Can you cook without a recipe? What's in your pantry right now? How much time do you have? American chef and author, Makenna Held, lives in France and runs the Courageous Cooking School out of Julia Child's former home and has tapped into a culinary philosophy that might just be a source of magic for home cooks often upended by following traditional recipes. Toss the recipe aside, she says, open your pantry and cupboards, work with what you have, and let the joy back into your kitchen.
"We've found a way to explain deliciousness," Held mentioned while on a drive in Europe from her newest cooking school location in Parma, Italy, back to the founding school in Grasse, France. Nearly a decade into enacting her philosophy with hundreds of students, Held is moving into a new chapter complete with more schools across Europe, travel and stay experiences, books, and an online community that's growing at lightening speed.
In 2016 while sifting through a Smith College alum Facebook page, Held stumbled upon an ad from the New York Times real estate section for "La Pitchoune," the home Julia Child--also a Smith College alum--shared with her husband Paul in the South of France. Owned by longtime cookbook partner Simone Beck, the home became a refuge for Julia Child once Mastering the Art of French Cooking became a success and put her on the map.
Without much thought, a lightbulb idea for a cooking school came forth that held Held's attention while waiting to see if she and her investors would, mostly sight unseen, be the ones to take over the special property, affectionately known as "La Peetch". She realized she didn't want to necessarily incorporate the recipes and methods of Child and Beck, although she knew the spirit and celebrity aura connected to them and the place would certainly be a draw. Within ten days, which included a situation with a precious buyer who changed their minds, "La Peetch" was in her possession.There was a lot of work to do.
From updating the physical infrastructure--which hadn't been updated since the Childs' put some money into construction in the 1960s-- to gathering a team of close friends and partners, Held and crew were able to open The Courageous Cooking School the same year.
As Held puts it, the Courageous Cooking School method makes cooking without recipes "more accessible to anybody anytime." In fact, she believes that when beginning home cooks use recipes, they are never really learning how to cook, rather they are simply learning--over and over--how to follow the instructions of others.
Along with her team at Okay, Perfect hospitality group, which includes Culinary Director, and Chef Kendall Lane-whom Held met at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school--and both of their husbands, they aim to teach home cooks how to save time and use what is local or already in their cupboards. "It's really about how you cook. 'I have this in my pantry and this much time, what now?' And she clarifies, "being able to cook without a recipe doesn't make cookbooks obsolete; they don't lose relevancy just because we've found a new way to teach."
As viewers can see in the seven-part docuseries La Pitchoune: Cooking in France, students attending the school spend a week learning knife techniques, picking herbs from the garden, or going to farmers markets, where they are encouraged to use their senses to pick up things that pique their interest even if they've never used it before. "We'll find a way to use it," Held said in the first episode of the series which features the first group of students attending the school post-pandemic.
Giving students the freedom to just explore without feeling bound to recipes is just one way Held and her team have found that not only raises their level of confidence but inspires them to keep cooking long after they return home.
"If you find a new proof in mathematics that doesn't make the Pythagorean theory irrelevant; it just becomes a new way of looking at math," Held said. Knowing that many of us have deep-rooted attachments to recipes for the sake of nostalgia or a connection to heritage, some may think cooking recipe free at the school means she is anti-recipe.
As someone with a cookbook out in April, that is certainly not the case. But she knows how much value is in the pedagogy, especially as it regards to time. From the actual grocery shopping--especially if going to more than one store--to gas used, let alone time actually cooking. Not to mention, cooking in this way improves the supply chain for local farmers.
"If home cooks practice putting down the rubber spatula and learn how to flip food around the pan, that alone can saves them 60 hours a year," Held said. She has done the math, folks. "That's a lot of time. Over a life time, that's is monumental," she added.
There's a lot in store for the Okay, Perfect Hospitality Group in 2025 and 2026. For one, the Courageous Cooking School will no longer use the "La Peetch" property. Beginning in 2026, the school will be take place in a new location, however, still in Grasse. As the group completes their first decade together, it is time to start a new chapter.
"It's time to get out of the formidable shadow that is Julia. It has its benefits and its negatives," Held said. "And it was a great decision to buy the house, to get our feet wet, and start our story, but in a lot of ways I've been telling someone else's story and instead of my own. What we've been able to do, and the pedagogy we've created is actually really important, but it will always be smaller than Julia was unless we move."
By moving to their new location, they will not only be able to be more scalable, offering sessions to more people and larger groups, but they'll be able to bring the cost back down to under $10, 000 at $8,000 instead of the $11,000 or $12,000 per person it took to run "La Pitchoune," which, as an old house, is operational very expensive. The group is also opening a café called Detour, this spring and once up and running, will also offer classes and pop-ups.
Even closer to Held's heart is her new book, Mostly French, out on April 22 which shares more of her journey to France, her connection to Julia Child and the special kitchen at La Pitchoune, as well as her passion for the regions ingredients and some of the dishes she's made throughout the seasons.
Lastly, Held and her team continue to expand their cooking school beyond their in-person sessions in Europe with RecipeKick, their online community which kicked-off in fall 2024 and represents another outlet through which the recipe-free philosophy is taking hold and creating a fleet of more confident home cooks.