Taste Buds Kitchen: Cocktails and Cooking Class

Trying Something New: A BYOB Cooking Class!

A couple of weeks ago my sister invited me to a “bring your own bottle” (BYOB) cooking class. We were celebrating her sister-in-law’s birthday. I’ve done a few BYOB “paint and sip” classes before, and they were a lot of fun. Wine pretty much anything makes anything more fun, or ridiculous, so I was all in.

Our group of four had a reservation at Taste Buds Kitchens. I was not in charge of the planning for this outing, but the reservation process seems pretty easy. The adult BYOB classes are $79.00 (There are also classes for children and families that are alcohol-free.) If you have a group of four or five, you can have your own table.

Here’s the details on our outing:

Location: Taste Buds Kitchen- Chelsea Location
Class Title: Take Out Chinese
Cost: $79.00
Length of Class - 2 hours 4:30 - 6:30 PM

The set up is very nice. This Chelsea location is very bright and clean. You can bring your wine, beer or champagne, and they provide the bottle openers and wine glasses. They set you up with a table top burner and all of the ingredients and equipment to prepare about four dishes. There’s a sink area in the classroom to clean up and hooks for your coats and bags. Once we signed a waiver and put on our aprons, we were ready to go. There was a professional chef, (shout out to our chef Jeanie), to lead you through preparing all the dishes from scratch. She goes over safety precautions and gives you practical tips during the lesson. I had no idea that cutting the root part of the onion causes you to cry. Or that peeling ginger with a teaspoon is way more efficient than a knife or grater. Go figure!

The teaching sessions were quick, but thorough. As a group, you come to the front of the class and get a tutorial on how to prepare a certain part of the dish, then you go back to your station to split up responsibilities and to prepare with your group. If the wine is hitting you right about now and you forget a step, there’s plenty of help available. The chef will answer questions and the assistants are there to help with clean up. We were tasked with making General Tso’s Chicken, chicken and scallion dumplings, and our very own fortune cookies.

This is a great team building activity. We had to figure things out and work in pairs to finish our meal in time. There’s nothing more rewarding than to work on completing a task together and have something to show for it. At the end, you get to enjoy your meal and appreciate the company of your friends. It’s a great way to do something different for a birthday, date night or girls’ night. Get out there and try something new guys!