Florence, Italy Cooking Classes

Some of the best food in Italy comes from Tuscany. And as the region's most visited city, Florence is the center of Tuscan cuisine. Unlike the food from Southern Italy, the cooking here doesn't rely on tomatoes, cheese, and other ingredients that Americans link to Italian food.

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Here, the emphasis is on seasonal local ingredients like wild boar, asparagus, truffles, and rabbit. And, of course, many dishes are prepared with the excellent wines from the region. Most of the dishes are easy to make, full of flavor, and designed to stick to the ribs.

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If you'll be in Florence for a few days, and you'd like to learn more about Tuscan cuisine and how to prepare it, half- or full-day cooking classes are a fun way to meet others, have a good meal, and acquire some new skills. Several classes are taught in English most days of the week.

One of the best-known cooking schools is the Culinary Institute of Florence, which falls under the Apicius International School of Hospitality. Students can take everything from a one-day course to a masters degree program here. If you have the time, the one-week program includes individual and group lessons, wine tastings, markets visits, and more.

Silvia Maccari is a well-known Italian cookbook author and food expert who teaches classes in her lovely apartment. The day starts with a tour of the San Lorenzo market, where student pick up what they'll use to prepare their meal. Back at the apartment, the class makes four courses, and then enjoys them together with wines that Silvia has selected to go best with the dishes.

The Scuola de Arte Caulinaria Cordon Bleu has been in the center of Florence since opening in 1985. Travelers who want to learn something specific, like making chocolates, pastas, or appetizers will find a wide variety of courses at this cooking school, ranging in length from one day to three months.

Well-known chef Giuliano Bugialli has been teaching classes at his Cooking in Florence since 1973. The school is located in Bugialli's 15th-century farmhouse in the Tuscan countryside. At the week-long course, students learn to make about 35 dishes, and enjoy dinners at local restaurants, wine tastings, and visits to area food producers.

Claudio Piantini teaches at the luxurious Relais Torres Guelfa in Figline Valdarno. One of the best parts of taking a class here is touring the beautiful cook's gardens that Piantini keeps and using the fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits for the meal. When the weather is nice, dinner is served on the pool-side terrace.

Californian Judy Francini started Divina Cucina after moving to Italy in the 1980s. She offers one-day and one-week classes to a mostly American clientele. On Mondays, classes include a tour of the market and lunch at a charming Florence trattoria. On Wednesdays, classes are held at a friend's villa in the country.

Florence, Italy Cooking Classes

Find more cooking classes in Florence, or classes in Rome

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Attending Top Culinary Schools Requires Some Cooking Knowledge

Boiling water without burning it may seem like a simple process but in reality there are some individuals who simply do not know their way around the kitchen. They cannot tell you the difference between sauté and broil. Culinary students who are interested in the top culinary schools must have some background in the kitchen if they hope to become an executive chef one day.

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They have to know the basics if they want that 'A' on their souffle. It can be a demanding career and one that is tough on the body, mind and ego but for those who have the determination the pay off is extraordinary.

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Top culinary schools are not everywhere. There are many located throughout the United States that offer a comprehensive cooking degree upon completion, yet there are some that do not and so you must go online. The only online school that may be applicable, should you want to run the front end of a restaurant, is The University of Phoenix with their Hospitality and Business Management program. However, this program will only teach you how to run the front of a restaurant, as it will not include any instruction in the culinary arts.

Many cooking colleges offer a special type of arts program that is world renowned. At the California School of Culinary Arts Pasadena, you can partake in the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts program, about which most people are most familiar.

It is a great curriculum that offers three distinct programs, which you can either take separately or all together. They offer the culinary arts program, a baking program and a program that focuses on Hospitality and Restaurant Management.

If you are not thinking about obtaining a certificate or degree and simply want to further your skills and knowledge in the kitchen, then you may want to think about specialized classes in one area of culinary delight. You could take a Thai cooking school class or even an Italian cooking school class to teach you how to make those wonderful dishes you order at restaurants.

Choosing from among the top culinary schools can be difficult for students. Not everyone is cut out to be a chef. Some people never aspire to learn how to make the dishes served in five star restaurants. But for those who persevere and learn the tricks of the trade it can be a rewarding career filled with excitement and advancement. It is a dream of a lifetime for those individuals.

