Astoria local opens cooking school for beginners

Every New Yorker has fallen into the trap: you work a long day, get stuck on the train for an extra hour because of delays, walk into your apartment and realize you still have to figure out what you are going to eat for dinner.

Maybe you splurge on some takeout, telling yourself you will make up for the cost by cooking every other meal this week, or you throw some pasta on the stove, telling yourself you will make up for the carb-loaded dinner by going to the gym every other day this week.

One Astoria native, Dan Dolgin, wants to help New Yorkers break the cycle. His new cooking school, CookSingleNYC, is tailored specifically for people who are cooking-inept.

Dan Dolgin (center) with one of his classes at CookSingle.

The goal, he says, is to equip the regular Joe with the cooking skills needed to make easy, delicious meals every night of the week.

The idea for the school, which is based out of his own industrial kitchen, came after Dolgin got divorced and immersed himself back into a social scene that he said surprised him.

“I kept noticing people of all different ages, especially people living by themselves, didn’t seem to cook and didn’t know how to cook,” Dolgin said. “And they seemed to be stuck, because they felt they should be doing something but didn’t know where to get started.”

As a passionate foodie who cooks almost every night of the week himself, Dolgin felt that people were “missing out” on an important part of life by not cooking their own food.

Starting last January, Dolgin left his previous job and began work researching and preparing to open his new school. CookSingle opened in September, and so far has been a big hit, with 250 people signing up for classes in just the past few months.

“I think it’s been a spectacular response,” Dolgin said. “I couldn’t be happier. People leave feeling very empowered.”

Classes typically are held on Wednesday nights and during the weekend, or private classes can be requested. Each three-hour class is made up of six students plus Dolgin.

One of the meals Dolgin taught his students to make at CookSingle.

The focus of the classes is technique and not recipe, which Dolgin said helps his students more in the long run.

“We’re not there to really learn one specific recipe. I don’t think learning exact recipes is the way someone becomes a cook,” he said. “I think they need to learn techniques, like roasting, sautéing or stir frying.”

The class is split into two groups, and each prepares one full meal, doing all of the work from prepping the meat and veggies to setting the finished product on a plate.

During the meal preparation, Dolgin also focuses on safety in the kitchen, making sure everyone gets comfortable with handling an eight-inch chef’s knife.

The whole effect, Dolgin said, makes the class accessible for anyone who wants to learn how to cook, unlike other cooking classes in New York that are targeted to people who want to improve their already-above-average cooking.

“Those are classes for people who already know how to cook, and this is a whole different mentality,” Dolgin said. “When I was talking with people who don’t know how to cook, they kept saying that they were intimidated, that if they went to one of those classes they would get judged. This is a totally different format, where it’s more like a support group.”

Students leave the class with some added skills in their tool belt, as well as a booklet with recipes, guides and in-depth information about the techniques they just learned and many others.

And with meals ranging from fish to beef to Asian-inspired dishes to vegetarian meals and everything in between, Dolgin’s cooking classes can be catered to any dietary needs. Have your groceries delivered to you in 2 hours or less by PickUpLater.

The classes currently cost $95 for the three-hour session, and more information about Dolgin’s school is available at CookSingleNYC.com.