Las Vegas Global Kitchen Class

The Las Vegas Global Kitchen Class is a three-hour hands-on cooking session held in Las Vegas, Nevada, that draws inspiration from the city's extraordinary culinary diversity — a hospitality workforce drawn from Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Spain, and dozens of other countries has made Las Vegas one of the most internationally flavored cities in the American West. The class samples techniques from three distinct culinary traditions in a single session, providing participants with practical skills applicable to home cooking across all three cuisines. The session opens with a Japanese knife skills segment — the foundational discipline of Japanese culinary philosophy, which treats precision cutting as a flavor-developing technique in its own right. Participants learn the proper santoku grip, the correct blade angle for slicing fish and vegetables, and the specific cuts used in sashimi-grade fish preparation and the garnish arrangements that define Japanese plating aesthetics. The instructor explains how Japanese knife technique differs from French and Western methods and what those differences produce in terms of texture, presentation, and marinade absorption. The second segment introduces Thai curry paste preparation from scratch — a hands-on process that distinguishes authentic Thai cooking from convenience-paste shortcuts. Working with a granite mortar and pestle, participants build a red curry paste from galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime zest, dried chilies, and shrimp paste, then use the paste to cook a simplified red curry that demonstrates how the base determines the entire flavor arc of the finished dish. The instructor contextualises the regional variation between Northern, Central, and Southern Thai curry traditions. The final segment covers Spanish tapas technique, focusing on two or three dishes that represent the range of the small-plate tradition: a tortilla española prepared in a well-seasoned pan, gambas al ajillo, and a discussion of the olive oil selection that underlies Spanish cooking at every level. The instructor draws connections across all three cuisine segments, identifying shared principles of heat management, acid balance, and layered flavour building that transcend individual culinary cultures. All dishes prepared during the class are served at the conclusion of the session. Groups are capped at 12 participants. No prior cooking experience is required; the class is conducted in English. Dietary substitutions for shellfish and fish components are available with advance notice to the operator.