cooking classes & gastronomic tours

 Cooking Classes and Gastro-Culture Tours given by Alisa Morov

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Detailed, hands on instructions.  All classes are held in Alisa’s Parisian home. She’ll glide you through learning the recipes with French cooking history, current customs, and wonderful tips.  The classes finish around her large dining table, enjoying what you’ve made accompanied by specially selected wines.  All classes and tours are intimate groups – no more than 6 people and are offered in English, or French upon request.

Alisa Morov is a seasoned chef and cookbook writer, who will reveal the exceptional world of French food and tradition allowing visitors to be a French chef for the day.

We can work around dietary restrictions, please notify us in advance.

Full range of cooking classes, and tours include:

  • Zoom Cooking Classes – French Food Cooking in Paris, from your own kitchen. Information for classes can be found by clicking Facebook & Instagram
  • Market To Market & Home Again – Paris market shopping & Cooking Class
  • The Royal Threatment – French Food Tour & Culinary Traditions of Paris
  • Parisian Markets – Walk – Talk – Taste
  • Parisian Chocolate & Pastry & Breads…Oh my!
  • Eat Paris 101
  • French Baking for Novices (for adults & children ages 9 and up)
  • French Cooking Class with Wine Pairing
  • Champagne & Choux
  • Café Gourmand

To book a class, ask any questions and for any information, send us an email. 

From Market to Table

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You will begin by following Alisa, as she shares her passion and knowledge of French Culture, to one of Paris’ best local marchés (fresh food markets/farmer’s markets).  Our culinary experience begins where locals do their shopping; we tour the stalls, meet the merchants, discover seasonal products and learn the whys and hows of traditional French cooking and culinary habits.

Along the way, we’ll hunt and gather and fill our baskets with everything needed for our meal… the best seasonal fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and breads then head back to Alisa’s Parisian home to prepare a very French, 5 course lunch or dinner with specially chosen wines… A delicious time will be had by all.

You’ll learn recipes, techniques, helpful tips and tricks, and then sit down to enjoy the traditional creations that you’ve prepared.  Sample Menu may include, Mushroom Souffle Starter, Crispy Duck with Seasonal Vegetables, Main Course, Salad with Alisa’s French Father-In-Law’s Vinaigrette, Gateau Chocolat, Cheese…..

FROM MARKET TO TABLE – Walking tour and Cooking Class, Lunch or Dinner:

  • 5 hours 
  • 200€ per person in group class
  • Private Classes Available

Champagne & Choux

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Pâte à Choux or Choux pastry dough is what is used in making so many sexy French treats… Éclairs, Gougères (savory cheese puffs), Choux Salé, Chouquettes, Profiteroles (sweet cream puffs), Saint Honoré-Piece Monté (aka Croquembouche)…

In this 3 hour class, Alisa’s knowledge of French pastry and baking techniques will guide you through how to make the base ‘Pâte à Choux’ pastry dough, and then explore all the possibilities of what you can do with that!

You will make 4 to 5 sweet and savory (sucrée et salé) French delicacies, along with the filings and pastry creams that go in them, accompanied by hands on instructions, baking techniques, stories of life in France, and a slight view of the Seine.  When the baking is finished, we toss off our aprons, gather around the big country table, snack on our choux bounty, and sip Champagne …obviously!

CHAMPAGNE & CHOUX Cooking Class:

    • 3 hours 
    • 180€ per person in group class
    • Private Classes Available

Café gourmand

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This 3.5 hour class is all about exploring the thoroughly brilliant Parisian concoction – Le Café Gourmand – A wonderful coupling of a good Espresso, a pousse café* and mini versions of several French desserts.  It’s a small, extravagant luxury – go on – treat yourself!

*Pousse Café – a little glass of a good, strong alcohol, i.e. Calvados, Cognac, Armagnac

You will make 4 to 5 mini, fabulous French desserts, accompanied by hands on instruction, baking techniques, mini stories of French life, and a mini view of the Seine. We finished by sitting around the big country table, indulging in our Café Gourmand. A sample class may include mini-Palmiers (elephant ear cookies), mini-Fruit tartes, Madeleines, Chocolate Mousse (all things mini, pretty much)…. There is always a chance that Alisa will have mini meringues with cream, already waiting for you.

CAFE GOURMAND Cooking Class:

      • 3.5 hours
      • 180€ per person in group class
      • Private Classes Available

Parisian Market – Walk, Talk, Taste

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So you want to experience a Parisian Marché (farmer’s market)… Shop and eat like a local?

Follow Alisa through one of her favorite Marchés where locals do their shopping, as she shares her passion and knowledge of French food, history and culture; we tour the stalls, meeting the vendors, discovering seasonal products and learn the whys and hows of traditional French cooking and culinary habits.

