By Joanna Kutler
The Silo Cooking School is lovely, relaxed cooking school for all ages and abilities. Nestled in a picturesque barn in the Litchfield Hills, it is the first recreational cooking school established in Connecticut. The Silo Cooking School is situated on Hunt Hill Farm, in New Milford, CT. The property was founded by famed musician/conductor Skitch Henderson and his wife Ruth. They transformed the buildings on the 200-acres of pasture and woodland into a mecca for arts and culture and the Silo Cooking School, Store and Gallery. Mr. Henderson passed away in 2005 but Mrs. Henderson continues to live on the grounds.
We visited recently and attended a class for adults entitled "Barbecue Like a Champion." The class was hosted by Tom and Amy Allingham and their Psy-que-delic Competition BBQ team, winners of the the New England BBQ Society 2008 Rookie of the Year, and Competition BBQ Pitmasters repeat First Place Award Winners. The class was loads of fun. Twelve of us participated in this relaxed and informative class. We watched the BBQ masters at work and they let us try our hand at trimming, seasoning and saucing chicken and ribs, which Team Psy-que-delic prepared for us in their custom smokers.
While the meat finished cooking, we went inside and helped make some side dishes, including, watermelon mojitos, grilled garlic and orange guacamole with chips, roasted new potato salad with poblano mayonnaise, vegetable insalata with lime dressing and tres leches cakes with blueberry tequila ice cream. We had 2-3 people working at various stations, preparing a specific dish. There were plenty of Silo staff to offer assistance and to clean up our messes.
The piece-de-resistance was sitting down at the large farm table and eating delicious BBQ and our yummy side dishes. It was so much fun and those ribs were probably the best I've ever tasted!
The Silo Cooking School offers cooking classes for youngsters too. Upcoming classes include teen culinary workshops on sausage making, Asian favorites, and Indian cuisine. Clear HERE for a listing of upcoming classes for kids. Other upcoming events include a July 16th performance by vocalist Lynn Henderson, singing classic songs of summer and the Silo's Annual BBQ Dinner and Silent Auction on August 27th to benefit Hunt Hill Farm. Click HERE for details.
So come enjoy all that the Silo has to offer!