Chef Lou’s custom cooking instruction can be designed for one, two, or three students, and is available in five-day or three-day courses, or one-day classes.  Instruction is offered September through May; summer sessions available by special arrangement.  Personalized recipes are provided for all dishes; however, my goal is to teach you to cook intuitively, using all your senses and adding your own touches to the meals you prepare. 

Choose a cuisine and live it for an entire week!  From basic everyday meals to complex celebratory dishes, each day of your course produces one or more complete menus.  Lou’s favorite cuisines appear below, or propose your own. 

This class if for intermediate to advanced students – your custom course is planned just for you!

China

Southeast Asia

Indian Subcontinent

Middle East/North Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa

Italy

France

Germany/Eastern Europe

Latin America

Mexico

Caribbean

American Regional

Food safety/sanitation; basic and intermediate knife skills; basic prep skills; essential cooking methods (sauté, poach, grill, roast); essential pan sauces; and much more!

Beginner class

All cooking is based on ten basic methods ​​— sauté, pan-fry, deep-fry, grill/broil, roast/bake, boil/blanch, poach, steam, braise, and stew.  Understanding these methods frees you from recipes so that you can cook intuitively and create your own signature dishes.

Intermediate class

Quick breads (muffins and scones); custards and mousses; pies and tarts; cakes, icings, cake assembly and basic Wilton decoration; cookies; yeast breads and pizza. Note: class format differs from cooking lessons, lunch provided.

Beginner class

Authentic cooking techniques and sauces for classic Italian primi made with dry pasta as well as traditional methods for making fresh flat and filled pastas such as tagliatelle, tonnarelli, ravioli, and tortellini.

Intermediate class

Lou shares her heirloom family recipes for holiday favorites, including sand tarts, nut/apricot horns, jewel thumbprints, iced cut-outs, almond crescents, spritz, and more. Note: class format differs from cooking lessons, lunch provided.

Beginner to Intermediate class

Explore the art and science of uncured preserved meat specialties.  Prepare rich, smooth, poultry paté; rustic pork terrine; salmon rillettes; and a variety of natural-casing sausages.

Intermediate class

Entertain friends and family with a stunning array of hot and cold finger foods from the classic European repertoire to world cuisines favorites.  Recipes include crab-stuffed cucumber cups, Vietnamese summer rolls, tuna crudo canapés, crispy pork-and-shrimp wontons, mini-latkes with smoked salmon, and many more.

Intermediate class

Learn the basic cutting techniques, cooking methods, and ingredients used in virtually all East Asian cuisines.  Work with both cleavers and knives; focus on stir-frying, shallow-frying, and steaming methods; cook perfect rice; and understand Asian seasonings to replicate classic dishes or create your own.

Beginner class

Choose a cuisine to explore.  From basic everyday meals to more complex dishes, each day of your course produces a complete menu.  Lou’s favorite cuisines are listed in the Five-Day Classes section above, or propose your own. 

Intermediate to Advanced class – your custom course is planned just for you.

Learn to sauté, pan-sear, and pan-roast like a pro, then build a quick sauce right in the same pan.  Master the art of high-heat cooking for tender cuts, judging doneness with the “touch test.”  Make restaurant-quality reduction sauces and emulsified butter sauces.  Complete your plates with pro tricks for quick starch and vegetable sides.

Intermediate class

Love sushi but hate paying the check?  Learn to make basic nigiri and maki sushi at home for less than half the price.  Start by cooking perfect sushi rice and seasoning it with a sushi-su flavored to your preference.  Understand raw food safety principles so you can purchase and fabricate fish like a pro.  Form and top rice rectangles for nigiri, and use the traditional bamboo mat to roll tight, neat maki cylinders.  Create elegant, traditional presentations sure to impress.

Intermediate class

Thin, crunchy, blistered rim and chewy, lightly-topped crust are hallmarks of true Italian-style handmade pizza.  Start by making long-fermented, aged dough by hand or in a mixer with the hook attachment.  Learn to stretch and toss dough disks for perfect thinness.  Make a classic Margherita and combine interesting toppings for a signature creation.  Bake your pizza in Lou’s home oven with a baking stone or (weather permitting) outdoor pizza oven.

Intermediate class

Long before the Civil war and ever since, south-central Pennsylvania cooks exchanged ingredients and recipes with the farmers and watermen of the nearby Chesapeake Bay shores.  Discover the bounty of Chesapeake Bay cooking with authentic crabcakes, Mason-Dixon stuffed chicken, green beans with bacon, and black walnut cake.

Beginner to Intermediate class

The term “Pennsylvania Dutch” includes all of the region’s early settlers hailing from Europe’s Rhineland region.  Discover traditional Germanic dishes with updated recipes modified for contemporary tastes.  Start with “pickled” beet and egg salad, follow with Konigsberger meatballs in dilled sour cream sauce on handmade noodles, and finish with seasonal fruit crisp.

Beginner to Intermediate class

Savory, irresistible filled dumplings are the stars of Chinese dim sum cuisine.  Learn to make the three most iconic Chinese dumplings, and how to throw a dumpling-making party to share the fun.  In Chef Lou’s interactive, hands-on class you’ll make steamed pork-and-shrimp Siu Mai; pork-and-scallion Guo Tieh (potstickers); and chicken Wontons served both in soup and crisp-fried.

Beginner to Intermediate class