Show 329, June 22, 2019: The Gourmandise School of Sweets & Savories

Clemence Gossett of the Gourmandise SchoolThe Gourmandise School at Santa Monica Place offers hands-on cooking classes for all ages and skill levels, with a focus on teaching classic techniques using locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. The school offers cooking and baking classes, professional series, kid’s classes, fascinating food workshops and private events.

The school works with the finest instructors to teach the very best techniques and inspire people to develop their culinary intuition. The Gourmandise School is a culinary resource for amateur chefs and bakers as well as the LA food community. Classes are offered mornings, afternoons and evenings, seven days a week.

The Gourmandise School has quickly become LA’s most revered culinary education outpost, offering highly specialized courses such as bean-to-bar chocolate workshops, cheese-making and cooking classes featuring global cuisines. The growing popularity of the unique classes and high demand for private parties ultimately led to the need for expansion. The new, expanded location brings an additional layer of cultural programming and culinary adventure to the community of Santa Monica as well as further enhances the customer experience at Santa Monica Place.

More information can be found here.

Co-Owner, Co-Founder and Pastry Chef Clemence Gossett is our instructive guide.

Show 189, September 17, 2016: Amy Guittard, Marketing Director, Guittard Chocolate Company

Amy GuittardWell-crafted chocolate has been the Guittard family business and a San Francisco favorite for nearly 150 years. This rich history is captured in Guittard Chocolate CookbookDecadent Recipes from San Francisco’s Premium Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Company.

With 50 tempting photographs and 60 simple recipes for every kind of indulgence, Amy Guittard, in the Guittard Chocolate Cookbook, presents tried-and-true favorite recipes from five generations of Guittards, ranging from start-your-day-right Chocolate Cherry Scones to fudgey Mocha Cookies and deep, dark Chocolate Caramel Pecan Bundt Cake. Leave it to the people who really know chocolate to make a collection of recipes that are sure to make every chocolate lover long for one bite more.

The classic chocolate recipes in the book are easy-to-follow and doable by the home cook. Many are family recipes proven over generations. For the more ambitious there in the Chef’s Chapter from Guittard’s resident, world class executive pastry chef, Donald Wressell (ex-Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills as opening Executive Pastry Chef). “Chef Donald has a deft touch with chocolate, and brings a chef’s sensibilities to these desserts.” “He explains his recipes clearly, so even a beginning baker can make these with good results.” Look for his well-tested recipe for Grandma’s Chocolate Cake. It’s a classic that comes along with a great story…

Author Amy Guittard (Guittard’s Marketing Director) is our guest. She is the great-great-granddaughter of the founder of the Guittard Chocolate Company and the company’s marketing director. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.