Attending Top Culinary Schools Requires Some Cooking Knowledge

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Microwave Cooking For Kids

Kids can use the microwave at a younger age then cooking in the oven if taught accordingly. Begin by teaching proper use of the microwave and handling objects taken out of the microwave.

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Then try simple recipes such as:
Steamed broccoli and cheese-add a small amount of water less than ¼ cup with broccoli florets. Place a microwavable plate or plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and cook for 4-5 minutes until broccoli is tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan or other cheese desired and stir. Warming up food is a good start that kids can learn the basics of the microwave. Pop popcorn whether using microwavable popcorn or by placing a ¼ cup of popcorn kernels in a brown paper bag with 1 Tablespoon oil. Staple shut and pop for several minutes until kernels stop popping. Season with different flavors like cheese or taco. Try various recipes for fondues or hot dips such as pizza dip or artichoke dip. Simple fudge recipes that call for melting chocolate and stirring ingredients together are great for the microwave. Baked apples are another simple and great treat. Meatballs can be cooked in the microwave and then added to a jar of spaghetti sauce to warm up. Breaded chicken patties can be cooked in the microwave and then add a slice of ham and slice of cheese for a quick chicken cordon bleu meal. Always teach your children kitchen safety and the importance of using supervision at all times. And kids will love the freedom of using the microwave and being able to help put quick and easy meals on the table for the family.

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Microwave Cooking For Kids

Visit http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-cooking-lessons.html for kids cooking lesson plans. For recipes, tips and ideas in teaching your kids to cook sign up for our Kids Cooking Activities Newsletter, http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-cooking-activities-newsletter.html

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Cooking As a Family - Family Closeness Begins in the Kitchen

In many countries, the kitchen is still a place where socialization and bonding takes place. It is not uncommon in these areas of the world to see three generations in one family cooking together. You will find parents, their children, and their children's grandparents in the same kitchen all at the same time cooking as a family, bonding with each other, having fun, and making a great tasting meal in the process. However, a lot of households are too busy nowadays to take time out of their busy schedules to spend this time together. Parents have different schedules from each other and different schedules from their children. It is very unfortunate, but a lot of times, parents and children are unable to even share a meal together today, let alone cook together.

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It is important to make the time every day to at least get together to eat dinner. It is probably the one time that communication between parents and children can take place. However, it is also very beneficial to find some time to cook together. Even if it is just once a month, whenever it is possible to do so, cooking as a family should be done. Family members rarely get a chance to bond with each other as a family, and cooking together can change that. It can also foster an interest in different types of foods, such as healthy foods like vegetables and fruits in little kids. Plus, eating a home-cooked meal is often healthier than eating out together at a restaurant. Clearly, there are many benefits to cooking together as a family unit.

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Having your children cook with you in the kitchen also helps increase their self-confidence. They can feel accomplished and like they are doing something important by contributing to the needs of their family, in this case food. It is also more likely that the family will eat dinner together if they prepared it together. This will increase the quality time that the family spends with each other. This means that, by cooking as a family, the household will see a decrease in the time that the family spends doing less productive stuff such as watching TV or going on the computer.

Cooking as a family will also instill family values among each other. This has many benefits, one of which being that children who spend more time with their parents are less likely to partake in destructive behavior such as doing drugs. Cooking together is sure to bring the family closer.

Cooking As a Family - Family Closeness Begins in the Kitchen

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Home Meat Slicer For Better Cooking

Home Meat Slicer

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One of the most equipment that should be considered is a home meat slicer. With this kitchen gadget, you can do more rather than slicing meat. Prepare your home-made bacon, vegetable, fruits and even cheese with this great tool. With its versatility, the avenue of achieving perfection in home-prepared meal is really endless. There have been different innovations in the food preparation at home. With the proliferation of easy home cooking techniques, more and more people are now enjoying restaurant-like home cook meals. More and more are preparing decent and luxurious foods at home. Due to that, more home makers are stuffing their kitchens with the lasts gadgets and equipments to make that perfect "Cordon Blue," for their family, or just for their selves.

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Due to its versatility, more and more delicate food preparation can be used. You can now prepare sophisticated beef stroganoff without battling yourself with your own kitchen knife. By having your own home meat slicer, you can attain perfect freedom in creating your food masterpiece.

