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Los Angeles Club And Singles Trade in Book Clubs for Cooking Clubs

By Sally Horchow

Writer Sally Horchow belongs to not one but two cooking clubs in Los Angeles, a center of cooking-club mania. She describes a memorable session with a guest instructor, charismatic chef Govind Armstrong of L.A.'s Table 8.

I'm a sucker for group activities. In the past I've shuttled between book clubs and writing groups, aerobics classes and improv comedy workshops. Had I been old enough in the 1970s, I would surely have been on the Tupperware party circuit. So it's not surprising that, as a passionate cook, I have joined the latest trend: I belong to not one, but two cooking clubs.

Alternatively dubbed dinner clubs or supper clubs, among other names, these groups bring together friends to cook, eat and¡ªmost of all¡ªlearn. The two cooking club I belong to in Los Angeles are very different. One, called the Saucy Spoons, was founded two years ago by Ellen Rose, owner of the Cook's Library, a popular cookbook store here. The 16 members are mostly food pros, including cookbook author Neelam Batra; Stacie Hunt, a partner in the wine store Du Vin; and Joan McNamara of Joan's on Third, a restaurant and take-out food shop that's practically an L.A. institution. Every month we test out an intriguing cookbook¡ªThe Zuni Caf¨¦ Cookbook by Judy Rodgers, for example, or The Arrows Cookbook by Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier. We each pick a recipe and prepare as much of it at home as possible, finishing it when we arrive at the host's house. Then we dish about what we liked and didn't like. One time, for example, we all loved a crumb cake recipe so much, Joan started serving a version of it at her store.

My other cooking club is a lot less formal¡ªwe've never even given it a name¡ªbut it's equally rewarding. It too started about two years ago, with a group of about 10 girlfriends, all thirtysomething Angelenos working in industries from television casting to landscape design, who were already regularly calling each other with cooking questions and swapping recipes. Sometimes the more experienced cooks prepare and teach a menu to the rest of the group. Other gatherings are potluck and themed (Hors d'Oeuvres Night, for example, or Thanksgiving Prep). We've also taken a wine-and-cheese pairing class together and gone on field trips to sample a new restaurant.

To take our collective cooking expertise up a notch, our group recently invited 35-year-old chef Govind Armstrong of L.A.'s hot Table 8 to give us a lesson in my outdoor kitchen. Raised in Los Angeles and on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, Armstrong started his career as a 13-year-old intern at Spago and trained with internationally acclaimed chefs like Juan Mari Arzak of Arzak in San Sebasti¨¢n, Spain, and Joachim Splichal of Patina in Los Angeles, before becoming co-chef (with Ben Ford, son of actor Harrison) at Los Angeles's Chadwick in 2000. Since then, he's designed the bar menu at RokBar in Hollywood, which he co-owns with Tommy Lee of Mötley Cr¨¹e and other backers; and he's opening a second Table 8 this winter at the new Regent South Beach Hotel in Miami.

When Armstrong arrives, he greets everyone with a hug, then tosses his long dreadlocks over his shoulder and gets to work making a round of pomegranate margaritas. As we gather around the outdoor bar, Armstrong kicks off the first demonstration: a quick way to cure duck to make prosciutto for a watercress salad. First he scores a breast and brushes it with maple syrup, then he applies a rub of salt, sugar and herbs. "Put a good amount on both sides," he tells us. "The salt is penetrating and doing its thing, and after 48 hours, it will give the meat a darker, richer color and more flavor."

Singles Trade in Book Clubs for Cooking Clubs

In a recent Match.com survey of single adults, the three holidays rated the most stressful were, in order: Christmas, Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve. No wonder. From Thanksgiving on through Valentine's Day, the holidays with their images of warm home fires and happy couples and families can be rather bleak for unattached singles. According to the U.S. Census, there are a lot of single people in America -- about 80 million.

Many singles fight the holiday blues by doing volunteer work, creating their own home traditions, and meeting others through events and clubs. Six young New York women decided that they weren't reading the assigned books in their book clubs so why not meet instead to eat with friends? They began gathering one Sunday a month to try out new recipes and bond over a home-cooked meal.

The cooking club enriched the women's friendships and kept Sunday night blues at bay. Their efforts have turned into two ebullient cooking books within the last two years, The Cooking Club Cookbook and the recent The Cooking Club Party Cookbook.

The Cooking Club women have expanded their activities to include a Web site (see Web Resources below). Fausset says the site has a forum that links people with others in their local area interested in creating a cooking club and sharing recipes.

Continue to learn more info about cooking club, please visit American Express Publishing Corporation.

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