Ramen class, woohoo! I have been looking for classes in NY for so long, but haven't had any luck…read more The more professional, formal classes aren't as frequent and they can be a bit intimidating. It never occurred to me to search Yelp but when I found Mamie's class, I was super excited. She offers a lot of services: private chef services, catering, and private cooking lessons for groups or individuals/pairs. Private cooking can be done at her studio or at your house. $400 for a private class, up to two people.
Website was easily navigated. For contacting her about our private lesson, her responses were fast. Usually within the same day, or before 24 hours has fully passed. It's a quick process of coordinating schedules, and then you have to put down a 50% deposit via Paypal or Chase quick pay. After that, you're all set! A couple days beforehand, she reaches out again, which is really thoughtful -- sometimes people forget and need a little reminder, but I think it's just nice that she goes that extra step.
Love where her studio/home is! Quiet, peaceful area, with a lot of eateries/food places nearby. About a 10-15 minute walk from the train, depending how fast you're hauling. Large building, with doorman/concierge services, and a huge (and I mean HUGE) lobby/waiting area with three cozy leather couches. We arrived early, but I didn't know if she was teaching people before us, so me and my friend just chilled there, talking quietly. It was very relaxing!
When we went to her place, we were greeted by Mamie, took off our shoes, and put our stuff down on her couch. The view is amazing, you see the water/bridge, and on a rainy/cloudy day, it looked really peaceful. A nice way to start the class. She gave us her version of an apron, which looked like a cute top you can wear out, haha.
What I liked about this class was that it felt informal, like we were learning from a friend or relative (it helped that it was a home kitchen rather than a commercial kitchen). She was patient and we even made conversation as we worked. The entire process of making the dough and then kneading it, to using the Kitchen Aid to make noodles was super fun! But we made a lot of noodles, so we spent a lot of time running them through the machine. I zoned out a bit and got a little tired/antsy.
Then she showed us how to boil the eggs. A lot of things were pre-made already, like the pork belly, the broth, and marinated eggs from the day before. It makes sense, because it would be impossible to fit everything within a 3 hour class and get the same quality taste and flavors. And what would everyone do during the downtime?! She did walk us through how to cut the bone out of the pork belly, wrap it up, and how to cook it. Same with the broth, she explained how to do it properly, in terms of pre-cooking the bones and then giving them a good clean, etc. Between her quick instructions and the take home recipe packet, and asking questions, I think we had a good understanding of what to do. In my head, I thought it would be more hands-on or spending more time in the kitchen doing the actual work, but I now understand that wasn't too realistic.
The final step was assembling our bowl! That, after actually eating it, was the best part of the class -- my friend had a blast torching the pork belly slices so they were charred and crispy along the edges, but it still melted like butter in your mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed the ramen, because it wasn't as salty as how the restaurants usually make it. I was able to truly taste the unique flavors coming together. She also gave us some noodles and marinated eggs to take home with us. How sweet!
She mentioned adding a dumpling class, so who knows, I may take that one as well. So happy I found this class! Thank you, Mamie! Super fun experience!
