Empanadas and Alfajores Cooking Class Buenos Aires

Empanadas, Argentina's favourite pastry

Empanadas are eaten all over Argentina, at any time of day: as a quick lunch, a snack between meals or a starter before a barbecue. Each region has its own version. In the north they are small and juicy, often with hand-cut beef, potato and spices; elsewhere you find ham and cheese, sweetcorn humita, chicken, onion and cheese or vegetables, baked in the oven or fried.

In this empanadas cooking class in Buenos Aires you learn how to make the dough from scratch, prepare several fillings and close each pastry with the repulgue, the rope-like edge that Argentines use to tell fillings apart. Your instructor shows you the folds slowly until you get it right, and explains the tricks that keep the filling juicy. It is the best answer to the question many visitors ask: how to make empanadas like a real Argentine kitchen does.

Alfajores and dulce de leche

Alfajores are Argentina's favourite sweet: two soft cookies joined with a thick layer of dulce de leche, the caramel-like milk spread found in every Argentine kitchen. The country eats them by the million, from chocolate-covered versions sold in kiosks to the homemade cornstarch alfajores, alfajores de maicena, that you prepare in this class.

You mix and roll the delicate dough, bake the rounds, then sandwich them with dulce de leche and roll the edges in grated coconut. Your instructor explains why corn starch gives them their melt-in-the-mouth texture and how alfajores became part of everyday life in Argentina. You eat some at the end of the class, and you leave with a recipe you can easily make again after your trip.

Mate, the drink of friendship

Mate is much more than a drink in Argentina. It is a herbal infusion of yerba mate leaves, prepared in a gourd and sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla, and shared in a circle among friends, family and colleagues. One person, the cebador, prepares and refills the gourd and passes it to each person in turn.

During the class you learn how to fill the gourd, how hot the water should be and the small customs that go with sharing mate, such as saying thank you only when you have had enough. It is a simple ritual, but it says a great deal about the warmth of Argentine hospitality, and it is one of the experiences visitors remember most. Water is also served throughout the class.

San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood of Buenos Aires

The class takes place on Paseo Colon in San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. Its cobbled streets, colonial-era houses and long courtyard buildings tell the story of the city's early days, and Plaza Dorrego, its main square, hosts the famous Sunday street fair with antiques, crafts and street musicians.

Coming to San Telmo for a cooking class is a good way to combine local food with one of the most atmospheric parts of the city. Before or after the class you can wander the streets around Defensa, visit the San Telmo Market with its iron and glass hall, or see the old churches of the area. Choose the 12:00 class if you want to explore in the afternoon, or the 17:00 class for an early dinner.