Cooking Class - Latin Cuisine Made Easy

This was the worst cooking class experience I’ve ever had. This person did not instruct us or teach us how to make this meal. We had to ask him every couple minutes what we could do next to help him. He didn’t teach us about the dishes or their flavors. He brought inferior ingredients- and for the amount of money paid for each person I expected better than Kroger generic brand cream, canned tomato sauce, etc. He did not bring all the spices required, we had to use my own olive oil, cooking oil, salt, pepper, chili powder, etc. He brought only paprika. And packaged in a plastic wrapping from Kroger. At least shop at Whole Foods for this stuff. As for the meal, he could not tell us the proper names of the Patatas Bravas. He said “I think they are called papas brakas.” And he had us make the sauce out of canned tomato sauce with cheap paprika added to it. The pan con tomate was a joke. We used canned crushed tomatoes instead of fresh. For the paella, he didn’t bring a paella pan…but told us that in a restaurant we would be using one. Instead he used my pots and pans for everything. So needless to say, the paella did not have the beautiful flavorful crust on the bottom that makes it authentic. In addition, he said we were making croquettes, but took a short cut and we didn’t make batter. We rolled the salt cod in bread crumbs and used my air fryer. He forgot to rinse the salt completely from the fish so none us could eat the finished “fritters” as he called them because they were so salty. Furthermore, he did all the dishes without ever asking me for dish soap. So when I noticed that, I pointed out the soap to him, and he said thank you. When I opened one of my kitchen drawers the next morning , all the supposedly “washed” cooking utensils were greasy and “red” from the canned tomato sauce. Utterly disgusting. Furthermore, one of the guests was sick from the food in the morning. I’ve used Cozeymeal on three occasions and the other two experiences were wonderful with great chefs, great instruction, great ingredients, which produced a great meal. One last thing, this person is not a chef, maybe a assistant cook in a restaurant at one time, but not a trained and experienced chef. He left his set of knives on my front porch. Now I have to figure that one out too.

Chef Rick is friendly and experienced. We opted to observe and discuss more than take a class, but we did learn some history and techniques. The food was cooked expertly and was delicious. He brought several specialized implements and gadgets, and left the kitchen cleaner than he found it.

The food was delicious! We had a poolside party and got the barbecue menu. Great experience! Will recommend Chef Rick and even book again for future events!