50 Fascinating Open Courses for Foodies

If culinary school isn’t in your future but you love food and love learning about it, then you should take a look at these free classes. Some of these classes are taught by Ivy League professors and by world-renowned chefs, while others offer easy-to-follow tutorials from which anyone can learn. Discover what a quenelle is, how to prepare duck, new ways to use mayonnaise, how to make fresh ricotta cheese, take classes that focus on reading and writing about food, or learn about nutrition and food safety. All this and more is available for free in the classes below.

Foodie Discoveries

Nothing is more exciting than discovering new ways to use an old ingredient or finding new foods you never knew existed. These classes bring fun discoveries for those with an adventurous spirit.

1. Kitchen Chemistry. Practice cooking experiments while learning basic chemistry principles in this course. [MIT]
2. Advanced Kitchen Chemistry. The follow-up to Kitchen Chemistry, this course is a hands-on class examining topics such as cheese making, joys of tofu, and the science of spice. [MIT]
3. The Dumpling Called Quenelle. Learn all about this amazing French dumpling and discover several ways to prepare them in this course. [New York Times]
4. Cooking with America’s Finest Ingredients. From specialty salts to aged vinegars to artisan cheeses, this course will help you learn about using great ingredients to create delicious recipes. [The Culinary Institute of America]
5. Rioja: Tradition & Innovation at the Frontiers of Flavor. Choose from a free DVD, iTunes podcasts, or video streaming to learn about this famous Spanish wine region, the wine itself, and culinary pairings. [The Culinary Institute of America]
6. The Professional Chef Discovers Soy Sauce. Learn all about soy sauce, get recipes, and even learn from chefs about how to use this ancient flavoring. [The Culinary Institute of America]
7. Vinaigrettes: Soft and Sharp. Learn about the balance required in making vinaigrettes and put your knowledge to work with these delicious salads. [New York Times]
8. Almonds: New Directions for American Kitchens. If you thought almonds were supposed to be coated in sugary candy and handed out at weddings, then you should check out this class that teaches uses for almonds that include as thickening agents, as texture, and for flavor. [The Culinary Institute of America]
9. The Alaska Seafood Spice Pantry. This interactive course provides all you need to know about preparing Alaskan seafood and selecting spices from around the world to complement these delicious sustainable treats from the Alaskan waters. [The Culinary Institute of America]
10. Sunkist Citrus Celebre. Citrus is much more than lemons, limes, and oranges. Learn about various types of citrus, how to cook with citrus, and become adept at global flavors with this course that offers videos, photos, recipes, and even quizzes. [The Culinary Institute of America]
11. The Mayo Clinic. Find a whole new world with mayonnaise in this class that explores different ways to prepare and use this sauce. [New York Times]

Fun Foodie Experiences

If you are in a rut and need a change, then these classes will help you find something exciting and new. From creating your own dim sum to learning how to make sushi to learning about selecting and preparing live Maine lobster, these classes will help you find something fun for dinner.

12. Thirty Days of Dim Sum. Create your own dim sum dinner after you try these thirty days worth of recipes that include such favorites as Jiaozi dumplings, potstickers, and crab rangoon. [About U]
13. Duck, Demystified and Delicious. Learn the basics about preparing, cooking, and serving duck with this lesson. [New York Times]
14. La Ricetta della Settimana, A Weekly Recipe. Get a new Italian dish recipe by email every week that also includes menu and wine pairings. [About U]
15. Sushi Lessons for Beginners. From the proper rice preparation to creating a variety of sushi, this email course will have you enjoying these tasty bites right in your own home. [About U]
16. Contemporary Flavors with California Raisins. Chef Thomas Keller walks you through the history of many dishes from the Mediterranean to Asia to Latin America using the flavor of California raisins. [The Culinary Institute of America]
17. Beginners Guide to Tamales. Take this 6-day course to master the art of tamale making in your own kitchen. [About U]
18. Marinated Duck Breast in Red Wine Sauce: A Lesson in Knife Skills. This course covers knife skills, making marinade, cooking duck breast, making a red wine reduction, and presenting the dish. [New York Times]
19. Soups: Broths and Purees. This isn’t your mother’s chicken noodle soup. Learn how to create elegant soups in this class. [New York Times]
20. Reimagining Pasta. From salad to main course to dessert, take a whole new look at pasta with this class. [New York Times]
21. The Professional Chef Discovers Maine Lobster. Now there is no need to pay outrageous restaurant prices for Maine Lobster. Learn about lobsters, how to select and prepare them, and get delicious recipes with this course. [The Culinary Institute of America]
22. Calamari Classics. Don’t rely on fried calamari as your only experience with the delicious squid. Learn preparation techniques, recipes, and even wine pairings to enhance these little jewels from the sea. [New York Times]

Nutrition

If you are interested in how the food you prepare makes your body healthy and strong, then these nutrition classes are for you.

