Learn to cook the food you’ve always wanted to make. Real chef tricks.

Week 1 · A safe, organized kitchen

Set up your station, read a recipe, measure accurately, handle food safely, and practice a secure knife grip and even vegetable cuts. Cook a simple vegetable sauté.

Week 2 · Stock, soup, and seasoning

Build a vegetable stock and a seasonal soup. Practice simmering, straining, and balancing salt, acidity, and texture; plan safe cooling and storage.

Week 3 · Heat and vegetables

Compare blanching, steaming, roasting, and sautéing. Cook vegetables and a grain side, and explain how size, moisture, and pan heat change the result.

Week 4 · Eggs and everyday sauces

Practice eggs, a roux-based béchamel, and a vinaigrette. Learn thickening and emulsification, then use your sauce in a simple composed dish.

Week 5 · Searing, roasting, and pan sauce

Cook a chicken or plant-based main with a seasonal side. Practice browning, checking doneness, resting, deglazing, and timing two components.

Week 6 · Cook with confidence

Plan and cook a main, side, and sauce using the skills from class. Chef Tony gives feedback on organization, knife control, seasoning, doneness, and timing.

What you can do afterward

Organize a station, choose a cooking method, build a basic sauce, and serve a balanced meal. Continue into Culinary Arts 102.

Week 1 · Stocks into sauces

Review stock quality, then make velouté and a reduced pan sauce. Adjust body and seasoning and pair a sauce with the food it supports.

Week 2 · Emulsions with confidence

Practice hollandaise and beurre blanc, manage temperature, and troubleshoot separation. Serve with vegetables or eggs.

Week 3 · Fish and gentle cooking

Practice poaching and cooking fish in parchment, with a vegetable alternative. Match cooking time to thickness and coordinate a sauce and garnish.

Week 4 · Braises and a bistro plate

Build flavor by browning, deglazing, and braising. Use a prepared batch for tasting while starting your own; pair it with a potato preparation.

Week 5 · The baker’s foundations

Make shortcrust pastry and a seasonal fruit tart. Practice weighing, keeping dough cool, resting, rolling, and judging a fully baked base.

Week 6 · Your three-course table

Work from a prep schedule to serve a starter, main, and dessert. Review flavor, texture, portioning, plating, and timing with Chef Tony.

What you can do afterward

Plan and coordinate a three-course meal, refine sauces, and troubleshoot common cooking and pastry problems.

What we cook

• Vegetables: cutting, roasting, and building flavor
• Legumes and grains as the center of the plate
• Umami without meat
• Vegan cheese
• Planning around common allergens

Week 1 · Flour, water, salt, yeast

Weigh in grams, use baker’s percentages, and mix a simple lean dough.

Week 2 · Build strength

Practice kneading and folds, and learn when dough needs more time rather than more flour.

Week 3 · Read fermentation

Judge bulk fermentation and proofing by feel and appearance; adjust your plan for a warm kitchen.

Week 4 · Shape and bake

Shape rolls and a loaf, practice scoring, and compare crust and crumb after cooling.

Week 5 · Meet sourdough

Learn starter feeding and readiness. Work with prepared dough to see a fermentation cycle that extends beyond class.

Week 6 · Your signature loaf

Plan, shape, and bake a loaf; diagnose crumb and crust with Chef Tony and build a home baking schedule.

First hour · Understand your dough

Weigh ingredients, compare flour and hydration, and mix an unleavened dough and a yeasted dough. Learn how resting makes dough easier to roll.

Second hour · Roll and cook

Make soft skillet flatbreads. Practice even thickness, pan heat, and keeping cooked breads supple.

Third hour · Stretch and bake

Shape pita-style breads and explore how heat and thickness help a pocket form. Use prepared dough where fermentation needs more time.

Fourth hour · Top and share

Make herb-topped flatbreads with seasonal vegetables and a dip. Taste together and compare softness, blistering, and crispness.

Final hour · Repeat it at home

Practice your shaping again, troubleshoot dense or dry bread, and review cooling, storage, freezing, and reheating.

What you can do afterward

Mix and shape flatbread dough, control skillet or oven heat, and adapt toppings for an everyday meal.

Week 1 · Shortcrust

Mix, rest, roll, and bake a seasonal tart.

Week 2 · Custard

Make a baked custard and learn to judge its gentle set.

Week 3 · Choux

Make cream puffs, adjust dough consistency, and bake until dry and crisp.

What you can do afterward

Recognize the textures that make pastry, custard, and choux work.

In the kitchen

Make béchamel, a pan reduction, and a warm butter sauce; compare consistency and practice rescuing a sauce.

What you can do afterward

Choose a sauce for a dish and adjust its flavor and texture.

In the kitchen

Build a broth, a puréed vegetable soup, and a potato side. Compare thickening methods and finish with fresh herbs.

What you can do afterward

Build satisfying soup and vegetable dishes from seasonal ingredients.

What we cover

• Identifying and tasting culinary herbs
• Growing herbs in Puna
• Preparing them: green sauces, herb oils, compound butter

What we cover

• Building soil on Puna lava and cinder
• Setting up a raised bed
• Tropical food crops for the home garden