Q&A with Jay Ducote and Matthew Brewton [left]
How did the idea come about and how did the cooking school come to Baton Rouge? Matthew- I have worked for Viking for two years but Jay and the Hilton were the ones who brought it to its present location. Jay has had this thing going on for about two months now. Jay- It was just a lot of things that sort of fell into place correctly. There was a group that wanted to bring Viking into Louisiana. Viking has a big presence in culinary and industrial kitchen for the home, and you know all of the cool stuff that they do is made right in Mississippi. There are 18 Viking Cooking schools across the country and so the thought was “let’s bring one to Louisiana and make something happen here.” It all came together when the people at the Hilton thought “man we should really do 50
something cool with that pool deck!” I think the important difference here is that it’s the first ever Viking Outdoor cooking school. Where are you planning to take this in the future? Matthew- What we are trying to do is take everything that you can cook in the house and bring it outside to the grill. That asparagus that you would normally cook inside, why not bring it out and throw it on the grill, or even smoke your hollandaise sauce? We want to show how easy it is, while at the same time showcasing the Viking products. What are the classes going to specifically consist of? What types of foods and dishes will you be showing how to prepare?