I recently attended a Sur la Table cooking class. As a registered dietitian, I love food and I love to cook, but I am by no means an expert of any kind. I enjoy watching cooking shows and reading, but I truly feel like the best way to learn is hands on experience.

Enter Sur la Table cooking classes. Here’s what to expect:

You’ll make 3-5 courses, and eat them too.

Some of the prep work will be done for you ahead of time (i.e. rinsing and pre chopping vegetables) to speed up the process. You’ll learn about preparing each dish and have a task assigned to you. You get to keep the recipes and in some cases, take extra food home.

You’ll learn from (and eat from) certified chefs.

You will gain many useful preparation and cooking tips throughout the class, including the perfect combination of spices, how to properly cook meat, and the best oils for high cooking

Knife skills are important.

You’ll use sharp knives. Sur la Table offers a whole class focused on knife skills.

You use ingredients you can find in markets.

They don’t want you to go home feeling confused about where to find ingredients. They try to make it as easy as possible.

You’ll know everything about “mise en place” before you leave.

Mise en place is a French culinary phrase that translates to “everything in place.” Basically, it’s the idea of arranging and organizing ingredients before cooking. It makes the set up and cooking process much more efficient.

Without having things put in place and organized, we wouldn’t have been able to make 4 courses in 3 hours.

You don’t have to do the dishes!

This is probably my favorite part. Yummy food, learning things, and no dishes!

Classes are small for more individual attention.

Cooking is FUN! While the final product is important, it’s also about the experience.

You can never stop learning when it comes to cooking. Cooking classes make great Christmas gifts!

You get a nice discount to shop in the store after taking a class.

If you’re looking for some certain kitchen tools or appliances, that’s a great way to save some money for Christmas.

Sur la Table has two locations in the Charlotte area – One in Huntersville off exit 25, and another near SouthPark Mall. They offer multiple cooking classes every day of the week, including cultural favorites, Girls Night Out themed classes, Croissants, macaroons, Pasta from Scratch, knife skills and so much more.