Digital chicken? Eden chef to teach virtual class
The culinary arts will be on display in virtual fashion during this year’s Arts & The Park celebration, as a local chef teaches its first online cooking class Sept. 30.
Eden Restaurant’s Executive Chef Josh Barr will show how to prepare a meal of chicken piccata with wild mushroom risotto and glazed carrots.
“I am just going to do a simple dish — chicken piccata with wild mushroom risotto — simple but elegant,” Barr told The Sentinel-Record.
Barr said he wanted to make something participants would be able to replicate with ingredients that can be found easily at grocers such as Walmart and Kroger.
While this will be Barr’s first time teaching a virtual class, he said he used to teach at a culinary school and is “very much so” excited about the class.
Mary Zunick, executive director of the Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance, pitched the idea to Ellen McCabe, co-owner of the Hotel Hale where Eden is located, who then asked Barr if he would be interested.
Barr said he isn’t intimidated by the virtual format, noting, “It’s just a different platform. Teaching is teaching, (in person) or virtual.”
Zunick said there will be around 15 to 20 spots available for the class. She said they want to “keep the numbers really low (because) if 100 people are on Zoom” the participants aren’t able to interact and ask as many questions.
Prior to the class, Zunick said she will send an ingredients list to those participating. She noted the ingredients will need to be “cut and measured prior to Zoom,” because there won’t be time for participants to prepare these parts during the class.
Barr said he has been told he has about an hour and a half to teach the class, which “is more than enough time.”
The class should be a fun one, he said, noting cooking can be therapeutic, “at least I think it is,” Barr said, adding that he likes to “relax by cooking.”
No experience is required for the class and while making this meal will require some effort, he said, “not a whole lot of skill is needed.” As long as parents are supervising, “a 7- or 8-yearold could cook this,” he said.
“I think that’s fabulous,” Zunick said about children and parents making the dish together. “I grew up helping my mom in the kitchen. I think that’s a wonderful way to get kids in the kitchen.”
Zunick said an event like this can encourage children to try foods they may not normally eat. “I have always believed in introducing children to different tastes (to) develop a palate,” she
said.
On the idea of getting the culinary arts more involved in Arts & The Park, Barr said, “I think it’s awesome. It showcases local culinary talent.”
Zunick said they have held culinary events at Arts & The Park in the past, but this is the fairst time the Hot Springs Area Cultural Alliance has held a cooking class. She said they decided to add the class because “what better way to highlight our Hot Springs culinary artists — culinary arts are certainly arts — than to have a virtual cooking class.”
The plan is for these classes to be a part of the festival moving forward. For the next festival in spring, Zunick said she would like to see multiple cooking classes offered such as “cocktails, desserts or breakfast,” and they could feature multiple restaurants in future festivals.
The registration fee is $25 per household. The class starts at 6 p.m. and will finish in time for participants to eat their meal for dinner.