In February 2009, the Biltmore Hotel furthered its longstanding passion for gastronomy and commitment to excellence in the culinary arts by opening the Biltmore Culinary Academy. As the only hotel with a recreational cooking school operating in North America, the academy has a dedicated learning area and fully equipped professional kitchen offering a variety of classes, workshops, team-building events and birthday parties, for both adults and children. This spring, the academy is pleased to offer culinary boot camps taught by Lourdes Castro, an instructor at New York University’s prestigious Food Studies department and author of the best-selling cookbook, Simply Mexican.
Castro built her career on the love of teaching all things culinary, allowing her to effectively explain culinary concepts and techniques in both an academic classroom and in an informal kitchen environment. The boot camps offer up to 37 hours of culinary instruction with a curriculum that includes basic training in knife skills, pantry, herbs & spices, Italian technique, cold kitchen, meats, seafood and poultry & grains.
“Most people do not realize the learning curve that exists when you learn to cook. In a very short time, with the proper instruction, you can take your skills to the next level,” said Lourdes Castro, the Biltmore Culinary Academy’s director and instructor. “I’m very excited to lead the culinary boot camps at the Biltmore and share my knowledge and passion with the students.”
Masterful in both English and Spanish, Castro has served as the principal translator to noteworthy chefs for events held by The James Beard Foundation, Madrid Fusion Culinary Conference, StarChefs.com, and South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Among her accolades, Castro’s cookbook, Simply Mexican was selected by Food & Wine magazine as one of the 25 best cookbooks of 2009. In 2006, she was chosen by Bacardi USA to be the face of a video series on rum based recipes and cocktails. She is an active member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and in 2009 contributed in the organization’s cookbook Cooking with Les Dames d’Escoffier. Castro obtained a degree in Nutrition and Food from New York University and a Masters degree in nutritional sciences from Columbia University.
Two culinary boot camps are scheduled: March 15th to 19th and an abbreviated version on the weekend of April 16th to 18th. The program is priced at $1500 for the week-long camp and $900 for the weekend camp. An all-inclusive package that includes deluxe accommodations, daily meals at the Biltmore’s restaurants, beverages, tax and gratuities is available upon request and priced at $3,750 for the week-long camp and $2,175 for the weekend camp.
To register, call 305.913.3131 or e-mail CulinaryAcademy@BiltmoreHotel.com. The Biltmore Hotel is located at 1200 Anastasia Avenue in Coral Gables, Florida.