Dinner Dish: Paris Cooking Class - Stuffed Lamb Shoulder
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Kitchen Tips, Recipes
Easter may be over, but lamb is a popular dish year round in Paris, and not just because it can be easily found in the city of light's many food markets and on our Paris food tours! Whether it's roasted, sous vide, or braised, the meat is succulent. Lamb shoulder is also a dish that Chef Frederic loves to share with his guests during our Paris cooking classes. As with… Read
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Dinner Dish: Italy Food Tours - Ran-Away Fish Soup
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Kitchen Tips, Recipes
The heel of Italy known as Puglia has a plethora of agricultural traditions, as the land is fertile here. But seafood dishes are aplenty too since the region has 500 miles of coastline. Chef Rita shares one of her food traditions, sugo di pesce fuggito (ran-away fish soup with spaghetti) during our culinary vacations in Puglia. It is certainly one of the most interestingly-named dishes you will prepare on our… Read
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Dinner Dish: Panuchos on a Mexico Cooking Vacation
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Kitchen Tips
When people think of Mexican cuisine on our Mexico culinary vacations, their mind often jumps to tacos, but tostadas are an important entree in this North American country too. One delicious street food that is becomingly increasingly popular is the panucho, which elevates the tostada, and which you can learn how to make during a Mexico cooking vacation. Primarily served in the Yucatan, including our Mexico culinary tour Culinary Yucatan,… Read
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Dinner Dish: Spain Cooking Class - 5 Tips About Paella
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Kitchen Tips, Travel Tips
One particular dish you may cook during our Spain cooking vacation, "Cooking in Andalusian Olive Country," is the famous paella. Here your host Maki talks about the national treasure and five important things to keep in mind when ordering and enjoying paella. "Paella is something of a national dish of Spain: rice dish cooked on a round flat iron pan with olive oil, full of fish, shellfish, meats and vegetables.… Read
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Mexico Culinary Vacation: Celebrating Flag Day
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Special Occasions
Every year on February 24 Mexico celebrates the national holiday El dia de la bandera (Flag Day). Flag Day commemorates the day in 1821, when Mexico won its independence from Spain, and now you can celebrate this Mexican holiday on an amazing cooking vacation in Mexico. The celebrated colors of the Mexican flag are full of historic tradition. In fact, the green, white and red stripes as well as the… Read
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Dinner Dish: The Italian Cooking Tradition of Meatballs
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History
Italians are big on pasta and meatballs, but don't go looking for them in a single dish while you're visiting Italy on our Italy cooking vacations. After all, in the boot-shaped country, pasta is a primo (first course), while travelers will often find meatballs as part of the secondo (second course) menu, whether during a cooking class or dining out at a local restaurant. While it's an American misconception that… Read
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Christmas cooking traditions in Italy: Feast of the Seven Fishes
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Special Occasions
When Italians observe religious holidays, such as Christmas, you can be sure that food is often involved. In fact, since meat is not traditionally consumed on Christmas Eve (La Vigilia) – as it's not on the eve of many holidays in Italy – many Italians make a big family meal out of seafood dishes, which you can learn about in a variety of our Italy cooking classes and cooking vacations.… Read
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Christmas Cooking Traditions in Mexico: Tamales Then and Now
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Kitchen Tips, Special Occasions
If you were to peer into a kitchen in Mexico, such as Chef Ana's of our Hola Mexico cooking vacation, within the few days leading up to Christmas, there’s a good chance that you would see an assembly line of sorts. The tamales are being made! Although tamales can be served at any time of the year, they are traditionally made during the Christmas holiday (or the Day of the… Read
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Provence Cooking Vacation: Chef Berard Talks about 13 Christmas Desserts
Filed Under Destination Features, Food History, Special Occasions
Food is a wonderful way to learn about a place's culture and traditions, which is just one reason why our cooking vacations focus not only on making food, but discovering where it's produced. It's in this spirit that Chef Berard, of Cooking Passport to Provence, shares the history of Provence's 13 desserts, or Christmas treats. "On December 8th, 1998, during a friendly meeting at the "Oustau de Prouvènço", the official… Read
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A Beautiful Stop on a Turkey Cooking Vacation: The Blue Mosque
Filed Under Destination Features, Travel Tips
Turkey attracts visitors every year, and with its 25,000 year history, it's not hard to see why. The country is the bridge between east and west; it's a modern land that still follows many age-old traditions; and it's a place where cultures and civilizations have merged to create stunning architecture and delicious cuisines, which you can learn more about in cooking classes. One of the greatest attractions is the Sultan… Read
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