12/10 Would Recommend

This experience was the highlight of my 2 weeks in Europe.

This experience also came with little to no knowledge about the culture, cuisine, or city prior and was recommended by the hotel concierge. Inquiring with Concierge Marie is not something I would typically do, but we figured “How bad could it be? They live here – they must be able to find us something to do that didn’t involve headphones and walking around with a stick in the air that dangled some odd, plush character.”

Cooking classes, from this American’s brain, were designed for tourists spending their time in Italy, anywhere in the Mediterranean, really just places that are KNOWN for their food. Something Prague is not known for? Their food. But amidst the cold and the rain that plagued our days in this Central European town in May, we needed something to occupy our time and when the concierge handed me a card for a local cooking class, I needed little convincing.

A cooking class on a cold afternoon on the not-so-touristy side of town with a Prague local turned out to be my favorite experience from the trip, and one of the best since starting this career almost 3 years ago. As I mentioned, it was the experience from start to finish – there were stories, there was wine (like a lot of wine), there were history lessons, and it was a day I won’t soon forget.

The Place

We signed up for a 5ish-hour experience with a Prague local that included shopping at the local market for what we would be cooking, with our host, Bret, who would be teaching our cooking class, followed by preparing everything from scratch with them. It was so much more than that.

The area we walked through to find this market was extremely different than the city center. As always, clean, but nothing like we had seen. It felt very dated, and maybe in part due to the weather, a bit gray. It was quite industrial feeling compared to what we had been encountered otherwise and felt more authentic to what you may expect from Central Europe. Not a sign with English to be had and sidewalks lined with local shops that I can only compare to that of some parts of Manhattan.

We met Bret at the corner of a Starbucks (which is EVERYWHERE there?!?) and we proceeded to follow him through the market area. The first stop was a butcher who had meats on display that I’d never seen, and could probably do without seeing again. But the smell was intoxicating in a “this may clog my arteries and I don’t even care, let me start a new life here,” sort of way. Through his okay-enough English, he mentioned that we were going to be using eye-round steak for our meal. He also grabbed a bag of hand-cut, homemade egg noodles that would be used later as well.

After walking around a bit more we arrived at the location we would end up for much more than 5 hours, or so it felt. He explained that he was not a chef by trade, but an engineer who up and quit to start this cooking class with his business partner. He just loved cooking and because it had been such a large part of his life growing up, he wanted to share it with tourists who came to visit.

The Space

Bret opened the door to a set of steps that took you into what felt like a basement, only to open up to a 2-room studio turned kitchen and entertaining space. The walls were original brick, and hundreds of years old. The kitchen was quaint and flowed into a room with a giant, handmade island where we would do most of our cooking. The other room was dimly lit with a couch, relics from decades of travel, tables where dinners were eventually hosted, and Tony Bennett playing through the speakers. It was perfect by all accounts.

Before I could even begin to tie my apron he was uncorking an unmarked, glass bottle of clear liquid and pouring it into a shot glass for all of us. We started the class toasting with Palenka, which was a Czech fruit brandy. And it was good. And you know what else was good? The boxed wine that followed. And followed. And followed all day. Because, you know, when you’re in a 600-year-old building and cooking on a Tuesday afternoon in Prague, why wouldn’t you drink the wine? Boxed wine in Europe just hits differently, you know?

The Goods

Bret was excellent at reading the room and gave us all tasks based on what he (rightfully) assumed our skill level to be, which included the more technical tasks awarded to my pilot (whom he didn’t know was a pilot).

The dishes were fairly simple and were very obviously from a time when resources were tight and you used what you had, and made it stretch. The flavors were simple, the beef & dumplings were hearty, and it just worked. If our goal was to find a traditional Czech meal, we went to the right place.

He further went to explain that the meal we were going to be preparing was his grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother’s recipe that would have been a traditional meal around the holidays as they celebrate Christmas over 3 days.

We chopped up vegetables for broth, cut up bread for the dumplings, and worked muscles in my hands that I didn’t even know existed from grating celery root. This was my first experience making my own broth and if I ever have the time again, it was worth the effort. For everything we prepared, we used a combination of bay leaf, allspice, and black pepper and I can’t imagine why you would ever want to cook with anything else. This eventually turned into a simple broth and egg noodle soup for our starter. Simple and comforting, just as intended.

I was then in charge of browning off some of the lard for the beef broth, and I figured if it tasted half as good as it smelled, we were going to be okay. It eventually turned into gravy as part of the main course – “SVÍČKOVÁ“ – aka vegetable sauce with beef.

There were no fancy gas, stainless steel stove tops, a basic 2-rack over, and an assortment of basic tools. You knew that you were doing things the old-school way and I loved it.

While the broth and the sauce did its thing, he put together a spread of local cheeses, cured meats, and homemade bread. Dairy is not my friend, as hard as I try to will our friendship into existence, but it’s true what they say about dairy overseas. It had no negative effect on my insides, only the good kind. If they had let me, I would have fit the entirety of the bread in my stomach as it was just a pillow of fresh, gluteny goodness with a perfected crust. It all paired well with…yes the wine.

While we snacked and sipped, he told us about his family, his off-the-charts artistic children, and where he’s from. He pulled out a map, which is half a history book, to show us his home of Morovia and how country boundary lines have changed through the years, which, if you know anything about that area, you know that it’s an endless amount of times. We learned about the wine regions, where this palenka had hailed from, and the fish, beef, and duck spreads of the holidays. It was fascinating and it felt like the day was standing still, but also going on forever in the best of ways.

While the beef pressure-cooked, and our hand-formed dumplings steamed in porcelain mugs in the pot, we started on our dessert. We call them cream-filled lady fingers, they called them “KREMROLE”.

These were FROM SCRATCH. From kneeding the dough, to whisking the cream over semi-boiling water, they were as fresh as could be. Brushed with egg whites, they baked to the most delicate, crunchy texture. My mouth watered until I was able to devour them post-dinner with an espresso. And then the next morning at breakfast.

The Finished Product

After hours of chatting, drinking, preparing, and learning, we set the table to indulge in the fruits of our labor.

Not to toot our own horn – but that was probably the best meal we had during our stay in Prague. I couldn’t have felt more full by the end but was overwhelmingly satisfied with the day in its entirety, each course better than the last. I was highly suspicious when he plated an entire lemon wheel on the beef and proceeded to add whipped cream to the top. It gave me “when Rachel made the beef trifle at Thanksgiving vibes” but I gave it a shot. I don’t know that my palate understood the flavor but somehow it worked.

While our instructor seemed rather disappointed in our ability to not take down an entire box of wine between the 5 of us, he gave us a recommendation for a local beer garden to go to after. Which we did. Which we loved.

While not a traditional tourist activity, this flight attendant appreciated every second of it. Because that’s what we do right? Try to venture off the beaten path, follow the food, and do things differently. That’s what our entire career is about. I have family from that part of Europe and I know my grandparents would have been so proud to hear about my day.

If you find yourself in Prague, I cannot recommend Good Mood enough. Besides the fact that we loved everything about the day, the communication between the hosts and myself was prompt, the price was reasonable, and they followed up after with recipes. If you’re even the slightest bit interested, click the link above for more. They have a great website.

Even still, I’m not sure that I did the day justice.