Even if it doesn’t feel like spring yet, Cooks of Crocus Hill will warm up all five of your senses with a fun and engaging cooking class. The back of this specialty kitchenware shop in Stillwater is outfitted with a granite island and industrial appliances, where chefs lead both demonstration and participatory classes in an engaging style.
Cooks of Crocus Hill is owned by Karl Benson and Marie Dwyer, and the Stillwater storefront, which opened four years ago, is one of three locations that offers a range of classes year-round designed for every level of home cook.
“Cooks was founded by Martha Kraemmer, and she started with retail in the ’70s. She felt like there should be a resource where you could get good cookware or cooking-related items,” says Benson, who bought the business 17 years ago, explaining that Kraemmer had the opportunity to purchase a cooking school from Pillsbury, which was closing. “They literally unscrewed a whole cooking school, put it in a truck and delivered it into Martha’s garage, and that’s how the school was born.” Today, the school is 25 percent of Cooks’ business and participants come from all over the metro and Wisconsin to take classes, which typically cost $75 for a 2- to 2½-hour course.
Participants sit face-to-face with a chef, the heat of the industrial range between them, as they listen to a lecture-style or hands-on lesson that goes beyond just a recipe, with facts on food history or tips for food safety. They observe every step in overhead mirrors, while the pleasing aroma of a restaurant-quality dish simmers; tasting it is the reward for the lesson. Participants enjoy complimentary coffee and water, and there is a cash bar that offers beer, wine and soda.
“Once you get a better understanding of basic cooking methods, you’re only limited by your budget and product availability,” says chef Manfred Krug, known as Chef Manny, who has been instructing at the location for years. During the class, the chef will share his or her personal tips for cooking utensils that can all be found in the store, which carries 6,500 items. Cooking class participants receive a 15 percent discount that day as they shop, and each class and purchase earns points toward discounts for reward members.
“Our goal is to be as diverse in our offerings as we can be,” Benson says. “We get a fair amount of widowers who were old-school, who say to us, ‘My wife has passed, and I only ever walked through the kitchen to get a cup of coffee,’ or we see kids coming out of college asking for tips. If you’ve never boiled water before, we have classes to get you started. Then we have people who maybe say, ‘I cook, but I’ve never made pasta, or want to know how to make stocks, how to make pizza,’ that kind of thing. We also like to have options for people who are somewhat accomplished cooks. About four or five times a year, we bring in national cookbook authors or a well-known celebrity type.”
The classes make for a great date or night out with friends. Rich and Jennifer Briggs have been taking classes throughout the past two years. “I watch cooking shows and have cookbooks, but the classes help validate what I am doing, and it’s really fun,” says Rich, who has taken four classes with Cooks around the cities, including in Stillwater. “I don’t really cook, but I really enjoy coming,” Jennifer says. “We drop off the kids and make it a date.”
Class offerings are updated monthly, and are available via the website or on printed brochures in the stores.
