The Errant Æsthete

For the culinary impaired, the foodie inhibited, or the taloned or tatoo’d poseur who has yet to find their way to the kitchen, we recommend this perfect, painless and very respectable hands-on solution.

In an easygoing five-hour Sunday workshop, Michael Krondl teaches the bare basics of cooking from the New School’s stainless-steel teaching kitchen located at the Inn on 23rd Street. Twelve students learn the knife skills and recipe-decoding necessary to prepare sustenance like roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, vinaigrettes, guacamole, and banana-bread muffins. Krondl answers off-the-cuff questions with authority (“You only need two good blades: a chef’s knife and a paring knife”) and powers through just enough material to give students confidence to put away the takeout menus ($170; $35 materials fee). You’ll be up to soufflés in a week!