JANUARY 2024 16 with Maggie Norris, owner of Whisked Away Cooking School I t wasn’t until Arcadian Maggie Norris attended cooking classes that she realized her dream to teach wouldn’t be in a classroom, but in a kitchen. Maggie owns and runs Whisked Away, a boutique cooking school, where she teaches students young and old to love cooking – and how to do it right. Washington D.C. I grew up there and then went to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. My then-boyfriend and I were supposed to move to California, so I went there, and the boyfriend ended up in Arizona, so I joined him here six months later. No, and if somebody told me I’d be in the industry growing up, I would have said no way. My mom was a caterer, and I hated helping her because everything was last-minute and stressful. I loved to bake but hated cooking until my senior year of college. When I moved out here, my then- boyfriend’s mom gifted me cooking classes, which changed my life. Within six months, I was enrolled in culinary school. I had this gut feeling – I was applying for a combined Masters/PhD in art therapy – and I ditched it all to do this. I was a neuropsychology major. To do anything in psychology, you have to have at least a master’s degree, so I was going for the combined program to knock it all out. At the time, I was volunteering at a domestic violence shelter, teaching art to kids, so that’s why I chose that field. I don’t think I could have left all of that at the office, you know? Life worked out how it was supposed to. It was great for me because it’s what I knew I wanted to do. There were a lot of kids right out of high school, a lot of career changers. I was very focused and graduated at the top of my class. I was there to accomplish something! I was looking for a baking-only program, but Scottsdale Culinary didn’t have one when I was there in 2000-2001. I did the full program, and I’m so glad I did. So many doors were opened while I was there. Meat Fab and International Cuisine were great, but I liked everything. At Food Network in New York. As soon as I got to culinary school, I learned that Food Network was an option, but I also learned that you had to be at the top of your game to even be considered, so that’s part of why I worked hard. I applied for it, and a former extern interviewed me – and by interviewed, I mean I went to his apartment at 10 o’clock at night, and he was in his pajamas drinking a beer – but he was tight with the head chef at Food Network. I was offered the externship for four months. I was a food stylist. I would set up everything for the shows. There was a team of us, and we would set up the cart, do all the baking, take things away on set, food props, that kind of thing. I worked with Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, Rocco Dispirito, Gale Gand, and Sara Moulton. The chefs come in and film the whole season all at once. Yes! They do all the dumping and stirring – everything is already measured out. In the end, when they pull out this gorgeous turkey, it may not even be cooked on the inside, but it looks amazing. Everything is done ahead of time. It’s their recipes, but we did the cooking. I have nothing bad to say about them – they were so appreciative of our work. Sara Moulton was the most interactive, but they were there to get a job done, you know? Growing up in D.C., we often went to New York for shopping and shows. I always wanted to live there. But after living in Phoenix, where everything is so spread out, people aren’t on top of each other… I felt like unless I could afford a lot of space, it didn’t have the same attraction to me as it did when I was younger. I ended up teaching at another school called Cooking with Class – not like a culinary school, but a school for the hobbyist cook. I was the regional chef at Dacor, a high-end appliance brand. I also did private cooking classes in people’s homes and was in home-building industry sales for eight years. I went to culinary school to teach. I never wanted to own or work in a restaurant. I knew I wanted to teach and have my own cooking school. I came up with the name years before I knew what I was doing. I also wanted to travel and take people to other places to cook, so Whisked Away became the name. When I was in sales, my neighbors asked me to do a cooking class for them out of my house, which really started the idea. I thought, ‘Maybe other people want to do this,’ so I created a website. It gained traction, and then Groupon contacted me in 2010. I sold 1,200 Groupons in 24 hours. It was scary but awesome! Whisked Away is a school for the hobbyist cook. I gear my classes to all skill levels. I started with public classes, but it has organically shifted to mostly private classes over the years. I have menus on my website, or groups can create a custom menu. They are 100 percent participation- style. I go over techniques, tips, and tricks; 45 minutes are dedicated to going through the recipes and learning knife techniques. My goal is for people to want to cook at home. The last portion of class is when we sit down and eat. Out of all the menus, the steak dinner is the most popular. Time management, for sure. My daughter was a toddler at that point, and I had a full-time sales job – and sales doesn’t stop at 5 o’clock. It was trial by fire because I went from having no clients to more than I could handle. I learned a lot and am still learning – especially since things are constantly changing. I’m more of a creative person, so on the business side – I’m always thinking, ‘Oh, I should be doing this and this,’ as far as marketing – but I don’t. I like the creative and customer service side of it. It’s got ups and downs, but the ups far outweigh the downs. There’s a sense of pride to it, especially now that Whisked Away is established in the cooking school world. One of my friends – our daughters were in the same class – suggested I do a kid’s camp. I started with 2.5-year-olds and learned a lot [ laughs ]. At the time, my staff were volunteers, and some sessions only had two campers. Now, it’s grown to ‘you better be at your computer at 7 a.m. on March 1, or you’re not getting a spot.’ It’s great. Ages 8 and up do adult recipes – younger kids do those, too, but we measure everything out for them. The 4-7-year-olds are here for 1.5 hours, and we focus on their innate desire to help, so everybody gets a turn. We also have activities until the food is ready. I don’t dumb the food down because I feel that’s how you get to ‘my kid will only eat this.’ I want to expose them to different things. The kids want to be challenged. They also learn table setting, manners, whiskedaway.net • @whiskedawayaz In the Kitchen
17 JANUARY 2024 kitchen safety and basic nutrition. I’ve learned that kids love to cook, but I take the opportunity to teach other lessons while they’re here. Oh my gosh, I have so many. Kids say the funniest things. I had one class – remember, you’re not supposed to walk away from anything when you’re cooking – so this team walked away from their mixer when it was on high speed, and we were mixing frosting. The mixer ‘walked’ right off the counter, slammed to the ground, dented the floor and was still on, so there was frosting EVERYWHERE. It’s become the legend of the walking mixer [ laughs ], but it turned into a good lesson. The best part is the people. I love seeing an ‘aha’ moment for someone in the kitchen. The hardest part is the wear and tear on my house and not having time in the evening with my family. My husband and I decided I would cut back on classes – I only do two or three a week now – and my daughter is in high school, so she needs rides everywhere. I need to be available for that. No, but she goes in fits and spurts. At the same time, I never, ever, ever thought that I would go in this direction. It wasn’t even a consideration. So, who knows? My husband is a pilot, so right now, my daughter is saying she wants to learn how to fly. Whatever she wants to do, I will support her! My favorite thing to bake is chocolate chip cookies, but I love to cook anything sweet because I have a huge sweet tooth. I’m always trying new recipes, and I’ll land on a favorite and cook that for a while – it’s especially great when both my husband and daughter like what I’m making. My most recent favorite is pumpkin rigatoni. It’s so good. Some sort of exercise. I love pickleball, and my husband and I play together a lot. We love to travel, too. I love books and reading but don’t have time, so I use Audible. Oh, and driving my daughter around! I’m definitely going to start up my travel cooking classes again, but I’m going to stay in the States. When my daughter goes to college, maybe I’ll go back to Europe or other countries to cook. I would also like to start more day classes to get back into public teaching again.