Private Yucatecan Cooking Lesson in a Local Merida Home

So I have taken cooking classes in Italy and Thailand. Italy was in-home and Thailand at a class style kitchen. Both had groups. Italy was by a professional chef who owns a few restaurants and holds classes in his customized home kitchen. Very hands on. Not just prep and hand off. We would prepare something. Enjoy it. Return to do more. Great pace. In Thailand we would prep ingredients for a dish. Everything. Then go to our own cooking station. Make it. Eat it. Next dish. Total hands on end to end. Going into this experience, I anticipated a professional chef or very experienced home cook. Very hands on. Proper technique. Tasting as we go. This was our first experience with Traveling Spoon. A newer player to this space. We learned a lot about them through Sofia and exploring their web site later. I get the concept. Bring local foods closer to travelers in a real in-home experience. We got that....sort of. Sofia’s home is definitely off the beaten path. And you are in her home. We were greeted by her housekeeper. We were scheduled to start at 11am. We sat in the foyer until Sofia greeted us about 1110am. The patio table was set for our meal in simple, basic white settings. I liked it. When Sofia greeted us she seemed disjointed, harried and ill-prepared. Scattered introductions and in to the kitchen. On the very small kitchen table were three work stations. Small cutting boards. Two knives. A platter with prep ingredients. Sofia handed us a few aprons. And was just skittering around the kitchen. Grabbing pots and pans. Alternating talking to us and to herself. Between English and Spanish. Firing off orders to her housekeeper to get more tomatoes, limons and cilantro from the market. Just a flurry of activity. We weren’t sure what we were supposed to do. I expected her to be more prepared. Then we started preparing this and that. Net, we were basically her prep “chefs”. We cut and chopped a lot. If she didn’t like how we were cutting or chopping she let us know in a terse way. Sometimes just taking over and doing it herself. And even if you followed her orders, if it turned out different then what she expected, we got blamed. She told me to put the juice of a whole limon in the guacamole. After the first half of juice, I thought it was plenty. She insisted on using the other half. Ok. Well, it was to soupy and she blamed me. The few efforts at applying common sense or my expertise and technique were dismissed so I just stopped. Her knife skills were ave

Learning to cook yucatecan food with Sofia was an amazing experience!! I totally recommend her class, she is very friendly and cooks incredibly good! I had a great time in her kitchen and the food was delicious!

Discovering Yucatan with Sofias cooking lesson was the highlight of my trip to lovely Merida. Sofia focused on the basics of cooking a complicated cuisine rich in Mayan and European roots. I lost count of the many dishes and sauces we prepared as she asked me to taste and smell the ingredients of Achiote, Chaya, Passion fruit, and many other ingredients native to the area but not familiar to me. Growing up Mexican in America, I can compare her to an aunt passing down our family recipe. I found it to be a privilege to be in her home kitchen and sharing a culture I could not have experienced in any restaurant in Yucatan. I was fortunate to have Sofia to myself preparing Pollo Pibil wrapped in banana leaves and other dishes from the pans on the stove to a setting on the table, complemented by sipping wine with Yucatan folk music in the background on her patio table. After we said farewells and kissed on the cheek goodbye, the cab ride to the hotel gave me time to reflect and realize the value of Sofias class was far more valuable to me than gold. As I cook these dishes for my family and coworkers, a piece of Yucatan will always stay with me. I highly recommend taking Sofias cooking class on a list of things to do while visiting Merida, Yucatan. Thank You Sofia!

My visit to Sofia's lovely home exceeded my expectations: small class, much individual attention and well-worth the fee. Super-organized kitchen for preparation of great lunch/condiments/dessert. Everything was laid out for us to get started...It was my first taste of Lime Soup, superb. Luscious Pollo Pibil wrapped in banana leaves was accompanied with rice with Sofia's own special touch -- you have to go there to learn what she adds! Desert was Papaya cooked with syrup and topped with grated Edam cheese, sublime. Hands-on with prep and preparation, we also fried platano macho and corn tortilla strips for the soup. I now know what to substitute if I don't find sour oranges. Modern kitchen, but no electric gadgets used except blender for tomatoes in Sikil Pak dip in favor of traditional cooking methods ie. mortar/pestle, I went right out and bought one for myself! tips Sofia got from her abuela! Habaneros were roasted on gas flame. Sofia generously showed me any spices I had questions about as we prepared the onion condiment and chili habanero sauce. Beautiful patio area for eating lunch, coffee and beer/wine service included...Easy to get there by bus Yellow Line Chuburna 21, originating at central 58/61 then driving up 60. Chuburna was Mayan village before becoming a Merida suburb. Unique opportunity to discuss Merida/family histories. Sofia will call taxi/Uber or walk you to the bus stop when class is over. She speaks very good English and is helpful/accommodating beyond the call of duty. I will definitely go for another lesson when I return to Merida. Buen provecho!