If you go
› What: Sweet and Savory Classroom› Where: 45 E. Main St.› Phone: 423-661-8750› Online: www.sweetandsavoryclassroom.com; for a class schedule, go to www.sweetandsavoryclassroom.com/category-s/114.htm
At her 14th birthday party, Bailey Baxter stands in front of a broad-shouldered mixer, plopping a gooey mixture of chocolate and butter into a stainless-steel bowl.
In the next few minutes, she'll add coconut, cream cheese, flour and a host of other ingredients to the mix, her ultimate goal a fudgy pan of German chocolate brownies pulled hot out of the oven.
No pressure, Bailey says. She makes desserts all the time at her home in Jasper, Tenn. "I'm not intimidated," she says.
"We bought her a mixer for her birthday. It was a KitchenAid, just like these, but it was aqua-blue," says her mother, Karen, standing beside Bailey and patting her own husky mixer.
Around them, six others fiddle with their own chocolate concoctions, living up to the night's theme: Getting Your Chocolate Fix On.
All are students in a class at Sweet and Savory Classroom, a cooking school that opened last January on Southside. The owners, Jeff and Heather Pennypacker, trade off classes; as a pastry chef of 18 years, Heather takes the Sweet while Jeff, who's been cooking since he was 16, handles the Savory.
"It defines our personalities," Jeff says.
The Sweet and Savory space, located in the SoHo building on Main Street, resembles a non-glitzy version of the kitchen on Food Network's "Chopped." Shiny stainless steel is everywhere. Gas stoves line one wall; wire-rack shelves hold pantry items; fridges are filled with chilled supplies. Long-and-wide butcher-block tables offer space for demonstrations by the Pennypackers and prep work by students.
The Pennypackers, both 38 years old, have long histories in the food industry, including stints for both at culinary schools. Backed by that accumulated knowledge, they insist that no one needs to know how to cook to come through the Sweet and Savory door. You don't need to know a spatula from a strainer, grinders from graters. You'll be walked through each step and each device, they say.
Be warned, though, you'll do everything yourself - "cutting, chopping, portioning, prepping, cooking, sautéing, baking, eating," Jeff says.
"You are completely immersed in a hands-on experience," he explains. "It's not partially hands-on; it's not a little bit hands-on; it is fully. If you don't cook, you don't eat. There's nothing pre-made; nothing pre-done. The only thing we do for you is grocery shop."
Students have ranged from those who already have excellent cooking skills to those who think making toast is a backbreaker. There are accountants and engineers who follow the recipes to the letter and wing-it cooks who work by taste and intuition and think recipes are just suggestions.
"I think that, when they first walk in the room, some people who haven't cooked or baked before, they're intimidated," Heather says. "But that shifts very quickly.
"It's all in how you present it. They see the Food Network and the celebrity chef reality shows and they don't know what to expect," she says. "Some of those shows are on the harsher side and they're not realistic, even in the industry."
"There's no yelling and screaming unless we're kidding around," Jeff says. "It's OK if you make mistakes; it's OK if you burn something."
At least six classes are scheduled each week - three hours long and costing from $50 to $70 per person - and subjects range from New Orleans cuisine to Fall Desserts, from Knife Skills to Artisan Breads. Their Healthy Cooking classes are especially popular, Jeff says, and usually sell out.
They also host birthday parties - both kids and adults - and corporate customers come in for team-building exercises.
"It's the oldest form of team-building ever, people eating a meal over table," Jeff says.
Date nights are also a big draw, the couple says. With Savory classes, for instance, couples come in and, by the end of the class, "they get a full meal," Jeff says.
That's the plan for Kellie Johnson, who's taking part in the Chocolate Fix class but is bringing her husband back in a few weeks for a lesson in New Orleans cuisine.
"I said 'shrimp gumbo," and he said, 'I'm in,'" she says with a hearty laugh. "I heard 'beignets' and I said, 'I'm in.'"
At this point, the Savory classes are the most popular, about an 80-20 percent split between Savory and Sweet, Jeff says, but interest in Sweet is steadily building.
Heather understands the reluctance of some to take a Sweet class. Baking is a science and a bit frightening for the uninitiated, she says, which is why she takes her time when giving instructions.
"I like to tell people the why; why something happens the way it does." she says. "There's a lot of science behind a lot of reasons to why you do things a certain way."
In the Chocolate Fix class - where students will make German Chocolate Brownies, Espresso Chocolate Biscotti with Bacon Sprinkles and Chocolate Mousse - she carefully explains the whys and wherefores, dishing out terms like double boiler and viscosity and the names of kitchen utensils.
"A teacher once told me, 'The best utensil is attached to the end of your arm at all times,'" she tells the class. "Don't be afraid to get your hands in there."
She explains why cream cheese straight out of the fridge should sit for about two hours before you use it (it clumps if it's too cold and will leave little lumps in your mix) and why a metal pan is best for baking (metal transfers heat better, which means the bottom crust of your pie will be crispy instead of doughy).
Students ask questions, take notes and, at times, lean in to get a closer look at what Heather is doing, for instance, peeking into a bowl of chocolate and butter that's melting to get an idea of what theirs should - hopefully - look like. The class's casual feel helps put students at ease, Heather says.
"People aren't afraid because it's a smaller setting with smaller amounts of people; they're not afraid to ask questions," she says. "We like people to be close to the demo table because, if people are sitting in their seats and you're showing them something, they're a little more intimidated to ask you a question."
The atmosphere during Chocolate Fix is cooperative and easygoing between the students. While everyone is head down, concentrating on getting everything just right, there also are small conversations taking place, questions being asked and answered.
Ria Lupdag, who moved from the Philippines to Dalton, Ga., for a job, says she "loves to cook" and is trying to improve her skills, especially for Southern food. Her dessert-making abilities are rudimentary, she admits, and include chiffon cake and brownies "out of the box." Coming to Sweet and Savory made her "feel excited," not nervous.
That's the plan, the Pennypackers say.
"We want to teach them things that they haven't learned before so they'll be able to do it again," Heather says.
"They come in here to learn new skills to take home," Jeff says. "There hasn't been a person who has gone home hungry yet."
Contact Shawn Ryan at sryan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327.