We recently booked two cooking classes and here is some information on both. For both classes we paid 450 pesos per person, although the price seems to fluctuate between 350 and 500 pesos depending on the class and what you’re cooking.
The first class we did was “Cooking with Claudia.” My parents coordinated the class while they were visiting my wife and myself. Claudia’s house, where the class would be taking place, is near Barra de Potosi. The easiest way to get there is to take the “Petatlan” or “Peta” bus to Los Achotes, about midway between Zihua and Peta. And it is easy to get out there. The bus trip is about 25 minutes.
Claudia met us near the highway and we walked to her house. In advance of the class we chose enchiladas verdes as the meal we wanted to cook. Over the next 45 minutes in Claudia’s kitchen she showed us how she makes the enchiladas step-by-side, and we participated a little during each step. Afterwards we ate three small, but very good enchiladas along with some jamaica (pronouned huh-my-cuh) juice. After the class we walked to the main highway and caught the bus back to Zihua. From the time you leave your casa in Zihua until you return is about two and a half hours.
Claudia was very friendly, and she has a lovely house. She was patient with us and her English is great. Claudia allowed us to choose how spicy we wanted our verde salsa. We only put one jalapeño pepper in the sauce, but she told us that normally she would put 5 in the sauce. If it was only up to me, I would’ve been okay with 2 or 3 peppers. A few times while cooking the verde salsa she asked us to try it, but for some reason she didn’t give us tasting spoons. Instead she poured the hot salsa into our palms from one stirring spoon. At one point my wife and I tried to make our enchiladas at the same time and Claudia told us we had to go separately so she could check our work.
Overall the class was a bit rigid, but we did all learn how to cook a delicious new dish!
To set up a class with Claudia: cookingwithclaudiainzihuatanejo.blogspot.com cooking.claudia@hotmail.com
The second class we did was in Zihuatanejo near Playa La Madera. We took part in the Cooking Class with Market Tour through Monica’s Cooking School, “Patio Mexica.”
Monica has an outdoor kitchen located behind her house. There were 14 total people in the class. The entire class ran from 10am until 1:30pm. Before we started Monica gave us some interesting background information about Zihua and the area. About 90 minutes of our class was the market tour, where we were able to try some coffee, a chilate iced drink, a chocolate bar, mezcal, several cheeses, a mini-banana, a few cookies, and a delicious taco. We even tried a cacao bean before it is made into chocolate.
Afterwards each person made a small batch of red or green salsa. Monica showed us the intense process that goes into making tortillas. We grinded the corn and then with the dough we all made terrible looking tortillas. Monica cooked farmers soup, beans, napole cactus, and fresh tortillas as she talked about the process and mixed in a few anecdotes. Afterwards we ate the food along with the jamaica juice. It was a really fun class, and it was nice to be able to interact with the other “students.” Two of the students had traveled 45 minutes by taxi from Troncones. It’s a bonus for us that her cooking school is right in the middle of Zihuatanejo. The market tour really made this a great class. I think that in the future we will look for cooking classes that involve a field trip!
To set up a class with Monica:
http://www.patiomexica.com
cookingschool@patiomexica.com