Celebrate Our 25th Anniversary – Great Things Are Ahead!

You are our most important asset.  Without you we would not be able to do what we love: teaching cooking classes,  bringing unique and hard to find kitchen items, offering the kitchen products you asked for, affordable catering to the Triad and beyond, and expanding on to meet your culinary needs you can now order specialty cakes, designer cookies and so much more.  To keep our celebration going the whole year long we are offering many amazing specials just for our loyal friends and foodies!

Let’s get started:

• Check out one of our “Bring a Friend for Free” cooking Classes
• Two of The Stocked Pot Graduates Alan Roberson and Josh Pathman offers three FREE cooking classes.  First up – check out “Strawberry Fields Forever“!
• Spend $200 and get a FREE $50.00 gift certificate to our cooking school.  Starting now until April 30th.
• Save $75.00 on Stand Mixers from Viking.  Offer good while quantities last.
• Spend $250.00 on any Le Creuset items and get a FREE 8 qt Le Creuset Stock Pot.
• $25.00 Cooking Classes, one each month discounted from our regular price of $44.00
• FREE Cooking classes on Saturdays.
• “Just ask and it’s yours!”  Save 10% on your total purchases with our FREE in store coupons.
• New cooking school instructors coming soon: new baking classes, wine and southern cooking classes.

Have You Heard of Chef Don’s Book Club?

Chef Don’s Book Club – Once a month Chef Don picks a book about food (not a cook book), selects dishes from the book and recreates them in class.  Join us once a month for a fantastic culinary literary evening of cooking and wine to compliment the food.

This month’s book is:  The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Need a refresher course?

Here are some of the upcoming classes starting this weekend.  There is still some room and if you have never been to a class with us, you’re in for a treat. Who knew learning could be so much fun!

TEXAS BAR-BE-QUE $25 ANNIVERSARY

Forget Apple Pie! Nothing is more American than Bar-be-que, and if it is not pork than Texas lays claim to the best Bar-be-que in America. Chef Don and Andrew have visited some of the best bar-be-que pits in Texas and laid claim to some tasty authentic recipes. As a thank you to our patrons we our celebrating our 25th Anniversary with a monthly special class for only $25. These special classes are designed to show case the best Of The Stocked Pot and will always include complimentary celebratory beverages, as well as some of the best eating anywhere. So join us today when we will kick off our monthly $25 Anniversary classes, seating is limited, and if you forget your bibs do not fret as we have plenty of napkins.

Our menu today is: “Texas Bar-be-Que style”, Brisket of Beef, Leg of Venison, Breast of Turkey, Pinto Beans and Corn on the Cob, with Winston-Salem’s Firehouse #1 “best ever” Cornbread. Recipes for all as well as a wash tub of cold beer. Please note that we only use Texas Pete Hot Sauces, Chef Don’s Favorite condiment.

CHEF MARK FREEDMAN ENTERTAIN WITH FLAIR
		Chef Mark Freedman is no stranger to fine dining in the Triad. Chef Mark has served as Executive Chef at such local eateries as: Chateau Morisette, Chef Marks on Westover, Marshall Street Smoke House and currently leVel 2. His operations have been rated 5 stars by such publications as The Greensboro News & Record and The Winston-Salem Journal. He is known as one of the most talented and creative chefs in the South-East. The Stocked Pot Cooking School is proud to present his talents is today’s class on Entertaining with a Flair, please join us and learn to prepare the following menu items and so much more: Artichoke Rice Cakes with Manchego Cheese, Stuffed Mussels, Pork Empanadas, and as a fitting finale, Chocolate Souffle with a Raspberry sauce. Your ticket to fine dining is only a click away.

From Our Recipe Books: Arborio Rice Pudding

We hope you enjoy today’s recipe! Let us know if you try it and how it turned out!

Ingredients

2 cups water

Pinch salt

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup Arborio rice

3 cups whole milk

4 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Few dashes ground cinnamon

Whipped cream, for serving

Directions

Bring water, milk, salt, to a boil in a medium saucepan, then remove pan from the heat, set aside. In a separate stock pot add the rice, and butter and sauté for 3 minutes, and then add the hot liquid by the cup full and stir until the liquid is absorbed, and repeat the process, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid

Stir in the, sugar, vanilla, and a few dashes of cinnamon and cook at a simmer over medium-low heat for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Transfer pudding to a large bowl and serve with whipped cream and a dash more cinnamon.

From Our Recipe Books

We love to cook, we love our friends and we love to cook with our friends!  We’ll start doling out some of our favorite recipes for you to try at home.. some will be basic “tools of the trade”, others will be more complex.  We’d love to hear your feedback on how you used them. Who knows?? Maybe you’ll teach us a thing or two!

