Holland America - Culinary Program?

[ladymadeline]

We have limited cruising experience (I have never been on a cruise and my husband three times - Royal Carib., Princess, and some weird no-name line in the Mediteranean that he's blocked from his memory). We have heard good things about Holland America and the Culinary Program with famous chefs. Would love to hear the pros and cons of this program. Where did you cruise? How was the Culinary Program? Would you do it again?:)

[Joy2Day]

There are different aspects to the culinary classes. There are free demonstration classes where chefs demonstrate how dishes (and maybe cocktails) are made, and samples are distributed. If the room is very crowded, there may not be enough samples to go around.

 

Then there are participation classes -- both for food and for cocktails. These are not free and participation is limited. Not all ships have the celebrity chefs, though. (Celebrity chef's schedule is here ==> http://www.hollandamerica.com/signatureofexcellence/culinaryartsschedule.do) When I traveled on the Westerdam to Alaska in June, there were 2 cooking classes -- 3-course meals featuring seafood and beef tenderloin. Each class was $29 per person and limited to 12 participants. The only notification was in our boarding documents (received at the pier) and the classes filled up right away on embarkation day, so don't wait. When we signed up, they gave us a preliminary time and day. The day before the class, we received a phone and/or mail invite with the revised time. We met in the Queen's Lounge with a chef from the Pinnacle Grill to prepare creme brulee, beef tenderlion and a Tuna/Avocado appetizer. Afterward, we went to the Pinnacle Grill where we ate the results. We also received copies of the recipes, a cloth apron and a paper hat to keep.

 

Our chef was very nervous, especially about his language skills. He was relatively new on board, plus he'd never done one of these classes before. I was traveling with a teacher friend who was frustrated with his demonstration/teaching style, but then she is a professional teacher with many years of experience -- and her standards are naturally high.

 

During the class, we did almost all of the preparation under the chef's direction. I picked up several new tidbits and ideas -- like reducing a cup of coffee to increase the intensity of the coffee flavor in creme brulee without watering down the custard.

[kaleighsgram]

Did you find the schedule for the visiting chefs? It's on HAL's website. The culinary area on the Noordam is wonderful. The ship charges extra to take the classes, but they are kept at a minimum (I think 12 people per class) Sign up as soon as you get on the ship. Use the search feature onCC and I'm sure you will find more info. This subject has been brought up before.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Here's what I wrote when we got back from our Amsterdam cruise.

 

Sorry - but for some reason I can't get everything to paste all at once.

 

 

When we cruised on the Ryndam, the Culinary Arts Center had 2 cooking demonstrations and one private cooking class on a 10 day cruise. I thought then that HAL had wasted a lot of money on that idea.

Well I have changed my opinion about that. It was a different story on our 15 day Amsterdam cruise. The center was used a lot. And since there were so many cooking demonstrations, very few movies were shown in the morning. And there were a few complaints about that.

Our guess chefs, H Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa stayed on for the entire cruise. They are a husband and wife team who work at the Keyah Grande, a small 8 room exclusive resort in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. They enjoy creating meals that are a celebration for the senses.

There were supposed to have been four cooking classes - hands on - $30 per person - 2 on “A Coffee Menu” and 2 on “Macadamia Nut Menu” as well as 2 cooking demonstrations. All of that changed because of our being under Code Red. The recipes for everything that was prepared were passed out to everyone.

We all had a couple of other cooking demonstrations by Pinnacle Chef Rene.

The first cooking demonstration was on our second sea day by Chef Rene. He did Grilled Prawn Bruschetta with Primavera Salsa & Chocolate Volcano Cake.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On the third sea day, Alex & Aki did “Lobster in Three Services” which consisted of (1)Lobster broth with lobster-shiitake dumplings (2)Lobster salad with roasted avocado and banana guacamole (3)Braised lobster with sausage and peppers.

We missed the cooking demonstration on the fourth sea day as it was not listed in the daily program and we were sitting out on our verandah enjoying the little bit of sun we had on the cruise when they made the announcement over the PA system. We did find out that it was “Tuna in Three Services” by Alex and Aki.

Due to the fact that we were under Code Red, no samples could be passed out.

There weren’t any cooking demonstrations the five days that we were on the islands.

On our first sea day heading back to San Diego, Chef Rene had a cooking demonstration but it was at 11 AM and our Mariner’s party was at 11:15 so we missed it. I don’t even know what he prepared that day.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The next day Alex and Aki had a cooking demonstration called the “Macadamia Nut Menu” (these recipes were supposed to have been done in the private cooking classes. The menu consisted of: (1)Cold garlic and macadamia nut soup (2)Macadamia crusted Wahoo (Ono) with mango-arugula pudding (since we were now Code Yellow we got to sample this - yum) and (3)roasted venison with papaya salad, celery - macadamia nut puree.

The following day Alex and Aki’s demonstration was “A Coffee Menu: Boutique Coffee from the many islands of Hawaii” (the other private cooking class that couldn’t be held). (1)Shrimp salad with marinated tomatoes and a brown butter-coffee dressing (sample was delicious) (2)Poached coffee lacquered Onaga with a celery-shiitake-lychee relish (3)Five hour ribs with Kona coffee braised black beans and collard greens. Today they realized that the recipes sheets didn’t give amounts to use of various ingredients, how long to cook, etc., so they will be posting all of their recipes in complete form on their web site: www.ideasinfood.com

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our next to the last sea day, Alex and Aki prepared “Rib Eye in Three Services”: (1)Steak tartare with slow roasted potatoes (2) grilled steak and watermelon salad (3)Rib Eye Cap and center cut with potato has and papaya ketchup. Since we were back in Code Red no samples could be passed out.

The first 2 cooking demonstrations of the cruise, the Culinary Arts center was packed. Extra folding chairs had to be brought in. And then there were still lots of people standing along the sides.

But by the end of the cruise, there was barely 100 people attending.

Alex needed a blender to make several of his sauces and he discovered that the only places there were blenders were at the bars - he mentioned this several times. So they had to jury-rig a pulser and a bowl. Can you believe that not one person in the audience offered the use of their own private blender!!!!