Sur La Table — Local services in Murray

Do not take the macaron class. The chef/teacher was not a pastry chef. I'm not sure he'd ever made macarons before. I knew more about making macarons than he did.

I've been failing at macarons for four years. I was not a beginner, I just needed to know what I was doing wrong. I expected that, with the professional help at Sur La Table, I would finally have a successful batch and know how to succeed in the future. Maybe that's an unreasonable expectation?

Perhaps the chef had successfully made macarons previously, but he'd never made them with the Sur La Table equipment. The sieves he gave us were too fine, which he didn't realize, and we ended up needing to use a food processor.

The chef never used the term "macaronage", which is understandable in a room where most people were beginners. However, he didn't know what a j-fold was, and certainly wasn't showing the proper technique for folding the egg whites into the almond flour/powdered sugar. I went along with his odd egg folding movements thinking he must know more than I did. He did not check the final consistency of anyone's batter before we started piping the cookies and the consistency of the batter is one of the most important factors for success.

He underbaked my macarons. With chocolate chip cookies it's forgivable and gooey centers are delicious. With macarons, gooey centers mean hollow macarons. He pulled my macarons out too early and told me I should have dipped my offset spatula in water before removing them from the pan (that's why they were sticking), when macarons release from silicone mats just great when they've been cooked long enough.

Every person in the class had hollow macarons. As we're all discovering this, he shrugs and says with a laugh, "I'm a better cook than I am a baker." Then he says, "Perfect this at home and let me know when you get it." As though I hadn't already tried everything I could think of to perfect them before I signed up for the class. I've tried the swiss meringue method, the italian meringue method, whipping the eggs to stiffer peaks, less stiff, having a stiffer batter, a runnier batter, adjusting the oven temperature, rotating pans, using cream of tartar, you name it. I've done it. I was in the class to learn how to be successful, not to fail AGAIN the exact way I'd been failing for four years.

Hollow. Again.

What a waste of...

My partner and I did the Cozy Night Autumn Meal date night edition, and when we arrived, we were shocked to find that we were the only ones to have signed up that night. It was an awesome experience that felt more 1:1 with our chef, and we enjoyed it so much. We had never done anything like a cooking class before and I had made these reservations as an anniversary gift to us to celebrate six years together. By the end of it, we were begging for the calendar to consider another class in the near future!

Our chef Paula was the best person we’ve ever had the pleasure of spending 2 hours with. It really felt like cooking with family in a ginormous kitchen with every tool and ingredient you can think of, just an arms reach away. She walked us through everything so thoroughly and step by step, I never felt loss while cooking meals I had never cooked before and even eaten before. One of the biggest takeaways for us was that it felt, not simple, but doable in our own home. Our main course was a beef bourguignon with wild mushrooms and pearl onions, our side was herb and brown butter spatzle - which btw, is SO fun to make! We also made a radicchio salad and then an amazing apple cranberry crumble for dessert. Idk how we made all of that in 2 hours but we had so much fun doing it. We laugh, we got to know each other, we made mistakes and laughed some more. Chef Paula is so knowledgeable about cooking and I really enjoyed all of the tips and tricks she had for us. Btw, Paula girl if you’re reading this, the garlic peeler is on the way in the mail!!!! LOL I have never been so influenced so fast in my life. Best. Kitchen. Tool. Ever.

Anyways, short story long, we genuinely enjoyed our first cooking class and I think what made it better was the fact that it ended up being an unofficial private lesson. Not to mention, we were able to put everything we made into to-go containers at the end so that we could keep enjoying what we made over and over. I don’t cook often, but after this experience, I can’t wait until I cook again. We will DEFINITELY be back for a pastry class! Thank you for being apart of a core...

I'm surprised I haven't rated you yet considering you're my go-to for kitchen items. However, I'm now glad that I haven't because today's trip to the store, wasn't so great. 2 employees there when I walk in. Doing some sort of stalk or inventory or something. No customers and no class' going on. I wander around the store1....2.....and by the middle of the 3rd trip still not 1 single bit of egknowledgement. So my loud mouth sorta chimes in, so now I know for a fact they know (ide already walked by them, stood by them, stood at the regester) I'm there. So I pulled my knives out of my bad and a little heavy handed , set them on the counter and a bit impatiently, waited. The lady that walked up to the counter pulled out the paperwork, wrote the invoice for the sharpening and had I not asked anything, she wouldn't of said 2 words to me. She didn't even give me a come back later to get your things. I knew why but I asked why the phone number?! "So if we need to keep them we can call you to come get them". While wandering the store trying to be noticed another patron comes in and low amd behold, they sure as hell seen him and helped him. So yes, I was justified in being a little impatient to the fact that I'm wandering the store and NOBODY says a word to me! It's rude, it's unprofessional and it is ABSOLUTELY a necessary thing to be doing with every customer. Ide of been happy with anything other than being ignored. I come back an hour and a half later and the lady who wrote the invoice finally told the guy that was going to do the work. I had time to walk the mall twice, shopping, eating, the usual. And then another half hour to wait on the work I needed done. Probably didn't get my discount either (which I wouldn't normally complain about, but...