Center for Advanced Technical Studies kicks off second year of Saturdays @ The Center cooking classes

IRMO, SC – Just when you thought it was safe to hang up the grilling tools, culinary officials at the Center for Advanced Technical Studies will kick off a second year of the school’s popular cooking classes with barbecue tips by award-winning Pit Master Chef J. T. Handy.

Beginning Sept. 6, The Center will hold a series of cooking classes called Saturdays @ The Center to give high school culinary students valuable experience in working events and the public an opportunity to sharpen cooking techniques. The once-a-month series at the Lexington-Richland District Five school kicks off with a repeat of last year’s “BBQ Basics,” a four-hour cooking event led by Handy. There is a $50 registration fee, and proceeds go to training and other opportunities for students.

“Our cooking series was a huge success last year – the students learned a lot about putting on a cooking event and the participants learned a lot of good cooking techniques,” said Chef Jeff Urso, The Center’s culinary arts instructor. “We’re happy to kick off a second year of Saturdays @ The Center with BBQ Basics. Tim will be teaching how to create good flavor profiles out of wood and simple ingredients. We had a great time last year, and I personally have gone to Tim’s BBQ cooking classes. He’s phenomenal.”

Recipes at the “hands-on” barbecue cooking class will include entrees like ribs, chicken quarters and succulent pork chops. Participants also will experiment with a variety of BBQ sauces, rubs and BBQ preparation techniques; all leading up to sampling the creations.

“After all, what’s a BBQ class without the eating,” Handy said during the event last year. “In this class, we’re going to show that BBQ is a noun. It’s not a grill in the backyard or hamburgers and hotdogs. It’s a specific thing, a tangible thing. It’s chicken, pork and beef cooked low and slow with the right sauces and ingredients. In this class and in this lecture, everything that we do is geared towards showing people how to do the world’s oldest and simplest cuisine, which is just adding fire to meat. It’s meant to whet your appetite and open your eyes to some good techniques.”

Officials at The Center say the cooking series is just the beginning of enriching experiences offered to culinary students this school year. The school will take culinary students to Italy in the summer of 2015 for immersion courses. A separate weeklong culinary immersion trip to Italy also will be offered to adults through the school. Activities for the adult trip will include cheese making, a culinary tour and boating expedition.

Other Saturdays @ The Center classes this year will include Farm to Table, Thanksgiving Ravioli and Holiday Desserts. More information and registration details on Saturdays @ The Center and the culinary immersion trip can be found on the school’s website (http://www.lexrich5.org/CATS.cfm) or by calling 803-476-8600.

Photo: Participants watch Pit Master Chef J.T. Handy prepare a dish during  last year’s Saturdays @ The Center BBQ Basics class. Beginning Sept. 6, The Center for Advanced Technical Studies will hold a series of cooking classes to give high school culinary students valuable experience in working events and the public an opportunity to sharpen cooking techniques.