Enriching Education: The Great Courses - Creating the Perfect Three-Course Meal

Whether you’re looking to entertain, impress or just take your cooking game up a notch, designing a cohesive three-course meal is a great place to start.

The Great Courses, an educational SVOD (streaming video on demand), is set to release a new lecture series in September on creating the perfect three-course meal at home complete with tips on recipe selection, cooking technique and execution. 

I had a chance to interview the mind behind the course, Sean Kahlenberg, a chef-instructor with the Culinary Institute of America and former Las Vegas senior chef consultant.

What makes a cohesive three-course meal a way to take entertaining up a notch?

Cooking for friends and family is one of the greatest expressions of love,

happiness and friendship you can show. There are so many options to have dinner brought straight to your door in 2019, from meal boxes to food delivery services, but none of those give you the ability to impart your emotion and love into the meal. By creating a dinner from scratch, start to finish, for your family and friends, not only do you take entertaining up a notch, but you really show them how much you care about them.

What are some things hosts need to consider as they decide how to tie courses together?

Before putting the meal together, you need to do is ask you diners about food aversions and allergies to ensure everyone will be able to eat the food you put in front of them. After that, it’s deciding what you want to be the centerpiece of the dish. I like to make my decisions based on the season. For example, tomatoes, mushrooms and squash are great in the summer while mid-fall is the perfect time to utilize apples or cherries.

It’s also important to tie each course together. While a Caprese salad and Korean tacos are both great on their own, there’s no theme and the two don’t work together. A good rule of thumb is to go by region or country — if you start with that Caprese salad, pair it with a beautiful Italian pasta dish and a flourless chocolate cake.

What will the SVOD offer that might be challenging for viewers to get from other sources?

I created the course in a way that each lesson builds off the one before it. I started from the basics and assumed the viewer knew nothing about cooking to begin, and each lesson after that I added on to what was taught previously. While you might be able to find the information in an article or video online, you’ll have to piece all the steps together yourself. By using The Great Courses, everything is cohesive.

I also wanted to create the course in a way that you’re learning the basics without feeling like you’re learning the basics. For example, there is a lesson where we are grilling salmon. While actually grilling the salmon was the main takeaway, I didn’t want to make it seem like it was the focal point. Instead we focused on the best options for seasoning, how to place things on the grill and other small details that provided a more in-depth look at the process.

Sean Kahlenberg's Professional Experience: Senior Chef Consultant, Blau and Associates, Las Vegas, NV. Chef de Cuisine, Society Café @ Encore, Las Vegas. Executive Chef, Louis’s and Louis’s Fish Camp, Las Vegas. Sous Chef, Bradley Ogden, Las Vegas. Executive Sous Chef, Commander’s Palace, Las Vegas. Lead Line Cook/Pastry Cook, Café des Artistes, NYC.