The 2013 Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School
Learning About Food, Cooking, & Ingredients
Special Food Learning Vacations at Trout Point Lodge, Relais & Chateaux,
Amidst the Acadian Shores Region, Nova Scotia     
Home to North America's Best and Freshest Seafood


AS FEATURED IN USA TODAY

RATED
TOP 10 FOODIE GETAWAYS WORLDWIDE, DEPARTURES
No. 2 CULINARY VACATION DESTINATION IN THE WORLD BY concierge.com/Condé Nast  and
WORLD'S BEST CULINARY TRIPS BY ForbesTraveler

 
The Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School hosts summer and fall culinary vacations combining luxurious accommodation, gourmet meals, hands-on culinary instruction, and visits to Nova Scotia seafood destinations. Chefs Daniel G. Abel, Charles L. Leary, and Vaughn J. Perret organize and teach all Culinary & Cooking Vacations. They are the authors of the critically acclaimed Trout Point Lodge Cookbook: Creole Cuisine from New Orleans to Nova Scotia (Random House) and contributors to 85 Inspirational Chefs and Chefs at Home (Network Publishing). These instructors specialize in seafood cookery and wild foods in the tradition of the French New World, covering Creole, Acadian, and Cajun styles along with the fundamentals of choosing, storing, and cooking seafood. They also excel at Mediterranean cuisine, teaching at the Mediterranean Cooking School in Spain and leading cookery tours of Istanbul, Turkey.

Don't forget you can also liven up your next team or group event and entice everyone to cook, sizzle, flambé, chat, laugh and have fun with group cooking classes and spirited field trips. Trout Point's cooking classes will be remembered and talked about for years. Team cooking is the best team building event!

A new feature for 2013 is hourly classes on wild food foraging, smoking & curing seafood, wine & food pairing, and Creole/Cajun cookery available to Trout Point Lodge guests.

 

"This weekend's theme — seafood — focuses on Nova Scotia bounty such as salmon, mussels, oysters and lobsters (whose rock-bottom $4-$5-a-pound price locally astounds visitors). Before school begins, participants settle into the white spruce lodge's log-walled rustic-elegant suites and adjoining cottages. The eight lodge suites have no room keys or TVs, furnishings carved from local trees and views of the glistening Tusket River. Many have fireplaces or wood stoves. There's no cellphone coverage, and Wi-Fi only in limited areas, which forces Type A's to move lower down the alphabet." Kitty Bean Yancey, USA Today

Here's how Kate Williams of Time Out New York summarized the experience: "The classes cover many seafood basics, from how to tell whether fish and shellfish are fresh to which kitchen equipment you’ll need for a range of cooking processes, including grilling and salt-baking. In addition, the chefs are eager to demonstrate advanced methods—such as tea-smoking—which you’ll probably never use in your closet-size New York kitchen but are fun to learn nonetheless. I picked up several fundamentals of Cajun cooking, like the "holy trinity" (a mix of chopped onion, garlic and celery that’s at the heart of many recipes) and how to make different kinds of roux. One of the most useful skills I acquired was how to properly cut an onion so that you end up with uniform pieces, rather than giant chunks and tiny slivers."  Time Out New York  

                 
The Seafood Cookery course focuses on the use of different fish and shellfish, including selection & freshness, various cooking techniques, making ceviche, and home smoking methods. It also exposes participants to Creole, Acadian French, and Cajun cooking styles. During the class the instructors and students will together create seafood-based meals, from appetizers and soups to entrees, breads, and desserts. This unique cooking vacation will introduce participants to the culture and history of French New World cuisines. The course on Mediterranean Cuisine introduces the cooking and culture of the Mediterranean region and southern Spain, where the instructors have perfected techniques and recipes at the Granada Cooking School in Granada. Dishes and techniques will include making couscous, paella, stuffed mussels, and seafood grilling.

Culinary Vacations Schedule