Along the way on this 3 hour tour, we will gather fruits, cheeses, charcuterie and breads, etc., all according to seasonal availability, and enjoy them with wine at our own little picnic.

If you can schedule this towards the beginning of your time in Paris, you will feel like a local, the remainder of your stay.

Parisian Market WALK, TALK, TASTE – Walking tour and Cooking Class:

      • 3.5 hours
      • 100€ per person in group tour
      • Private Tours Available

Eat Paris 101 – Introduction to Shopping and Living in Paris

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So you’ve arrived in this delicious city; and you just don’t know where to begin to buy the best food or how to talk to Parisian shop keepers.  What’s the difference between all of those cheese shops?  How do you buy meat?  Must you purchase an entire fish, head, scales and tails? … Can you touch the melons?  Hmmm… maybe not.

Chef Alisa Morov, cookbook author and founder of Sweet Pea Baking, has been shopping, cooking and eating in Paris for 18 years.  She knows firsthand how intimidating it can feel when you are new to this gastronomic city.  Sharing her experiences, she will guide you through all the nuances and joys of food shopping, along with a few indispensable language tips.

This 3 hour class is an in-depth orientation into the Parisian way of living.  We begin by shopping!  Navigating through all the different food shops, learning all about seasonal products, and buying a few things along the way.  The class finishes with drinks and nibbles around Alisa’s large Parisian dining table, where she’ll answer your questions about food and French culture…

This is the perfect Paris 101 class – a great way to enrich your daily Parisian life.

EAT PARIS 101 – Walking tour and Orientation Class:

      • 3 hours
      • 85€ per person in group tour
      • Private Tours Available

French Baking for Novices

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Introduction to French Baking –  Perfect for the novice baker!

In this 3 hour class, Alisa’s knowledge of pastry and baking techniques will guide you through making three very French pastries…. to-die-for French Gateau Chocolat, classic sweet Palmiers (Elephant Ear cookies), mini-Savory Palmiers, or Madeleines (make your own Proustian memories) ….  all with hands on instruction.  When the baking is finished, we sit at the big country table, gaze at the Seine and indulge on our hand made pastries.

FRENCH BAKING FOR NOVICES – Cooking Class:

      • 3.5 hours
      • 110€ per person in group class
      • Private Classes Available

French Cooking Class with Wine Pairing

In France, a glass of wine is never far from a plate of gorgeous French food… and a delicious regional specialty is rarely far from a nice glass of wine. Our gastronomic culture has evolved over the past 2,000 years around wine, and our wine around local foods. This symbiotic relationship between wine and food allows each element to complement one another: the wine makes the food better and the food makes the wine better!  A Win-Win!

Your 4 hour class begins in Alisa’s Parisian kitchen, where the freshest, seasonal ingredients await you. Alisa will guide you through the preparations of a very French, 5-course lunch or dinner specially formulated for that day… it’s immersive and intimate and delicious. French gastronomic history and customs will be sprinkled around the starter, main course, and dessert recipes. You will learn techniques and helpful tips so that you can perfect this traditional meal on your own, back home.

My resident sommelier, will arrive with bottles in tow, to whet your appetite with a glass of crisp Sancerre or perhaps an aperitif from South West France or a fruity rosé from Provence. We will cover the basics of tasting wine. Then we sit down to enjoy the fruits of our labor, accompanied by the carefully selected, perfectly paired wines, and go on a virtual tour of France, discussing origins and terroirs of various wines.

For us, wine and food is all about pure pleasure… history and tradition combined. There’s no right or wrong answer to food and wine pairing, you will leave with easy to remember guidelines that will help you unlock the flavors in both; with new Parisian friends, recipes, ideas and a smile. Your time with Alisa is sure to be one of your highlights of your Parisian adventure

Cooking Class and Wine Pairing

      • 285€ per person
      • Minimum 3 people

The Royal Threatment – French Food Tour & Culinary Traditions of Paris

From les grands restaurants to the thousands of exquisite specialty shops to the neighborhood boulangerie, Parisians make food an art.  This walk takes place on the chic Left Bank of Paris, where you will visit some of the city’s finest food shops.  Alisa will discuss French food habits and philosophies; introduce you to the concepts of French cuisine, from discerning the proper cheese at a 100 year old cheese shop,  to understanding that all baguettes are not equal, learning about butchers, fish shops, chocolate and pastries…eating and drinking Armagnac along the way…

Parisian Chocolate & Pastry & Breads…Oh my!

Take this delicious jaunt through Paris’ Left Bank neighborhood, entice your food palate and open your eyes to the sweet science of chocolate-making. Alisa will lead you through Parisian chocolate and pastry history, including the macaron, visiting tasting and talking about how chocolate, while it melts in your mouth, is derived from a simple bean.  We will compare flavors, products, and the techniques used.  This walk will tantalize every one of your senses.  And Alisa will be there, helping you with purchases to fulfill all of your chocolate needs.