Cooking Classes?

Does anyone know where one could sign up and take affordable NOVICE cooking classes in Brooklyn?

Thanks in advance!!

Get yourself a good SO who knows how to cook and have them teach you. Can't get much more affordable than that. If you already have a SO and BOTH of you don't know how to cook then I would check out some of the adult ed courses given at the local high schools. I'm sure there is a class or two in there on the fundamentals of cooking and they're usually about $60 plus the cost of the food.

Brooklyn Kitchen does some classes including a basic knife skills class (always a good place to start) - http://www.thebrooklynkitchen.com/web-store/index.php?c=1

Also don't know if this is your thing but today's groupon is online cooking classes - $44 for 3 months of access to many many videos, made by a cooking school, that appear to be of varying skill levels (from choosing a knife to creating a veloute sauce). http://gr.pn/gCzwfC if interested.

I think you want the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE). They are a professional school but also offer "recreational" classes in cooking and baking. My family owned a restaurant and this is where we sent our prep cooks and busboys to get additional training. Cost depends on the class (one day vs week vs month(s)) but you'll definitely leave knowing how to cook.

homeowner said:

I think you want the Institute for Culinary Education (ICE). They are a professional school but also offer "recreational" classes in cooking and baking. My family owned a restaurant and this is where we sent our prep cooks and busboys to get additional training. Cost depends on the class (one day vs week vs month(s)) but you'll definitely leave knowing how to cook.

Yes, I took a wonderful cooking class at ICE - Techniques of Fine Cooking. It was a lot of fun, and you learn all of the basic, necessary cooking techniques including knife skills. The class is structured in such a way that you learn the techniques as you prepare dinner, and at the end of class everyone sits down for a delicious meal. So much fun!

Thanks for the suggestions! Those online lessons look great, but the person I want to get these lessons for would probably benefit from in person lessons.

I've enjoyed several classes at Brooklyn Kitchen. They are very affordable but I'm guessing less in depth than ICE and the like. BUT, I also think that for a beginner, the shorter lessons at Brooklyn Kitchen are much more digestible (though the class topics vary from month to month). I know some friends who have taken classes at ICE and they enjoyed them, so I'm guessing you can't go wrong with either.

I keep hearing about small local cooking classes, often run by caterers filling in a slow economy. I know/like this one:

http://www.facebook.com/toast.home.cooking

and more DIYish teaching groups like http://brooklynbrainery.com/ and http://brooklynskillshare.tumblr.com/

^^ those classes tend to be one offs and very specific (pie crust, and Asian desserts are two upcoming classes) but they do How To Boil Water basics too

If you want to buy your friend a What Do I Do In My Own Kitchen private session, pm me...