TexMex Cooking Classes

The days when TexMex was seen as bastardized northern Mexico food are gone. The distinction between Mexican and TexMex food has actually been evolving for years and has even recently started to blur. The recipes are full of vegetarian favorites — flavorful chile peppers, black beans, posole corn, avocados, fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Both cuisines feature nuts and seeds in their traditional salsas and moles. The recipes give you the protein and nutrients you need, and the Mexican flavors you love. Price includes an introduction to Mexican spices and herbs, fresh and dry chile peppers, demo, practice, and tasting.

Mastering Steaks

This class is one of the most popular classes. It combines practical knowledge from beef production basics to choosing your steaks at a meat department of a local supermarket. The price includes expert instruction, a demo, a salad, and condiments to pair with cooked steaks. At the end of the class, an assortment of grilled steaks is served to taste side-by-side to compare textures and doneness.

Hatch Chile Obsession

Mild and hot green chiles from New Mexico are available in Austin only during the season, for a few weeks in August. They are 5 times more flavorful than a better-known and all-year-round available Anaheim. Delicious and healthy, these green chiles will make your favorite food taste even better! Become one of us, who obsessively anticipate the Hatch in August every year. Learn how to pick green chile peppers to your taste and to your recipe. Learn two best ways to char the peppers at home. Price includes demo, tasting, and hands-on practice of three quick and easy recipes with green chiles, hot or mild.

Pico de Gallo | Salsa | Guacamole

Make your meals brighter and sunnier by waking your senses with some chili peppers, juicy fruits and vegetables, and fresh herbs and spices! Learn how to make authentic and not-so-common fresh guacamole with cucumbers, strawberry Pico de Gallo, and salsa Macha (a flavor bomb!).

Adobo | Mole | Pipian

Nahuatl molli means “a bunch of ingredients ground up”. Mole is a mixture of ingredients that typically includes some combination of chilies, spices and herbs, tomatoes or tomatillos, and sometimes seeds (sesame, pumpkin, melon) or nuts (almonds, peanuts, or hazelnuts). If these mixtures are made mostly of seeds and nuts, they are called pipianes. Moles can be thin (no seeds or nuts) and thick.

Corn and Wheat Tortillas | Fajitas

People who grow up or live in Texas for a long time love local food and become fans of it forever. Learn how to make wheat and blue corn tortillas, flavorful fajitas, charred peppers, and escabeche de cebolla (a wonderful quick pickled onion) to make superb soft tacos.

Favorite Soups

Mexican and TexMex cuisines have a cultural emphasis on soups. The majority of the recipes are easy to make at home. This hands-on class aims to master three types of soups — basic Tortilla soup (vegan), hearty Posole with pork, and “Con Queso” or “Con Crema” style soup with seasonal vegetables (vegetarian).

Carnitas | Green Mexican Rice

Come to master two great Mexican recipes to make and serve one of the most colorful, delicious, and healthy meals made with pork shoulder and the less-known green version of Mexican rice (cooked in a green vegetable puree!). You will be surprised by the flavor and texture of this dish, garnished with fresh radishes, charred poblano chiles, and crumbled queso fresco.

Cooking with Mexican Chorizo

If you are yet to discover Mexica chorizo, this class will change your culinary perspective! It cooks in about 10 minutes and is an amazing flavoring ingredient for vegetables, sauces, soups, and tacos. Learn Mexican chorizo basics, types, shopping, cooking, and serving tips (ice-cold beer is a must!).

Favorite Local

Choose 3-4 favorite recipes to master for your group to customize your cooking class.