23. Critical Analysis of Popular Diets and Dietary Supplements. Learn the science of weight loss and compare this to the structure of various weight loss programs and supplements to analyze their effectiveness. [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health]
24. Principles of Human Nutrition. This course offers a basic overview of nutrition and the role that proteins, energy, vitamins, and minerals play in health and disease. [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health]
25. Nutrition and Medicine. Explore the basics of nutrition and how it relates to the human body as a form of healing and wellness. [Tufts University]
26. Obesity: balanced diets and treatment. Learn about balanced diets as well as causes of obesity including genetics and environmental factors. [The Open University]
27. Food and Nutrition Policy. Explore policy making as it pertains to nutrition and the issues surrounding it in this class. [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health]
28. Nutrition: vitamins and minerals. Study specific vitamins and minerals and discover how they help the human body. [The Open University]
29. International Nutrition. Examine the nutritional problems in developing societies in this class. [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health]
30. Nutrition. Learn the fundamentals of nutrition, including digestion and metabolism, macronutrients, micronutrients, and nutrition assessment. [Western Governors University]
31. Nutrition: proteins. Find out about the make-up of proteins, how they function in the body, and how they are absorbed and digested. [The Open University]
32. Vitamin village. Vitamins A, C, D, E, and K as well as an introduction to antioxidants are covered in this nutrition class. [The University of Nottingham]

Food Safety

From dealing with food allergies to preventing mad cow disease to food production and public health, these classes take a look at food safety issues.

33. Food Safety, Storage, and Allergies. Study food storage, safety issues, additives, and new food technology. [Utah State University]
34. BSE and vCJD: their biology and management. This course out of the UK examines mad cow disease and the link between the similar disease that affects humans as well as the management of these diseases. [The Open University]
35. Food Production, Public Health, and the Environment. Look at case studies that explore public health and food production as it pertains to issues such as economics, population, and equity in this class. [Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health]
36. Food Allergies: Challenges and Opportunities for Food Service. Learn about food allergies, cross contamination, successful food allergy policies, and recipe alternatives in this class. [The Culinary Institute of America]

Reading and Writing About Food

If your artistic talent doesn’t stop at creating and enjoying delicious food, then give these classes that focus on reading and writing about food a try.

37. Expository Writing – Food for Thought: Writing and Reading about Food and Culture. Explore many facets of food, food preparation, and those who participate in it through reading, watching films, and writing about the experience of food. [MIT]
38. East Asian Cultures: From Zen to Pop. Cuisine is just one of the interesting explorations of this class that looks at premodern and modern East Asian culture. [MIT]
39. Food and Power in the Twentieth Century. Examine the history of food and its transformation over the past 100 years and its impact on society. [MIT]
40. Finding information in health and lifestyle. This course takes students through practical applications of researching and writing about health and lifestyle topics. [The Open University]

Tutorials

These easy-to-follow tutorials make frying a turkey, cooking with master chefs, or even learning to bake an easy endeavor.

41. How to Make Fresh Ricotta. Follow these instructions and accompanying photos to learn how to make your own ricotta with only a few items. [Chef Talk]
42. How to Deep Fry a Turkey. This how-to provides safety information, equipment, and even a recipe so that you will be making fried turkey all year round. [Chef Talk]
43. Making Sense of Food Thickeners. Explore various types of thickeners and discover why one may work better than another for a particular dish. [Chef Talk]
44. How to Make Roux (Making Sense of Food Thickeners-Part II). Take your new-found knowledge about thickeners to the next level with this tutorial that also instructs on how to make the four stages of roux for a variety of dishes. [Chef Talk]
45. How to Make a Marinara Sauce (and Tomato Concasse). This tutorial steps you through making a delicious marinara sauce from scratch and even provides a little history on the sauce. [Chef Talk]
46. How To Cook. Learn a variety of techniques as well as cooking tips with the how-to lessons available here. [Cook's Illustrated]
47. Cuisines. Learn how to cook 80 dishes from around the world with these fun video and text tutorials. [Epicurious]
48. Cooking Primers. From baking a pie to grilling to cooking without gluten, the primers here will help you learn with photos, videos, and text. [Epicurious]
49. Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs. Get recipes created by master chefs and the accompanying videos from this series that includes 15 delicious dishes. [PBS]
50. Baking Demonstrations. From butter frosting to powdered sugar glaze to butter toffee and everywhere in between, get video demonstrations to help your baking skills improve. [Land O'Lakes]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.