Cambridge School of Culinary Arts — Attraction in Cambridge

We signed up for this class on my birthday and it was a phenomenal way to spend four hours of the day! We did the Pasta Workshop - Hand Rolled class on a Sunday morning at 9:00 AM and signed-up for it about 35 days prior. I would be timely with signing-up for classes ahead of time by a few weeks frankly, as these classes sell out quick!

Upon arrival, they asked what class we were in and would walk us to the proper area (as there were 3 classes going on at once in the different parts of the school). The CSCA provides you a very easy to read instruction guide for the day in terms of how to create your pasta dough, how to make various shapes, and how to create a sauce (that you get to take home as well for future use). Our instructor was amazing and provided a lot of great anecdotes regarding his experience cooking and provided footnotes for optimization of cooking recipes.

The cost of the class was well worth it as you got to use a professional kitchen, eat a full meal, and have 2 servings leftover for home. Of note, we probably needed closer to 4.5 hrs to truly finish cooking as there were some steps that could be optimized, but overall everyone else finished cooking prior to us so we might've just been a little slow. The class had 12 students total and didn't feel overcrowded at the desks where we learned and chose what pastas/sauces we wanted to make, neither did it feel crowded at the preparation tables as we made our pasta dough/shape.

The first hour was essentially a walk through of the CSCA pasta instruction guide. Would HIGHLY recommend bringing a pen or pencil to write notes on the instruction guide, as the chef gave out great tips for us to do this at home, but we didn't have anything to write down the information with. After that, we made our pasta doughs in the kitchen and set them to sit for a bit. Then we went back into the classroom area and decided as a class what pasta shapes & sauces we wanted to make; the chef highly encouraged we try to make different sauces as we would get to try everyone's pastas at the end. There was a wonderful variety of sauces we could make, including vegetarian/vegan, meat, seafood, and cheese ones. Once we all chose as a class what each of us would be making, we got to work on beginning to make our sauces & pasta shapes for the next 3 hours. The chef was attentive to each of us, providing real-time feedback to us individually as well as tips for the larger group. You certainly need to not be afraid to ask questions on your food, on where something in the kitchen is or how something in the kitchen works, not just to the chef but to the people in your class as well. The chef does a great time keeping you true to the time limits you have left and steps in to help where people needed it. After we finished cooking, we were told to put all of our cooking utensils/pots/pans/cutting boards in the sink for CSCA to clean, allowing us to go enjoy our food in the classroom with everyone. They provided lots of to-go containers for everyone as well to put leftovers in (which there were plenty of).

Tips I would say for the class would be that you should show up at least 15 minutes ahead of time, absolutely wear closed toe shoes & clothes that you wouldn't be devastated about getting stained, be sure to bring a pencil/pen, and maybe a bag to potentially carry your leftovers in after you leave. Most people in the class came with someone else they knew, but there were two people who came by themselves. There were both newcomers as well as people who had taken prior classes.

Great insight that the chef told us was that if you have a larger group of people you'd like to take the class with, he said you can email the school and inquire about scheduling a private cooking class session for your group and you even get to choose what cuisine you'd be looking to cook. They also have night classes that included wine if you're looking for that sort of a cooking class!

Overall, it was a semi-challenging for my cooking levels but a fantastic experience and I would do it again in...

Fabulous!!!!! Highly recommended for everyone. Jerrod at CSCA was very accommodating and helpful when we booked our class, we had 10 people attending and most classes were booked up. He was very helpful in finding a date that would accommodate us with a several menu choices. This is our second group class and chose Spanish dining. Jerrod pairs us with Chef Burke Weston. He was absolutely engaging. Professional, Very knowledgeable, extremely patient with all of us and a great sense of humor. The facility was pristine and very welcoming not overwhelming or intimidating at all.

We paired up and we’re assigned an entree, some of us prepped 2 dishes. We Gathered our ingredients and became beginner chefs in the making. I can’t stress enough how wonderful Chef Burke was with all of us, at one point he was being pulled in many directions with all of our questions.

We created appetizers, baked fish in rock salt, grilled fresh veggies, created basting sauces, the most tender pork loin I have ever tasted. The most surprising dish created, authentic Spanish paella with shrimp… OMG!!! Delicious!!! If you don’t think your pallet could be any more satisfied we created batter for homemade churro’s.

The entire experience was absolutely amazing! We had the time of our lives, tons of laughs, and ate, cooked, ate some more and dined like kings. We left with full bellies, wonderful memories and for all of us added cooking skills that we can all benefit from in our daily lives. I’m absolutely blown away that all the dishes we made we can recreate in our own homes. Doesn’t take any longer to create a great marinade vs. opening a bottle.

Thank you CSCA and staff for hosting our party of 10! Greatly appreciated and We...

The quality of your experience heavily depends on the instructor. I would recommend sticking to their technique-based classes as the couples' cooking nights are chaotic and not educational.

The first class we took was a croissant-making workshop with an Irish chef (I can’t remember his name, sorry) who was phenomenal. He was extremely knowledgable, had a great sense of humor, and made the whole experience both fun and educational. We walked away feeling like we really learned something and were excited to make more croissants at home.

The second class we took was the French-themed couples’ cooking class, a huge disappointment and such a waste of $200. The instructor, a woman who had clearly never even seen the recipe packet before, spent the first hour just reading through all 14 pages out loud, mumbling multiple times as she was skimming ahead to figure out what tonight's dishes were. When she mispronounced several of the ingredients, I knew the class was not going to be what I originally expected. She didn’t teach us anything. No techniques, no tips. We basically paid to use a commercial kitchen and get a packet of recipes we could have found online for free.

The class was also structured in a “divide and conquer” style where every couple was responsible for making one dish on their own. There was no guidance or instruction, just a vague, “the equipment is over there”. We were on our feet for over three hours, trying to figure it out ourselves, and by the end, it felt like no one really enjoyed it.

It’s such a shame because our first class was so great, but this one was such a letdown that I don’t think we’ll be coming back. For the price, I expected...