Today was my first opportunity to take one of the classes offered at the somewhat new, Silver Dollar City Craft & Culinary School, just outside Branson, Missouri. It was a great day to be indoors taking a class, because "the weather outside was frightful, and the fire (inside the culinary school's magnificent fireplace) was so delightful!" There is so much to tell about the building and furnishing of the facility itself, that I will detail more about that in a future blog. The photograph below shows the demonstration kitchen area. The seats and tables are at graduated heights so all can see. Plus, the two large flatscreen televisions on either side of the cook island give closeup views of whatever the chef has preparing on the cook top. Seating in the class is unassigned, and people usually line up to go into the room several minutes ahead of starting time to give them access to the type of seating they prefer. They also had iced tea poured and ready for each participant to enjoy at their seat whenever we walked in.
The classes offered at the Culinary School are designed to coincide with whatever festival is being celebrated in the park. For example, SDC is currently promoting World Fest, so the recipes demonstrated today were called "Taste of the Orient - Stir Fry". Notice, that I said "demonstrated." Some folks reading this may have been to culinary classes where you actually had a hand in preparing a particular dish, with the opportunity for a "hands on" experience mastering a particular culinary technique. However, these classes are designed for spectators only; yet they are small enough, that it is easy to interact with the chef, and ask any questions or get clarification on unfamiliar terms.
The recipes prepared in today's class were: Ozark Stir Fry, Beef Stir Fry with Rice, and Chicken/Seafood Stir Fry; and YES!!! ---you do get a generous sample of each dish to taste for yourself, as well as a copy of the recipe to take home with you. Each one was delicious, and something that would be easy to adapt to home use.
After class, I got to have my photo made with Debbie Dance Uhrig, who has the title "Master Craftsman of Culinary Arts". You can read more about her background or purchase one of her cookbooks at
www.simplythecovereddish.com The classes cost ten dollars, in addition to your general admission ticket to Silver Dollar City. You can sign up for the classes in advance at
www.sdcculinarycraftschool.com or by phoning 800-831-4Fun. And I would definitely recommend this "4Fun"! Miles of smiles! Tricia
