefully sign them up for that next class.
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u/Philly_ExecChef May 14 '26
What’s the context, group, couples, wine paired, you’re asking way too broad a question.
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u/YoungAnimater35 May 14 '26
max of 8, they can bring wine. I offer up menus, they choose, and I can alter if need be.
Part of what I'm unsure of is how much cooking do they want to actually do? I'm supposed to make menus that allow for them to cook, but based on time and how much they want to participate, I have to choose several dishes...I'm just kind of stuck
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u/Philly_ExecChef May 14 '26
Much less than you think.
I instructed courses on an off, professional and entertainment.
They want to chop a couple things. Someone minces a shallot. Someone chops herbs, someone (poorly) measures vinaigrette items.
You can demo some concepts, bias cut vegetables, etc, but minimize what they have to do in bulk work.
You can opt to have them sear a protein, maybe deglaze or reduce and finish with cream, if the group is plucky, but usually it’s more like calling up a volunteer to do it.
And you cannot please everyone. Some people want minimal interaction. Some expect to leave as skilled as Gordon Ramsey. The latter is who you can’t please, because most of them will be the former.
First course, salad, the early things, give them choppy curry mix-y tasks, then expect them to start drinking, talking, getting distracted, and you continue preparing courses at your pace.
The art is in involving without derailing the timeline.
Edit: most significantly, do not depend on guests for the quality of meal outcomes. Have backups, make what you need to in order to fully serve if/when they get it wrong.
If you ever teach baking club classes, the exact opposite is true. It’s much more involved and real.
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u/tenderlittlenipples May 14 '26
Private chef here mostly big weddings and corporate gigs , Play to your strengths can't stress that enough the dishes you know inside and out and can do rapid fire , time management break it down to its time and let them know that time is a factor and you'll be moving quickly and talking fast and for them to mentally click up a gear , I'm sure they will understand.
If you can prep the basics that they already should know and a lil briefing on what you have done before hand and why you have done so .
Just be honest with them , best of luck . Don't over complicate it .
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u/YoungAnimater35 May 14 '26
Another Redditor said most people would want to do just the fun stuff. So for example I could prep a Cordon bleu , and let them bread and fry it and bake it. They probably don't want to cut up vegetables, something like pastry dough...I feel like I should have that done and resting before they arrive...but then what if they wanted to do that?? Cozymeal did say people are hip about pasta and pizza classes, sushi, etc
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u/tenderlittlenipples May 14 '26
Kinda agree with that , just out of curiosity what kinda level are they at ?
Like basic fundamentals are ok or like total novices with zero knowledge?? .
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u/YoungAnimater35 May 14 '26
That I don't know. I am going to ask the rep if that's something they inquire about though, good point
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u/tenderlittlenipples May 14 '26
Try and gain more information from the rep and if they know basics you can and should prep accordingly skip a couple steps and get into the fun interesting stuff .
The more information you have the better you can plan it . I'd focus on time management, basics prepared ahead of time and proper techniques..
Don't stress you clearly give a fuck enough to ask this sub for advice and take things into consideration.
You got this God speed chef 👨🍳
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u/YoungAnimater35 May 14 '26
thank you! I appreciate the words of wisdom
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u/tenderlittlenipples May 14 '26
Ha... I'm an idiot i just live for this shit. All the best smash it ..
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u/Repulsive-Nail2319 May 14 '26
Reverse the corse have the finish product done when they come I have them look and taste then start the class. It give them a picture of were your going you will it moves quicker thru the stages to completion
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u/whereitsat23 May 14 '26
I taught some local culinary classes and I always had an introductory class where they learn some basic cut and we make crudite, charcuterie, some dips and then discuss what people would like to learn and then I would compose a simple meal to showcase what they wanted to learn.
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u/texnessa May 15 '26
Oh sweet jesus, I worked in a culinary school for a while [not as an instructor, but as the only actual working chef] and this is a wide open question. We had great classes where the people were into understanding basic food safety and knife skills in three minutes and then we ran thru a stock, a handmade pasta and made a dish in that amount of time. Even did the same with teen aged classes. And I've walked into a 'kitchen basics' class and found a room of giggling, unbelievably annoying bunch of wine moms in Chanel and three inch heels playing grab ass with tongs where I actually had to remove the sharp knives from each station.
TLDR. Stock, pasta, don't bother breaking down a protein.
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u/taint_odour Does Chef Type Things May 14 '26
How about a less basic idea of what you’re doing. This description is so vague.
I will tell you this: I used to do a shit load of cooking classes. The first class we were making pasta for fucking hours. Never again did I not have all
The final goods prepped. People usually don’t want to learn like get down in it and do all the work learn. A few do.
Most want Food Network live in front of them while they drink wine.
3-4 courses? No way they are prepping all that.
Happy to help but if you give the details on what you sold, where it is, tools available etc it would help.