Discover the Best French Cooking Classes in NYC
French food has a special place in our culinary imaginations. From European aristocrats’ elegant balls, to the lavish diplomatic meals Thomas Jefferson served in the room(s) where it happens, to modern-day haute cuisine, French cooking is a highly prized skill. But despite the mystique that has grown up over highly paid, Cordon Bleu-trained chefs and rich meals, French cooking is really about returning to basics and enjoying what you eat. Like the modern, American-based farm-to-table movement that it inspired, French cooking emphasizes fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables, well-matched spices, and careful preparation methods that allow the food to speak for itself. Learning French cooking is a great way to eat in a simpler, healthier, more mindful way, while also impressing your friends and family. As Julia Child once said, “This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun.”
Why You Should Learn French Cooking in NYC
At a time when so many people are trying to simplify their lives, French cooking is a great way to save money and eat better food. Cooking food at home saves money—the average American spent about $67 per week eating out in 2018, about a quarter of what most spend on rent, mortgage, and other housing-related expenses. It’s also a great way to relax and reconnect with your family at the end of a long day at work. Even if you’ve been cooking at home for years, French cooking techniques are a great way to expand your repertoire. Whether you want to learn to prepare new dishes, or just to take a step back and think about the way you’re preparing your food, French cooking techniques are useful for all types of cuisine. Techniques like braising, sauteing, and sauce-making will kick any dish up a notch, and pastry-making opens a world of possibilities for savories and desserts.
Learning French cooking is also a fun way to relax, bond with family, and meet new people. Cooking as a group gives people a delicious activity to focus on while getting to know new friends. This is helpful for everyone, but especially introverts. You’ll also find that many are eager to act as taste testers as your cooking skills expand. It’s easy to find local and neighborhood groups like Cranford, NJ’s Cranford Cooking Dinner Parties Meetup Group. These neighbors gather in local parks to enjoy home-cooked meals together as a community. Finally, bringing desserts to share with co-workers always helps. Some experienced managers use their passion for baking to motivate their employees. Bringing treats for their teams is an easy way to increase job satisfaction and productivity.
In-Person French Cooking Classes & Schools in NYC
New York residents looking to learn more about French cooking have many options to choose from. If you want to learn to cook French food as a family, Manhattan, NY’s Taste Buds Kitchen offers classes for children, teenagers, and adults of all skill levels. Centrally located in Manhattan’s Chelsea Neighborhood, Taste Buds Kitchen has been voted New York Magazine's Best Kids Cooking Class. In addition to their weekend and evening programming, Taste Buds Kitchen offers a series of intensive, week-long summer cooking camps for young chefs and bakers of all ages and experience levels. If your teenager already has an interest in French cooking, they can continue to hone their skills through programs like Advanced Teen Camp: Eurotrip (Ages 13-17). This week-long camp, which challenges teenagers to learn new cooking techniques and spices used across Europe, is offered repeatedly throughout the summer. Students learn to prepare appetizers, entrees, and desserts from several European countries, including Spain, Italy, and—of course—France.
Adults can also learn to cook French-inspired food while having a night on the town at Taste Buds Kitchen’s popular series of BYOB classes. Participants can bring their favorite wines or cocktails to enjoy while preparing French-inspired Cajun dishes at the cooking school’s French Quarter (BYOB) event. Cajun cooking remixes French cuisine with Southern comfort food and African culinary traditions, showing how versatile French cooking can be. These evenings make for a great date night, or girls’ night out. And, because Taste Buds Kitchen is conveniently located on W 27th St, right between 6th and 7th Ave’s easily accessible public transit options, you’ll never have to worry about getting home safe. It is also just a half block from the Fashion Institute of Technology, for those who want to enjoy more than one French art form in a single evening.
Miette Culinary Studio provides a modern, hip space for home chefs to participate in hands-on French cooking classes. Accessibly located in Manhattan, NY’s Little Italy Neighborhood, Miette’s experienced staff of professional chefs/teachers offers numerous classes in French cooking and food history. Miette’s founder, Chef Paul Vandewoude is particularly known for classes like Soufflé! An All-Soufflé Masterclass. Students rave over the ease and clarity with which he demystifies a dish that can flatten even experienced chefs. Miette’s class sizes are generally small, ensuring that you will get plenty of personal attention and assistance as you learn to create impressively airy soufflés appropriate for every time of day—and, of course, a chocolate soufflé for dessert. Still, if you want to bring a larger group, it’s easy to arrange to use part or all of the spacious studio’s loft space, fully-equipped chef’s kitchen, dining area, and outdoor terrace for a group class, party, or corporate event. Miette’s studio is centrally located and easily accessible by multiple train lines, buses, and by car.