A typical home meat slicer can have its optional professional feature. With just a push of a button, you can boost your culinary confidence because you know that you will have the perfect cut whenever is possible. These slicers can produce perfect meat, vegetable, fruits and even cheese cuts-perfect for the grill or salad. Being a home meat slicer, this kind has a very compact yet sleek design unlike the commercial ones. And although they are not that sturdy when it comes to slicing pound after pound of raw meat, rest assured that it can truly handle meats which is enough for your needs.

Having a Home Slicer
To have your own home meat slicer, it is important to consider the type of food preparation you will use it to prepare for it. Anyways, with just a single meat slicer, you will be able to produce hundreds of scrumptious and delicious food you can eat.

Be more adventurous with your taste buds because a home slicer can give you your needed slices that will enable you to create culinary marvels. Show off your skills with the help of this slicer and turn ordinary slices meat or cheeses into marvels that will be perfect for any cocktail occasions, party or just get together with friends and family.

With your own home slicer, you can skip the hassle of slicing your ingredients. From there on, you can now concentrate into the preparation of your dishes and perfecting the art of it.

Having your own home meat slicer will definitely be a great addition to your home. Whether you are just going to use it for a typical meal preparation, to having an extravagant dinner, this will be the perfect partner and help you will need for your dishes. Enjoy everything you make and get a chance to show off to your family and friends with your culinary skills with the aid of this home meat slicer. Every dish will be in perfection and attuned to your palette with the perfect slices in every bite.

Home Meat Slicer For Better Cooking

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Poultry Tips - Cooking Cornish Game Hens

A Cornish game hen is sometimes known as a rock Cornish or poussin. This is a chicken, which is slaughtered young, and this is why it is small. The bird is called a hen although it might be male or female.

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Cornish game hens have a rounded, plump breast and short legs. This bird was created in the 1950s by cross-breeding White Rock chickens with Cornish ones. These birds are more expensive than regular chickens and they are between four and six weeks of age when they are slaughtered. Weighing less than two pounds, these birds can be used in various chicken recipes.

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Oven roasting is the best cooking method for game hens. The smaller ones might only need twenty minutes but larger ones might require up to an hour. When you can stick a sharp knife into the thickest part of the bird and the juices run clear, it is done. You can rub spices or herbs into the bird before baking it and you can baste it with melted butter or the juices, which accumulate in the pan as the bird cooks. Just pour these juices over the bird as it cooks to keep it wonderfully moist.

How to Make Stuffed Cornish Game Hens

If you fancy a change from your usual baked chicken rice recipe or chicken cordon bleu, what about making Cornish game hens with a rice and cheese filling? This recipe is simple to make and you do not need many ingredients for it. You can leave out the mushrooms if you do not like them.

If you want to serve extra stuffing on the side, you can put it in a small covered dish and bake it with the birds during the final forty five minutes of cooking, then remove the cover for the last fifteen minutes.

What You Will Need:
2 Cornish game hens, 1 lb each 1 cup shredded cheddar 1/2 stick butter plus more for basting 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons diced celery 2 oz chopped canned mushrooms 1 cup chicken broth 1/3 cup rice Salt and black pepper

How To Make It:

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the rice, onion, and celery for eight minutes, stirring the mixture often. Add the broth and bring the mixture to a boil, then cover the pan and simmer for twenty minutes over a gently heat or until the rice is fluffy and the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the mushrooms and let the mixture cool. Toss the cheddar with it. Season the insides of the Cornish game hens with salt and pepper, and then stuff them with the rice mixture.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and arrange the birds on a rack, breast side up. Put the rack in a shallow pan and baste the birds with some melted butter. Cover them loosely with aluminum foil and roast them for half an hour. Remove the foil and roast them for forty five more minutes, basting them occasionally with more butter during the last half an hour of the cooking time.

Poultry Tips - Cooking Cornish Game Hens

Cornish game hens make a tasty change to typical chicken recipes but sometimes you might crave a satisfying baked chicken rice recipe or classic recipe for chicken cordon bleu instead. Cornish game hens are more expensive than chicken but good for an occasional treat.

BonelessChickenRecipe.com - Chicken so delightfully moist, you can almost smell it through your monitor.

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Shaker Style Cooking - How to Make Smoked Chicken Thighs

The Shakers are a Quaker splinter group and they flourished in the mid-1800s in the east of the United States. They originally came from England and believed that God could be found within, rather than via rituals or clergy, also believing strongly in hard word, frugality, and honesty. Shaker furniture is perhaps better known than Shaker cuisine and this furniture tends to be durable, functional, and rather plain.

