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Now they're cooking

For weekenders, rubbing elbows with a real chef is better than TV.

When some folks want to go out for dinner and a show, they make a beeline for Stephen Larson's kitchen.

At his restaurant QUARTER/quarter in the Minnesota bluff-country town of Harmony, the chef and his assistant-wife, "the beautiful and talented Lisa'' Flicker, offer cooking classes that are part magic show, part chemistry lab and part comedy routine.

"Steve and Lisa are the best,'' says frequent guest Carol Beastrom, who runs the Selvig House B&B in Harmony. "They work off each other; they'll make you laugh.''

Cooking classes have become entertainment, one more thing to do on a weekend getaway.

In eastern Wisconsin, the big Osthoff Resort has added a classical cooking school. There's a school in Door County, and many shops, restaurants and B&Bs in tourist areas have added classes to draw customers.

After all, everyone loves good food.

In some classes, students pitch in, but Larson offers only demonstration classes.

"The most relaxing thing is to watch some other chef work really hard while you sit and watch with a glass of wine,'' Larson says.

"And we don't like to combine wine and knives,'' Flicker adds.

We went to the couple's first class on German food, curious to see what Larson would do with sausages and starches.

He started with the chocolate and apricot Sacher torte we would have for dessert, assembling ingredients in ramekins, just like in the TV cooking shows, and hauling out a 3½-pound bag of bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate.

"I go through three of these in a week,'' Larson said. "I find that women really like to know there's going to be a chocolate dessert.''

As we sipped from glasses of Covey Run Gewurztraminer, Larson moved the torte into the oven and started on the soft pretzels, stopping to tell us why dough becomes tough if it's overmixed.

When he started on the cabbage, kielbasa and white-bean soup, we watched with envy as he swished the saute pan through the air, making the ingredients jump, just like chefs on TV.

"One of the first things you learn is how to toss things in a pan, because you can't stop to clean a spoon,'' he said. "It's actually one of the most difficult things, but it's like riding a bike — once you get it, you can do it any time.''

A split second before the timer went off, Larson turned toward the oven — "I call it my Spidey-chef sense,'' he said — and Flicker materialized at his side, holding a toothpick so he could test the cake.

Flicker is the Vanna White of the act and now calls herself a farmer, but she worked with Larson as pastry chef at the Old Village Hall in Lanesboro, Minn.

She was famous for one cake in particular, a complicated and time-consuming yellow cake that, one day, Larson whipped up with a Cuisinart in 30 seconds.

"Now we call it the Resentment Cake,'' her husband said with a smile.

Next, Larson turned ropes of dough into pretzels, blanched them in water and sprinkled them with $18-a-pound fleur de sel, hand-raked from a salt marsh in England.

We ate the soft pretzels with glasses of Beck's beer and the rich cabbage soup, whose flavors mimicked an Alsatian choucroute. Then Larson whipped up a pear and Riesling sauce and grilled smoked pork chops, which we ate with crisp potato pancakes and a glass of Covey Run Riesling.

By the time we'd finished the velvety torte, more than three hours had flown by, and our heads were swimming with helpful tips and alcohol.

"We instill the confidence that our guests can go home and do it themselves,'' Larson says. "Demonstration is a lot more user-friendly, especially for the guys. We're seeing more retired guys, and in general, the wife has to drag the guy to class. So we say, 'No, you don't have to do anything.' ''

Other schools offer classes in which the students prepare the dishes and the chefs circulate among them, offering help with techniques.

In shorter classes, students break into groups and may get to prepare only one of the meal's dishes, but in longer classes, an assertive student can have a hand in all of them.

"I'm a firm believer that people need to know what a dish tastes like, feels like and stirs like before they take the recipe packet home to re-create for family and friends,'' says Judi Barsness, who offers classes from at her Chez Jude restaurant and cooking school in Grand Marais, Minn.

Barsness offers classes from May through October and during snow season, so weekenders can come up to hike or ski, then take a break for dim sum.

At the sprawling Osthoff Resort in eastern Wisconsin, guests can learn to make cream puffs in the morning and, in the afternoon, get a Sacred Waters massage at the resort's spa.

There are lots of ways to have fun on a weekend getaway. But when you take a cooking class, you know you'll eat well, too.

Trip Tips: Cooking-class getaways

If you're thinking about taking a class, get on the school's mailing list so you get first crack at them; many weekend classes fill quickly. Schools also offer private classes to groups, with a minimum of four to 10.

Quarter/quarter in Harmony, Minn. Chef Stephen Larson offers three-hour, five-course weekday demonstration classes, with a different theme every month. They're $55 and include a generous taste of each dish and wine tasting with the entree.

Stay in Harmony at the Selvig House B&B or in nearby Lanesboro or Decorah.

L'ecole de la Maison in Elkhart Lake, Wis.: TV host Jill Prescott's culinary school is based at the Osthoff Resort in this eastern Wisconsin town and offers an extensive schedule of classes of various lengths and costs. 

It's generally $125 for a one-day class, $575 for a three-day class and $1,275 for a five-day  class. 800-876-3399, Ext. 830.

Inn at Kristofer's, Sister Bay, Wis.: In winter, this renowned Door County restaurant offers a monthly class with five-course dinner. 920-854-9419.

Stay in Door County.

Learn Great Foods: This company gives culinary retreats, cooking classes, workshops and tours of sustainable farms in the regions around its bases in the northwest Illinois towns of Galena and Mount Carroll and in Petoskey, Mich., on the shore of Lake Michigan. 866-240-1650.

Lake Geneva School of Cooking in Lake Geneva, Wis. Near the lake, chef John Bogan leads hands-on, three- to four-hour classes that include a four-course meal, $65-$85. In late May, he offers a Morel Mushroom Mania series.

North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minn.: The homespun school on the harbor always has several cooking classes in its schedule. 888-387-9762.

Stay in Grand Marais.

Spooner Market and Grill in Spooner, Wis.: This western Wisconsin restaurant offers two-hour participation classes.  715-635-6833.

Chez Jude in Grand Marais, Minn.: Chef Judi Barsness offers four-hour morning participation classes, $95. Barsness and her staff also do cooking classes in people's homes and vacation condos around the North Shore. 218-387-9113.

Stay in Grand Marais or along the North Shore.

The Palate in Stockholm, Wis.: This gourmet shop and cooking school on Lake Pepin offers occasional three-hour classes. 715-442-6400.

Stay in Stockholm.

Braise on the Go: Chef David Swanson's traveling culinary school, based in Milwaukee, combines farm, garden and foraging tours with cooking demonstrations using freshly harvested ingredients. 414-241-9577.

Washington Hotel, Restaurant and Culinary School, Washington Island, Wis.: This school on an island off the tip of Door County operates only in the summer and brings in chefs from around the region. 920-847-2169.

Savory Spoon, Ellison Bay, Wis.: This Door County cooking school offers classes from June through October, most $50.  920-854-6600.

Monique’s Cuisine in De Soto, Wis.: In her home outside this Mississippi River town, Monique Jamet Hooker, a teacher, restaurateur, author and TV host, offers three-hour Wednesday and Thursday evening classes, $50 including tasting. 608-648-2409.

Last updated on January 8, 2012