You can also take French cooking classes in Brooklyn, NY. The Brooklyn Kitchen aims to foster interactive, community-focused cooking experiences for residents of and visitors to Brooklyn, NY’s vibrant Sunset Park neighborhood. Their energetic, diverse classes serve home chefs at every skill level. Along with general classes on butchery, gluten-free baking, and always-useful knife skills, The Brooklyn Kitchen offers French cooking classes like Dinner with Julia Child. This popular class offers participants the chance to experience French cooking through Julia Child’s seminal textbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The menu rotates seasonally to ensure that you’re cooking with the freshest fruits and vegetables, but you’re guaranteed to learn to make short-crust pastry and mayonnaise, a crucial base for many French sauces. The Brooklyn Kitchen’s spacious loft space is conveniently located in Brooklyn, NY’s Industry City Food Hall, just blocks from public transit and right off the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Industry City’s unique amalgamation of designers, artisans, and entrepreneurs contributes to The Brooklyn Kitchen’s energetic, supportive, communal ethos
Virtual French Cooking Classes & Schools
Taking French cooking classes in-person is an enjoyable and energizing experience for many, but that’s not the only way to learn French cooking. There are many reasons that people find it easier or more convenient to learn this new skill through online French cooking classes. One pro of taking classes online is that you have more options. Even when you live in an area with many options, it can still be hard to find an in-person class that fits into your busy schedule, especially when you want to focus on one particular dish.
Another benefit of virtual French cooking classes is that you can use your own equipment. While some may see this as a drawback of online learning, many advanced home chefs know that, just as with other types of crafting, it is easier to learn new skills when you’re using familiar tools in a familiar space. Commercial kitchens are beautiful, but you’ll never be as familiar with a classroom kitchen as you are with your own. Finally, online classes can be a great option for shy beginners who are reluctant to cook in front of strangers, and more advanced students looking for a quick refresher course. Even if you aren’t able to be in the same room as your teacher, online instructors will still be able to answer your questions and help you out in real-time.
Crȇpes are a great option for those looking for a versatile, popular French treat. Crȇpes are incredibly popular—there are over 100 crȇperies in New York City alone—but few realize just how easy it is to make this beloved French street food on their own. Enter Home Cooking New York, the brainchild of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s former Food Editor, Jennifer Clair. After more than a decade in food media, Clair went to culinary school herself. She started Home Cooking New York to further her mission of making home cooking more accessible to—and fun for—the general public. Home Cooking New York’s Virtual Crȇpe Workshop teaches students to make sweet and savory crȇpes from scratch. You will learn to create a classic crȇpe batter, cook your delicate pancakes to perfection, then fill them with savory cheesy Mornay sauce. The class wraps up with dessert in the form of that classic of French cooking, Crȇpes Suzette, full of buttery caramelized orange slices.
The Chopping Block Lincoln Square’s Virtual French Bistro class is organized around two quintessentially French dishes: Salade Lyonnaise and Steak au Poivre. Past participants rave about The Chopping Block Lincoln Square’s enthusiastic, well-organized, patient instructors. The Chicago-based cooking school caters to home chefs, so they’ve seen everything that can happen in a home kitchen. Their outstanding chefs will guide your cohort through both recipes, with special attention to selecting the best cuts of meat and fresh vegetables, balancing complex flavors, and mixing up a versatile vinaigrette. Upon registration, you’ll receive a syllabus, class schedule, and equipment and ingredient lists. Most of the things you need are easy to find at your local grocery store, bodega, or farmers market. A dedicated Zoom moderator will be on hand throughout the class to make sure that you get a chance to ask all of your questions. Every question will be answered during or after the class period.