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Shakers eat well, needing their energy for furniture-making, farming and other work, and the sexual equality they believe in means the men are just as likely to be the ones cooking, although sometimes they will be doing the heavy work such as farming simply because they have more physical strength for it.

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Tasty Shaker Ingredients

Fresh ingredients like milk, eggs, and meat come from the farms and Shakers eat a wide range of tasty meals. Chicken is a favorite and the following smoked chicken recipe has an amazing flavor. You will need a grill to make this.

The following delicious recipe serves four people and the marinade is primarily flavored with shallots and cider vinegar. The best woodchips for smoking are apple wood, but hickory or maple will do fine too.

Serve this tasty dish with a homemade potato salad or some slaw, if you like. This is a great meal for a warm summer day when you want to make something a bit more exciting than plain grilled chicken breast or chicken thighs.

What you will need:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup cider vinegar 2 chopped cloves garlic 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (trim off any extra fat) 2 chopped medium shallots 1 cup hickory or apple woodchips

How to make them:

Whisk the oil and vinegar with the salt, and then stir in the garlic and shallots. Add the chicken and toss it well to coat. Cover it and let it marinate for up to three hours in the refrigerator. Soak the woodchips in water for twenty minutes, and then shake the excess water off.

Fold a twelve by twenty inch sheet of heavy aluminum foil in half to get a twelve by ten inch piece and put the wet woodchips in the middle. Fold the ends up to make a packet. Put this packet on the grill burners, under the grill rack and pierce the top with a skewer or knife several times.

Close the lid and turn the heat to high. Let the grill heat up for fifteen minutes or until you can smell the smoke and see it coming out from under the lid. Put the chicken on the grill, discarding the marinade, and grill it for about seven minutes per side or until it is cooked through. Serve the smoked chicken thighs hot or chilled.

Shaker Style Cooking - How to Make Smoked Chicken Thighs

If you enjoy cooking with chicken, you might want to make a tasty baked chicken rice recipe or even something like chicken cordon bleu for your family to enjoy tonight. Chicken is versatile, economical, and bursting with delicious flavor.

BonelessChickenRecipe.com - Chicken so delightfully moist, you can almost smell it through your monitor.

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Cooking Schools

Cooking schools, culinary schools, the Art Institute of California, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, and a two-hour class at Sur La Table are all methods of becoming educated in the field of cooking. Depending on whether you want to learn how to cook one meal to impress a date, or become the Executive Chef of a famous restaurant, the opportunity is there to learn.

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A professional culinary program should, at a minimum, provide the student chef with a basic knowledge of foods, food styles, ant the methods used to prepare foods. An understanding of sanitation, nutrition, and business procedures such as food costing should also be part of the curriculum. Examples of classes would be Sanitation and Safety, Culinary Arts, Knife Skills, Stocks, Soups and Sauces, Fundamentals of Garde Manager, Professional Cooking Basics, and Culinary Café. These are only a minute portion of the classes available.

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Rather than becoming the Executive Chef, you may want to work for yourself as a Caterer, a Personal Chef, or just cook for your spouse, The Personal Chef career can be learned at home through a correspondence course. One organization that you can become a member of is the United States Personal Chef Association. As a Personal Chef, you would cook meals for clients in their home, which would provide the client with dinners for several weeks. These dinners would normally be frozen for meals at a later date.

Stores which provide culinary equipment and utensils, such as Sur La Table, give cooking classes on a short term basis, generally one night. Examples of some of these classes are Essential Knife Skills, Ice Cream Workshop, Grilling Basics: Seafood, Quick and Easy Asian Cooking, and French Classic Desserts.

So whatever level of cooking education that you want to attain, the means to reach that goal are available.

Cooking Schools

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Cooking Boneless Chicken Recipes in a Crockpot

Boneless chicken is economical, versatile, and very tasty. You can make all kinds of boneless chicken recipes including chicken parmesan, chicken cordon bleu, chicken soups and stews and much more. If you have a crockpot, there are plenty of crockpot boneless chicken recipes you can try as well. Boneless chicken cooks very nicely in a crockpot. It becomes really soft and tender and takes on the flavors of the other ingredients you are using in the recipe.

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Crockpot Cooking Tips

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If you are on a tight budget, you can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts in many recipes. One and a half thighs are about equal to a chicken breast, or two thighs if they are quite small.

