Santa Fe, where Native American tribes, Spanish colonists and waves of American settlers created the Southwest’s cultural crossroads, is a blend of diverse influences. They’re seen on its streets, place names and – most deliciously — cuisine. Colonial history and vibrant modernity make Santa Fe a year-round destination, and visitors with a culinary bent can dive into cooking traditions from millennia-old indigenous traditions, vibrant Mexican influences and exciting modern variations. The flavors of Southwestern cuisine are complex, delicious and accessible to visitors who want a hands-on experience.
It’s easy to find cooking classes in Santa Fe focusing on Native American cuisine, Mexican influences and distinctively New Mexican foods like hatch chilies. Take a short session to break up days full of hikes, museums, restaurant meals or explorations of the surrounding desert. Or get more intense and sign on for a multi-day immersion that explores the many cultural influences that make Santa Fe a culinary standout. No matter what, remember to wash your hands after you cook with chilies. Do it two or three times if you’re taking out or putting in your contact lenses – trust me on this.
Native American Cooking
Learn from experts like Lois Ellen Frank, a James Beard award winning author and influential scholar of culinary culture and discover the heritage of Native American food in this three-hour demonstration class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. One upcoming menu — blue corn gnocchi arrowheads with guajillo chile sauce, seasonal greens with jalapeno dressing, lamb stuffed rellenos with tomato sauce, sweet frybread with seasonal berries and prickly pear syrup – is as rich as the long history of the area’s original inhabitants. The school’s classes vary – another lunch menu, trout with herbs and bacon baked in clay, Indian wild rice sauté, sautéed rainbow chard, berry crisp offers a different side of Native American cuisines.
Other classes — some hands-on, some demonstrations with meal — focus on New Mexican contemporary cooking, traditional Mexican and Spanish cuisines. Private classes are available by arrangement.
A Bet on the Ranch
Outside the city, Blame Her Ranch, the private home of Steve and Linda Blamer (get it?), hosts Red Mesa Cooking Classes for visitors. Frank and Walter Whitewater, her co-author of Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, hold lunch and dinner classes for small groups. In addition to their Native cuisine, there are cocktail classes and a beer-and-bison-burger session with New Mexican microbrews.
Las Cosas? Deliciosas!
One of Santa Fe’s biggest cooking and kitchen stores is also the site of some entertaining, eclectic cooking classes. Contact Las Cosas Kitchen Shop and check out the choices from director John Vollertsen, who also cheerfully answers to Chef V. The Rochester, New York, transplant had a global cooking career before settling into Santa Fe’s culinary scene. He regularly gets guest chefs to join him, helping visitors master chile rellenos, tacos and enchiladas. “We cook for fun!” is the motto here, and these classes deliver.
Behind the Bar
The Santa Fe Spirits distillery, a local source of award-winning whiskeys, vodka, gin and potent apple brandies, offers tours and classes from beginner’s mixology to intensive spirits tastings. Check their Instagram @santafespirits for class times.
Open Kitchen’s Private Classes
For a change of pace, look up chef Hue Chan Karels, founder of the Asian-cuisine focused Alkemē restaurant, who takes students through a range of Pacific Rim dishes, incorporating Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Korean and Hawaiian influences. Open Kitchen classes are private and require arrangements in advance.
Santa Fe has a year-round appeal, and visitors will probably get dizzy from the art galleries, museums and dining options that make it such an appealing destination. A cooking class or two should give culinary explorers enough knowledge to bring a little of Santa Fe to life just by stepping into the kitchen back home.
