Kitchen Table Wisdom

Learn to cook and bake at these Maine classes

At Salt Water Farm Cooking School, participants develop new skills—and new friendships—under the expert tutelage of Annemarie Ahearn. PHOTO: KRISTIN TEIG

By June Donenfeld

Are you croissant-curious? Want to expand your repertoire of plant-based meals? Have a yen for quality sushi but wince at restaurant prices?

You could certainly turn to the thousands of cooking tutorials on YouTube for some excellent instruction—if you have the patience to separate the wheat from the chaff.

But nothing beats in-person classes, where you can learn new skills, hone old ones, and experience firsthand the tastes, fragrances and fellowship to be found in teaching kitchens. As Annemarie Ahearn, founder of Salt Water Farm Cooking School, says, “There is so much value in being physically present in the cooking classes—experiencing the sights, smells and sounds of the kitchen together. Cooking in person pushes the students to challenge themselves in the kitchen and take in the process as a whole.”

With rich bounty from land and sea close at hand, Maine offers a wide-ranging menu of cooking classes across the state that emphasize fresh ingredients and hands-on learning. Let’s dig in!

Armand’s Kitchen

Armand’s Kitchen in Windham was founded in 2009 by Doug Armstrong to combine his twin passions of cooking and teaching. A graduate of the Johnson Wales Culinary Arts Program, Armstrong draws on four decades of professional experience as an executive chef and culinary arts teacher in his small, convivial classes for students of all ages. Course content is flexible and can be adapted based on participants’ interests.

Bravo Maine!

Perfecting essential cooking skills at Bravo Maine! in Portland. COURTESY IMAGE

How does lobster ravioli sound? Or from-scratch pain au chocolat? What about a New England-themed date night, complete with clam chowder, crab cakes and blueberry tarts? Head over to Bravo Maine! in Portland, where these are just a few of the classes on offer. In addition to their regular cooking and baking sessions—which include French, Italian, Japanese cuisines and more—they also offer private team-building workshops and summer camp sessions for children.

Frinklepod Farm

More than a dozen years ago, Flora Brown and Noah Wentworth founded organic Frinklepod Farm in Arundel in southern Maine. The fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers they grow there have thrived, as have their other ventures: a farm store, pop-up markets, farm-stays, community dinners and a children’s day camp. They also offer plant-based cooking classes; last year’s included canning and kimchi workshops. This winter they’ll be holding sessions on elderberry tonics and syrup, holiday cookies and hearty winter soups—and more classes are in the works.

Harvest Table

Both community-building and cooking are alive and well at the Harvest Table classes in Cherryfield in Washington County. Organized by the nonprofit Women for Healthy Rural Living, the program is an offshoot of Incredible Edible Milbridge, a series of free pick-your-own vegetable gardens and education initiatives designed to foster food independence. To help area residents reap the bounty from these gardens, local farmers’ markets and even their own backyard vegetable patches, skilled home cooks volunteer their time to lead regular cooking classes, forging stronger bodies—and community ties—in the process.

Knead & Nosh

Avid baker and educator Jeff Mao focuses classes at Knead & Nosh on foods that call for fresh dough, because, he says, “I’ve found that a lot of people are dough-phobic.” From hand-shaped pasta to Chinese dumplings to authentic New York-style bagels, Mao teaches techniques for making and handling dough, along with the science behind dough-making, so his students can tackle their own projects at home. A bonus: He leavens his instruction with history and stories about the foods, both fact and myths. Baking not your thing? Mao also holds classes on how to make and host traditional Chinese hot pot meals. Or you can cut to the chase and order bagels for pickup in Brunswick, Yarmouth or Cumberland.

Mastering the fine art of traditional bagel-making (and a lot more) in Jeff Mao's hands-on classes at Knead & Nosh. COURTESY PHOTO

Maine Tasting Center

With a diverse array of classes, from mocktails and Chinese mooncakes to homestyle Indian cooking and cheesemaking, the Maine Tasting Center in Wiscasset emphasizes using local ingredients in new and inventive ways. The center also hosts pop-up dinners, tastings and pairings, meet-the-producer events and drop-in programs. The tasting center is run by the nonprofit Maine Food & Beverage Education Center, which connects Maine food producers and the public in meaningful ways and creates positive economic impact. While you’re there, drop by the Discovery Center, where you can learn about some of Maine’s remarkable food and drink producers—and sample their wares, too.

