Santa Fe School of Cooking celebrates 15th birthday (12/15/2004)

Why do New Mexicans eat posole instead of rice? How do you roast a green chile? And what's the difference between red chile sauce and salsa?

The Santa Fe School of Cooking has been answering questions like these from students for 15 years -- and still is. But other things have changed a bit since the school opened in 1989.

For one, if the chef du jour calls in sick, there are others to step in -- eight others, in fact. And the home-grown company encompasses much more than its popular culinary classes and shop full of regional goods. The cooking school has broadened its audience, added more classes, developed more contemporary recipes and established a popular a Web-based store. There's also a corporate team-building spin-off program, a collection of signature cookbooks and products, and a chain of restaurants in the United Kingdom that the school helped launch.

The heart of the school, though, say founder Susan Curtis and her daughter, Nicole Curtis Ammerman, remains unchanged.

"We like to think we're celebrating New Mexico -- its food, wine, farmers, history, lifestyle and culture," says Ammerman, who is the school's general manager. "And we still think the idea, featuring regional cuisine, is unique."

Apparently, many others do, too. Some 70,000 students have passed through the doors since the school opened. A number of well-respected names in the culinary world -- Deborah Madison, Cheryl and Bill Jamison, James Campbell Caruso and Lois Ellen Frank, among others -- have clocked stints at the school, imparting their wisdom about green and red to enthusiastic newcomers.

To mark its 15th anniversary this month, the family-run business is inviting the public and its cooking friends to a fiesta this Saturday at the school, 116 W. San Francisco St.

A number of chefs, past and present, will also be on hand to sign their cookbooks. "We're calling it the 'gathering of the chefs '-- the celebrity chefs of Santa Fe," says Curtis.

Campbell Caruso, a SFSC instructor "whenever I can" and executive chef at El Farol, attributes the school's longevity to its inviting, everyone's-having-a-good-time ambience.

"You walk in, and the kitchen smells like cinnamon and red chile," says Campbell Caruso, who taught regularly at SFSC for six years. "It's a comforting environment. The Curtis family is welcoming and genuine. People sense that right away. And it's the best place to have lunch because it's made fresh right in front of you."

Part of that laid-back feeling comes from the students -- 85 percent of whom are out-of-town visitors, usually on vacation -- who enjoy interacting with each other and learning about traditional Nuevo Mexicano cooking, says Ammerman.

"It's such a nice thing to be around because you see the best in people," she says. "They're relaxed and happy. And this is a show."

But it hasn't been all fun and chile con queso. A big part of the school's continued success has been the elbow grease liberally applied by its passionate founder and director, 58-year-old Curtis.

Always a mother first, Curtis worked for 10 years as a commercial real-estate appraiser in Santa Fe. But in 1988, when her two daughters were getting ready to head to college, she nose-dived into a midlife crisis.

Curtis considered becoming a ski instructor or ranch foreman -- growing up on a large ranch in southeast Idaho, butchering meat with her mom, tending vegetable gardens and chopping heads off wild grouse for dinner, she knew all about mending fences and negotiating geothermal rights. But her letters to Valle Grande Ranch went unanswered. So she pondered her next move.

A self-described businesswoman, Curtis also loved cooking and entertaining. On vacation, she frequented cooking schools. Inspired by the New Orleans School of Cooking, she laid out a business plan for a Santa Fe version to her husband, David.

"He said, 'You've got it!' " she recalls. "We realized no one else was doing it in Santa Fe."

Curtis hired the New Orleans school founder as a consultant and developed her concept over the next year. For the first two months, "to make sure it was worthy of charge," Curtis offered her classes for free. She borrowed start-up capital against her inheritance and placated her siblings. Though she knew her project was well-researched, she was petrified.

"I carried my 200-page business plan next to my chest when I walked around town because it was comforting," Curtis recalls. "I mean, if you think about it, I wasn't a chef and I opened a cooking school. But the kindness of people in Santa Fe was amazing. People cut their fees, really went out of their way to help us."

The beginning was tough on the family. Curtis's work consumed her. Nowadays she wonders what happened to the '90s.

"For several years, we were on the back burner," says Ammerman, who now has her own 11Ú2-year-old daughter, Haley. "We were like, 'Hello! What about us? Where's our dinner?' "

David Curtis, a retired Los Alamos scientist, handles the company's computer work, and their other daughter, Kristen Krell, runs a related corporate team-building business called Cookin' Up Change with her husband, David "Tree" Krell.

The Curtises are happy the school is a family endeavor, but there have been challenges, of course. Because demand fluctuates with the calendar, staffing can be stressful.

Then there was the time a chef's bread pudding was met with grimaces after guests munched on the overly salty dessert. It turned out the school's tech person had accidentally tossed salt into the sugar bin and tried, unsuccessfully, to scoop it back out. (Years later, when Curtis attended her wedding, the staffer said, "I have to make a confession É")

Today, the school offers 25 regularly scheduled classes spotlighting foods and flavors of the Southwest including traditional New Mexican -- enchiladas with red chile sauce, carne adovada, chiles rellenos, green chile stew, calabacitas, posole and capirotada; contemporary Southwest -- smoked pork tenderloin with red chile glaze and an apple-piñon chutney, spice-rubbed duck breast; Southwestern-vegetarian recipes; Spanish tapas (classic and reinvented); breakfast; barbecue; and classic Mexican cuisine.

Many of the school's former staffers sport illustrious résumés. Chef Lois Ellen Frank and cookbook author Cheryl Alters Jamison, who has written 11 cookbooks with husband Bill Jamison, are recipients of prestigious James Beard awards. This January, instructor Rocky Durham, a former Santacafé chef, is debuting Plates across the States, a syndicated U.S. newspaper column inspired by his United Kingdom television show, Plates from the States.

"Food is an extremely important part of culture, and that SFSC is showcasing New Mexico culture through its food and products is commendable," says Alters Jamison of Tesuque, who enjoyed teaching at SFSC because of its motivated students. "Ours is still a very unusual, very distinctive style of cooking. And the Curtises are infectious. They're wonderful ambassadors for New Mexico."

The three-hour classes begin with a gourmet cup of piñon coffee and casual chat with the chef. Most are demo-style, meaning chefs work under a mirror, preparing and explaining each of five to seven recipes, their origins and traditions, while students observe and take notes. (Two of the standard courses, tacos and tamales, are hands-on.) All wrap up with a sit-down meal.

"People come, send relatives, book groups, have private functions like bridal showers and family reunions," Curtis says. "The local support for the school is essential."

The school hosts private and custom classes, about 75 a year. Locals especially flock to the eight "bonus" classes ($25 per person, versus $50 to $75 for regular courses), which includes a meal -- in January and February of each year.

In 2005, students can try the new low-carb bonus classes and Carnival classes, added to complement the Museum of International Folk Art's ÁCARNAVAL! exhibition and events. They'll be more "loose and celebratory," says Curtis, with staff in masks and beads.

Santa Fe School of Cooking has produced three cookbooks -- The Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook, Tacos and Salsas -- with a fourth set for publication in spring 2006. The school also released a video, Savor Santa Fe, this year. In its adjacent retail store, the Santa Fe School of Cooking sells about 750 products, mainly New Mexican, most available also via the Web-site shop and from the school's 16-page print catalog.

After 15 years, the Curtis family says it's still having fun -- and their work-home life is more in balance.

"But we still call the school 'Mom's third child,' " Ammerman says.

For more information, call 983-4511 or visit http://www.santafeschoolofcooking.com .