Basic Crepe Recipe    

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup milk
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus some for the pan
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl beat shelled eggs (with a whip or spoon) water and  milk utill a smooth batter is formed add butter and salt and whip  for 5 seconds more.  Let it stand, covered, for 1 hour in your refrigerator. The batter may be made up to one day in advance.

Heat a 7 to 8-inch crepe or non-stick skillet over moderate heat until it is hot but not smoking and remove from heat. Brush the pan as necessary with butter. Stir the batter, half fill a 1/4 cup measure with it, and pour the batter into the pan. Tilt and rotate the pan quickly to cover the bottom with a thin layer of batter and return any excess batter to the bowl. Return the pan to the heat, loosen the edge of the crepe with a spatula, and cook the crepe until the under side is browned lightly. Turn the crepe, brown the other side lightly and transfer to a plate. Crepes can be made in advance, stacked, wrapped in plastic and stored refrigerated for 3 days or frozen until needed.

Become a Stocked Pot Fabulous Foodie!

Last month we started a monthly give away for all of our Stocked Pot Facebook Fans.  Every Fan (old & new!) is eligible for a monthly drawing for a free cooking class at The Stocked Pot (value is $44). Then we thought about it.. the only thing that Foodies love more than food is enjoying it with their friends! So we decided that we needed to go back to the drawing board and make the monthly drawing more fun for everyone!

For each additional 50 fans who become our Fan on Facebook, we’ll add an ADDITIONAL cooking class at The Stocked Pot to the monthly drawing! We’re already at one and we’re thisclose to hitting the level. In addition to that, when we hit 500 fans, we’ll add a $50 gift card to use in our store! When we get to 750 fans, we’ll add ANOTHER $50 gift card and so on!  If you’re keeping track, at the 750 fan level, we’ll be up to 10 classes and 2 $50 gift cards!

So if you love food and you’re already a “Stocked Pot Fabulous Foodie” be sure to suggest our fan page to your friends.. (The “suggest to friends” button is in the top left corner, right under our logo) odds will be in your favor that someone you know will get a free class at The Stocked Pot! Maybe you can go together!

We love our fans and our customers – they let us do what we love to do – cook and be with friends!

Andrew

Build a Stronger Team Using Cooking?

Corporate Team Building is an effective way to build trust and improve communication between co-workers. We work together, have fun and build relationships between co-workers.

Corporate Team Building Events bring co-workers together to improve communication, hone problem-solving skills, build morale and have fun. Each person contributes their own personal skills to make great food together as part of a team and this becomes the focus for sharing, responsibility and making the most of each person’s individual skills. All teams work toward a common goal with prepping the food using tools of the trade, cooking the food with precise timing and plating the food with an eye for appealing excellence.

Contact us today for Corporate Team Building at The Stocked Pot Cooking School or at your location. We will help you plan your Corporate Team Building event that you and your co-workers will remember for many years to come.
Call us 336.499.5844 or email us at amcmillan@serestaurants.com

Thank YOU, Leadership Winston-Salem!

We received a great letter last week from Leadership Winston-Salem and wanted to share parts of it with you.

Dear Andrew,

Our Human Relations Day breakfast and lunch received very high marks from the class as well as everyone else!  What impresses me every time we work with you is that you’re never late, you provide more than enough food, the presentation is exceptional and the price is right. Oh! And it’s always delicious!

We’d like to thank Dinny Forbes and all the staff at Leadership Winston-Salem for their business and their kind words!

If  you have an event that you need catered – personal or professional, we’d love to work with you!

Meet Our Chefs…

Today’s Chef  is owner, Andrew McMillan.. 

Andrew is the President and owner of The Stocked Pot. Andrew takes great pride in sharing a lifetime of great culinary experiences with fellow foodies. His travels have taken him around the world, visiting over 25 countries on five continents; including China, France, Italy, Thailand, Bali, Luxembourg and Caribbean Island nations, where he enveloped himself in the local lore, customs and cooking traditions. Growing up in a culinary household excited Andrew’s taste buds and provided a strong culinary foundation. Andrew served as manager for two family restaurants and catering operations, which included menu design, recipe development, beverage management and customer relations. During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Andrew managed the South African Pavilion in charge of feeding 400 athletes and support personnel 4 meals a day as well a catering many VIP functions for the government of South Africa. His extensive knowledge of fine wine and beverages enabled him to design and develop wine lists and institute beverage programs in a variety of settings, and adds to his ability to provide well rounded instruction as a member of The Stocked Pot Culinary staff. Andrew’s classes will help the wine and food novice develop a strong understanding of culinary basics and lead to a lifetime of food and beverage enjoyment, as well as enforce the ability to match food and beverage to suit every occasion.