Measuring Up Kitchen

An attentive team of young culinary adventurers sharpen their skills at Measuring Up Kitchen in Scarborough, where the focus is on fresh ingredients—and fun. COURTESY PHOTO

Jenna Leong is the chef in charge at Measuring Up Kitchen, founded in 2006 in Scarborough. A special education teacher and an accomplished home cook, Leong fulfilled a long-held dream of running a cooking school for children when she took the helm of this local institution in 2024, where her own three children had taken classes years before. Her interactive classes focus on creativity, nutrition and the joys of cooking with an educational philosophy that she describes as “If you’re getting dirty, you’re learning!” Students gain training in vital kitchen skills in a fun and supportive environment, and while the school focuses on young people from kindergarten through high school, Leong also offers adult, specialty and “Me and My Grownup” classes for children under five and their adult “sous chef.” Measuring Up Kitchen can also accommodate special events, including cooking parties, team-building workshops and fundraisers.

MEPowered Pastries

Growing up, Laurie Petrolino spent countless happy hours in the kitchen with her mother and Italian great-aunts, all highly accomplished bakers. These beginnings inspired her to start a cooking school for toddlers through teens in Scarborough in 2019, where the emphasis is on learning, fun, sustainability and community. Recipes incorporate locally sourced ingredients and highlight what’s in season, while accommodating allergies, too; cranberry cheesecake bars and pumpkin streusel coffee cake were just two of the possibilities last fall. MEPowered Pastries also offers a Baking Science Lab, where kids learn science fundamentals through baking—and then get to eat their delicious experiments. “I love the art and science of [it]: understanding how and why things work or don’t work and adapting recipes to fit,” she says. The summer and fall “Farm to Bowl” series brings students to local farms, connecting kids with the local food ecosystem. MEPowered Pastries also makes cakes and pastries to order and organizes customized birthday parties or other events.

Now You’re Cooking

For a quarter of century, Now You’re Cooking in Bath has been a purveyor of fine cookware, wine, gourmet food and gadgets galore. They also host a wide slate of on-site cooking classes for the home cook, new and experienced alike. So, whether you want to learn a new skill, try a new cuisine, have a fun way of meeting people or enjoy a night out with a friend or partner, there’s something for everyone. Class offerings have included stuffed pasta, sushi basics, tapas, biscotti and coffee making— even an introduction to caviar. Now You’re Cooking offers free demonstrations and wine, beer and mead tastings, too.

Salt Water Farm Cooking School

At Salt Water Farm Cooking School in Lincolnville on the Midcoast, fresh, local ingredients, simply but expertly prepared, rule the day. PHOTO: KRISTIN TEIG

After working in Barcelona and Paris cooking schools, as a chef in New York City and as a food journalist, Annemarie Ahearn founded her own cooking school on Penobscot Bay in Lincolnville in 2009. She is also the author of two cookbooks and has a third in the works. Salt Water Farm classes focus squarely on local, seasonal ingredients. “We grow a lot of the food that we use at the cooking school in our seaside gardens,” Ahearn says. “We cook in accordance with the season, always letting nature lead.” This approach—and Ahearn’s teaching skills—have attracted students from all around the world, who Ahearn says, include “talented home cooks and professional chefs as well as folks who admittedly simply love to eat.” She also offers private, customized sessions for groups of eight or more, as well as culinary retreats to France, Italy, Spain and Mexico. “I always seek new creative pursuits in the Salt Water Farm kitchen,” she says, “and next year, we will be offering more classes that focus on cooking over fire, food writing classes and food styling/photography classes.”

Maine Adult Education Association

MAEA offers regular classes in all of Maine’s counties that will tempt your tastebuds at a reasonable cost. With a total of approximately 140 classes across the state each term, you can travel the world (virtually) through expert-led workshops and retreats, learning skills that will serve you well in your kitchen for years to come. Recent classes have included seasonal scones, Asian fusion cooking, sourdough basics, fermentation, vegan breakfast and West African cuisine—and that’s only scratching the surface.

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This article appeared in the Winter 2024 edition of Green & Healthy Maine. Subscribe today!