As you learn more about French cooking, you’ll also want to learn more about French wine. Wine pairings are an integral part of most French meals, and you’ll want to learn how to select the wine that will best enhance the meals you prepare. While you can learn a lot about what wines you do and don’t like by trying them on your own, online wine classes make it easy to learn about different vintages from the comfort (and safety) of your own home. Whether you think you might want to go on to become a professional sommelier or you just want to learn more about how wines are made, a good wine-tasting class will help you appreciate the complex interplay of flavors in every glass. You can pair wine from any region with your French cooking, but the San Francisco Wine School’s Intro to French Wines is a great place to start. In this class, an experienced sommelier introduces participants to the grapes, methods, and wine-making styles used in France’s major wine-making regions, including Champagne, Burgundy, and Bordeaux. The San Francisco Wine School offers outstanding wine certification programs that encompass classes on international and domestic wines for enthusiasts and future professionals alike. They also make it easy to experience harder-to-find international varietals by providing a tasting kit that can be mailed directly to you once you’ve enrolled in the class.
Private Group French Cooking Classes in NYC
Private French cooking classes are a great option for corporate retreats, team-building, and fundraising events. Bringing everyone in your organization together to prepare a great meal will help your team think about how each member works together and contributes to a final product. CourseHorse can help you find private group French cooking classes in NYC. They can also help you organize new and unique events with any of their experienced providers.
Atelier Sucré’s NYC In-Person: French Macaron Class is a great choice for dessert-loving groups. Atelier Sucré is the brainchild of renowned chef Simon Herfray. After training in pastry in his native France, Chef Simon worked in prestigious restaurants around the world. He launched Atelier Sucré as a joint catering and teaching venture in 2014. With almost a decade of experience teaching in their well-appointed commercial kitchen, Chef Simon and his staff help home chefs of all levels learn how to make macarons, croissants, beignets, and more. Atelier Sucré’s French Macaron Class guides up to 15 people through every step in making the delightfully light, gluten-free pastry, from the almond-flour batter to creamy ganache and jam fillings. Atelier Sucré is conveniently located in Manhattan, NY’s East Village, near several public transit options. All materials are included in the class price. Atelier Sucré’s BYOB-friendly classes are easy to adapt for all occasions, including casual hangouts, birthdays, and corporate events. Classes can even be adapted to online settings, and you can always change the size of your group after booking. If you have a larger group in mind, it’s easy to contact the organizer and make special arrangements. Finally, if you want to sneak a taste of the pastries you’ll be learning to create—or just a tasty snack—Chef Simon’s macarons can also be sampled at Salon Sucré, a recent addition to New York City’s acclaimed Essex Market.
CocuSocial’s NYC In-Person: Classic & Creative Cocktails is an enticing option if you’re planning a more laid-back celebration for an over-21 crowd. Past guests sing the praises of Chef Carolyn, who combines her passions for performance and bartending to put on an informative, lively 2-hour introduction to classic cocktails. Carolyn’s background as a chef and bartender in restaurants across New England and European vacation spots has given her a deep understanding of how to pair the perfect cocktail with different types of cuisine. She is happy to consult with you ahead of time to plan out a well-matched menu of food and cocktails for your guests. This would be a perfect opportunity to bond over French cooking if members of your group might be reluctant to cook in public, or Carolyn’s cocktail class could be paired with a cooking class centered around a complementary French dish. CourseHorse’s online booking system facilitates any customizations you might want to make. NYC In-Person: Classic & Creative Cocktails is conveniently located in Midtown West, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from multiple public transit options and accessible parking options. The class can accommodate groups of up to 30. If you’re not sure how many are coming when you book, no worries—there are no booking fees and you can always change your group size after booking.
CourseHorse makes it easy to schedule online or in-person French cooking classes for your business, organization, or just for a large group of friends. There are no booking fees and the site’s flexible booking system lets you book a class even if you don’t know your final group size. You’ll receive an email confirmation of your booking within 24 hours, and you can change your group size after booking. If you want to customize your event, or if you’re looking to create something completely your own, CourseHorse’s event providers and customer service agents will help you pull it off. You can always reach a real person by email or on the phone directly through CourseHorse’s contact form. Finally, for online events, CourseHorse can support most major video platforms. While CourseHorse recommends Zoom, they also support Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and WebEx. Many courses can even come to your office or home space.