Test your chicken after it has been cooking for six hours on low. Chicken can become mushy if you cook it in the crockpot for too long, so it is best to keep an eye on it towards the end of the cooking time.

An Easy Crockpot Recipe for Chicken Tacos

This is a great recipe if you like Mexican food. You can even double or triple the recipe if you have a big crockpot and this would be great if you are having a buffet or if you want to make Superbowl party recipes or feed a crowd. If you do not have taco seasoning, you can use cumin, chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper as an alternative seasoning.

The leftover chicken is versatile and you can use it in all kinds of other boneless chicken recipes. This recipe makes enough to feed ten people and if you want an easy recipe, which cooks itself, or if you are going to be out all day, this crockpot chicken recipe is perfect.

You will need:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 2 cups salsa 1 chopped green bell pepper 1 chopped onion 1 envelope taco seasoning 1 package flour tortillas, to serve
How to Make it:

Put the chicken breasts in the crockpot with the bell pepper and onion. Sprinkle the taco seasoning into the salsa, stir well to combine, and then pour this over the chicken and vegetables.

You can add a little water if you think the dish requires more liquid but remember the chicken and salsa produce more liquid as they cook. Cover the crockpot and cook the chicken mixture on high for about five hours or on low for about seven hours. When you can easily shred the chicken with a fork, it is done. Take the chicken breasts out of the crockpot to shred them, and then serve the chicken in the flour tortillas.

Remove the onion and bell pepper pieces with a slotted spoon and add these to the tacos. Garnish the tacos with any toppings you like. Good toppings include lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream, salsa, olives, guacamole, and tomatoes.

Cooking Boneless Chicken Recipes in a Crockpot

Boneless chicken goes with all different flavorings and sauces and you can use it in many dishes, including international chicken recipes. Perhaps you already have a favorite chicken dish like chicken Parmesan or chicken cordon bleu. You can find plenty of easy chicken recipes at our site including the very best crockpot chicken recipes for busy moms.

BonelessChickenRecipe.com - Chicken so delightfully, moist you can almost smell it through your monitor.

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How To Make Cooking Easy And Simple

Most of us treat cooking as a torturous chore that has to be endured at the end of a long working day. We all look and marvel at people who enjoy cooking and look forward to cooking at home and wonder what went wrong with us. To tell you the truth, the basic difference between people who enjoy spending time in the kitchen and those who don't is just a little bit of planning. With proper planning, you can easily fix good home cooked meals for the whole family within half an hour and once you find cooking fast and easy, you will look forward to making and eating wholesome home cooked meals. Some tips that will help you in making cooking both easy and simple are:

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Start with easy and simple: The key to making food fast and without fuss is to start with easy and simple recipes. Don't try preparing cordon bleu menus on weekdays. Leave them for the weekends if you like cooking and for the restaurants if you don't. Instead aim at making wholesome and healthy food at home and start with easy to make salads, stir fries and soups. Baking with bottled marinades is not only easy and fast; it also produces great tasting, healthy non-vegetarian dishes.

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Plan meals in advance: Plan your meals before you go to pick up your weekly supply of groceries. This way, you will be able to buy all the ingredients that you will need for your dishes instead of having to abandon making something in the middle because of the absence of a crucial ingredient. Planning meals will also help you in picking up stuff that is better suited to your dishes. For example, if you are planning to make stir fries a lot during the week, then going for chopped vegetable will be better than buying whole vegetables.

Put your appliances to better use: Most of us under use almost all of our appliances, specially our food processors, microwaves and crock pots. Washing the food processor and changing different attachments is a chore, but not if you have to do it only once or twice a week. Chop vegetables and prepare stuff for the whole week on the weekend using your food processor and keep different ingredients in different boxes in the fridge. Most vegetables and pastes will last for at least a week if stored in airtight containers. Similarly, you can use your microwave for making basic dishes. Start using your crock pot for preparing soups and rice dishes while your prepare the main course to save time.

Keep your fridge and kitchen stocked with RTC ingredients: A well stocked fridge and kitchen are the keys to making cooking simple. Keeping different types of pasta, marinade and salad sauces along with ready to mix seasonings can save you a lot of time and energy at the end of a hard day at work. Similarly keeping chopped vegetables and ready to cook meat and poultry pieces in your fridge and freezer ensure that you save on cleaning and cutting time every day.

How To Make Cooking Easy And Simple

Get more information regarding crock pot

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