The Cook’s Atelier: French Cooking Experience in Beaune
Market Day Cooking Class at The Cook’s Atelier
When you come to Bourgogne (Burgundy), set aside your Wednesday or Saturday for a day with The Cook’s Atelier. And don’t forget to book it in advance! Marjorie and Kendall are the mother-daughter team behind the shop and cooking school, and they will lead you through a day long immersion into artisan shops, local farmers, and classic French cooking. Come along and see how our day went, then, book your trip to France! And, just in case your next trip to France is not imminent, they just published a beautiful cookbook full of the recipes we made and more.
(click on any photo for the full size slide show, hit “escape” to return)
We started our day with Marjorie (on the left) and Kendall outside the Hess Cheese shop
Hess is on the short list of “best cheese shops on the planet”
Kendall gave us our introduction to the many local products and cheeses
Goat cheese choices
Local Bourgogne cheeses
More cheeses including World Cup specials
Did you forget your bag? No problem, baskets for sale at the market, too
The best way to see what’s fresh and local
The best vendors sell out early on the Wednesday market. Look for the AB certification to find vendors committed to organic production
If you see fresh cherries in France, buy them!
Marjorie explained outside, since her favorite Boucherie (butcher shop) as it is tiny inside
Boucherie Charcuterie Vossot
Classic French charcuterie
Shopping is done, on to The Cook’s Atelier to cook!
Curated wines and a special selection of cooking utensils inside. Cooking class is upstairs
They love copper!
Cutlery and our raw ingredients for the day
Cook what’s local and in season
Cote de Bouef
Apron’d up, we’re ready to get to work
Making the gougères dough/batter
After piping the gougères, we topped them with a bit of egg and grated cheese
Gougères before
Gougères after. Want one?
Pro tip: buy vanilla beans. Soak in good quality vodka – best vanilla extract ever!
Marjorie giving us the details on vanilla beans and vodka
Squeeze out the innards – vanilla bean extract. Voila!
Separating eggs for the soufflé
Properly whipped egg whites
Sitting down to our long French lunch, can’t wait!
Apéro
By now we’re all friends
Tiny melon cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and a bit of Champagne
Wine for our entrée courses. At Cook’s Atelier they know their local winegrowers, too.
Melon, ham, basil and a bit of vinaigrette
Up come the cheese soufflés
Beautiful and delicious
Bourgogne rouge for the plat
Here’s our finished cote de bouef
Sliced, ready to serve
Beautiful local, fresh ingredients. Simply prepared. The best.
1er cru from the village of Ladoix to enjoy with our cheeses
Our cheese board was all French, some very local.
A wide variety of milks, styles, textures. St. Marcellin is a “love it” or “hate it” cheese. I love it, how about you?
We made this delicious cake with fresh white peaches and raspberries baked inside
My friend Chiara Bassi would approve. Real Italian coffee made in a real Italian coffee machine. Best coffee this side of Italy!
Surprise! Madeleines for an extra touch
Our happy crew
Greetings from The Cook’s Atelier in Beaune!
foodwineclick 
Wow, that looks delicious. Those soufflés…
So much fun to cook with a group with plenty of coaching. Plus, who has that much copper cookware hanging around!
Exceptional capture of what looks like an amazing experience Jeff!
Thanks, Martin. Put it on your list for your visit!
beautiful photos dude, as ever
Thanks!
Loving this Jeff — thanks for sharing!
You and Jason would love it. It’s light on technical cooking and heavy on the fun and the 4 hour French lunch!
Looks like it was amazing day! I’m SO jealous. Maybe you can repeat it back at home? I’ll help!
I have the cookbook, so we can definitely give it a go. We might need to rob a bank beforehand to fund the copper cookware purchase, though. You and Joe would be up for that, right?
#ResentfulVegan drooling…so cruel. Great pics, btw. Adds to the exquisite torture. Santé!
thanks, Lyn!
Stunning and beautiful! I absolutely want to do this one day. BTW, what lens are you using for your gorgeous captures?
I recently upgraded my photo equipment, but you could get similar excellent results with your current gear. Let’s talk next time we are together in person!
I need to be home long enough to take a class. I am afraid I require a full hands tutorial to understand the complexities. I don’t know much of anything. I was hoping for a class this summer but ended up traveling more than expected. Now, I have my sights set for winter since I am done with WSET for a year or two. You are so gracious with your information. Thank you Jeff.