It’s that time of year, when my alma mater University School of Nashville releases the course catalog for the popular annual Evening Classes series that raises money for financial aid to the K-12 institution. I try to help out every year by brainstorming potential instructors and topics, and I teach the occasional class, but this year the staff has come up with some amazing options that I didn’t even know about.
Several popular classes have already filled up, but here are some I have my eye on.
Apparently carbs are cool again, because they are offering a plethora of bread and bread-adjacent classes this year. Erin Mosow is a USN alumna who runs Charpier's Family Bakery, a wholesale provider of breads to restaurants all over town. She’ll be teaching how to mix, braid and bake a traditional challah loaf, and the egg bread recipe you’ll go home with is so versatile that you’ll be making your own French toast, burger buns and rolls for years to come.
Baker Ben Bahil teaches classes for Sourdough Nashville, and he has kindly agreed to lead a special class for Evening Class participants. You’ll even go home with your own sourdough starter, which, according to Pandemic Protocols, you must name and care for like you would an infant.Â
Charles Hunter of The Salted Table understands you don’t always have time to spend all day baking, so he’s offering a class in biscuits, scones, a chocolate tart and cookies, all carbalicious items that come together in a jiffy. Charles is a great teacher who has even been featured on Magnolia Network cooking in Joanna Gaines' kitchen, so I highly recommend any class he teaches.
Chef Chris Dejesus of Butcher & Bee is throwing a little educational flatbread party at a private home where you’ll learn how to make several different recipes from scratch to feed a gathering without a lot of fuss.
The last carb-y class is one I’ve taken before — and I use the knowledge I gained there quite regularly. Danny and Ryan Nicoletto are inviting students into their pasta factory on Elm Hill Pike to learn the secrets of pasta making while they work in groups to create different shapes. Then the assembled group will sit down to a communal dinner where they will eat their homework. I swear, making pasta is one of the easiest things you can do in your home kitchen, but people think you’re a danged magician when you whip together a batch of fresh noodles in half an hour!
Other instructional opportunities that piqued my interest are a couple of chocolate classes taught by the always-entertaining Deb Paquette, a wine class from one of my favorite local experts Phillip Patti and a sampling of booze-free options from the founder of Killjoy, Stephanie Styll.
If you prefer less hands-on experiences, you can opt for tasting dinners at Fonda on 12th or Jashan, or take a tour of Fat Bottom Brewery and learn how to pair beer and food with USN alum Ben Bredesen.Â
Finally, there are a ton of evening classes focusing on international cuisine this year, so take your pick from these myriad options:
- Indian Vegetarian Cooking
- Hands-On Indian Feast: Crafting Chicken Tikka Masala, Raita, and Naan
- Sake and Sushi at Present Tense
- Middle Eastern Cooking the Lyra Way
- Classic French Cooking
- Coastal Creole Cooking
Why not make 2026 the year you stretch yourself in the kitchen and add to your culinary repertoire?
